One Last Cow Hunt

[Harmy]

Well, I am off tomorrow to help my primary partner with his late season cow hunt. He drew out a tag that allows him to hunt elk right outside the city limits of SLC. With all the snow the elk finally came down to a reasonable elevation. On Monday Dustin went scouting and found a herd of 30 cows and a spike right about a mile above legal shooting area with only about an hour hike from the car. Hopefully they will still be there tomorrow when we head out. Since Dustin helped me with both my Bull and Cow harvest this year, it is my responsibilty to now help him haul a carcass off the mountain. Here's to hoping I get a major workout tomorrow... In the photo it is hard to see but there are 15 cows and 1 spike laying in the oak brush of the first minor ridge just above the dogs head. They were about 200 yards away. Hope the resolution is good enough to see here.

Cows and Dog.jpg (119.55 KiB) Viewed 3724 times

[Harmy]

A litte photoshop might help see their bodies.

[ElkNut1]

Oh ya, very cool. Good luck. Let us know how it turns out.

ElkNut1

[Lefty]

Back straps for supper

Down hill drag?

[romey]

Good luck!

[easeup]

take your shooting sticks and good luck

[elkoholic]

Good luck!! Let us know how it goes

[Harmy]

Didn't get out during the week as my buddy had to work. We are headed out tomorrow. 2-3 feet of new snow should make things quite interesting. Hopefully photos and story to share shortly. Later all. Thanks again for all the great info and scenarios. Chris

[Harmy]

Saturday morning at 6:00 am I woke to 18 inches of snow at my house in SLC. My partner was still psyched to head out and see if we could get his cow. We parked in a subdivision which gave us the most altitude. Dustin brought another friend of his named Derek. Derek is not a hunter but a 24 year old animal, or should I say tractor... At the trail head the new snow was about 24 inches deep. We started breaking trail and after 3 hours we had only made it a mile. Derek broke trail 95% of the way. A most impressive feat in my opinion. I have spent many years back country skiing and this was the worst trail breaking I have ever encountered. At about the one mile point we had gained a bit over 1000 feet in elevation. At this point the snow was at our waists.

Breadking Trail.jpg (107.35 KiB) Viewed 3651 times

We continued our slog up the mountain. About 10:00 we spied a couple of animals on the opposite side of the canyon we were paralleling up.

elk across.jpg (51.78 KiB) Viewed 3651 times

Just left and down of center there are a couple of bodies. I think they are deer though. Once we got up to the main ridge where Dustin had seen the herd last Monday we came across a huge bed area in an open slope just off the ridge. There were at least 30 animals present. They must have bugged out a couple hours earlier as there was about 1/2 inch of snow covering the bed.

Bed.jpg (32.17 KiB) Viewed 3651 times

The ridge in the background is the spot where Dustin had been sitting last Monday. We continued our effort and pushed up the mountain to see if we could see any elk in the draw Dustin had photographed on Monday. Once we got there we could not see any. Dustin and Derek pushed down the subridge to the same spot.

[Harmy]

Continued.

The ridge spot.

Ridge Sitting.jpg (59.57 KiB) Viewed 3651 times

Ridge.jpg (64.57 KiB) Viewed 3651 times

As I sat watching my team I was glassing the other side of the canyon. 2 miles away I watched a group of 3 elk wallowing up the other side of the mountain. They moved up and then bedded down right under the base of a small cliff. I was able to watch them for 30 min when my team came back up to our high point. I showed them where the elk were but we knew there was no way we would get to them. It was now 3:00 and we had barely covered 2 miles. It would have taken us another 8-10 hours to get across that canyon and there was no way possible for us to have done that. We were completly spent at this point.

Deep Snow.jpg (72.75 KiB) Viewed 3651 times

We then went back to the bedding area and followed the groups tracks into the scrub oak. It soon became too thick and we were making too much noise so we backed off. We still have 3 weeks left so we will come back.

[Harmy]

An attempt to show a video of us breaking trail and the bedding area.


http://youtu.be/iiunHDULayE

[Harmy]

My partner was able to get it done yesterday. He shot a nice big cow at about 250 yards. Unfortunately I was unable to attend and so have no photos to share. He got her right in the same location we found them last week. Lucky for me he is keeping the carcass cold so I can help him process it next weekend. This tallys up our groups season to 100% success with 1 bull and 4 cows. Now we can focus on September...

[elkoholic]

Congratulations!!! Tell your partner job well done. Conditions look tough, but yet you guys pushed forward!!