September 25th 2004

Well, the Colorado early season has come and gone once again and it was a DOOZY!!! One of my best ever. I started off with Pronghorn Antelope and it was somewhat of a bust. With all of the significant rain we received this Spring and Summer the Goats were not dependant on water and were very difficult to predict. I only went out a couple of times and enjoyed several great buck sightings, just could not close the deal.

My beloved High Country Mulie hunt was another story. I enjoyed the first three days chasing dandy bucks under beautiful blue bird skies. My lovely wife Christina shared the first few days with me as the day before the season opener was our 16 th wedding anniversary. She and I drew identical tags for our favorite big buck unit. She was only afforded the first weekend to hunt as her tight work schedule would permit no other opportunities. The following weekend I shared with my long time friend and Archery Coach and Guru, Jimmy Hambrick. We endured a severe snow storm, however our fourth day in produced huge dividends. I was able to connect on a dandy 5x5 mule deer. He scored 181 6/8 Gross Pope and Young. After a difficult stalk I was able to nail the bruiser in his mid day bed at 2:00 PM.

Elk season was a blast. I spent a week in the heart of the San Juan National Forest near Durango CO. The Lost Canyon Ranch gang packed three of us in, Uncle Doug, long time friend, Shawn Denison and I. In the heart of the Forest we spent six days chasing big bulls. They were fired up, screaming day and night. On day three Uncle Doug Novak and I went out to share an evening hunt near a meadow I had found several bulls visiting the evening before. With only minutes of shooting light left I was able to close the distance on a dandy 6x6 and nail him with one well placed arrow. The 300 class P&Y bull traveled only a hundred yards and piled up. Uncle Doug and I were out until 11:00 pm that night. The long trek back to camp, about four miles was not as bad as you would think, in the dark we talked and chided each other all the way to camp. There is something special about being in the middle of nowhere in the dark and having a tag notched and attached to a six by six. No fears, no worries, just fond memories and many blessings. When we arrived to camp Shawn had a big pot of Denison Wilderness stew steaming on the fire and a fresh pot of coffee. Man o Man, I love that boys cooking. Shawn had several close encounters with nice size bulls but no shot opportunities. Doug took a shot but in the excitement, shot at the whole elk and missed. Lessons learned the hard way!

The 2004 Colorado early season was one of my best, full of cherished memories and harvested treasures. It will be tough to beat this season but I look forward to trying.