Archery/Muzz 2014 Part1

Well where do I begin?  It was a long and anticipated hunt once again.

This year brought me high hopes of getting a bull because I drew a muzzleloader tag.  This increases ones chance of getting a bull tremendously.  Teddy Walter also drew a muzzleloader tag.  It has been three years since Teddy joined us last out in the mountains of Colorado.  Things started off great right from the beginning.  We were all packed and loaded on Wednesday night at Billy's house.  The plan was to leave Billy's by 5:30am so we could get to Will's house at a decent time.  We actually departed before our designated time.  You know we are all excited to get going in order to pull that off.

Waiting for Billy to Kiss his dog Morgan goodbye

Proof that we were on the road 

The drive started off just as expected Billy and Teddy arguing over what was the best way to leave St. Paul. 17hrs later after a few stops like the all you can eat steak america and cabela's we made it to Wills house.  Where do we get these ideas to stop at an all you can eat steak buffet I mean how good could it be?  The steaks were ok but the poor kid that waited on us from the time we walked in the place oh boy.  He was something else, very friendly and hard working but, the filthiest waiter I have ever seen in a restaurant.  He looked like he was out back doing oil changes for customers while they were eating.  If he wasn't seating people and bussing drinks he would fill in on the cooking grill.  Not a good PR rep for the place.  I tried to talk Billy into putting his arm around him so I could take a picture but Billy was too scared.

yes the place is real and I think it was in  Nebraska someplace

 After a quick nap from Olive Garden to Wills house I was ready for a couple night caps.  We stayed up for a couple of hours joking and teasing as we do after not seeing each other since the previous hunting season.

The next day consisted of grocery shopping,

Double checking our muskets,

Ok and maybe shooting some extra goodies

and loading up all the gear into the trucks and trailers.

We stopped at the ranch owners house on Friday afternoon to let he know we were ready to head up the mountain to camp.  He said he was going to meet us up there and help us get settled in with the horses.

When we walked into the cabin we realized that he had renovated!  He finally finished off the upstairs something I had been hearing from him every year that I have been out there.  We were all just pumped at this point, it was like a new cabin with twice the amount of space.  He had finally done it after 12 years.

the new steps up to the bunk house

West end of the bunk house

East end of the bunk house

What a treat!  I didn't have to have Will sawing logs two feet away from my ear anymore.  Lots of room both upstairs and downstairs.

Time to get the horses saddled and hit the trail for evening bow hunt and scouting mission for the morning.  We made it about 100 yards down the trail when I hear Ted behind me yelling in a jiggly voice OH SHIITTT!  I wish I had a video camera as Teds horse Buddy had his head down and was in a full fledge repeated buck.  I saw Teddy's horse racing past me as Ted was airborne with all fours strait out in front of him like he was riding a chopper but with without a chopper under him!  Now my horse was freaking out and well as Billy's.  Billy jumped off the prevent from being thrown.  Now Will was is in the front pack and when Buddy went racing by him he yelled out,  what the fuck are you guys doing !?  He made it sound like Ted jumped off his horse and whipped it just to fun with Will.  To answer your question Will.  I was laughing.   Billy and Ted were picking themselves up out of the puckers, but we were all wondering what the hell just happened.

Now Ted being a good sport had never been thrown from a horse said that wasn't so bad.  Good because here is Buddy are you guys ready to go hunt now?  I bet it wasn't even 30 seconds after Ted climbed back onto he was flying through the air again!  This time however he didn't land in a nice soft bush.  He landed right on his side on the hard pack dirt.  I can still hear that thud and his lungs loosing all of their air.  Billy didn't have a good landing either as his latigo broke on his saddle.

Ted said uncle and went back to the cabin with his horse in tow.  We tied a knot in Billy's latigo and set off for the hunt. We didn't get but about 15 minutes out when we spotted elk.  We quickly changed direction and headed back down to go make an attempt to get Will or Billy a bull.

Stay tuned as next time I will get into the hunt.