Weekend of Oct 24th

The trip started with meeting up with my hunting partner Rich Howarth, Friday night at our ranch.  We loaded his gear in the pickup and headed up to the hunting area.  We probably left at 9:00 pm.  By 1:00 am we arrived at the camp site of another one of my local contacts, also named Rich.  For story telling purposes he will be OLD Rich.  Old Rich had hunted this country since he was a teenager, and had 40 years of experience.  At first light we had loaded up in the pickup and went off to the spots he thought we needed to know.

We went to sleep under the stars like the weekend before.  This time with the acorns falling each time the wind blew.  

We spent the morning  learning more access points to the rugged areas we wanted to get to.  Each landmark had a hunting story, and forty years of history unfolded as Old Rich told of bucks taken and bucks that got away. 

We stopped back at camp for a bite of lunch.  Young Rich and I went for a walkabout that afternoon.  We only found a dead coyote, but we had boots-on-the-ground experience and found some vantage points we hadn’t seen previous.

That night young Rich panfried up some potatoes and onions that he served with bear backstrap from this years bear.  It was outstanding.  It was a testament to how good bear meat can be if prepared properly. 

The next morning we delved deeper into the fringes of our go-to spot.  We saw deer hanging in camps and heard shots.  We even spotted a doe and fawns feeding midday. 

We finally packed up at mid-day and bid fare well to Old Rich.  Since it was the last day of the Rifle season the road had a number of hunters headed home as well.  After a couple of stops to chat with other locals about our up coming hunt.  Each had a nugget of advice we filed away for future reference. 

We made it back to the ranch in the dark, and Rich still had to go home.   For the next 3 weeks we will stay in contact as we pull together our camp gear and make plans for a week long hunt.