The number of Soldiers assigned to my command grew with each promotion and assignment, peaking as a Brigade Commander and about 3,200 Soldiers. God I was young, maybe too young, but I was immediately given the charge of 31 infantrymen in my platoon. I flashed back to my first day at my first assignment, 1st Platoon Leader, Alpha Company, 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry, 2nd Brigade, 24th Infantry Division. For the first time in 27 years I wasn’t in command of anyone. I was driving across the Kansas prairie, staring at the horizon and a long straight endless stretch of I-70 West, when I had an epiphany. The summer came and went in a flurry of retirement preparation and archery tournaments. So, I settled on the Comanche National Grassland. After further research I realized the Pawnee was highly fragmented and checkerboarded with private land that could complicate my hunt. There were a few other places to go, but I focused on the Comanche and Pawnee National Grasslands of Colorado. Across a great deal of their range, they inhabit flat land that is good for row crop agriculture and grazing livestock, thus most of that land is private. It wasn’t long before I figured out that hunting pronghorn with an over the counter tag on public land is a bit more difficult than hunting other big game species. After coming up with primary, secondary and tertiary plans to find a good mule deer buck, with elk and bear as a bycatch, I set that work aside and began planning in earnest to find public land speed goats. My research of my favorite elk hunting areas had me firmly believing that I could hunt three species: elk, mule deer and black bear all in the same general area. Then drive back to Kentucky, pack the truck and leave to hunt with elk, pronghorn, black bear and mule deer tags in my pocket. I would drive to Pennsylvania to shoot the IBO World Championships in an amateur class. I would retire from the Army on my 46th birthday, August 10th, 2017. So, my post retirement hunting odyssey would be archery, public land, DIY and solo. As the spring and summer progressed, it was apparent that no amount of cajoling, enticement or down right bribery was going to get him in the truck. He very deftly and graciously changed the subject every time I brought up us hunting speed goats together. I tried hard to get my friend to go with me. But I would start the trip with a pronghorn hunt of course. I would also purchase a black bear tag, over-the-counter with CAPS. So, I’d have both those tags in my pocket. I was familiar with the terrain in the Gunnison and Grand Mesa National Forests and that’s where I’d spend my time. I had finally drawn the trophy mule deer tag for my favorite over-the-counter elk unit.
However, that doesn’t stop me from trying to get him in the truck when I leave for the mountains. I doubt we are ever going to travel to hunt. Through those conversations, I’ve learned that pronghorn antelope are his weakness. We talk all the time and in some of those conversations we imagine big western hunts together. We hunt together locally in my home state of Kentucky during turkey and deer seasons every year and will do it even more now that I’m retired. He even brought home some shrapnel, that he gets to carry around forever. My dear friend is a veteran, who has seen more combat than a man should. It’s not his fault that he doesn’t want to travel, he’s earned his anxiety. You see, he simply cannot bring himself to be more than a few hours away from his wife and beautiful girls. It’s a real life tangible obstacle, anxiety. Nope, it’s none of the normal mundane excuses. You might be thinking it’s money, time off or any number of the normal reasons that stop folks from actually doing a big western hunt. He’s almost gone a couple times, but so far, he just cannot do it. I have tried to get him to travel out west and hunt with me. I have a friend who just won’t travel to hunt.
0 kommentar(er)
