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Cant't wait Don! Is it Babe?

Sorry Don. Looks like you won't be fishing on my boat next year with only 12 lbs of jerky. The rule is your weight in jerky for a season pass!!!

Non-existant user wrote:

Sorry Don. Looks like you won't be fishing on my boat next year with only 12 lbs of jerky. The rule is your weight in jerky for a season pass!!!

Dang Steve I would have to go kill a buck the size of a Hereford bull for that much jerky.

Well....... Is it Babe??

It is not babe but you are getting warmer. The show is still on tv but it is hosted by Tom Nelson. The mystery man is also an editor.

Well no one seemed to know who the celeb is so I will reveal his name. He is Marion(M.R.) James. He is the founder, publisher, and was the managing editor of the popular hunting magazine "Bowhunter". The tv show on the outdoor channel which he hosted and was often featured is the Bowhunter Magazine's "American Archer". He lived in southern Indiana near Evansville for a good while and he migrated to Montana I think after his magazines success.

He and fellow magazine editor and official Don Clark was bow hunting elk with my crew of 6 hunters from the Evansville area at the famous Hot-T ranch near Montrose, Colorado. We had a great time and as I remember 3 elk were killed along with several mulies. I took a nice mulie on that trip. The interesting part of the story is coming up. Next to the last day of the hunt it was a warm 70 degree plus day. You could hunt in a teeshirt if you wanted. Well things changed Mox. Late in the after noon the clouds rolled in and most of us hunted back to camp and got there as the rain started. Problem was the temperature was falling faster than the rain. Sleet started and the wind blew hard making it seem colder than it was. It was dark when they called us to supper and we all went to the cook cabin to eat. So we thought. One of my group was missing. Nobody noticed till then. We figured he would be just late. One hour went by then another and at 11pm it is snowing like crazy up on Horsefly Peak. We are worried now. The hunter is in a teeshirt and light pants and has with him a bow and and afew other items in his pockets. No allowances were made to stay out at night. We figured he is lost in the dark some where out there. The guide is worried, his wife is weeping as they have not ever lost a hunter like this. The temp is now below 30 and it is still snowing so hard you can't see 20 feet in front of you. At 1am all the hunters and guide got a plan together at daybreak to look for our crew member. We went back to the cabin, the Horsefly Hilton, to try and rest.
Of course he did not come in and at first light we got up to a 15 inch blanket of snow and cold air. We figured by now he is a human popsicle and we are on a body search. MR was supposed to leave at 10 am that day along with Don to go to another elk hunt in another state. These guys joined the search party and helped hunt for the lost hunter. They said this was more important than catching their next flight. We knew where he said he was going and we took off up the mountain. The guides were on horses the hunters on foot and we spread out looking for the hunter. Hours went by and nothing. The camp owner and head guide was going to have to call search and rescue before long. He said he an idea that if the hunter got up on the peak he could see lights in Montrose at night which was 30 or so miles away. He took off on his horse in the direction of Montrose and after a couple of miles of circling cut his tracks in the snow. He followed them off the ranch and on to the adjoining ranch. Another mile or so he caught him. Frozen wet and starving and exhausted he got him up on his horse and he wrapped his coat on him and headed back. A couple of cell phone calls on satellite phones got the news back to us that he is alive but a frozen mess. We headed back to camp after all the searchers were rounded up to get some food and warm up. A truck took our hunter to town to get checked out after they got to town. He would leave for home from the hospital on his regular flight home. He suffered no long term harm from his night on the mountain. The magazine crew made a flight out the next day and we started back home in our trucks with our gear and meat and were very thankful that we did not have to tell a friend's wife that her husband froze to death alone on a mountain.
Those stories you hear about the sudden weather changes in the mountains are very real. Just like the weather and conditions changing on Lake Michigan can happen very quickly and dangerously. Basically when you are outdoors hunting or fishing you almost have to be prepared for almost anything. Not having survival gear handy is asking for night out on a wet snowy cold mountain

Great story Don! Thank's for sharing.

Cool story Don, glad it had a good ending.

The mag you mentioned was a good one. I believe that William Shatner was on one of the covers. He was on a boar hunt testing the then new jennings compund bow.

My brother lives and hunts out in Colo. he has told me several stories that happen almost yearly out there. The bad part is most of the times it doesn't have a happy ending.