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Avon's Stephen Couch practices using an elk cow call. Hunting has declined in Colorado over the last 15 years, but Couch and others have recently taken up the sport.
EAGLE COUNTY -Three hunters fired several shots at an elk herd that escaped up a mountain and disappeared somewhere in the Ute Creek Valley near Wolcott. In another part of the valley, Stephen Couch and Eric Wardell saw an opportunity.
Carrying their rifles, the men scaled a snow-covered slope. Forty-five minutes later, the men reached the top of the mountain and the herd was walking toward them.
Couch took a few deep breaths and aimed his friend's Winchester rifle at an elk's heart. He pulled the trigger and the elk froze. Seconds later, it dropped and Couch had his first kill.
That was last November and the second time hunting that year for Couch, originally from Lubbock, Tex. The hunt sounds exciting, but Couch did it for the 400 pounds of meat (he started hunting after friends brought him some elk meat that he thought was quite tasty).
"We still have a whole bunch left," said Couch, an Avon resident who moved to the valley in 2002 and is a superintendent for Holy Cross Building and Design.
The number of people hunting in Colorado has decreased 24 percent from 1991 to 2006, said Nicholas Throckmorton, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
That's more than a 10 percent nationwide decrease, he said.
The number of new hunters may not be increasing, but the profile of the traditional hunter is changing, said Tyler Baskfield, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. Young professionals whose parents never hunted and women are getting involved and "that's a great thing," he said. "No longer is it kind of a good ol' boys club."
Beginner hunters
Carrying their rifles, the men scaled a snow-covered slope. Forty-five minutes later, the men reached the top of the mountain and the herd was walking toward them.
Couch took a few deep breaths and aimed his friend's Winchester rifle at an elk's heart. He pulled the trigger and the elk froze. Seconds later, it dropped and Couch had his first kill.
That was last November and the second time hunting that year for Couch, originally from Lubbock, Tex. The hunt sounds exciting, but Couch did it for the 400 pounds of meat (he started hunting after friends brought him some elk meat that he thought was quite tasty).
"We still have a whole bunch left," said Couch, an Avon resident who moved to the valley in 2002 and is a superintendent for Holy Cross Building and Design.
The number of people hunting in Colorado has decreased 24 percent from 1991 to 2006, said Nicholas Throckmorton, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
That's more than a 10 percent nationwide decrease, he said.
The number of new hunters may not be increasing, but the profile of the traditional hunter is changing, said Tyler Baskfield, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. Young professionals whose parents never hunted and women are getting involved and "that's a great thing," he said. "No longer is it kind of a good ol' boys club."
Beginner hunters
Most of the hunters that go to Challenge Outfitters are veterans - they know what they are doing, said Mark Powers, an employee at the Avon hunting gear store.
Some beginner hunters need a little coaching. A woman and a man once seriously asked, "At what elevation do deer turn into elk?"
"I just kind of cracked up and said, 'Well, they're two different species,'" Powers said.
Usually, beginners complain that they can't hunt for a certain animal in a certain area, Powers said.
"They kind of don't understand that," he said.
Hunters buy licenses, or "tags," for certain animals. A tag for an elk, plus fees, costs $49 (nonresidents pay $504).
The state is divided into sections called "game management units," where only certain animal species and genders can be killed by a designated number of people.
People hunting in Eagle County could apply in early April to hunt for a bull elk in one of the county's five game management units. Not everyone can hunt in one area for a bull elk, so the agency holds a lottery. Those not chosen in the drawing can accumulate points that will eventually allow them to hunt in one of the game management units.
"It definitely narrows it down so you don't go out killing everything," Couch said.
Some units in the state have an unlimited number of tags available, so a hunter could buy a tag the day before his or her hunt.
Some beginner hunters need a little coaching. A woman and a man once seriously asked, "At what elevation do deer turn into elk?"
"I just kind of cracked up and said, 'Well, they're two different species,'" Powers said.
Usually, beginners complain that they can't hunt for a certain animal in a certain area, Powers said.
"They kind of don't understand that," he said.
Hunters buy licenses, or "tags," for certain animals. A tag for an elk, plus fees, costs $49 (nonresidents pay $504).
The state is divided into sections called "game management units," where only certain animal species and genders can be killed by a designated number of people.
People hunting in Eagle County could apply in early April to hunt for a bull elk in one of the county's five game management units. Not everyone can hunt in one area for a bull elk, so the agency holds a lottery. Those not chosen in the drawing can accumulate points that will eventually allow them to hunt in one of the game management units.
"It definitely narrows it down so you don't go out killing everything," Couch said.
Some units in the state have an unlimited number of tags available, so a hunter could buy a tag the day before his or her hunt.
Debbie Darrough, a realtor for Prudential Colorado Properties and 19-year resident of Eagle, bought a hunting license three years ago and she has been hunting ever since with her husband, Dave.
Debbie Darrough's stepfather hunted and that's how Dave, a lead lift mechanic for Vail Resorts, got started. The men used to hunt together until Darrough's stepfather died.
"It used to be a guy's thing but now he takes his wife," Debbie Darrough said.
She started because she worried about her husband going hunting by himself. And it's nice to get away from cell phones and television for a week, she said.
She also likes the tasty, tender and lean elk meat, which is better than the meat the grocery store offers, she said. She has yet to pull the trigger on an animal. In fact, the Darroughs haven't taken home any animals since husband and wife began hunting together.
"I don't know if I'm a jinx," she said, "because he hasn't been too successful in the last few years that I've been going."
But she still enjoys following animal tracks in the snow.
"And the cold doesn't bother me," Darrough said. "If you're prepared you'll do just fine."
Why hunt?
Debbie Darrough's stepfather hunted and that's how Dave, a lead lift mechanic for Vail Resorts, got started. The men used to hunt together until Darrough's stepfather died.
"It used to be a guy's thing but now he takes his wife," Debbie Darrough said.
She started because she worried about her husband going hunting by himself. And it's nice to get away from cell phones and television for a week, she said.
She also likes the tasty, tender and lean elk meat, which is better than the meat the grocery store offers, she said. She has yet to pull the trigger on an animal. In fact, the Darroughs haven't taken home any animals since husband and wife began hunting together.
"I don't know if I'm a jinx," she said, "because he hasn't been too successful in the last few years that I've been going."
But she still enjoys following animal tracks in the snow.
"And the cold doesn't bother me," Darrough said. "If you're prepared you'll do just fine."
Why hunt?
Trent Hubbard grew up in Olathe, Kan., and hunted dove and quail with friends.
Hubbard moved to the valley in 1992 and began hunting elk nine years later after a friend asked him to help carry out an elk he had shot near Castle Peak.
"There were no trails and it just seemed to have all the elements of a very natural experience," said Hubbard, a home builder who lives in Avon. "There was a certain amount of solitude, you saw a lot of wildlife."
Now that Hubbard hunts elk himself, he feels as though he is a farmer harvesting his crops.
"We all need that," Hubbard said. "We all need to sort of intertwine with the most fundamental level of nature."
For Hubbard, a typical hunt involves parking at a trailhead in either Holy Cross or Eagle's Nest wilderness and up to a 16-mile hike each day to track elk.
Hubbard said he once carried a 100-pound elk hindquarter for "five or six" miles after a kill. But usually Hubbard and his hunting partner carry out the front part of the elk, then return with horses, which carry the heavier hindquarters back to the front country.
It's not just about being outdoors, according to Hubbard, who said hunters have stronger concerns about land conservation and wildlife habitat and population management than most other people.
"That's a group of environmental conservationists that I can identify with and support," Hubbard said.
Hubbard moved to the valley in 1992 and began hunting elk nine years later after a friend asked him to help carry out an elk he had shot near Castle Peak.
"There were no trails and it just seemed to have all the elements of a very natural experience," said Hubbard, a home builder who lives in Avon. "There was a certain amount of solitude, you saw a lot of wildlife."
Now that Hubbard hunts elk himself, he feels as though he is a farmer harvesting his crops.
"We all need that," Hubbard said. "We all need to sort of intertwine with the most fundamental level of nature."
For Hubbard, a typical hunt involves parking at a trailhead in either Holy Cross or Eagle's Nest wilderness and up to a 16-mile hike each day to track elk.
Hubbard said he once carried a 100-pound elk hindquarter for "five or six" miles after a kill. But usually Hubbard and his hunting partner carry out the front part of the elk, then return with horses, which carry the heavier hindquarters back to the front country.
It's not just about being outdoors, according to Hubbard, who said hunters have stronger concerns about land conservation and wildlife habitat and population management than most other people.
"That's a group of environmental conservationists that I can identify with and support," Hubbard said.
