A-con
New member
After DS tagged out, the pressure was on. We decited to do something different, and followed fresh elk tracks into a canyon that was as ugly as it gets. 45% sides, thick timber and deadfalls every where. The icy trail lead down and down. I posted up after a few miles, but DS keep going. I never saw an elk that day, but back at camp, Mark was excited about what he had seen. After studing topo maps for a while, he ask me if I was up for a ten mile horseback ride ?
Hell yes, lets do it !
The next morning, we saddeled up at 4:15 am and headed out on a long ride two hours before dawn. Rideing by starlight, over ridges and through thick timber in fresh powder snow. Dawn found us near the rim of a half circle cannyon, stripped with aspen draws. DS had seen it on his hike the day before, and was sure it was a place to fill an elk tag.
I stayed up high and hunted side hill, trying to catch some elk feeding up from below, while DS dropped to the bottem, looking for muledeer & scouting for future hunts. I slowly worked my way around the rim, seeing lots of tracks. When I got near the far side, I started glassing my back trail, and spotted a small herd heading up way back where I had started. I could see there was one legal bull, several cows and two yearlings. I would have to move fast to catch them before the made it over the rim.
Quickly and quietly, I headed back past the horses to the draw I had seen them in.
As I moved through it, I could see patches of brown moving below me, but the timber was to thick to see what was what. I snuk along till I found a good shooting lane and waited. A big cow with no calf steeped into the opening, and I took the shot. The cow dropped in her tracks, and the rest of them took off up hill. I spotted antlers, a 4X4 and had to run up about fourty yds to find another open lane. Cow, calf, cow, calf, antlers....KA-Boom ! I hit him a bit far back, through the liver/spleen area. He went down but started to get back up. The only shot I had now was legs, so I took out a front leg and he went down again. One more in the neck put him out for good, I wasn't taking any chances on him makeing it to the ridge and dropping into that canyon from yesterday.
The pack put was real tough, thats a lot of elk down a long ways from camp. It took the rest of the day and well into the night, but we got it all out and back to camp. The last load featured my bulls head strapped to my saddel with the antlers pointed at my back. Everything was fine till we started heading down hill into camp. The head shifted foward and with each step, I got poked. When Austin (my horse)saw camp he jumped off the trail and headed cross country down the steep part with me yelling all the way....ouch, ouch slow down you #%@&* horse
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[ 11-20-2002 22:24: Message edited by: Anaconda ]
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<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 12-14-2002 01:32: Message edited by: Anaconda ]</font>
Hell yes, lets do it !
The next morning, we saddeled up at 4:15 am and headed out on a long ride two hours before dawn. Rideing by starlight, over ridges and through thick timber in fresh powder snow. Dawn found us near the rim of a half circle cannyon, stripped with aspen draws. DS had seen it on his hike the day before, and was sure it was a place to fill an elk tag.
I stayed up high and hunted side hill, trying to catch some elk feeding up from below, while DS dropped to the bottem, looking for muledeer & scouting for future hunts. I slowly worked my way around the rim, seeing lots of tracks. When I got near the far side, I started glassing my back trail, and spotted a small herd heading up way back where I had started. I could see there was one legal bull, several cows and two yearlings. I would have to move fast to catch them before the made it over the rim.
Quickly and quietly, I headed back past the horses to the draw I had seen them in.
As I moved through it, I could see patches of brown moving below me, but the timber was to thick to see what was what. I snuk along till I found a good shooting lane and waited. A big cow with no calf steeped into the opening, and I took the shot. The cow dropped in her tracks, and the rest of them took off up hill. I spotted antlers, a 4X4 and had to run up about fourty yds to find another open lane. Cow, calf, cow, calf, antlers....KA-Boom ! I hit him a bit far back, through the liver/spleen area. He went down but started to get back up. The only shot I had now was legs, so I took out a front leg and he went down again. One more in the neck put him out for good, I wasn't taking any chances on him makeing it to the ridge and dropping into that canyon from yesterday.
The pack put was real tough, thats a lot of elk down a long ways from camp. It took the rest of the day and well into the night, but we got it all out and back to camp. The last load featured my bulls head strapped to my saddel with the antlers pointed at my back. Everything was fine till we started heading down hill into camp. The head shifted foward and with each step, I got poked. When Austin (my horse)saw camp he jumped off the trail and headed cross country down the steep part with me yelling all the way....ouch, ouch slow down you #%@&* horse
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[ 11-20-2002 22:24: Message edited by: Anaconda ]
--------------------
<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 12-14-2002 01:32: Message edited by: Anaconda ]</font>
