The 1980 archery season was a bust for me. I had six weeks to find game. I took two weeks off work, and I was in the mountains every weekend for months before opening day. You would think that any fool could find a deer or an elk in six weeks. I didn’t even see one big-game animal in the woods, not counting the ones in the headlights of my car or the ones I could see on private property while driving around. What was I doing wrong? I found myself driving past the Denver Zoo feed lot, on Look Out Mountain, in order to remind myself what an elk looked like. I remember asking one of my archery heroes, at the time, “How can I find some elk?” I really wanted to throttle the jerk when he told me, “Easy, just look in the woods.”
Several years later, I found out the hard way why they use this answer. Along with several hunting comrades, I invested most of my free weekends in the scouting and research of various elk habitat. Hunting partner Jim Gilmore and I found a little area in the Routt National Forest, along a rockslide that had a funneling effect on the big game in the area. We harvested several nice animals out of this location for a few years.
One season Dave a new man to the state and archery club asked to come along. Dave joined us on a few weekend hunts and was a good sport to have around. Besides, we needed a new rookie to poke fun at.
We were a little concerned however, when Dave showed up at our hidden location with an uninvited new personal friend. Dave’s friend seemed to be a nice guy and all went smoothly until the following year. The friend that Dave introduced to our hidden locale was now camped in our spot, with eight of his closest friends. Even though this happened nearly twenty years ago, I still harbor ill feelings about this dilemma
I recall a conversation with one of my mentors, a top-notch archery elk hunter who asked to remain nameless. We happened to meet at a Kremling, Colorado restaurant in July, while we were both out scouting the elk herds. This is one of the locals that I wished to throttle a few years earlier for telling me to “look in the woods” for elk.
He started off by complimenting me for “paying the price.” He said I earned my reputation from the game I harvested because of all the time, effort, and expense I had invested in locating that game. We started to tally up the expenses involved in locating a good elk-hunting habitat on public lands. We figured that each of our Public Land elk camp locations cost us a minimum of $1,000 out of pocket. By the time you scouted an area three or four times this only covered our fuel and groceries. What about the areas we scouted out four or five times that failed to meet our preferred conditions and requirements? Those sites still cost us and were for no apparent gain, except for the knowledge that we did not want to hunt there.
He then started ridiculing me for having the audacity to ask him in the past for the benefits of his labor, all for the price of a soda. His philosophy is that any fool not willing to pay the price to find elk on his own, does not belong in the woods. Then he tore into me for the stunt Dave’s friend pulled. Later he admitted that he had also lost three prime elk areas in the same way. He was not upset with me as much as he was upset with the gall of other people pretending to be his friend, in order to obtain hunting areas. Sad to say, I find as many broken friendships as I find people who can relate to this story.
What debts do I or any other hunter owe you that we should give you one of our pre-paid hunting zones? This is why outfitters are in business. They can sell you a hunting zone, and then show you how to hunt there. The same holds true for elk calls. Do we have the right to ask compensation for showing you which sounds to make and when? Some people believe they have a right to our knowledge, and hold a grudge against us experienced hunters for not freely sharing. This difference in attitude would be the difference between you purchasing this book or CD, or bootlegging a copy for a friend. Purchasing this book as a gift for friends would be a great compliment to this writer and express the value you received from the information shared here. Sounds like I turned into one of those jerks I was wishing to throttle earlier
Continued...
The Hunt