9 Days To Go

In just a few days I board a jet plane headed for Colorado. Elk season is just around the corner and I absolutely can not wait. This year's hunting season down here in Georgia has been pretty much a bust so far. I lost my hunting property down in Coweta County. (The owner of the land is letting a buddy of his bow hunt the property this season, which translated to: TOUGH LUCK RICK) I found some other property up near Madison, GA that I could hunt, but the weekend I was heading up there, the GREAT FLOOD OF '09 hit. After that I came down with the head cold from Hell and was laid up in the house for several days coughing my head off. I'm hoping the Georgia rifle season goes a little better.

But none of that matters now-elk season is upon us and right now nothing else matter in the world than preparing to hunt the elusive wapati in the Colorado high country.

This season however is already looking like it's going to have a few speed bumps. First off Dad recently had a really bad kidney stone attack and has been in and out of the hospital over the last couple of weeks. The bad news is that he still hasn't passed the stone and is having random pain attacks. I'm praying he gets all of it out of his system before opening morning. Secondly, we've had reports from friends who went out the Bear's Ears' to bow hunt a few weeks ago and said there was NO ELK. Apparently the sheep herders were still in the mountains with over 8,000 head of sheep which have spooked the elk elk herds. Not good at all. So the fact Dad not 100% this year means that if I'm going to kill a big one, I'm going to have to hunt hard by myself.

But at the end of the day, elk season is really all about enjoying the beauty and majesty of the Rockies and spending time with my Dad. Even if I never set eyes on Booner, it's still worth the price of admission.

There simply is nothing quite like Opening Day of Elk Season.