PEAX Equipment

A tough day in paradise

diamond hitch

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 9, 2020
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751
Location
Western Montana
All hunts and retrievals are not good. Some days the "aw craps" become additive to really test your metal.

A number of years ago I had one of those days from hell that I feel like sharing. It had started out good with me riding into where a herd had crossed a road before daylight. I tied up the horse and gave chase on foot. Within 15 minutes I walked out on a knife edge ridge and noted a herd on the next ridge about 200 ft away. I picked out a nice bull and shot. The ground was so steep that at the shot the bull slid, rolled and tumbled about 300 yds down the hill. I gutted him out and dragged him to a flat spot and set him up for the retrieval. Since it was before 10 I decided I could go home get a second horse and retrieve the elk that day. A limiting factor was that the Forest Service had a grazing unit fence that was between my horse and the elk. Consequently I had to come back by a differant drainage since grazing units have infrequent gates. I took a gps reading and went back to the ranch and gathered another horse and gear. I made it back to the elk around 2pm after discovering I was in a differant drainage than I thought I was in. The way in was steep and frozen and a tough path for stock. I got the elk strung up and halfway through the skinning the rope between the trees broke and I got to start over.

I got the elk quartered and loaded and started off the hill at about dark. As I worked down the drainage I found path after path blocked with downed trees and second growth too thick to get loaded horses through. On one of the resets I spotted a trail below me that looked promising. I retreated and did a switchback to access due to the steepness and the hillside gaveway and we all rode the landslide 75 yds into a gorge. I stopped a little short of the bottom rather than ending up in the pile of horses. I got out a saw and sawed my horses out of the downfall. One by one got them unloaded and stood up. Thank the lord that the creek was only a foot deep. I stacked the meat wrapped in mannies on some logs and elected to get out and come back in the daylight with fresh stock. Horse wrecks really take the starch out of ponies. The valley was only 6-8 feet wide and it was a struggle to get the horses turned and started up the bottom. Within a short distance on some tough ground the hillside failed again and my gelding fell upside down headed head first down the creek. I had to tie him to the other horse and use the mare to get him back on his feet. At this point I was starting to see the gelding show signs of shock and needed to keep them moving but I was starting to run out of strength.

I found a way out and got down the drainage only to find the access to the road blocked by another grazing fence. As the slope was incredibly steep I retreated and searched for a way out. I found a steep cow trail over the ridge to the next drainage and approached the road again but on the flat. I discovered there had been a gate but someone had bypassed it and wired it shut. It was about 3:00am and my legs were about gone. A nasty wind storm had come in and my life continued to deteriate. I had had enough. I pulled out my pistol and shot the wires off. I made it home about 5:00am. I boiled a military instant meal and died. I woke up every hour with severe cramps in my legs until I got up about around 9:00a, grabbed fresh horses and went back and retrieved my elk. Everything is easier in the daylight!
 
I spent to many days lion hunting making my own route on snowmobiles going cross country. Always left it as good as I found it. Just a new temp gate. I hunted mostly private ground.
 
I'm waiting for your book to come out! Plenty of stories, for sure! Captive audience around your campfires.
 
Glad there was a happy ending! I appreciate your storytelling Diamond Hitch.
 
All hunts and retrievals are not good. Some days the "aw craps" become additive to really test your metal.

A number of years ago I had one of those days from hell that I feel like sharing. It had started out good with me riding into where a herd had crossed a road before daylight. I tied up the horse and gave chase on foot. Within 15 minutes I walked out on a knife edge ridge and noted a herd on the next ridge about 200 ft away. I picked out a nice bull and shot. The ground was so steep that at the shot the bull slid, rolled and tumbled about 300 yds down the hill. I gutted him out and dragged him to a flat spot and set him up for the retrieval. Since it was before 10 I decided I could go home get a second horse and retrieve the elk that day. A limiting factor was that the Forest Service had a grazing unit fence that was between my horse and the elk. Consequently I had to come back by a differant drainage since grazing units have infrequent gates. I took a gps reading and went back to the ranch and gathered another horse and gear. I made it back to the elk around 2pm after discovering I was in a differant drainage than I thought I was in. The way in was steep and frozen and a tough path for stock. I got the elk strung up and halfway through the skinning the rope between the trees broke and I got to start over.

I got the elk quartered and loaded and started off the hill at about dark. As I worked down the drainage I found path after path blocked with downed trees and second growth too thick to get loaded horses through. On one of the resets I spotted a trail below me that looked promising. I retreated and did a switchback to access due to the steepness and the hillside gaveway and we all rode the landslide 75 yds into a gorge. I stopped a little short of the bottom rather than ending up in the pile of horses. I got out a saw and sawed my horses out of the downfall. One by one got them unloaded and stood up. Thank the lord that the creek was only a foot deep. I stacked the meat wrapped in mannies on some logs and elected to get out and come back in the daylight with fresh stock. Horse wrecks really take the starch out of ponies. The valley was only 6-8 feet wide and it was a struggle to get the horses turned and started up the bottom. Within a short distance on some tough ground the hillside failed again and my gelding fell upside down headed head first down the creek. I had to tie him to the other horse and use the mare to get him back on his feet. At this point I was starting to see the gelding show signs of shock and needed to keep them moving but I was starting to run out of strength.

I found a way out and got down the drainage only to find the access to the road blocked by another grazing fence. As the slope was incredibly steep I retreated and searched for a way out. I found a steep cow trail over the ridge to the next drainage and approached the road again but on the flat. I discovered there had been a gate but someone had bypassed it and wired it shut. It was about 3:00am and my legs were about gone. A nasty wind storm had come in and my life continued to deteriate. I had had enough. I pulled out my pistol and shot the wires off. I made it home about 5:00am. I boiled a military instant meal and died. I woke up every hour with severe cramps in my legs until I got up about around 9:00a, grabbed fresh horses and went back and retrieved my elk. Everything is easier in the daylight!

Wow that's a rough day! On grazing fences, how bad is it to "create" a gate as long as you repair the area you "create" the gate in? I ask because I ran across several places in the NF that had spots where there was a gate and someone repaired the gate out of existence. By gate I simply mean a seam in the barbwire at a post where a guy can undo a couple strands and redo them.
 
On the first one, there was no slack and I lacked pliers. Same on the one at the bottom plus they had fenced wings out on a fill slope about 50 ft high. At the last one I started to unravel the mess of interwoven wires and after I was sufficiently bleeding I chose the fastest way out. Tough to unravel wires in mitts.
 
On grazing fences, how bad is it to "create" a gate as long as you repair the area you "create" the gate in?
It's fine. Cut the wires and re-splice them. If I was heading in, knowing I had to cut a gate I'd take a few feet of #9 wire with me.
 
Just take off the wire clips and staves and put a log/rock on the wire and walk your horse across. My uncle would take off the upper two wires and lay a coat over the wires and his mules would jump over it. No need to cut in a gate and that would really piss off a rancher
 
No need to cut in a gate and that would really piss off a rancher
If it's a federal allotment, I guarantee you it has splices galore and I'm not going to lose any sleep about adding another. Pulling clips isn't always easiest or most feasible.
 
Ooof! Glad all worked well. Clip and twist. One hell of an epic packout!
 
Leupold BX-4 Rangefinding Binoculars

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