I want to say it was 2003 third hunt that Jim Craig and I came up to the ranch.  Jim had hunted with waterfall Ranch a few years before with his old friend Larry Cohen, and wanted to share his experience with me.  We had been hunting together for about 6 years and spent the year looking forward to getting out of the city ( Hell A )  and hitting the road to some rural mountain town.  You see it was Jims dream to sell his practice and get the hell out of Dodge.  This year Jim could not stop thinking  and talking about Colorado and our trip to Waterfall Ranch.   The year before we had a terrible trip in New Mexico out of Taos with a fool for an Outfitter. We were really looking forward to a Genuine hunt with some honest county mountain folks. 

I had just finished building a new clinic for Jim and this trip was his way of saying thank  you.  You would think he had enough of me.   We headed out to Colorado and arrived with little drama.  The Waterfall Ranch sits like is has for nigh a hundred years with this fabulous water fall ragging out of the rock behind the house, less than a hundred yards away.  The ranch is like a setting out of a Zane Gray novel from the past.  I told Jim when we pulled up, if the camp and hunting was as authentic as the ranch I know were about to have an amazing time. Ed and Patty Zink were like old friends and welcomed you like family.

The next morning at the crack of dawn, the horse trailers were loaded and they  were off , oh yea… here’s the drama, Colorado did not recognize my hunter safety cert so Jim and the other guest headed out to camp while I drove 80 miles away to take the only same day Colorado hunter safety course offered in South Western Colorado.  Ed Zink set this up.  Without his witt, I would have set the hunt out. The following morning, Ed and I rode in to the camp only to find that one of the guests had shot a nice bull on the way in .  

The camp  reminds me of a little Jeremiah ( John )  Johnson the old crow killer and a little period Eastwood. The weather turned that second day and the hunting was getting better.  The wranglers and guides were great. These are guys you can learn more from in 5 days than in a generation of hunting.   Jim and I had  a wonderful trip.  With rain and snow, some new stories and two elk to cut and bring back with us. 

Well Jim got his dream, he sold his business, bought a small ranch house and some land on Farmington Hill south of Durango. We often talked that next year of hunting again with Ed and Patty and Waterfall ranch. We never got the opportunity.  Jim and his partner Suzy while making their last trip to the new house were killed by a drunk driver in Arizona.  I have years of memories of Jim and the great friendship we had but none better than the week we spent with Waterfall Ranch, Ed & Patty and their amazing family in the mountains of Colorado. 

Life is a mystery, you never know what it will bring.  Hang on to your dreams and don’t put off your dreams till tomorrow as tomorrow may  never come.  If your dreaming of hunting elk with some dam nice people pick up the phone… or log on to your server and send Patti a note at patti@waterfallranch.com 

Thanks Ed & Patti, hope to see you soon.

Ed Roane

Toluca Lake, California.   2009

Patti, if you want to post this on  your website, feel free.   I meant every word….. ED