After our first Elk Hunt in 1992, Janice discovered one of her veterinary clients was also an elk hunter. He had been on a PRIVATE LAND elk hunt in northwestern Colorado, and had harvested a beautiful bull elk. We now understood the difference between Private and Public land. We were very interested in this man’s hunt, and the outfitter he recommended.

We booked our hunt with the outfitter out of Eagle, Colorado after getting all the details. We spent the spring and summer preparing for our fall hunt. Janice re-rifled with a little more fire-power: she would be hunting with a Remington 700 in .30-’06 instead of her .270. We also practiced out to 300 yards, the limit of our local range in Houston.

It was finally time to go! Instead of driving to Colorado, we packed our gear in our Beech Baron, and away we went. Flying across the Continental Divide is always a beautiful sight…but even in a twin–engine airplane, I am always glad to touch down at the destination airport!

We met up with the outfitter. On the way to camp we stopped at a convenience store to get our elk tags….hmmmmm…permits for public land….not private! I asked Lane about this, and we were informed that he had lost the lease on several of the ranches we were supposed to hunt, "but this area has lots of game".

Arriving at the camp, we found a very nice set-up. As a group, we would have meals and socialize in a big house. We each had small cabins with a private bath to sleep in. We then met our guide. Through the ensuing conversation, we learned he had never hunted elk, and usually was a horse wrangler at a dude ranch….RUT RO! This hunt could be interesting!

The first morning out, we discovered that our guide’s field glasses were literally “opera glasses”, handle and all!!!! We loaned him a pair of ours. As we glassed the public land around us for elk, there was a blotch of Safety Orange about every 100 yards….our “private land” hunt had turned into a public land nightmare! The icing on the cake was the hikers coming by, conversing with one another in normal speaking voices!

The third evening, Janice and I were walking back towards camp along a hiking trail. I was able to look downhill over a ledge, that was too tall for Janice to see past. I spotted a small mule deer buck grazing, at about 180 yards. I lifted Janice to see him, offering her the shot. She declined because of the inability to see the deer woth both feet on the ground. The evening was very still. I leveled my rifle off-hand, and squeezed the trigger. The 160 grain Sierra Spitzer Boat Tail crumpled the Buck. I chambered another round, waiting for the deer to jump up…he didn’t! We finally had a kill on an out of state hunt!

The guide came running up, asking what happened. I said I had shot a buck; he responded “You must have missed, I only heard the one shot”…….Hmmmmm…I responded with I wasn’t sure where he was from, but back home, you are expected to only to shoot once.

On the last morning, after no one seeing any elk all week, the entire hunting camp stationed themselves at different points around a big bowl between several peaks. Janice and I spotted a bull elk sky-lining himself on the ridge across the canyon. We had no rangefinders that long ago, but he had to be between 500 to 600 yards away. We could not tell for sure if he had 4 points on 1 side or not……but at least he was a bull elk! We watched him work his way down into the bowl off to our right, but remaining at that same distance. I asked the guide if we could move into the area the bull was working towards, but was told we had to stay where we were, as that is what all of the guides had agreed upon. About that time, across the canyon, I was able to spot the outfitter himself, with hunter in tow, moving to get in on the bull….so much for agreements!

About 20 minutes later we heard NINE shots spaced over 2 minutes. I was very angry at the outfitter for not “playing fair”…but it is what I had come to expect on this hunt. Janice went with the guide to see the animal, as she had not seen an elk down before being dressed (neither had I at that point, but was in NO mood to be around the outfitter).

The next part is a sad reality about hunters who I refer to as “Buffalo Hunters”. When Janice arrived at the downed bull, she overheard the conversation between the hunter and the outfitter. The hunter did not want pictures of his kill. The hunter did not want to shoulder-mount the animal because the rack wasn’t big enough, nor did he even want the rack. He did not want the hide, because it would be too much trouble. In addition, he wasn't interested in the meat. Colorado law requires harvesting all wholesome meat off of any kill. The outfitter decided to quarter the elk right thru the hide to fulfill the legal requirements. This bull's pelt was lush and full. His hide, aside from the final fatal neck shot, and one shot through the pelvis, was undamaged. Janice was disgusted, and asked the if she could have the hide since he didn't want it. He said OK and Lane started skinning the bull. About 5 minutes into the skinning process, after numerous nicks and cuts into the hide, Janice suggested to the outfitter that she do the skinning so "he could go ahead and eat lunch"...otherwise, he would have destroyed the hide.With her surgical skills, the hide came off in good shape! We brought the hide home with us. As I write this, I am admiring the hide from that magnificent animal as a rug here in my office! I don’t understand people who hunt just for the kill, and not to use and enjoy all the assets from one of God’s beautiful creatures.

I had a frank conversation with Lane that evening. He offered no apology for his actions during the week….public land, inexperienced guide, un-fair policy towards other hunters, and not insisting that his client harvest all of the animal.

We packed, and left for the airport the next morning. On the way, we stopped by the meat processor to pick up my Mule Deer….we were amazed that a 200 lb deer that had one perfectly placed shot right behind the shoulder, yielded 30 lbs of meat, and only half the backstrap……Colorado Meat Processors … our first lesson with them!

The justice in this sad story is that as far as I can tell, the outfitter is no longer in business…as I am sure that he treated other hunters in the same way! We were able to harvest a nice mule deer, and bring home a wonderful elk hide, but the overall week left a bad taste in our mouth for Colorado outfitters and meat processors! I was glad to get that Baron airborne out of Eagle and head home to Texas!