craigdailypress.com

In 1962, when Glenn Pritchard was young and not old, when hunting was pure and about something other than "money and politics," the then-19-year-old Moffat County resident found himself waiting patiently in the predawn morning of his favorite place.

The wild.

He and the countryside stood still, he said, man and earth quietly bracing for the last day of hunting season.

The silence didn't last long.

A buck, about a mile off, jumped a fence into the man's ranch, shattering the early morning peace and starting a blurred, hectic few moments the hunter recounts today, more than four decades later, with clarity like it happened a minute ago.

"I was shooting a lever 250/3000 I had inherited from my father," Pritchard wrote. "As the buck jumped the fence, up came the rifle. I only had time for one shot."

The shot rang true. What the teenager's patience and precision netted a 350 pound, 9-by-10 point trophy buck with a 35 1/2 inch spread.

"What a wonderful day," Pritchard, now 65, wrote. "I had finally gotten a trophy buck. : It was one of the most exciting times of my life. A dream come true. It was hard to believe that I would have even more exciting hunts in the future, as the reader will discover."

Those words are found in the first 10 pages of Pritchard's new book, "Buckskin Trails: 50 years of Trophy Hunting in Northwest Colorado," a long-planned work he finished in the spring and is circulating in the area.

The self-published book is described as part-biography about Pritchard, a third-generation county resident, and his family. It's also a year-by-year chronicle of hunting deer, elk and antelope, almost entirely within the county's limits, and includes photographs of kills and natural settings.

Pritchard, who lives with his wife, Audrey, on the couple's 40-acre spread on Moffat County Road 7, said he doesn't have any dreams of becoming rich off book sales.

"My wife's been after me for years to do it," he said. "It's a lot of memories. It was just something to do, mostly.

"I didn't write it to get rich. It was just kind of fun writing it."

The book is dedicated to Audrey, and their two children, daughter, Holli, and son, Cody.

Pritchard was born on the Two-Bar ranch 45 miles west of Craig on the Little Snake River, situated about halfway between Craig and Browns Park.

He calls the Browns Park area, the "edge of the wild country."

"The wild country is in my blood," he wrote. "The wilder the better."

"I just love that country," he said. "You can still almost feel Butch Cassidy running around there some days."

And it's there, out in the wild, that Pritchard fondly remembers happenings ranging from good hunts to awe-inspiring scenes of nature, and, depending on what you're prone to believe, perhaps the supernatural.

The experiences are all described in the book.

There was the time last year when, while looking for shed horns with his border collie, Coco, at his side, he came across "another of those magical moments I have been blessed with experiencing over the years."

A full-grown timberwolf.

"He was absolutely beautiful," Pritchard wrote. "My mouth must have dropped to my knees. : He was black and silver with a six-inch black tip on his tail. : He knew exactly what I was. He stood broadside, looking at me, then slowly turned and trotted off into the cedars. He was not the least bit afraid of me.

"The powers that be will tell you we don't have wolves in Colorado, but I heard (them) howling on Black Mountain at less than 100 yards 40 years ago. Take it for what it is worth, but I know what I saw and heard."

In 1994, he and Cody were in Browns Park, again hunting for horns.

"The Browns Park area is a special place for us," Pritchard wrote. "Sometimes a person can almost feel like you are being accompanied by kindred spirits, even though it is just you and your dog."

Cody, on the other side of his father on a limestone ridge, radioed Pritchard and said he felt like he was "being watched." Hair was standing up on the back of his neck.

Minutes later, Cody called again. He told his father what he'd found.

A grave.

It had no marker.

"We were miles from the nearest road," Pritchard wrote. "What would a grave be doing here? I told (Cody) I would be right there. The top of the ridge was bare, mostly rock with a few scattered cedars. Right between two of those cedars was a grave. It was old. It was domed rocks 6 feet long and 2 feet wide.

"I went back each year for five years to spend time with whomever was there and had no trouble finding the grave. One day I told Audrey I was going to take my metal detector to the grave and check it out for metal. We hiked for five hours to get there. : I had been to the site several times and had no problem finding the grave.

"However, on this day, I could not find it. Something didn't want me to check it out. You make the call."

Pritchard said he isn't one to believe in far-fetched tales, but the experience he had was absolutely real.

"The spirits are there," he said. "It sounds silly, but there's something to it."

There are other tales, too, in the 80-page book Pritchard described as his running diary of hunting and outdoor life.

He had about 200 copies of "Buckskin Trails" printed. The book costs $50 and can be viewed or purchased at Craig Kampgrounds of America, Museum of Northwest Colorado, Downtown Books or through Pritchard. He can be reached at 824-6196.

He said the book represents half a century's worth of Moffat County times, tales and adventures, as he's known them, and reaches back into a time when area hunting meant more than just big business.

In a way, the book is his love song to the only place he's ever called home.

"My blood's here, I guess," he said. "If people can enjoy it, that's what I'm in it for."

Joshua Roberts can be reached at 875-1791, or jroberts@craigdailypress.com.