| November 2008 | Volume 32, Number Four |
| President | Michel Magers | michel@teamconsulting.biz | (970) 481-3903 |
| Vice President | Matt Dworak | mattd@thecegroup.com | (970) 231-8348 |
| Treasurer | Rod Albers | ralbers@fcgov.com | (970) 223-4649 |
| Secretary | Stacey Litchfield | s_litch@hotmail.com | (970) 667-9423 |
| Membership Director | Marci Riddle | (970) 686-9968 | |
| Range Director | Jim Litchfield | l1tch@msn.com | (970) 226-3058 |
| Range Director | Mike Cummins | cumminmj@co.larimer.co.us | (970) 566-6016 |
| Range Director | Tom Pierce | detailinvest@aol.com | (970) 493-0460 |
| Range Director | Willis Slunaker | willy3151@netzero.net | (970) 482-6830 |
| League Director | Troy Tafoya | troyt@pds-co.com | (970) 566-3480 |
| League Director | Jay Baird | colomtneagle@yahoo.com | (970) 302-0460 |
| League Director | Steve Wixson | swixson@fcgov.com | (970) 490-1357 |
| League Director | Ken Yoder | ken.yoder@colostate.edu | (970) 493-7831 |
| Newsletter Editor | Ken Yoder | ken.yoder@colostate.edu | (970) 493-7831 |
| Youth Archery Director | Toby Trujillo | ettrjt@comcast.net | (970) 226-6279 |
| Director-at-Large | Robert Smith | robertdsmith45lc@yahoo.com | (970) 402-1345 |
| Webmaster | Tom Christian | webmaster@ftcollinsarchery.com | (970) 221-3319 |
Wednesday Night Leagues finished up in August. You can check out all the scores on the FCAA web site. It was a very successful season again. Everyone seemed to have a good time and some even won some money! The FCAA Board would like your input into how our leagues worked out this year. Constructive comments help us to offer a league set up that meets the needs and wants of our members. Please take the time to send Michel (or any Board member) an email or note with your thoughts. We are especially interested in our new cash payout scheme. We can’t please everyone, but we try and please the majority. Let us know what we could do to make it even better!
After reflecting on this year, we would like everyone to take a moment to think about our club and next year. All the Board members and everyone who makes the club, the range and our shoots what they are are volunteers. Please take a moment to think about how you can help out! Following are some places you can help:
Range Director – We need someone to coordinate the efforts to keep our range in shape. While many members show up to help, we need someone to decide what needs to be done on our Saturday work days and make sure the needed equipment/materials are there. Phil Buxton was the past Range Director and deserves a lot of credit for keeping the range in excellent shape! Lately, Terry Chamberlain has been the “go-to” guy to keep the range in such good condition.
Scorekeeper for the Wednesday 3D leagues - This person will enter scores each week for 16 weeks to track the league scores and, every four weeks, to determine the winners and corresponding payouts. Each week, the updated spreadsheet must be sent to the webmaster, who will post them on the FCAA web site. This position requires strong Microsoft Excel capabilities, attention to detail and a commitment to timely data entry.
Editor/Writer – We need someone with good writing/editing skills to help with the text on the web site.
Photographs – We can always use photos of our events. If you would like to take some pictures and send them to us, we would greatly appreciate it!
Range Work Days – The first Saturday of each month starting in June, we ask club members to show up and help us put the range in shape. It usually only takes a half day, depending on how many members show up. The range gets heavy usage and these days help us maintain the quality range we have. Please try and make at least one work day next year.
Join the Board – if you see a position that interests you, contact the current person in that position to see if you can step in. Most of us on the Board have been there for some time and seem to end up trading places now and then. New blood is ALWAYS welcome so let us know if you are interested in ANY Board position. We elect the Board at our Membership shoot in the spring so we need to know before that if you are interested.
Come to Board meetings – all of our Board meetings are open to our members. We would love it if more members came to see what is going on and give us their input. We meet at 7:00 pm the first Tuesday of each month in the Club House. You can sit and listen to see what is involved in running a club such as ours or you can chime in with any comments you might have. You are always welcome!
So please take the time to see how you can help make our club great!
If you went hunting during the archery deer and/or elk season this year, we hope you were successful – however you define that. For those of you who hunt, you need to be aware that the Colorado Division of Wildlife is at the beginning of its 5-Year Big Game Season Structure (2010-2014) planning process. You can go to www.wildlife.state.co.us/bgss on the web to get updates, find out when meetings are being held and provide the CDOW with your input. The Colorado Bowhunters Association is keeping an eye on things and will present input, but every hunter should also be aware of what is going on. We would also encourage you to join the CBA and provide your input to them as well. They speak for all bowhunters, but you have to be a member to be heard! Four of our club members are on the CBA Board of Directors so join the CBA and give us your input. Information about the CBA can be found on their web site – www.coloradobowhunting.org. Don’t just complain to your buddies, get involved in the process and let your voice be heard.
By Matt Jackson
It’s more like the eleventh day bull. My 2007 hunting season was an incredibly thrilling yet frustrating season. I spent the first 8 days of my hunting season with one of the best hunting partners a fella could have, Tim Hansen. Although we endured 6 days of on and off rain in the high country surrounding Vail Colorado, we had daily encounters with many elk. It seemed that luck was never on our side. We had successfully stalked or called elk close, but a clean shot opportunity never presented itself. We left the backcountry frustrated, but spirits filled with so many close encounters.
Two weeks later I headed back to the backcountry on my own for the weekend. The first day of the weekend and 9th day of my hunt I had snuck to within 72 yards of a monster bull feeding with his cows. Painfully, I let the bull walk because of the high gusting winds at our elevation of 11,500’. He was truly magnificent! But it was the right thing to do. The next day was uneventful. No elk to be seen or heard. I left the backcountry dejected, tired, and worried that the season was slipping away.
The following Friday I headed back to the high country for my last solo trip of the season. As I hiked up to the secluded basin I had my last encounter in, my spirit was filled with anticipation. I quietly snuck to a secluded high country pond hoping to surprise any animals that might be wallowing or drinking. No luck. After simulating some heard talk with my calls for an hour, I decided I better try a drainage at a lower elevation. It was 5 pm and I felt I had to make something happen.
After a 45 minute careful hike, I was standing atop a high ridge overlooking a drainage 150 feet below. I let out a spike bull bugle, high to low with no grunts or chuckles trying to get a response. No luck. I decided I would sneak to the drainage in hopes of spotting some elk. After 10 minutes of stalking through the timber down the side of the mountain, I came into a small clearing. It was no larger than 30 yards across. I let out a cow in heat cow call with my Primos Hyper Lip Single and was immediately cut off by a bull screaming not more than a couple hundred yards away. He seemed to be at the same elevation I was when I let out the bugle 10 minutes earlier, but more to the north of me. I quickly looked for a spot in the trees to set up. He bugled again and was now much further down the mountain and seemed to be closing fast. What I had unintentionally done was to make him think he had to get to the imaginary cow in heat before another bull would. The bull he heard earlier, which was me.
I let out another cow in heat call, so he could pinpoint me through the trees and he cut me off again with a loud bugle followed by aggressive chuckling and grunting. Game on I thought! He was hot and ready for action. Within a minute I could hear his antlers hitting the trees as he blazed his way through the dark timber. Typical of most bulls, he stopped at the edge of the clearing obscured behind a 12’ pine tree. All I could see was the tips of his antlers and steam blowing out of his mouth as he raised his head to announce his arrival with a loud guttural growl and bugle. My heart began to pound so hard it was deafening to me. All I could hear was the pounding of my heart and the blood squishing through my veins. It was totally surreal! I just hoped he wouldn’t turn and leave not seeing his intended mate.
He then began to walk to the middle of the clearing right towards me licking is nose and trying to scent the cow! He stopped no more than 20 yards sharply quartering to me, put his head in the air, his antlers on his back and bugled to his imaginary cow. As steam was bellowing from his mouth, my entire body tensed ready for an opportunity to draw.
At the end of his bugle he snapped his head down and looked right at me. We began the stare down, neither of us daring to move. Our hearts were pounding, his with love and mine with anticipation. Steam came out of his nostrils, as he stood there motionless. My heart pounded so hard the surgical tubing on my peep sight shook hard with each beat. Man did I feel alive! I prayed the movement wouldn’t spoke him. After a long stare down he seemed convinced I was a shrub and took two steps to his right to continue his search for the imaginary hot cow.
This gave me a perfect broadside shot. I quickly drew my bow aligned my sight and released my arrow. It was “Zen-like”, almost a blur in my memory. I saw the arrow drill him in the engine room and immediately called to him with my Primos Imperial Sound plate diaphragm call. He stopped 15 yards from where he was hit to turn and look for his lovesick cow in heat. I quickly knocked another arrow and was getting ready for a follow up shot when I saw his legs begin to buckle. I knew I had hit my mark. He slowly walked another 30 yards and quietly lay down to expire. He was dead within a minute of taking my arrow. Words cannot explain how humbled, honored, and lucky I feel to have had such an encounter with this magnificent 11th day bull.
I finished the job of boning him out and packing him into game bags under a beautiful ¾ moon high above the Colorado Rockies. The job took 3 hours and I was able to net over 180lbs of meat! I have boned out other elk on my own, but I had never done it at night and alone. It was exhilarating, but also a little spooky. Archery tackle isn’t much good at night and thankfully I didn’t Matt packing out his bull. have any uninvited visitors to my little party. I made it back to my camp by 10:30 p.m. I then shed my fleece pants that had some blood on them and hung them over a fire I had built to mask any blood scent for the night. I didn’t want any unwanted visitors roaming around my tarp tent.
Saturday morning I began the 2 three-mile round trips back to the kill site to pack the meat and antlers back to my camp. I passed a man and a woman who were hiking on the main trail back to camp with a load of meat and antlers and the man actually asked me where I “found the antlers”. I quickly replied with a big smile on my face, “Oh, they were just laying on the side of the trail”. He had no idea that I had just arrowed this beauty of a bull. I just had to laugh to myself!
I finished the day by packing half of him back to my truck 2.5 miles down the mountain. After getting the meat on ice, I headed back up to camp for a sleepless night reliving the whole chain of events. Eleven miles of hiking and carrying an 85 pound pack for 7.5 miles of it had me wore out.
Sunday morning 7 a.m. I started the day off by packing out a rear quarter and half of my camp gear to the truck. I made the last trip up the mountain at 9:30 a.m. I was so tired at times I thought I was going to vomit. When I got to camp I downed a Wilderness Athlete Shot Gel and meal bar and stretched my legs for 10 minutes and was able to recover pretty quickly. How sweet it was to lash the last game bag packed with back straps and a front shoulder to my frame pack along with the antlers and my bow. I floated down the mountain in an hour with ease holding the antler tips in my hands the whole way down with a huge smile on my face!
I have to give a big thanks to my wife Victoria for making the camo fleece gear I wore and the tarp tent I used to keep out of the rain. Thanks Victoria for having the patience, understanding, and confidence in my abilities to let me run wild in the mountains. It means more to me than I can ever explain.
Next year we will start offering a 3-year membership for $50. When you renew your membership you will have a choice between this and the regular yearly membership. These will have the same benefits as our yearly membership but you only have to worry about it every three years!