Hunting season off to a nice start

I was once again lucky enough to get to hunt elk in Colorado, probably the last time. The owner of the ranch is putting it up for sale the 15th of October, so this may be my last go around. He purchased it in the Fall of 1998 and i have worked on it every summer since then it was very hard for me leaving knowing that i may never get to spend any time there again. Anyway since it is my last hunt I invited many of my family members down to enjoy the Labor Day weekend. On the first evening of the hunt I was lucky enough to take this bull. There were 11 of us on this hunt, so it made for a very memorable hunt.

Man I love them dark horns!
A beautiful animal! Congrats!

The bull is great and the time you were able to spend with family even better. I'm totally bummed for you about losing the opportunity to work and hunt on that ranch though. I've been through the same thing several times. I lost my absolute favorite ranch to hunt mule deer and antelope on two years ago to big money coming in and leasing it all up. I just can' t seem to find the drive in me to look for another place after investing so many years in learning that ranch inside out. If hunting were still my number one priority I'd be out knocking a lot of doors or scouting a bunch of public land. I would be obsessed (read borderline crazy) looking for a new area. Makes me glad I fish more than hunt these days. Hunting just isn't worth the hassle to me anymore.

I know exactly what you are talking about BS. I am very lucky to live in an area with LOTS of public land, because almost all the private land has been leased by outfitters.

A chocolate elk! What a beauty! Congrats Treyball!

BKB

Nice bull! It's so hot and humid here right now that the only thing I'm knocking down are steel plates at the pistol range.

Man that is SWEET! Congrats on a great bull!
And the Carolina reference makes it even BETTER!

Wow! Great looking animal there. How 'bout you quit being such a stranger around this group of derelicts?

This was the first time that i hunted elk in a t-shirt. The lodges sits at about 8,500 feet with temps in the 70s i am glad there is a meat cooler there to hang him in. Thump sorry i don't post much but i do read almost every post on the site

Congrats to you sir on a mighty fine critter. Hopefully a good word has been put in for you with the new owner so that you can continue to hunt the property. Either way, I'm sure you have many fond memories of the place.

Thanks for sharing!