Not a good year for me - no winter meat

[Greybeard]

Well this has been a bummer of a big game hunting year. No mule deer, no elk. And I had several nice bucks and bulls scouted back in late September. Opening day of elk season saw 10 inches of new snow on the ground and I was on stand before daylight. Nothing. Nothing for 5 days of the 1st Rocky Mt. Bull Elk Season for me. Didn't even see an elk track opening day and any elk at all for the season. I could not figure out where they went and I tried all my "proven" spots in the past. But that is what makes elk hunting elk hunting isn't it. Greybeard/

[Rock Chuck]

Same here. I got right in the middle of a bunch of elk, but I couldn't see a single one in the fog. Oh, well. It's called 'hunting', not 'gitting' for a reason

[Unclebuck257]

Well boys, count me in the mix too. As Rock Chuck knows from my post in the Christian Forum, after 20+ something years of going to Colorado Elk camp for first and second rifle seasons, guiding first rifle season and hunting second rifle, and NEVER having any kind of an altitude problem, I got slammed this year and slammed good.

I had High Altitude Pulmonary Edema hit me from out of nowhere. I had no signs of regular altitude sickness, like headache, nausea, and my blood oxygen level was real good at 93 the whole time. I was eating like a horse too. That and High Altitude Cerbral Edema are the two worst kinds of altitude sickness there is. I never heard of it before this experience.

I never got to hunt and had to get out of the altitude as quickly as possible when my BP rose to 180/120 and my chest began filling with fluid, thus making breathing almost impossible and causing my BP to go so high. They told me that it hits people who have never had an altitude problem before, in their early 60's, for no reason at all they know of, and basically it means I can't ever go up into the altitude above 5000 ft again. Our cabin is at 10,100 ft and the top of our ranch is at 11,500 ft.

Bummer to be sure!! No Elk meat to eat this year, but never being able to go back up to our camp again is quite an adjustment to make in my thinking too.

[rimrock]

I get nausea and migraines the first 48 hours almost every hunt, GATOR AID and lots of EXCEDRIN,ASPIRIN HELP

[postoak]

UncleBuck -- very interesting. At least there are places elk hang out below 5,000 feet.

[Altjaeger]

Greybeard and Uncle Buck I am sorry to hear your bad luck.

[Hi Ball]

Greybeard at least you got a chance to go hunting! This year is not over for me yet but my chances of getting to visit those mountains during elk season are turning out to be mighty slim indeed. It seems as though most of my hunting buddies are getting knee replacements or hip replacements or having a heart overhauled. Guess I'll just have to read posts of others and watch the Outdoor Channel instead...........It sucks bigtime!:(:(