We were sitting around the table in the kitchen tent talking about where and how we would be hunting after breakfast while George, our outfitter for this hunt, was making coffee. We were in a large canvas hunting tent about 14 foot wide and about 20 foot long. It had a little wood stove in one corner for heat and a larger, wood cooking stove in the corner of the other end. A long table with lots of chairs around it gave all of the hunters and guides a place to eat and talk about hunting. There was still plenty of room in the tent for washing dishes. There was also plenty of room in the tent for the three camp dogs to lick pots and pans and to lie around soaking up the heat from the wood stoves. The dogs weren’t just there for companionship; they were also there to keep the grizzly bears away.

We were in Wyoming to hunt elk with our bows in some of the most beautiful and most remote country you could imagine. 15 miles from the road, this was our home for seven days. A long horseback ride in to our camp and several days of hunting in the Shoshone Wilderness Area was an incredible way to spend a week. The breathtaking views, comradery and the wild game viewing were just some of the things that made this an extraordinary hunting trip.

It was the morning of the first day’s hunt and we were all sitting around the table while George’s cook was whipping something up for breakfast and George was making coffee. He had an old, blue, enamel coffee pot sitting on the stove cooking water. This coffee pot must have been about three gallons! I don’t think I ever saw one this big before. I was standing with George discussing his coffee pot and his wood cook stove and wondering how he got this huge stove out into the wilderness. George was a big, ol’, 6’2’’ tall cowboy with a friendly demeanor who always seemed to have a smile on his face and kind word for everyone. I proceeded to watch George stand there with a two pound can of coffee under one arm, haphazardly tossing scoops of coffee into a three gallon pot of boiling water. I asked him how many scoops of coffee he put in that giant coffee pot. He said, “Well,  I just put a bunch in there until it looks right and it always seems to turn out good.”  Who was I to question George’s coffee making skills? He was previously an owner of a few restaurants.

A hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs all washed down with several cups of George’s coffee spiked with a generous helping of sugar really hit the spot. I was all ready to head out on horseback on my first day of hunting an elk with my bow. The excitement was really building to go out after an elk as I thought about George’s coffee. Wow, he really did know how to make great coffee. I headed out of camp on my horse with my first Wyoming elk camp breakfast under my belt ready to take on the day.

I arrived back home in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania after my hunt and couldn’t stop thinking about the great trip I was on. There were many great times shared with old friends and stories told with new friends. Special memories were made that will last a lifetime.  There was also that mystically delicious coffee experience. I couldn’t get the thought of George’s terrific coffee out of my mind.

I wanted to buy my own enamel coffee pot and make my own cowboy coffee.  As luck would have it, I received one as a Christmas gift. I set it up without the percolator and proceeded to toss scoops of coffee into the boiling water until I thought it looked good. When it was all finished, I poured myself a cup of that sweet, black brew. I blew off some of the steam and took a nice sip. Yuck! It was terrible! It didn’t taste at all like George’s coffee! Maybe George’s coffee wasn’t quite as good as I remembered it had been.

Sometimes it’s not the coffee. Sometimes it’s the experience.