1-15-10 The CDOW has posted on their website the 2010 fees and final season dates. The only surprise was that they raised the non-resident bear and cow elk licenses by $100 each and did away with statewide muzzle loading licenses. There maybe other changes but I haven't waded thru all the pages of the new regulations yet.
1-10-10 This morning in Walden at 6am it was -18. That makes for cold elk hunting. I had 4 hunters on the Coyte Ranch this weekend with game damage permits. The elk have been getting into the hay stacks instead of going to the Refuge. For those of you who have hunted the Coyte, these stacks are the onws along Grizzly Creek to the north and south of the camping area. There have been about 200 head coming into the stacks. On Saturday they were at the far south end and were spooked by a snow machine from the adjoining ranch. No shots. On Sunday they were on a ranch to the north of us, we could see them but no chance for a shot. The thinking is that they are coming off of Pole Mountain during the night and coming onto the ranch then leaving just before sun up. The question is why? They are not bedding down in the willows or in the sage just above the Creek. Wit it being as cold as it has been it looks like the elk would spend an awful lot of energy going the 2 miles up to Pole. But they may have food up there also. On Saturday we did see the largest herd of antelope I've ever seen in North Park. They were in the sage above Grizzly Creek on the ranch to the north of the Coyte. We estimated there were 600 to 800 animals in the herd. This is strange because most of our antelope don't winter in the Park. When we left North Park about noon today we stopped and glassed the Refuge and sa probably 500 elk out there in one bunch. With only a foot of snow in most of the Park not all of the elk have moved onto the Refuge but most should be close by.
12-14-09 If you've read the home page you know how the seasons went. I was not satisfied with our kill rates but in talking to some of the other outfitters and some ranchers from up in North Park I realize I have no reason to bitch. On the north end and on the east side of the Park they had a better year than we did but not by much. I had a south end rancher tell me that there was not a single elk killed on his place after the 1st rifle season. Another rancher told me that his neighbor who is an outfitter only had 4 elk killed by his hunters for the total of the rifle seasons. Deer hunters had a pretty good year, not great but better than the year before. I have to believe that the death of all the lodgepole pine has something to do with the elk movement or lack thereof. We still have good dark timber on the ranches, except for the Trownsell (where there has never been dark timber). The elk just don't seem to be using that which is left as much as they used to. Removal of forest products has probably spooked some elk with the noise and heavy equipment, but none of this has happened on our ranches. Elk just seemed to keep moving this year, they were tough to pattern. Enough of that, better luck we hope in 2010. One more thing, the number of moose are up on all of the ranches. During several of the seasons we saw more moose than elk, now would be a good time to start applying for a moose license if you haven't already.
For those of you who have followed my ramblings over the years you know I am fond of referring to the the Denver Office of the CDOW (Colorado's #1 anti-hunting organization) as a bunch of "idiot savants". I had a Dr. at Indian Creek this year who pointed out to me that this was probably incorrect usage of the term. His point was that a true "idiot savant" has occasional flashes of brilliance. He felt sure that there was no brilliance at all emanating from Denver. My apologies to all true "idiot savants".
Its almost time to go to Texas and slay some pigs. They had a bunch of rain down there during the late summer and early fall and expect an explosion of the pig population. When I talked to the Texas outfitter we work with the day before Thanksgiving he said one of the problems with the deer hunting this year was that they were having a hard time seeing them. I asked, "what no deer?' and he said "no, plenty of deer but all of the leaves are still on the trees and mesquite". Every place has it's own kind of hunting problems. Anyways back to the pigs, we can kill as many as we want, we can use our ATV's, we can hunt all day long and we aren't confined to a blind unless we want to be. I've got a couple of hunters going this year who plan to use crossbows, that will be fun to see. Me, I'm taking a new AR with a heavy barrel and a fast twist and some 60 gr. Nosler Partitions. This bullet was hell on hogs this year out of my Rem. 700 and I think the AR will give me faster 2nd or follow up shots. Of course I'm also taking a .44 mag S & W. If you think you might want to try this give me a call, it's a real good time.
The Colorado Wildlife Commission will set license fee's and some of the final season dates at the January 2010 meeting. As soon as I know what they decide I'll get it on the Home page.
Chuck Cross and I will be at the Midwest Sportsman Society Expo. at the Tulsa Convention Center January 28-31, 2010. As usual we will be giving away a free elk hunt for 2010. If you're in the area, stop in, say hello, and register for the drawing. We will be booking hunts at the show so bring your checkbook. At this time I don't know our booth number but I'll post it as soon as I know.
Any time you have a question or a comment please feel free to email me at dell@blackelkoutfitters.com
10-26-09 The snow mentioned below is the most we have had. Other than that it has been very warm with very few elk being seen. For the rifle hunters, when they have seen elk they have killed elk. The second rifle on IC was terrible, we didn't see elk on the ranch until Thursday when we killed one. On Friday we killed 3 but the guys had really worked for them. Hopefully the 3rd and 4th will be better. Stay tuned.
9-22-09 We got our first snow yesterday, it should all be gone by Friday but for right now it is cold. This weather should help us with the rut, which is not yet full blown. The bulls have been bugling strongly off and on for a couple of weeks but they have not gathered up cows in any large numbers. We have large numbers of elk again this year but their movements have been unpredictable. As some of you know the Indian Creek Ranch and the Coyte Ranch are only about 4 miles apart as the crow flies. During the first week of the archery season there were no elk on Indian Creek and this included the private ground to the north of us. The Coyte was covered up with elk during this same time period. We did have elk on the Trownsell during the first week and this is somewhat unusual. During the second week of the archery season everything was reversed, elk on IC and hardly any on the Coyte. The staff did see a large number of elk (300-400) leave the Coyte for the adjoining private land to the east the first day of the 2nd week and these did not return. Third week of archery the elk were evenly dispursed between the ranches. This week will be interesting especially on the Buffalo Pass. This week is the first time we have hunted the Buffalo Pass this year and the staff has been seeing large numbers of elk over there. On this coming Friday our PLO cow hunters will be coming in to the IC and Coyte and I think they stand a good chance of high success. Our Early Rifle Deer hunters come in on the 28th and we have been seeing some large deer on the Coyte. We have 3 hunters for the season on the Coyte and I have a license for the IC. While I have not seen any monsters yet on IC or Trownsell I do have my eye on a non-typical on IC that would make a nice mount. Next time I'm back in the office I'll try and posy some success rates for the archery seasons.
8-5-09 I've been a little lax about updating this lately, but I've been busy. I was on several of the ranches the end of July and saw lots of critters. Saw 66 cows and calves on the Trownsell, 2 good bulls and a bunch of cows on Indian Creek. Saw good bucks on Indian Creek and one at the Trownsell. Everything looks real good. The cowboys told me they are seeing more bears than elk above Indian Creek. Speaking of bears, this is another area where the CDOW doesn't know its ass from third base. When bear licenses went on sale July 14 there were only 60 available for the 5 North Park units. We could kill 60 bears over there and not make a dent in their numbers. Here on the Front Range we also have a bear problem. At my home we have a smallish black that prefers to get into vehicles. He has been in my wife's truck, passenger compartment, no damage, and up in the bed of the truck. He has tried to get into the tack room on the horse trailer. Night before last he tried to get into my grandson's pickup, but since it was locked all it could do was scratch up the drivers door. Some of our neighbors had it get into both of their vehicles the 1st time it visited. The 2nd time it showed up both of their vehicle were in the garage, it got into both and the door must have closed behind it because it broke out a window in both vehicles. When you call CDOW they don't even return your calls. The bear showed up again last night while I was sitting on my deck, it stayed about 70 yds. out ignoring the dogs which were barking at it and then went to the neighbors. It came back by thru my horse pasture about 20 minutes later. If CDOW doesn't show up soon this bear may die of less than natural causes.
I posted the cut-off dates for reservations on the home page so keep these in mind if you want to hunt.
6-6-09 Had an old timer who gets wood from me just leave with a load. In the course of loading his pickup he said "you know 65 years ago I was one busy son of a bitch, we flew two missions on this date" Bill was a gunner on a B-17 flying out of England. On D-Day their first mission was to bomb a crossroad in France to prevent the Germans from moving up heavy equipment. On the second bombing run of the day they went after heavy gun emplacements. His group stayed on to finish out their bombing missions over Germany. Bill's group no longer has reunions, there aren"t enough of them left to get to together. Bill will be 86 this year and is still going strong. He drew his antelope license this year and will also hunt elk with us. God willing he will be back in Texas with us next spring for hogs. So if you know a veteran from the WWII call him up, see how he's doing and say Thanks.
5-20-09 The CDOW website now has the 2008 success rates posted as well as the list of successful bear applicants. Moose should be out shortly and elk will be posted on or about June 9th. My feeling is that there will be a bunch of left over licenses this year. That's good for those who held off applying and now find that they maybe able to hunt. As in years past we can buy licenses for you when the left overs go on sale in August if you don't wait until the last minute to do the paperwork. If you go to the CDOW website to study the summaries and herd counts you will find that some of it reads as fiction but that is to be expected. I should be on the ranches about the 10th of June and I'll let everybody know how the critters look.
4-29-09 I was in Denver yesterday at one of the wholesaler's who I buy powder from and he had some interesting info. According to an industry release Americans have purchased 3.5 million firearms since the election. In addition they have purchased 1.5 billion rounds of ammo just from the 4 major companies; Federal (includes Speer), Winchester, Remington, and Hornady. This figure does not include the ammo that was bought from Black Hills, Ultramax, or any of the remanufactures. All of this buying is pushing the cost of components for reloading higher, out here we are now paying $30 a lb. for powder, if we can get it at all. Federal primers are non-exsistent. At a gun show in Denver this last weekend, only one dealer had Federals and he was asking $75 per thousand for them. CCI's seem to be the only available primers right now. The lack of jacketed bullets for 9mm, 45's and 357 have pushed the cost of lead bullets up also.
In order to build their numbers up at this critical time the NRA is offering a free one year membership to new members. You can take advantage of this offer at http://www.nrahq.org/nrabonus/accept-membership.asp It's beyond me why all firearm owner's aren't members of the NRA.
4-20-09 Welcome to spring time in the Rockies. The electric just came back on last evening after being off for over three days. We had 4 feet of snow on the deck of our house. We lost all or parts of 60 trees due to the heavy snow. A neighbor came in yesterday afternoon with a skid steer and cut out my driveway. The Road Association got the roads open yesterday morning. REA had been using snowmobiles and sno-cats to get to downed lines. Getting from the house to the barn was a treat, luckily the temperature was not cold enough to freeze the stock tanks up solid. Yes I have a generator for emergencies, but it doesn't do much good when you wake up to 3 feet of snow with drifts and the thing is in my large work building 75 yds from the house. So out comes the camp stove so that I can cook in my garage, and melt snow for household water. Bring up the camp laterns for light. Use the generator in the building to run the two freezers. Wear lots of warm clothes in the house, cause we have no heat. What you say no fireplace? Well my wife is allergic to smoke, so that takes care of a fireplace (and smoking cigars in the house). We do have pellet stoves and hot water heat but you need electric for both of those. By the time the power was restored and after all of the snow I had shoveled and waded through I smelled like a goat. Thank God for hot water. And the really sad part of the whole deal is that we would not live anywhere else. We still have another month in which the whole thing could repeat itself, but eventually spring will come.
4-16-09 WARNING according to the Department of Homeland Security you are now reading info provided by a "rightwing extremist who may be involved in terrorist activities" Why?, because I am a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment. Well I got news for them, I don't just support the 2nd, I support the entire Constitution, which is a hell of a lot more than the current administration can say. The estimated number of gun owners in this country is 80 million (US Health and Human Services) these people own almost 200 million firearms. Do you suppose if everyone of these owners had 100 rds for each of their weapons, 2 trillion in total, it would influence the politicians? Not wanting to rant on for to long, I'll leave you with a couple of thoughts. Norman Thomas (1884-1968) six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America said in a 1944 speech: "The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of "liberalism", they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." He went on to say: "I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democratic Party has adopted our platform." Remember that this was in 1944. Hello! One last tidbit and I don't know the author of this quote, "Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Obama loses his." Keep in mind that we need politicians who support the Constitution and that understand they work for us, not the other way around.
4-9-09 Well the website is finally finished and I think it looks very good. I'm still learning how to make changes to it so you will have to bear with me for a while.
Many have contacted me to ask about the hog hunting this year. It was great but different than 2008. This year we killed a lot of boars and didn't see many sows with piglets until the end of March. I think the sows were laying up giving birth and only moving at night or early in the morning. I might be wrong about that. We used a new method of baiting this year that wes really effective. We would did a posthole about 3 feet deep and fill it 1/2 full of corn and then sprinkle some corn around the hole. The deer and turkeys would get the sprinkled corn but only the hogs could root in the hole. For some reason when they got dirt rooted over the hole they would quit. It was also fairly easy to judge the size of the hog coming to the hole by the size of the root. The hog, to get to the bottom of the hole would have to root out enough dirt to get their shoulders into the hole. When you saw a post hole that was rooted two feet wide and 5 or 6 feet long you knew it was a big pig. Several guys, myself included, shot hogs that were in the holes. The hogs didn't come out if they heard us as mine was shot with his head down the hole and with my Ranger running from 40 yds away. A post hole would last about 3 days in most cases and then we had to dig another one. The Texas soil is so sandy that it took no time at all to dig a new one. The broom weed was not a problem this year and you could see for a long ways across the pastures. Lots of deer again this year, both mule deer and whitetails. The ranch also had Texas Dall sheep and Aoudad on it this year. There was one real nice Dall ram.
The 7th was the deadline for limited license applications, but if you forgot or didn't apply we can still get you licenses. Many of the limited licenses will be available when the left over go on sale in August. We will probably have some landowner tags for the Coyte Ranch, deer and antelope, also. These left over licenses will be available on-line also. It maybe the economy but we seem to have a good number of hunts still available. I have noticed that I am getting a larger number of calls from hunters who are looking to downsize from higher priced guided hunts. If things keep going as they are next year we may be offering hunts for Democrats and maybe a few left leaning Repubs. Probably won't be able to hunt them over bait.
One last thing, if you do have any extra funds laying around buy a new weapon. Or better yet buy ammo or components if you reload. Keep in mind that they don't have to take away our guns if we can't get ammo for them.
3-4-09 I'm going to be in Texas with hog hunters from March 6th until March 25th. You can reach me on my cell phone during that time period. 970-215-9595. The CDOW is now saying we have over 11,000 elk in the North Park area with a bull/cow ratio of 26 per 100. Sounds good but is most likely BS. Snowpack for the whole state is 120% of normal but as for North Park it is below normal. Only about 6 feet at the Indian Creek cabin. Of course our big snow months are March and April over there. Here on the front range we haven't had much snow...yet. Another thought from my fertile brain, If you are a gun owner and don't belong to the National Rifle Association, get off your ass and join. Gun owners have never been in more peril than we are right now. It's not the money that the NRA needs (well of course they need that too) but the numbers. Politicans look at large voting blocks and LISTEN. Many folks tell me they used to belong but got tired of all the mailings they got from the NRA. Well I'm a Benefactor member and I get a hell of a lot more mail from them than annual members do. Just cause you get it don't mean you have to open it. I make two donations a year and to hell with the rest of it. Regardless of what you think of the NRA they are the voice of gun owners and deserve your support. And unless you've forgotten, you can't hunt with us unless you belong to the NRA.
One Big Ass Mistake America
3-4-09 Been a bad week. The owner of the Coyte Ranch, Dave Meyring, was killed in a horse accident on the 24th of Feb. He was buried on the ranch this past Sunday. There was a memorial service in Walden on Monday. With the exception of the county fair it was the biggest turnout I've ever seen in Walden. Dave was highly respected and liked by a lot of people from all over the state. He was my friend.
2-18-09 Off to Rapid City, SD in the morning for the Black Hills Boat, Sport and Travel Show. If you live in the Rapid City area stop in and see us Feb. 20-22. I'll be back in the office on the 24th and then I'll settle down and bring this page up to date.
2-11-09 Ok, I'm Back. We have been updating this website for what seems like for ever. In order for the site to open on the new equipment that is out there it had to be reconfigured from the bottom up. Hang on cause I've got lots to bitch about and it will be coming at you.
9-8-08 The first week of the archery season was about like usual, hot and dry. Even though we had morning temperatures in the 20's by noon it was back up in the 80's. Just a sprinkle of rain on 8-31. The higher the ranch the better it was. On the Creek the success rate was 66.6%, on the Coyte 47% with one archery bear that will easily make P&Y. The Buffalo Pass hunters took no elk. For a first weekend that included Labor Day there were not many hunters on the forest. The 2nd week is not shaping up much better, today at the Creek it was in the 80's with light breezes. That really makes for dry hunting conditiond. On the 7th I brought out a 4x5 bull for one of the hunters on the Creek, it had been with two cows and showed evidence that it had been fighting pine trees. They are starting to bugle, but we need some colder weather to turn them on. I'll be back in Fort Collins on the 21st or 22nd and will bring you up to date then.
6-11-08 The Colorado Division of Wildlife has posted the results of the limited license drawing for elk on their web site. Deer results should be posted tomorrow, the 12th. The left over list of limited licenses should be available around the 7th of July and the left over licenses will go on sale on August 12th. We will be able to get you licenses for the 1st and 4th seasons if you are interested and the licenses for the 2nd and 3rd rifle seasons are still available over the counter.
6-10-08 Let me apologize for not keeping this section up to date but we have been working on the site. Some of you have been emailing me to ask about the hunting in Texas. As some of you know I have been hunting hogs in Texas for the past 13 years. 12 of those years we were down south of San Antonio, this year we hunted southeast of Amarillo. The hunt this year was the best hog hunting I have ever had. The ranch we hunted was flat covered up with pigs. The weather was perfect for hunting and the wind was only a problem on parts of several days. We hunted on 16,000 acres of a 360,000 acre ranch. The ranch consisted of large mesquite flats, deep canyons, and tree lined creek bottoms. Lots of windmills dot the ranch and the windmills all have tanks. The accommodations consisted of a double wide that slept 8 and a staff bunkhouse. There was a skinning area with a freezer and running water. We did our own skinning. In 2009 the rec. room/bar will be completed and available for our use as well as a new skinning facility with running water and walk in cooler. The food was prepared by a local ranch wife and brought in. In 2009 I intend to take a cook down with us and we will prepare all of the food. As for the hunts the 1st group of 8 hunters killed 20 hogs. The 2nd group of 7 hunters killed 10. We saw more hogs during the 2nd hunt than we did in the first. I will only say that you need to do some practice shooting before going down there. I was able to kill 2 hogs with a handgun and 4 with a rifle, the other guy who helped me with the hunt killed 3 hogs, 2 with one shot. These 7 hogs were in addition to the ones killed by the 2 groups of hunters.
Always before the hunters have been friends of mine or local hunters from the Fort Collins area. In 2009 we will be offering hog hunts during the month of March. I will set up a page on the website with pictures and prices and dates. At this time I expect the cost to be $700, with unlimited hogs. Price will include meals and lodging. You will be able to use your ATV if you want to bring it. We will offer both bow hunts and gun hunts. Stay tuned for more info or call me.
1-11-08 2 things. 1st, its getting close to the 15th, all hunts not spoken for by then go on sale to new hunters. 2nd, and this may only be important to me but hear me out. Nebraska passed a Concealed Carry Law a year ago that contained no provision for reciprocity or blanket recognition that honors CCW's from other states. As a former law enforcement administrator I know that CCW's reduce serious crime. If Nebraska see's fit to deny me the opportunity to protect myself while in Nebraska then I have the option of not doing business in or going to Nebraska. After the Mid-Nebraska Sport, Boat and Travel Show in early February (which we booked early last year) we will not be doing any business in Nebraska. We will still accept hunters from Nebraska, we just won't be hunting, fishing, traveling, or making purchases in Nebraska. That will be tough because we make a lot of trips to Cabela's. However I feel very strongly about this issue and this is a personal decision. If you are a CCW permit holder or just concerned about your 2nd Amendment rights then I invite you to join me in boycotting all things Nebraska.
11-28-07 The update on the web site is now done for 2008, except for some hunt dates and license fees which won't be set by the state until January.
11-23-07 The 2007 stats are now posted. Call or email me if you have questions.
11-21-07 It's over for another year! We had an excellent year. I haven't got the stats figured yet but will have them up and on the site in the next couple of days. Also the lease for the Coyte has been renewed for the next three years. The other ranches will be finished up in the next couple of weeks. I'll update the site in stages this year. Stay tuned.
10-28-07 For the 1st rifle season, all ranches, the success rate was 31.3%. For the 2nd rifle season, all ranches the success rate was 50%. During the 2nd season the deer disappeared, maybe it was the snow, don't know. It was drying out pretty good when I came down today, supposed to to be nice into next week. The moose are finally moving around in numbers, we had 4 bulls together on Indian Creek on Friday. We are still hearing elk bugle but it is rapidly shutting down. One thing I've noticed so far this year is that a good number of our hunters need more practice with their weapons or put more simply, they can't shoot for shit. Next year a wounded unrecovered animal will count as a kill and that hunter will be done on our ranches. They can still go out onto public land but hopefully they will spend more time shooting. This will apply to all of our hunts. 2 more seasons to go.
10-9-07 PLO cow hunters on the Coyte had a 79.8% success rate, but the Indian Creek was only 25% successful. September bear hunters ended at 66.6%. The Early Deer season ended with 100% success rates on both the Coyte and Indian Creek Ranches. The elk were still bugling as of the 6th but have shut down since then. We have had a little snow in the last week but it was nothing to speak of. Next report along about the 29th.
9-23-07 Archers are having a great year, they killed 8 for 13 again the 2nd week on the Coyte. They dropped off to 25% for the 3rd week, and fell to 7.6% in the 4th week. 33.3% success for the 2nd week at Indian Creek, and 60% for the 4th week. Blackpowder hunters at the Indian Creek also had a 60% sucess rate. The cow elk just now seem to be coming into heat, however it maybe they were in earlier and then shut down for a week or so. Never know, you just got to go with the flow. This week we are hunting cows only. September bear hunters on the Indiqn Creek stand at 66.6 % so far and one guy is still hunting. More about the 10th of October.
9-4-07 The archers are kicking butt down on the Coyte Ranch. For the 1st week they killed 8 bulls for 13 archers and so far this week they have killed 3 bulls and 1 cow. On the Trownsell one of my lady hunters killed a cow Sunday night. It dropped almost to the shot. On the Indian Creek we had no archers the 1st week and only 4 hunters this week. They are seeing a couple of hundred elk every day, but so far no decent shots. Bears are around in good numbers, one wandered thru the Coyte cqmpground, saw 2 on the Trownsell and 1 at Indian Creek. Weather is light rains every couple of days and cool at night.
8-28-07 Archery season has started off well with three good bulls taken in the first three days of the season on the Coyte. Lots of elk around, good looking deer, and numerous bears. Stay tuned.
8-15-07 Hang On, another idiot has riled me up. Many of you may not know but E-bay is going to ban the sale of all gun parts. Specifically it is the doing of Matt Halprin, this simple suck is VP, Trust and Security for E-bay. You can read his statement and sign an online petition against this policy at http:www.petitiononline.com/ebay0001/petition.html If you believe in the 2nd and see this as an infringement of your rights I urge you to boycott E-bay and their other company, PayPal. Hopefully the NRA will also jump their stuff. There are other online auction sites where you can sell and buy firearm parts and firearms, let's use them.
8-8-07 Well the annual stand in line to get left over licenses before the computor goes down day is over. Yesterday began at 5:30 am standing in line until the retailer opened his doors at 6am. Usually I'm first in line this year I was second. Licenses went on sale at 9am. Worked out well as the guy in front of me only wanted 1 license. I had the 18 I needed by 9:45am. The retailer had a girl doing licenses who knew what she was doing and she kept the line moving nicely. It also helps a lot when my hunters provide me with all the needed information the first time and on time. Thanks to all who needed licenses.
7-31-07 Just got back from 6 days on the Indian Creek and Coyte Ranches. Rained real good 2 nights. Saw good numbers of elk on both ranches. Saw another bear and a bull buffalo (there's more to the buffalo story but you have to have been on IC to understand it)on the Indian Creek. Lot's of dead pine trees showing up on Indian Creek and the adjoining forest. Once again we can thank the government for sitting on their butts and doing nothing about the pine beetles when the tree huggers bitched about cleaning up blown down timber in a wilderness area, this provided a thriving enviroment for the pine beetles. For those of you who have hunted the Indian Creek before you will remember the game poles. We had to top these trees so they wouldn't blow over, now they look a little like Stonehedge. Since we hang game from them we will call it "Bonehedge". Only three more weeks until we move into the camps.
7-22-07 Well the big bucks I mentioned we saw on the 12th were in the same place yesterday. My youngest son was with me and while we both enjoy elk hunting it's no secret that we will both wade thru hell to get at a big mulie buck. Also on the Coyte there is an antelope buck with three horns. This isn't as unusual as it sounds and they make for a neat mount. Over on the Indian Creek we also spotted a good mulie, lots of mass, real tall, but probably won't be over 24 or 25 inches wide. This buck won't get hunted until the 2nd rifle season as there is no early deer season in Unit 181 and no deer hunting in the 1st rifle season. There is a hunter from Vermont who hunts with us in the 2nd season who will be all over this bad boy. The ranches got 3/4" of rain Friday evening but the effect will be short lived wiyh the hot weather.
7-20-07 How do you know when the DOW is lying? If their lips are moving or if the sun comes up in the East it's a sure bet. For those of you who are waiting on the left-over license list which had been advertised on their website as coming out on the 18th of July, they now say it will be out around the 25th. The pissants in Denver manage to screw this up about every year. They would cause less hard feelings if they would just say "coming soon" or "watch this site". If they keep on as they are doing now eventually the list will come out after the date they are to go on sale.
7-17-07 Had a call from Duane Kirkland last night. Many of you know Duane from hunting archery on the Coyte Ranch. Duane and his wife were on the Coyte over the weekend, mostly to ride their ATV's. Duane said they saw between 300 and 400 elk on the portion of the ranch behind the parking areas. Since the ranch has no cattle on that part of the ranch the elk have it to themselves. These are probably the same elk that had been on the State Trust Lands adjoining the ranch. There definitely appears to be more elk in the the area this year.
7-14-07 Mike Langley (new 2nd rifle season staffer for the Coyte) and I were on the ranches on Thursday the 12th. We were doing some weed control on the 2 reservoirs. The ranches look good although they are starting to dry out. All of the North Park area is under a fire ban, this probably won't lift until sometime in September. Didn't see any elk on the Coyte but did see a herd of 8 mulie bucks above the Mexican Reservoir that would make a trophy hunter slobber. Blood antlers always look bigger but even with that in mind there were 4 of these bucks that will be over 30" deer come this fall. Deer and elk were seen on the Trownsell. At Indian Creek the elk were in the Mud Draw, we saw probably 40. We also saw a big bear on the way into Indian Creek by big I mean 350 lbs. plus. It had been in a spring area and was wet and muddy but you could see that it was a real reddish color. Talked to one of the other landowners up there and he said the bear was a sow and had a cub. He thought she was larger than what Mike and I figured. He said she had been in the area of the spring most of the summer. From now on I'll pretty much be on the ranches ever week until the seasons start. I'll keep everybody updated.
6-22-07 Spent yesterday on the Indian Creek and Coyte Ranches. Got to the Indian Creek early enough to catch about 75 head of elk out in the open. For those who have hunted this ranch before, the elk were crossing from the Little Bowl to the Big Bowl by way of the salt box. The Little Bowl is being worked on now, the ranch is shredding the sagebrush on the right hand side of the road. Theey also paln to shred the area to the south of the condos. The new reservoir that the ranch is building on Diamond Creek just below the condos is shaping up nicely. It should be done and backing up water by the 15th of July. From the looks of things when it is done and full it will back up water for about 100 yds. It won't fill up this year but should have enough water to be very attractive to the game. The dozer operator told me he is seeing bear about 3 times a week at the site. One he thinks will break the 400 lb. mark. In conjunction with the building of the reservoir the roads are getting improved as well as the creek crossing on Diamond Creek. Antelope are also using the ranch, I saw three does and all had twins and one good buck. Deer are in the edges of the aspen and in good numbers. On the Coyte all of the water sources are running and the reservoirs are full. The grass is in good shape and there are no cattle on the back of the property. Elk were busy in the timber off of the south road as well as off to the north of the north north road. All total I probably saw 100 to 125 elk. Lots of deer though most of the does were in the sagebrush. Antelope are numerous, saw one bunch just above the Mexican that had 5 bucks and 2 does. One of the bucks had very impressive headgear. It rained a bit while I was on the Coyte but just enough to spot up the windshield. All in all the ranches look very good. It will start to dry out now with only small afternoon rain showers from now until September. I'm getting the itch, had to shoot a few gophers on the Coyte to scratch that itch.
3-19-07 Just got back on the 15th from our annual hog hunt in Texas. It was great, rained a bunch while we were down there, but we still got hogs. The rain put the snakes on the move and they have some really big rattlesnakes. The deer I saw were impressive too. Saw a monster 10 pt. that would have gone at least 170. Saw an 11 pt. that didn't have the mass of the 10 pt. but was at least another 4" wider that the 10. Lots of little 8's. We hunted with the Y-Bar Ranch at Tilden, TX. www.ybarranch.com Great guys, great food, really fine lodging and a great place to hunt. Give them a shout if you want to hunt hogs or deer.
3-8-07 Winter has been a long time leaving. Snow is starting to melt on the Eastern Slope of Colorado. Our snow pack on the Eastern Slope is at 180% of normal, while the snow on the ranches is at 87% of normal. The ranches still have the possibility of lots more snow as March and April are the big snow months for that part of Colorado. The spring snows don't last long and they don't bring as much cold weather as the earlier snows. That is good for the animals. Weather related die off is almost non-exsist with spring snows. Even with as much snow as we have had on the Eastern slope this year the deer here on my place are looking good, the fawns from last year are little butter balls. In order to make the last 6 weeks of winter bearable we try to get to Texas every spring to hunt hogs. We leave this Saturday with 8 guys for a three day hunt. Weather is supposed to be in the 80's all the time we are there. That means we have to look out for snakes, but other than that we should have a good hunt.
12-10-06 I spent three days last week pheasant hunting in South Dakota at Echo Valley Ranch in Wessington Springs, 605.539.1730. The website is www.echovalleyranch.com The owners, Ron and Lynn Ogren are great people and fun to be with. They offer hunting on 25,000 plus acres for all wild birds. They have a lodge for the hunters with a game room, great guides, good dogs, and FABULOUS FOOD. Ron has a 15 passenger "short bus" (it probably started life as a handicap bus) to transport the hunters to and from the hunting. When we were there it was colder than hell. The warmest day was 26, the coldest was -17 with the wind chill factor. I can handle cold, but I can't do cold with humidity. If I had worn all of the clothes needed to stay warm I would have had to shoot from the hip. SD pheasant season had been open since mid-October so the birds were pretty spooky. We saw hundreds of birds, although many went out of the fields when the bus pulled in. The first 2 days we hunted there were only 5 of us so we hunted mostly feed strips in order to be able to walk and block. That's probably the best way for a small group to hunt. Ron had plenty of these kinds of fields to keep us busy. On the last day we hunted (also the coldest) there were 14 of us and 5 dogs. This let us hunt big weed patches, CRP, and corn stubble as we had more people to block. With the wind blowing as it was most of the day you had to lead the birds by an extra zip code. Our group each got our limit of birds each of the 3 days we hunted. I think I would prefer to hunt earlier the next time as I'm a 20 ga. double barrel shooter and I like the birds to hold a little tighter. This hunt is not cheap but the hunting is well worth the price. Echo Valley Ranch offers a special rate for youth and college age hunters. So take your kids or grandkids with you, after all they are the future of hunting. Check these folks out if you want to see a bunch of pheasants.
11-20-06 Thank God this hunting season is finally over. I've been hunting several of these ranches since 1976 and this was the poorest hunting I've ever seen. The rain started on Sept. 4, since Sept. 9 we've had snow on the ground. When it wasn't raining or snowing it was warming up and making mud. Our hunters worked for every elk they killed. By the second season many of the areas elk were on the refuge near Walden and they stayed close to it from then on. Well there is always next year and realistically speaking one bad year in 30 I can live with. Thanks go to all our hunters who stuck it out.
11-1-06 MUD,I'm sick of it. When it snows and the temps are in the mid to upper 30's you get MUD. It makes hunting damn tough. We are killing some elk but not like last year. On most of the ranches the elk are there, not in the places we would expect them to be but still there. Last week (2nd season) on the Indian Creek on one day we had probably 400 elk cross or on the ranch. I was eating breakfast at about 9:45am and looked out the window of the cabin and saw 100-120 elk walking up the road into the ranch, some even jumped a cattle gaurd into the adjoining property. Deer hunting has been pretty good even with the wet weather. Not to queer the deal but maybe it will hold off on snowing for the next couple of seasons. More soon.
10-10-06 It hasn't rained for about three days on the ranches, maybe this is the start of a trend. It has not been a good fall for hunting so far. The elk are still bugling, fighting and carrying on. Deer (bucks) have been very scarce, lots of does and fawns. The buck I have seen have either been out in the sage or in the timber on the edge of the sage. The bears have been plentiful this year, I think just about everyone has seen one. Saw what appeared at first glance to be a big coyote on the Trownsell about 10 days age, now I think maybe it was a wolf. Had a white face and chest, red and white along the back, and was big. We've also been hearing some weird howling at night on the Indian Creek. Maybe we'll get lucky and get some pictures. 1st rifle season starts this Saturday, hope it stays dry. If we continue to get moisture we may have to make animal recoveries with a rubber raft. Stay tuned for future updates.
9-21-06 1st week of the archery season went well on most of the ranches, then came the rains. The 3rd week the hunters on the Coyte lost two days of hunting because they couldn't get up to the parking areas because of the mud. That same weekend the black powder hunter on Indian Creek were able to hunt but it was a mess. The Black powder hunters killed a bull on Saturday and one on Sunday, they were a real chore to get out. On the 16th we got snow, 6" at the Coyte, 4" at indian Creek. it melted quickly and then we were back in the mud. It was chilly also on Sunday 17 at the Coyte, 28 at Indian Creek. I can't remember a year when we have had this much moisture this early. The elk are here but it is tough to close the deal when the wind direction changes every few minutes. For those of you who are interested the Colorado Wildlife Commission approved the use of explosives for the eradication of prairie dogs. The national humane groups have their whinners out in force. One was quoted in our paper as saying "the amount of explosive gas used will not be enough to kill the dogs it will only break their eardrums" How long do you think a deaf pd will survive? These people obvisiously have never seen a propane explosion. I'll be back in the office before the 1st rifle season and will update this page then. Be careful out there.
7-13-06 I spent today in a Colorao Wildlife Commission meeting (This is the policy board for the CDOW). It was like being in an asylum, not from the board but from the goofballs who showed up to opppose items on the agenda. Recreational take of prairie dogs on public lands caused a real stink for the Birkenstock sandal wearing ladies from Boulder or formally of California. We can kill these little prairie rats now anytime on private ground, but for the past several years hunters were prohibited from killing them on public lands in eastern Colorado until US Fish and Wildlife decided whether or not to list them as endangered. The Feds declined to list them so the state moved to put them back on the bullseye, so to speak. The next item on the agenda was a request to allow the use of explosives in the control of prairie rats, gophers, and ground squirrels. What they wanted to be able to use was a mixture of propane and oxygen. When ignited it blows up underground, killing the rat and collapsing the tunnels. Well let me tell you the squirrels were represented. The same sob sisters who spoke before were at it again. I think both issues will pass on third reading at next months meeting. The item I sat most of the day to hear was about the killing of elk in Rocky Mountain National Park by snipers with silencers. You have to give the NPS credit, their public relations approach ain't worth a damn. The Wildlife Commission passed a resolution opposing the NPS plan unless it includes the use of hunters and ordered the CDOW to work with our federal elected officials to get the law changed as it regards hunting in the Park. This particular operation has nothing to do with hunting in the traditional sense, it is more properly describe as a culling operation. Whatever you call it if you use hunters it shouldn't cost the taxpayers anywhere close to the 18 million dollars the NPS was prepared to spend. This is your money too, if you don't like the idea of NPS wasting your money, contact your elected Federal officials.
6-25-06 I spent some time on the Coyte and Indian Creek ranches this past week and was very pleased with what I found. The ranches and the entire North Park area are very green and there is water everywhere. The creeks and rivers are still running high and the area is getting rain regularly. On the Coyte the draws all have water in them, and the grass is in good shape. Elk were seen in the middle draw as well as above the north road. The deer look good and there were numerous antelope on the ranch. On the Indian Creek the grass looks better than I have seen it for the past 4 or 5 years. The road along the south from the cabin back is a sea of mud. Elk were in the trees just below the little look out as well as in the Geek and Geeksters meadow. While most of Colorado is under a fire ban, North Park is not. While this may occur, I don't look for it to happen until later in July. That's a good thing, as the bans are usually lifed in September or early October.
6-16-06 Some people have been asking me how the hog hunting went this spring, so I thought I'd give you all a run down. One of my guys took 10 hunters and went down to hunt with Jody Starr Outfitting.(Jody Starr, PO Box 479, Fowlerton, TX 78021 830-373-4426 website www.jodystarroutfitting.com). This is the outfitters that I have hunted with for about ten years. These guys are fun to hunt with, Jody's Dad, Bill, will keep you laughing all the time you are there. If memory serves me right Jody hunts hogs on about 8000 acres and the Frio River runs through his lease. Ray and his guys killed 14 hogs, 2 javalina, and a coyote or bobcat (I don't remember which). So the success rate was 1.4 hogs per hunter. I and another guy went to the Y Bar Ranch (PO Box 375, Tilden, TX 78072 830-373-4452 website www.ybarranch.com). This ranch is about 3 miles on down the road from Jody's. There were six other hunters there besides us. This ranch has 21,000 acres, over 100 feeders and stands, and is really different from the ground Jody hunt's. This is mostly irrigated oat fields with small patches of South Texas jungle. We never hunted the same blind twice. The eight of us killed 11 hogs, or 1.3 per hunter. We saw no javalina, and no coyotes or bobcats. But in fairness to the ranch a trapper who had been on the ranch for three months had just left the day before we got there. The accommodations were the best I've ever had and the food was superb. This ranch also has fishing, sporting clays and 5 stand. Both the Y bar and Jody's are fair chase, open ranches (no high fence) and both are the same price for a hog hunt. Craig Rossi, another one of my staff guys, took 5 guys and went to the DropTine Ranch. This is a high fence operation at Pearsall. TX. (Texas Outfitters Ltd., DropTine Ranch, Pearsall, TX 78061 1-800-TEX-HUNT website www.texasoutfittersltd.com). Craig and his guys killed 16 hogs or 2.6 per hunter. Because it's high fenced this is a smaller ranch and it has only a few feeders and stands. The ranch did take the hunters out during the day in high rack vehicles to drive thru the brush and hunt. The lodge on this ranch is brand new as the old lodge burned down. Craig reports that the lodge is first rate and the food was good. This ranch cost considerably more than the other two. As for numbers of hogs, the Y Bar had the most hogs. I killed every hog I saw (3) but all of the other hunters saw more than I did. The fellow with me saw 12 to 15 and only killed one. The other guys at the ranch saw as many as 40 in one bunch. If anybody wants to talk more about the hog hunting you can call me or go to the web sites of the ranches mentioned here.
4-11-06 Well the deadline for applying for limited licenses has come and gone, if you missed it then may your mother-in-law move in with you forever. Maybe that is a little harsh. There should be left over licenses available for most species in most seasons after the draw. Those licenses will go on sale on or about August 9th. They will be available on-line or we can purchase them for you. Stay tuned and don't think it is to late to get a license in one of the limited seasons.
3-11-06 The Omaha Sport Show is now history but certainly not to be forgotten. We had a great time, met a lot of other hunters, swapped a lot of lies, and in general had a good time. The Show was held at the Qwest Center in downtown Omaha which is easy to get to from everywhere. That always makes it more enjoyable. Thanks Omaha!!!
2-27-06 We head to Omaha on March 1st for the Bost, Sport and Travel Show at the Qwest Center on the 3rd, 4th and 5th. If any of you are going to be at the show stop on by our booth E-18 and say howdy. We will have the Colorado Big Game Brochure if you need one and we can help you with filling them out also.
8/4/05 Damn that was quick. In today's issue of the Fort Collins Coloradoan newspaper the National Park Service says they want to use wolves to control the elk population in Rocky Mountain National Park. The article goes on to say that the wolves would be radio collared and confined to the Park. Public hunting and moving some elk to other locations won't get further consideration according to the article. The article had this quote, "I think it's an extraordinary scientific opportunity for the park to see if wolves can perform the same kind of magic that wolves in Yellowstone did," said Gary Wockner, a member of the state's wolf working group. (see the entry below ref. wolves.) I urge everyone who is concerned about our hunting rights to contact their Congressman and protest the spending of any tax monies for wolf projects in Colorado. Here in Colorado we have a bunch of these warm and fuzzy types who are "et up with the dumbass" when it comes to wolves, bears, prairie dogs, ground hogs and the yellow breasted titmouse. Welcome to our Hell.
7/18/05 Well I've heard this from two different sources now so there must be some truth to it. The Colorado Division of Wildlife (Colorado's #1 anti-hunting organization) has stated that the elk population in Colorado is so out of control that it can never be controlled by hunting alone. Well, DUH. Hell no hunting can't do the job if the simple SOB's keep cutting back on the number of licenses issued and they continue to raise the price on those licenses. If they really wanted to cut down on the number of elk in the state they should be giving a cow tag out with every bull license or they should make cow tags $10 and $25 for residents and nonresidents. I believe that the Denver HQ staff will use the over population arguement to push for the reintroduction of wolves into the state, and remember that you heard it here FIRST. Wolves would damn sure get the elk number down and the anti-hunters would be able to further restrict our hunting opportunities. I had a hunter call me and he told how he had hunted north of Yellowstone in 1997 with an outfitter for a week. During that time he said he saw in excess of 200 elk and killed a very nice 6pt. bull. Well things didn't work out for him to hunt there again until 2004, same area, same outfitters, seven day hunt. Saw 3 elk and killed none. Outfitter told him "Thank the wolf reintroduction program for your lack of success". The whinners will say that the wolves will only kill the weak and sick, yup they will, and when they run out of those what do you suppose they will kill then. There is a real good reason that wolves were killed off early in the last century, they can't co-exist with livestock or game herds. At least not if we want to keep hunting. If you haven't guessed by now the Colorado Division of Wildlife (Colorado's #1 anti-hunting organization) has pissed me off again.
If you think you might be interested in a bear hunt or any other Alaskan hunt I can recommend very highly the guide we used. Keegan McCarthy, PO Box 240034, Douglas, AK 99824, 907.723.3006. His web site is www.oceanpointalaska.com Some of you may have met Keegan at Indian Creek as he has hunted with us for the past several years. Keegan grew up in Alaska where his father was a bear researcher for the Alaskan Game and Fish. Keegan knows his bears.
Well he did it, Gov. Bill "Slick Willie II" Owens signed HB05-1266. Now you can pony up more money every year to fund some fat ass in the Denver office who wants to be warm and fuzzy about the gray bellied hairless titmouse.
BOHICA--Bend over, here it comes again! The DOW(Colorado's #1 anti-hunting organization) and some of their cohorts in the legislature are getting ready to shove it to hunters and fishermen again. HB05-1266 will raise the license fees for resident hunters and fishermen (no big suprise, this has been in the works for several years), but it will also institute a habitat stamp. This stamp is for non-game recovery work and for educational outreach. It will be required for all hunters and fishermen, even if you hunt on your own land. It will be required for non-hunters IF they want to use a State Wildlife Area but not for using the National Forests, hunters and fishermen will need it on the forest. What it boils down to is that hunters and fishermen will once again shoulder the burden for "touchy feeley" programs that the DOW wants to implement. So far this has been pretty much along party lines with the Democrats all in favor of gouging some more money from those of us who provide the real funds for conservation efforts. Anti hunting and fishing elements of the EVIL EMPIRE (CDOW) see this as a way to further erode the numbers of outdoorsmen who use renewable resources. For those residents of Colorado who are concerned about this I would suggest that you contact your representative and tell them to kill the Habitat Stamp part of this bill. For you non-residents who dislike the continuing increase in fees for hunting in Colorado, email or write to our governor and urge him to veto this bill if it comes to him with the Habitat Stamp attached. He can be reached at www.governorowens@state.co or you can mail him at Bill Owens, 136 State Capitol, Denver, CO 80203. His phone is 303-866-2471, fax is 303-866-2003. This bill is being opposed by the NRA and the Colorado State Shooting Association. For anyone who is interested you can email me and I will forward the CSSA email to you concerning this piece of crap bill.
2005 is the first year of the new 5 yr. (mis)management plan by the Colorado DOW. There are some changes, the biggest concerns the 4th rifle season which is now all by drawing. This season now starts on a Wednesday instead of Saturday. The DOW did lower the price of NR licenses by $5, that's really some help to hunters I'm sure. The 1st rifle season now starts the first Saturday after the 9th of October. That means this year the 1st rifle season opens the third Saturday in October. Then for the last 4 years of the plan the 1st rifle season will open the second Saturday of October. I guess the concept of the 2nd Saturday in October was a brain overload for the idiots and savants in Denver. The same thing applies to the way they set and raise the cost of NR licenses, it's based on the cost of living index for the Denver/Boulder area. If you're from Spider Breath, MO you probably don't give a damn about Denver/Boulder, esp.if your standard of living declined in the past several years. It will probably get worse in Colorado now that the Democrat's have regained control of the legislature here. On top of that our dipstick governor cost us a Republican seat in the US Senate. And so it goes in Colorado.
If you have questions, concerns, or just want a place to blow off steam e-mail me here and I'll include the comments of general interest in my updates.
One quick reminder, if you haven't yet renewed your memberships for 2008 for the NRA, your state shooting association, or your state's bowhunters association how about sending off a check today. While I realize that these are not the only worthwhile hunting, fishing, and firearm organizations they are the one's that usually swing the biggest club.
Look for updates on this page often, you never know when some politican or goober from the DOW is going to set me off.
Dell H. Bean
This page was last updated on 12-14-09.
