The Hog Blog

I probably mentioned, at least in passing, that I had some issues during my recent archery elk hunt in Colorado.  The outfitter, Rick Webb of Dark Timber Outfitters is a great guy, and runs a top notch operation.  But even the best companies sometimes hire bad help.

During the first three days of the seven day hunt, my brother, Scott, and I hunted with guide, Chad Kleebes (I probably slaughtered the spelling of that).  Chad is a relatively young fella, in his early 20’s, but I think he’s got what it takes to be a successful big game guide.  He’s quiet and unassuming, but there’s a competence there that belies his youth.  He did a great job with my brother and me, and with a couple more years’ experience I can see him being a real champion elk guide. 

Unfortunately, on the fourth day of the hunt, on the way out of the field, Chad stepped off of a rock at a bad angle, and next thing we knew, he was rolling on the ground in agony.  Turns out he did some significant damage to the ligaments in his ankle.  Bottom line, though, he was out of the game.  Scott and I had broken our guide! 

Rick tries to keep all of his hunts to a two-on-one hunter to guide ratio, and his other guide, Chad’s brother Grant, was occupied with the other archery hunters in camp.  Rick’s other top guide was unavailable for the hunt.  Rick, himself, would be spending the next day helping a successful hunter pack out his bull.  Rick had to call in the reserves, a new guide on his team who we’ll call, “Wild William”.

Wild William is an experienced fishing and rafting guide, and has spent a lot of time in the field hunting elk, but he was brand new to guiding elk hunters.  As we were all about to find out, putting weekend tourists on a raft and sending them downriver is not quite the same as trying to put a pair of bowhunters within archery range of an elk. 

To cut to the chase…

I learned a lot of things during those last couple of days with Wild William that I will definitely take to heart in my own guiding practice.  I don’t know how many readers here are hunting guides, but these lessons might be helpful to you as well… especially if you value that tip after a long week of hard hunting.  I wrote a long article on this topic for the JHO Journal, so I won’t reprint it or rehash it here, but it comes down to a couple of key things.

First of all, treat the clients with the utmost respect.  They are paying a lot of money to be there.  Some of that money goes into your paycheck.  You are working for the client, not the other way around.  You don’t have to like them, or even be particularly social, but you have to show respect. 

If the client makes an error, contain yourself.  Manage your criticism, and more importantly, control your tone.  Never speak down to a paying client, and never, ever raise your voice at a customer (unless there is an immediate safety issue). 

Wild William made that mistake twice during our hunt.  Once wasn’t so bad, the second time was unforgiveable… especially when it turns out that he was the one at fault. 

Secondly, remember that you are working FOR the client (mentioned this a second ago).  It is the client’s hunt, NOT YOUR’S.  If the client doesn’t want to run headlong through the oakbrush in pursuit of ghost elk, then you don’t go running headlong through the oakbrush in pursuit of ghost elk.  You may suggest that your experience shows that running through the oakbrush is the best plan of attack, but it’s the client’s call about whether to go or not.

Likewise, if your client tells you that he’s not trophy hunting, and will be very happy with any legal animal, then don’t try to second-guess the client and go blowing through “raghorns” in order to pursue a “toad”. 

My brother and I were both meat hunting on this trip, both carrying either-sex tags, and both very clear about our goals for the hunt… elk on the ground.  Imagine our surprise, and disappointment, when Wild William charged right through prime hunting ground, spooking elk along the way, in his single-minded quest for the trophy animal we’d spotted previously.  We practically ran over one bull, and pushed out countless others simply trying to keep up as he raced down into a canyon and up the other side. 

This all ended in a fairly tense conversation as I explained “the facts of life” to our guide.  It boiled over in the bottom of a steep draw, after he pretty much ignored my suggestion that we stop the mad chase and make an attempt on a bull that was bugling less than 100 yards away, as opposed to climbing another 2000 vertical feet in hopes of setting up on HIS trophy.  This bull was bugling.  The other wasn’t.  This bull was close.  The other had disappeared into the timber over two hours earlier. 

His final mistake was telling ME what a shame it would be to shoot this “raghorn” and miss the chance to kill the “toad” up in the timber.  He had forgotten whose hunt this was. 

Properly chastened, he set up and called the smaller bull.  It came close, but we never got a shot.  It was still exciting, and what I had come for… but at that point the hunt was pretty much ruined.  I had lost all confidence in the guide, and worse, the remainder of the hunt became a matter of going through the actions as my enthusiasm was totally shot. 

We went out the morning of our last hunt in pretty low spirits.  I should have told Rick about the experience the previous night, and ask about switching guides.  Grant’s hunters were leaving early, as it turns out, so he was going to join us anyway.  We could have left Wild William behind.  But at that point, I really didn’t even care any more.  We called the hunt at about 10 in the morning on our last day and returned to the lodge to prepare for the homeward trip.

This is not a totally sad ending, though.  After returning to camp, we had the opportunity to speak, at length, with Rick.  My brother and I both related our experiences and our feelings about this guide.  Rick felt responsible, and offered to make it good with a discounted hunt in the future.  I couldn’t have asked for more, and since I don’t think our experience is typical for his operation we made arrangements then and there for a return hunt in 2009… as soon as Scott has time to acquire a preference point.

So I’ll definitely be returning to Dark Timber Outfitters.  I’m not so sure Wild William will, though. 

Wow, these videos take a lot more time and effort than still photos… but it’s fun.

Thanks for bearing with me as I learn my way around video creation and editing… and I did promise to complete the elk hunt series, so, here goes…  Part 3 is now available.

One thing I’ve learned so far… you gotta either hunt or film.  You can’t do both well, especially when you’re bowhunting. 

The other thing I’ve learned that kinda goes with that first lesson is that you can’t get good footage if the camcorder is stowed in your pack. 

Anyway, here’s part 3.  As soon as I can, I’ll try to get the next part online.

Well, the first part was fun, so may as well add part deux.

 If anyone missed it earlier, the hunt was with Rick Webb’s Dark Timber Outfitters, out of Montrose, CO.  It was a Unit 62 archery hunt.  Rick runs a great outfit, and the lodge is a wonderful, comfortable place to come back to in the evening. 

OK, so I’m no Realtree Roadtrips or anything like that, and you won’t likely see my work on MyOutdoorTV, but I have a good time doing it.

Here’s part 1 of my Colorado elk hunting trip.  Remember, getting there is half the fun!

The other parts will come soon. 

As you may have noticed, I put up a new poll this morning. 

The old poll definitely generated some interesting responses.  Seems like opinions were pretty evenly split, with about half of you agreeing that it’s OK to take a kid on a “guaranteed” hunt for a taste of success, versus the other half who thought a kid should have a “real” hunting experience and learn that killing something is a rare reward.  The final tally, for those who like numbers, was 23 in favor vs 22 against. 

As I said before, I am still a little ambivalent.  I’d hoped for some overwhelmingly convincing argument one way or another, but there ya go… that’s what makes it fun. 

I don’t think the new question is quite as tricky… more of a personal preference.  Do you “hunt horns”, or are you just out to fill the freezer?  Shoot the little ones or let them grow?  I’d love to hear if someone has an ethics aspect to their argument, one way or the other, though.  That should be interesting. 

As usual, I’ll let the poll run a while before I chime in with my own opinions.  Thanks, in advance, to all who participate! 

Sorry for the little teaser in the last blog entry.  I couldn’t help myself.  Besides, the trip was fun. 

It wasn’t real productive as far as providing venison for my freezer, though.  Nope, those of us in the HogBlog household won’t be eating fresh elk tenderloin this year.   So here’s a quick summary of the most memorable parts of the trip.  A more detailed account will be available on the JHO Journal later this month.  I’ve also got a lot of video to wade through to see if I can put some kind of comprehensive production together.  Unfortunately, I left my external hard drive (containing the first three days of video) at the lodge, so Rick, the outfitter, is mailing it to me tomorrow.  Should be a week or so to get it in and get the footage edited.

So anyway, here’s the skinny…

My brother and I met up in Montrose, CO to hunt with Rick Webb’s Dark Timber Outfitters.  We’d hunted with Rick’s organization during the first period rifle season in 2005, and had great success, with my brother taking a 320″ bull on the first morning and me taking a raghorn bull the next day. 

Of course, never content with success, we decided to go back with archery tackle this time and up the challenge a touch.  As it turns out, it wasn’t a bad plan, but sometimes things just don’t quite work out as you’d like them to.

First of all, the weather had been very consistent for almost a full week.  Rick ensured us that this was a good thing, as the elk would be moving, feeding, and watering on a consistent schedule.  It had been warm and dry, which wasn’t exactly what I think of when I think of elk hunting in the Rockies, but at least the elk had had time to get into a sort of pattern. 

Of course, we arrived on Friday, and by the time we went to bed on Friday night, a thunderstorm swept down over the mountains.  For anyone who’s never experienced a thunderstorm at 9200 feet, it can be quite spectacular.  Unfortunately, for the elk that had been settled into a calm weather pattern, it was the first monkeywrench in our plans.

Read the rest of this entry »

Wow, thanks to all for the many comments while I’ve been gone!  I’ll try to go through and catch up with everyone when I get home.  Looks like a couple of new readers have popped in, and I appreciate your feedback for sure!

I also got a glimpse at the poll results.  Very interesting indeed!  As of this morning (9/22), the voting is dead-even.  …Thought provoking, to say the least.  I’ve some minor ambivalence on the topic (which is why I put it up), so it’s great to read what you all think.

Oh… my elk hunt?

It was a lot of fun. 

Actually and for a change, I didn’t go away this weekend.  I suppose I could have used some of that time at home to post up a weekend topic of something, but the fact is I mostly avoided the computer.  In fact, as far as I can remember I didn’t even turn it on Saturday, and only bumped through my email on Sunday. 

It was nice.

My day Saturday was actually spent working up a good sweat as I sorted gear, dug stuff out of dark corners, and packed my truck for my upcoming CO elk hunt.  All of my hunting clothes were inventoried, washed in scent-killer (free samples, I usually buy hypo-allergenic Woolite), then packed in giant ZipLoc bags to stay relatively scent free until I get to the woods.

I also had to sort gear.  I just received three more packs of Magnus Stinger broadheads, so I shouldn’t have any problem running out of “ammo”, although of course my plan is to get it done with just one.  I figure, why go out with only three razor-sharp broadheads in my quiver, when I could hit the woods with a dozen? 

I double-checked my archery box, to make sure I had plenty of string wax, extra nocks, a spare string, fletching cement, and other assorted and varied accoutrements.  I had a string come partially unwrapped on a South Carolina hunt a few years ago, and it almost finished my trip.  Odd as it sounds, if you shoot traditional it’s a lot harder to find supplies and equipment…even something as basic as a string.  The flip side is that trad shooters like myself face very few show-stopping issues short of breaking a string, or breaking the bow itself.  Anyway, I was able to fix the problem with a little dental floss, but I will never again travel out of state without a spare string. 

So clothes and weaponry… that’s really all one needs, right?

Well, not so.  Over the years I’ve accumulated all sorts of gadgets and gizmos.  I’ve dispensed with several of those, but a couple of items come with me all the time now.  My Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) always goes with me when I hit the backcountry.  I hope I never need it, but it sure is nice to know that if I ever do, I can have help at my location within hours (or less).  The GPS is also pretty handy, and while I still own and use a compass, the convenience of a GPS for things like finding stands or trails (or sometimes, the truck) in the dark can’t be beat. 

And finally, there’s my rangefinding binoculars.  I didn’t think I needed a rangefinder when I started bowhunting, but after many frustrating misses, I learned that judging distance in the field can be trickier than you’d expect. 

Cameras were next on the list.  My “good” camera, the Sony digital always goes in the truck.  I also made sure the digital camcorder was fully charged and the memory was clean.  Finally, I checked my pack to be sure the little pocket camera was still where it belonged and fully charged. 

After a run to the hardware store to secure plenty of batteries for everything, I checked that off of my list and noticed that the day was almost gone! 

There’s a ton of other stuff that I’ll be tossing in before I roll out on Wednesday evening, and I’ll probably end up repacking half of what I’ve already got… but that’s part of the fun. 

Are we there yet?