Pikes Peak Region Trail Finder

Jim Kelly, left, and Bob Luna and Josh Boren of Colorado Hunting Expeditions pose by the five-point mule deer buck Kelly shot in 2009 in Montezuma County.  Courtesy of Josh Boren

Jim Kelly: Pro Football Hall of Famer - and big game hunter?

Yep.

Apparently Kelly uses the same focus and determination that took him to four Super Bowls when he's rifle and bow hunting around the globe.

He bagged his first buck in southwest Colorado in 2009 and has been coming back ever since, becoming friends with the folks at Colorado Hunting Expeditions, he told Bobby Abplanalp of the Cortez Journal.

“The people in this community have opened their arms up," Kelly said. "Overall, my experience here has been unbelievable.”

The guide group now donates two hunts a year to Kelly's Hunter’s Hope Foundation, which is named after Kelly's son, Hunter, who died in 2005 at age 8 from Krabbe Leukodystrophy, a fatal nervous system disease. Hunter’s Hope is a charitable nonprofit organization that raises awareness for the disease.

Read more about Kelly's passion for hunting  and his life after football at the Durango Herald website.