Drive to Denver Airport

We made it to the Airport in Denver, through the snow storm, without too much trouble. The driving was slow (45mph) on mostly snow covered roads, but no wrecks on our part. The eastbound lanes were closed near Idaho Springs due to a wreck that killed four people. We could see the wrecked van on the way back to Avon from the westbound lanes. My guess is they were driving entirely too fast since we saw a lot of people doing just that.

Mom and Dad made it home by 11pm Central time. We had a good visit and look forward to the next.

I think we have had around 10" of snow. At least that is what I cleaned off of my Tahoe this morning, but as much as the wind has blowed it may have been more than that. I bought some amo at the Denver Bass Pro store and may buy some snowshoes this week to try my hand at hunting bobcats and coyotes this weekend. As soon as we get a free day we are going to take ski lessons and start skiing. We may take the kids for lessons this weekend.

Drive to Leadville, CO

We drove to Leadville on Saturday so Mom and Dad could really see the mountains. Not that they were'nt from Avon, but the views from Leadville are incredible. The drive was good and Mom and Dad enjoyed the scenery, something Colorado has no shortage of.

The first picture is at Turquoise Lake near Leadville. Dad and the kids are standing on the road that runs over the levy. Mom and Heather stayed in the car because it was 34 deg and wind off the lake was cold. The road past the lake had not been cleared and was only open to 4x4 and snowmobile. There were a lot of snowmobilers using it. This was our first time to see the lake but I'll have to make it back to fish for Lake Trout sometime.

The second picture is from HWY 24, which runs from Avon through Leadville. The largest snow covered mountain in the background is Mount Massive, which is one of Colorado's 14ers and stands 14,421 ft. I believe it is Colorado's second highest peak. The sun was really bright so the big valley in the foreground is really dark looking.

The third picture is a WWII, 10th Mountain Division Memorial. The 10th Mnt. Div. was located along HWY 24 between Minturn and Leadville. This particular memorial is located closer to Leadville at the entrance road to Cooper Mountain Ski Resort. The old foundations for all of the structures can still be seen in the huge valley where they were stationed. They were an elite group trained in the surrounding mountains. They fought in the Apennine and Alps Mountains in 1945 against the Germans where 990 of them were killed.

The fourth picture is another of Mount Massive from the Turquoise Lake levy. It is the opposite direction from the first picture.

Beaver Creek's Lighting of the Tree

We went to Beaver Creek tonight to watch the lighting of the Christmas Tree. We ate at Blue Moose Pizza, watched the tree lighting and fireworks and the kids got to ice skate for free. We will probably buy them skates for Christmas.

The last picture is of Beaver Creek taken yesterday from Wildridge Subdivision just north of Avon. You can see all of the ski slopes. The snow covered peaks in the background is the Holy Cross Wilderness Area.

The second picture is Mom, Dad, Heather and the kids in front of a sculpture of a Grizzly looking at an Indian boy. The boy is holding a small bow and the bear has an arrow sticking out of his hind quater. The bear seems to be asking, "Now why did you do that?".

The first picture is of fireworks behind the Christmas tree.

Friday

Kenneth got the pics of Dustin's buck to me. They aren't in the field pics, but its all they got. I think it is a buck to be proud of and wouldn't have hesitated to take the shot. Even if I can't hunt this season it's nice to follow along with everyone elses seasons. I've got to get out and hunt coyotes and bobcats soon though. i'm going to use my shotgun and #4 buck. I won't have the range I would have with Dad's .223, but it has better range than the couch.

Happy Thanksgiving

We stuffed ourselves with Turkey and all the trimmings today. I don't know if I'll even eat supper. We drove the parents down to Eagle this evening so they could see more of the area and let the kids play at the Brush Creek Playground next to Eagle Ranch. We will go up to Beaver Creek tomorrow night and watch the tree lighting and let the kids ice skate for free. Mom and Heather are going on their annual Day After Thanksgiving shopping trip, but instead of Paducah, KY it will be Glenwood Springs, CO. We plan to drive up to Leadville Saturday so they can really see the mountains.

Heather, Mom and the kids have got the Christmas tree up and are putting the decorations out as I type. Dad is laid out on the recliner right now being lazy after eating too much turkey.

A friend of mine, Kenneth Thompson, called yesterday evening and told me his son Dustin had killed a good Whitetail buck that morning. He sent me a cell phone picture. The buck was a good 9 point with a 19" spread. The left side with five points was bigger than the left. Maybe he will get a picture too me by email and I'll get it posted. I could have listened too their bowhunting tales from this year all night. I told him I would shoot a forkie right now, I'm so desperate to hunt.

Thanksgiving Bowhunting Memories

One last day at work this week. Looking forward to the four day weekend. Back home this would have been a weekend of bowhunting whitetails. This is normally a good weekend because the deer have had a few days to calm down after the first shotgun season and there are still bucks out cruising for does. One thing I hope I never lose is my memory of all my previous hunts. They are part of what makes bowhunting so fantastic, any hunting for that matter.

One of the biggest bucks I ever shot at was during this weekend several years ago. When I quietly approached the stand in the dark, I could hear a deer walking around in the cut corn field. The stand was about 50 yards inside the treeline and I was approaching from within the woods since I expected deer to be in the field feeding. Once in the stand, I could still here the deer but assumed it was a doe until it got light enough I could see a buck. I started grunting at him and he came in from up wind on a string. I was at full draw with the buck at 12 yards but needed one more step. Just as I convinced myself I could slide an arrow through the hole I had he turned and walked back to the field. I grunted him in two more times in the next 15 minutes. He kept going farther and farther behind me into the woods but would come back to the grunt call each time. My fear was he would eventually get down wind.

He eventually got behind me about 100 yards and I started grunting really loud at him and he came back for the third time, but this time he took a route closer to me and gave me a perfect broadside shot. I had stepped off the very spot he was standing and knew it was exactly 27 yards, but I went into auto pilot and placed the 20 yard pin only 1/3 of the way up and slid the arrow right under him. I was hoping I was mistaken and continued to hope he would fall. No chance. To my amazement, I was able to call him in again to about 40 yards but I couldn't get a shot and he headed out across the corn field to never be seen again. Since amost every buck I have ever missed was missed low, I have gotten over some of the autopilot mode of aiming 1/3 of the way up unless the buck is really close. I have had better luck aiming 1/2 way up.

He was a warrior of a buck and appeared to have lost his right eye earlier that year. If it wasn't lost it was hurt pretty bad. He also had a busted point or two on a really good frame. He had a really heavy typical 8 point frame that was at a minimum 20" wide. He was a perfect picture of a mature rutting whitetail.

More Taxidermy

The deer is a customer mount I completed back in IL. It was killed with a rifle in KY and grossed 201 and change. It is the biggest deer I ever mounted. The turkey is also a customer mount and was killed in IL. The Mallards were mounted several years ago and were also for customers. Hopefully if I get to buy a place here within the next year, I'll have a garage or shed large enough that I can work on some pieces to enter into a show or two. Maybe I'll even get to enter my first elk or mule deer.

Thinking that maybe next spring we may try to buy a house in Leadville even if our house hasn't sold. There are a couple older/cheaper houses on the market that look like a person could put some effort into modernizing and could make a nice profit if they choose to sell. There is one in particular that I'm interested in, but who knows if it will still be there and I'm not sure we can qualify while still having the house in IL. I do know that the price is low enough that the mortgage would be less than rent here near Avon, and I'm already tired of throwing money out the window on rent.

I have included a couple pictures of some shoulder mounts of whitetails I have done in the past and entered into a show or two. Really has nothing to do with the original direction of my post but I wanted to try adding pictures and the blog is labled Bowhunter.

Parents are here for Thanksgiving

We picked Mom and Dad up in Denver last Saturday. They'll be staying until the 28th. This is their first trip to Colorado and their first time in the Rockies. We were excited to see them for the first time in three months.
I would like to go home for Christmas but I don't believe it is possible. It would not only allow for a lot of visiting, but I could do a little late season bowhunting back home since I'm still technically an IL resident.
To be honest, I'm about to go out of my mind not bowhunting whitetails during November. Next fall/winter will be different, I'll be a CO resident and I'll be able to spread my tags out for elk/deer/bear and antelope. I may even take a couple short trips to NE for some public land whitetails if the finances are in order, ie. I've sold my house in IL.

This is a brand new blog and I'm a brand new blogger, so I'll probably have to get through the learning curve before there is much info here.