Clyde Goodall and the Elk

SHARED BY HIS GRANDSON, DUSTIN GOODALL

Clyde Goodall was a stockman in southwest Colorado his whole life. He ran 500 head of ewes for a bit and later shifted to a cow-calf operation where he retired in 2011. He summered his Hereford/Angus herd in the high country near Rico, Colorado between 9,000 and 11,000 feet elevation.

Being on the permit everyday of the summer he knew every hole that held a monster bull or high altitude buck. It was a seamless opening morning for him every time. He would ride up from the river bottom with two mules, kill a mature bull and have it packed out most of the time before noon. It really put a hurting on my confidence when I started hunting by myself because I thought elk was easy my whole childhood.

The small spike that was saddled in the pictures was an interesting story. My granddad and his best friend were getting some cows out of the high country one late fall, they had been snowed in. They noticed a spike bull and a cow in a basin just below timberline that were also snowed in. They both shook a loop out and caught both elk. By the time they hit the river bottom they were more or less broke to lead. They took them to their home in Rico, where they broke the bull to ride and the cow to pack. The bull’s spike antlers had to be sawed off due to the fact that when he got irritated he’d jab them in the chest. They kept the elk for a few years. They would ride the bull and pack the cow through parades in town and up known tourist trails.