TARRYALL ELK CAMP
07-PATCH

All previously posted photos that were posted on this Blog can be found in the ARCHIVE files (no photos were posted prior to May, 2004). You can click on the photos to enlarge the photo for viewing or printing.

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DOW RESERVATIONS: http://wildlife.state.co.us/hunt/Small_Game/reservations.asp
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CAMP

Tarryall Elk Camp is located in the South Park area of Colorado. In most hunting seasons the camp is located in the Rock Creek drainage area at an elevation of 9,000 to 10,000 feet. The Camp consists of the third and fourth generation of friends and a group that is loosely related that have been hunting the area for over 70 years. The Spielman's, Brough's and Sutter's worked cattle ranches in the Tarryall's, worked with the Forest Service, CCC Camps, owned and operated sawmills, prospected and mined in the area from the early 1900s to the 1940s. In the 1930s Roy Voorhees grandparents had a home and raised potatoes near the current town of Tarryall. It's possible Corral Creek near Goose Creek and the Platte River is named after that family. Glen Brady worked for the Pike National Forest from about the 1940s to the 1960s. Some of the other old-timers names that come to mind are Walter Zanzig, Ray Dunaway, Ray LaVera, John Crouch, Norm Steinberg, Larry Fishinger, Bernie, Curtis and Ryan . This is not an outfitter sponsored group but a group that has enjoyed Colorado's God given breathtaking beauty and camaraderie only experienced by devoted hunters, and those that have a love affair with "Colorado's Winter Wonderland" and a nice warm tent. Well, most, nowadays that is, have their Motor Homes and Campers and all the creature comforts and gadgets that come with them. I sure don't hear much yearning for the good old days from that bunch. They prefer their GPS's and ATV's over the old compass and pack horses. If that's what it takes to enjoy this great outdoors so be it. The most important thing is just being there and enjoying one of Colorado's most picturesque wilderness and its abundant wildlife with your good friends and family. The evenings around a camp fire will always be remembered where old stories are told and retold with all the excitement as though they had happened yesterday, always getting a laugh or chuckle even from those that have heard the same stories every year for a good many years.

ELK IN THE FALL

By late August the bull elk's antlers stop growing. The blood vessels inside the velvet dry up, causing the velvet to fall of, and the bulls rub the velvet off on trees and brush. In the fall, elk also begin to shed their thin summer fur and grow warm winter coats. This is when the calves lose their spots. Beginning in September, elk group together to mate during a four- to six-week period called the "rut". During that time, bulls begin to bugle and form "harems," or groups of about 15 to twenty cow elk. Bulls bugle to let the cows know they are there and scare other bulls away. Each bull tries to convince the cows that he's the healthiest and mightiest elk around because the cows want to mate with the biggest and healthiest bull. This mating ritual will also help propagate healthey herds for the future. When two large bulls cross paths, they wage violent battles for control of the harem. Most of the time one bull will know he is outmatched and will simply run away --but sometimes they fight to death. During the rut, the elk are so busy that they can't eat much, and the bulls use up lots of energy chasing cows and fighting. So in the weeks after the rut, the elk must eat constantly to build up fat in order to survive the on coming winter. In an environment where the wolf exists, the wolves will stock the bull and break up the herds in smaller groups forcing the elk to graze in other areas, preventing range over grazing. This is also where the wolf will make his kill.With his head down while constantly eating to restore the fat lost during the rut the bull is easy prey for the wolf. Of course we do not have the wolf in Colorado or the South Park area, however, just recently a wolf was found on I70 west of Denver that had been run over by a vehicle. They claim this was most likely a lone wolf that had migrated to Colorado from packs that had been transplanted in Yellowstone National Park. If we had the wolf in Colorado we would have healthier elk herds and another tool to manage our elk population. We now have more elk in Colorado than what some experts feel we should have. The problem is greater than just issuing more elk licenses to the hunters.

See Postings/Links elsewhere on this Blog concerning the introduction of the Wolf in Colorado and the beneficial effects it might have on Rocky Mountain National Park and the Elk herds within the Park and surrounding area.