Contributors to this thread:
Hey fellas, ain't been on here in a bit. Not looking for any pitty here. Just found out my old man, 60 years old, has very aggressive (gleason 10), prostate cancer that has already metastisized to the bones. The prognosis is not clear; I'm a resident physician and still don't know the answer. Anyhow, 3-5 year outlook is not good. We've been accumulating points while I've been off at college, medical school, residency, and he now has 15-20 points for elk as a Colorado resident. I don't know yet if we should try for this year or next year, but I need some ideas as to where he should apply and if any programs exist for terminal illness or handicap hunters (he is also disabled from a stroke 4 years ago and walking is limited to 1/2 mile deep or so). He could probably ride a horse in modest terrain (he's an old cowboy), guided is certainly an option for us. The goal is to have fun and shoot a 285+. He's an old bow hunter but since the stroke he's a crossbow permit holder (left arm pretty T-rexy). Honestly I'll bet he wants to take a rifle now if it's an option, which I completely support now. Any thoughts here are appreciated. Thanks in advance. Prayers welcomed.
Spencer, you might check Outdoorbuddies and ColoradoGives, both have an organization here in Colorado. God bless, dad. Paul, a cancer survivor.
Sorry to hear about your father. 61 has a good number of 280 type bulls. The early rifle (20 points) starts Oct 1 so the weather is usually decent and the bulls are bugling. First rifle is the 16th and took 12 points last year if I'm reading the stats correctly. Maybe an outfitted hunt there would be the ticket. Its a unit that a guy could possibly shoot a bull within a 1/2 mile of the truck DIY but an outfitted deal might get some access or a horse ride into some more country. My archery bull from there was 150 yards from the truck.
My dad is gone and I could care less if he hunted with an RPG mounted on a Monster truck if we could have one more week in the woods together.
Not sure why that posted again.
I'll check into those, thanks Paul.
Yeah, Glunt, I got lucky that a big hunt fell through 5 years ago, so I just asked my dad to come camp and hit a honey hole with me for a few days. We drank beer, sat around the 5th wheel, hunted about 4 hours per day. (Really pathetic compared to my usual hunts). But we had a great time and it was the break from med school that I needed. He had a massive stroke 3 weeks later. That was the last time he's held a tag or his bow. Him and mom tagged along on my OIL moose tag, which meant the world to me. I could never pay him back for all the memories he's provided me with, but I was hoping to make his elk points worth the wait, now we have a timer set.
Thanks guys