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Filling Dave's Bucket List

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Filling Dave's Bucket List

Postby saddlesore » 02 09, 2023 •  [Post 1]

This is a short tale with again few photos.

1972 New Mexico - Copy.jpg
1972 New Mexico - Copy.jpg (132.63 KiB) Viewed 313 times


Filling Dave's Bucket list

The year was 1972. I had upgraded to a 1970 Dodge, ¾ Ton pickup, 2wd. I had sold the 58 Ford and outfitted the Dodge with the same stock rack. A little later, I outfitted it with an eight-foot slide in, overhead, camper. I still only had one horse. A close friend of mine that I worked with, Dave Humphreys, had been in a terrible accident. The car he was driving was hit by a train at a railroad crossing. Dave was all pinned together in his hips and wore a colostomy bag. He could not get around very well, but wanted to hunt elk once in his life. He had endured many surgeries and it appeared this was the best he was ever going to be..

In those years, in New Mexico, you could buy a general bull tag that was good for the northern part of the state from about Albuquerque, north to the Colorado state line. However, you had to specify an area and could not hunt elsewhere. The season was early October. Cow tags had to be applied for and good for a certain area. Those hunts were in December.

Dave agreed to buy a general bull tag and I offered to take him into the Pecos Wilderness east of Santa Fe,NM.. I applied for the late cow hunt and drew a license so I could tag a cow for the year’s supply of meat, but still guide him for his hunt.

Dave had a small camping trailer and pulled it with a Jeep that was sure under powered to pull the trailer. That was to be our elk camp. Dave insisted that he buy all the food and such and I had no idea what we would eat. It turned out he was a heck of a good cook and we ate good. My only job in camp was dishwasher.

I took the lead and was headed for the Jack’s Creek Campground, north of Pecos, New Mexico and Dave followed. What should have been a three hour or less drive took over four hours as I had to stop often to wait for Dave and his rig at the top of almost every hill. No worries though as we were not packing in and would stay at the campground with running water and an outhouse. In those days, camp grounds were free to stay in. This would have been on a Friday before the season opened. There were not many hunters and we had the one end of the campground reserved for horse traffic to ourselves.

Dave's Rig.jpg
Dave's Rig.jpg (62.36 KiB) Viewed 313 times


I had built a platform on my saw buck pack saddle that Dave could sit on, but cross ways, not astride. I had to find a step or a log to get Dave mounted. I would lead my horse and walk.

If I remember correctly Dave was shooting a .270 that he had bought especially for this hunt. I strapped my scabbard to the side of Sugarfoot, my horse, opposite of Dave's feet and slid his .270 in.

Opening day, I figured the elk would be on the north slope of Round Mountain where Jim had shot his bull a year or so before. We didn’t leave until after day break. It was enough of a challenge to get Dave on the mountain without trying to do it in the dark.

Even at that, half way up the switch backs, Dave called out. “Stop, stop, my belly button came loose”. His connection to his colostomy bag had broken loose. We had to stop and unload him. He had to re-glue or however it was held on. This was another delay, but it was his hunt. I didn’t even have a tag, so no worries. However, I knew Dave could not make the trip up the mountain more than a few times.

Approaching Round Mountain, I helped Dave down and set him up on a the edge of a small clearing next to the timber where I knew elk came out of. Once he was situated, I backed off and went back down the trail a quarter mile or so.

It was an hour, maybe two, fairly late in the morning when a shot up his way woke me up from a nap I was taking. About five minutes later I heard another shot. I was pretty sure it was Dave as no other hunters were around, so I walked up to his location.

There was Dave, standing along side a legal spike bull with a fork. As I arrived I saw that he was in tears and thought something had happened to him. I asked him and he said no. He was so thrilled that he was able to accomplish this. After maybe two rolls of film, and story retelling, I convinced him that we needed to get the elk gutted, skinned, and quartered. A half a dozen cow elk had came by him and that lone spike bull.

Dave was enough help holding legs and pulling hide that I was able to gut it and get it skinned myself. Luckily I had a crosscut saw and hand axe in the saddle bags I had secured behind Dave, to split the spine. The quartering went a little harder. He was able to hold the rib cage open and steady it, but I had to do the rest. With couple of elk under my belt now, I was more familiar with the process and in three or four hours we had it in bags and hung in the timber. Dave was adamant he wanted have it mounted and save the remainder of the hide to have it tanned. Caping it took an extra hour though. Some might question why mount a spike bull, but this was going to be Dave's only elk and that proved true in the future.

All done, I loaded Dave up by finding a big rock high enough and I hiked back down to camp leading him. Later we enjoyed a dinner of liver and onions. After the liver was cooked, Dave drained a can of peas and added to the side until they were just browned a tad. I remember that as I have had it many times since.

I removed the seat from the pack saddle and spent the next three days packing. Two trips for the quarters and one for the head and hide. I was sure glad it was a small bull that I could handle myself.

The following day,when we were ready to leave, Dave and I loaded the elk into his camping trailer. His wife later admitted she wasn't too happy with the lingering smell. I don't think Dave cared. It was a longer trip home as another few hundred pounds in the trailer slowed Dave down and more. Dave was still grinning when we unloaded the elk at his place.

A few day ago, I emailed another friend in Albuquerque to see if Dave was still around. I wanted to see if Dave had any photos he could send me to use in this tale. Unfortunately Dave passed away from an infection after I had moved to Colorado in 1974.

Of all the hunts where I have succeeded in getting first time hunters an elk, this is the one I remember the most.

I have another short tale of the ensuing cow elk hunt that same year that I will do next , a little later.
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saddlesore
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Re: Filling Dave's Bucket List

Postby Tigger » 02 10, 2023 •  [Post 2]

This was a good one Vince. If we were sitting around a campfire with a beverage in hand, I would offer up a toast to Dave and his elk. But we are not, so I will post a lightbulb in a yellow circle instead. Here's to Dave! :idea:
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Tigger
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