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STORY PHOTOGRAPHY

The Elk Hunt

The trip is entirely self- supported, takes over a thousand pounds of gear and food, and three trips to get camp setup.

To get away from other hunters, the group rides about 1.5 hours into northwestern Colorado’s Flat Tops Wilderness before setting up camp.

Hal Coombs, a retired firefighter has been leading annual elk-hunting trips with family and friends into the backcountry for more than 40 years.

James Ruark & Zach Coombs prepare firewood at the campsite.

Camp- The main tent includes a shared room in the center with a wood stove and three bedrooms, made with tents set up on each end.

Hal's Remington Rifle

40 year tradition

Zach Coombs, Hal's son, started participating in the hunt when he was 12 years old.

This was fifteen year old, Emmet Kuper’s second year on the trip. The teenager, a friend of the family, calls Hal Coombs “Grandpa.”

The trip participants are family and friends. Photographed here is James Ruark, Hal's brother in law.

After a long day stalking elk in the cold, the group gathers around the wood stove to cook dinner, warm up, and tell stories.

Morning in the tent.

Hal's hunting fashion.

“For a true hunter, it’s about the hunt,” says Hal Coombs, who uses a monocular to scout his surroundings for elk. “The icing on the cake is to have meat for the winter.”

For more than four decades, Mickey Spalding, has made the hunt almost every year with Hal. Each year they take the lessons learned from the previous year to perfect the next hunt.

End of day on the hunt.

Flat Tops Wilderness

The group looking for blood on the ground to track an injured elk. A difficult task without snow on the ground.

Zach taking an elk into his sight.

The group is happy if they get three elk in a week, and they usually don’t take more than four.

After being skinned and quartered, a cow—like the one Zach Coombs shot—yields 125 to 150 pounds of meat; a bull can provide up to 250.

A horse packed up to carry an elk down.

“For a true hunter, it’s about the hunt. The icing on the cake is to have meat for the winter.”

The Flat Tops Wilderness is a 235,214 acres reserve in Colorado.

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