Dec 2023. Blues Vol 39 No. 12

RUSTY B
off duty & outdoors
My travel day was perfect,
flights on time and weather was
crisp and cool for my drive from
Denver to Steamboat. I stopped
at my favorite coffee shop, Big
Shooters, in Kremling before
heading over Rabbit Ears Pass.
Snow was forecast for the next
day, but it showed up early and
I soon hit a small whiteout at
the top of the pass with already
about 6 inches of accumulation.
No problem as it only took
a quick turn of a knob and the
4WD on the upgraded rental
truck kicked in and it steadily
continued to the cabin. Upon
arrival, all my hunting buddies
were filled with optimism as we
spent the rest of the afternoon
cutting firewood and getting all
our gear ready for the horse ride
the next day. We were all sure
we would have a successful
hunt. The evening was awesome
as we enjoyed a great dinner,
a roaring fire, a traditional late
night poker game, and way too
much wine and whiskey.
Day 1 of the hunt played out
like this. At 4:00 a.m., we were
up and eating a gourmet breakfast,
however, I am not sure
homemade green-chili, egg and
potato burritos were the best
choice before headed out to the
woods, but they sure were good
at the time. Our opening day
plan was to load the horses into
the trailer at 4:30 a.m. and drive
a short distance down the road
closer to the mountain we were
going to hunt rather than ride
them down the snowy, icy, road.
However, as we stepped outside,
we noticed we got more snow
than expected and it appeared
that there was definitely an ice
layer down first and then snow
on top. Unfortunately, it took
from 4:30 until 8:00 a.m. to get
the horse trailer unstuck from
the icy turnaround down by the
barn and it was 9:00 a.m. by the
time we got the horses loaded
up. But we worked through the
morning troubles and with only
a short haul down to the trailhead,
we made our way up the
trail for about an hour to the
beautiful Aspen meadows mixed
with the dark timber that the elk
love. At noon, myself and one of
the Army’s newest Special Forces
recruits left the larger group
to ride off to a valley we have
had success in the past. At 12:30
p.m. we tied up our horses and
walked to our hunting area for
the rest of the afternoon.
All afternoon, I sat on a hillside
overlooking a beautiful ravine
and saw lots of snow, but no elk.
By 5:45 p.m., it was dark, and
the temperature had dropped
to a freezing, 20 degrees. It
was 6:30 p.m. when I found out
that beautiful Paint Horse, I had
tied up hours ago, had pulled a
Houdini move and somehow got
that knot untied and left. With
no choice after unsuccessfully
searching for the horse, ten
hunters but only nine trail horses
headed off that mountain and
back to the cabin. The owner
of the horses tried to settle me
down and tell me that we would
find the horse and that she was
probably already back at the
barn. Well once off the mountain,
we loaded up the horses in
the trailer for a very slip-sliding
icy drive back to our barn. By
10:00 p.m. all nine horses put
away and temperatures now
around 7 degrees, it was time for
166 The Blues 40th Anniversary Issue