An old hunting buddy told me, “you make your own hunting luck in these mountains”. The past few seasons I’ve had my share of that kind of luck.
This fall, in late October, I took my 43rd bull elk in my 43 years hunting them. In early November I lucked into a nice mule deer buck on US Forest Service land. Two years ago I had the good fortune of finally drawing a bighorn sheep tag after applying for over 40 years. My sheep hunting partner, Brandon Wynn of New Mexico, and I hunted the mountains in our hunting district for 21 days before we saw our first rams. We’d endured grizzly bears in camp, slugged through over 2 feet of snow in search of bighorns from 6,600 to over 10,000 foot elevation. Due to our ages, I'd just turned 70 and Brandon 60, we called ourselves “Team Geriatrics”.
I took a fine ram in mid-October and Brandon scored his later that month. Our rams turned out to be the best rams to come from our hunting district that season.
With the good hunting opportunities in Montana on our public lands I’ve always felt I should give back to organizations that preserve and enhance hunting opportunities for all hunters to enjoy. With that I’ve joined as a life member of Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (#1291), Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, and Montana Wild Sheep Foundation (#398). These organizations enhance hunters opportunities by providing life-long memories of wild, fair chase public land hunts with friends and family.