During Tuesday's club meeting, I noted that we were about to celebrate our 10th anniversary, but some of our founding fathers weren't around to reminisce or enjoy some cake and ice cream: Two of first
presidents were nowhere to be seen, Jim Clune and Norm Englebrecht, and neither was our government affairs chair, Jim Roode. Here's why:
When those of us
who could get to Perkins last Friday got together, Jim Jim and Norm were in
agony: Saturday was opening day of
the week-long moose muzzleloading season – and Clune had a tag for a female moose, up highway 14
near Ranger Lakes. There were good
reasons to stay home –Poudre Canyon was flooding. Roads were collapsing under the weight of cars and trucks. And of course Clune had that heart attack thing about six months
ago. But hey – we’re talking about a
moose tag.
So honest to
God: off they went. I spoke with Jean Clune Monday and again on Wednesday. After a lifetime with Mr. Clune she wasn't a bit surprised by the trip. The boys
had to wander around a bit, she reports, but they eventually made it up Poudre Canyon and were
camped at Ranger Lakes. They even had electricity. Last word from Jean was they had seen lots of moose, but most were males, and nary a female had come within range of Jim’s
muzzle-loader.
I reported all this to
Tom Miller – and muttered something about nominations for the club’s smartest
members.
And our club founder said, I
swear: “Well,
those moose tags really are hard
to come by.”
All this brings to mind an article I put together for the club to answer the question, "Who is Loveland's toughest angler?" And one of the nominees was another charter member of the club: Dave Harem, who while awaiting hip replacement surgery went archery hunting by himself for elk up near Steamboat - and got chased by a mama bear when he got between her and her club.
And you ask yourself why I like to hang out with you old coots! Bill
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your comments. They will be reviewed before they can be seen by all visitors.