Deep snow hunting

[Garrett Drach]

Some pictures from a horse ride in northern Wisconsin this past weekend. I've hunted coyotes in snow this deep but never elk. Curious to hear about other's tactics and stories from elk hunting in the snow.

[ishy]

Only time I've been in that deep of snow was to pack out a spike camp and hunting was not a concern at that point. Our two hunters were pretty shaken by it.

[Indian Summer]

I've ridden and hunted in snow that deep. Horses don't get too fussy but it does wear them out. I don't mind if I break the trail and it stays open but I hate when it just keeps blowing back in.

You can't just start covering ground in snow like that. It really pays to know exactly where to look for elk from past experience. But when it gets that bad they are concentrated and chances are if you find elk you will find bulls and maybe several of them. I've seen bachelor groups of up to 8 bulls together in conditions like that.

A lot of hunters plan to hunt gun season on the opener. They prefer to be the first ones there. This can definitely pay off, especially if there's snow on day 1. But if I only had 1 week it would be hard to choose between that and the last week when elk are staging getting ready to drop. I love it. But it's not easy.

When I killed my last Montana bull it had really snowed and all week long. The locals were down for the Saturday hunt but the road was so bad they all hunted in from the bottom because it was no longer possible to drive to the higher trailhead. But a friend and I took his snowmobile up there and were the only two hunting from the top. Snow was halfway up my thighs. But I knew my spot and it was only 3/4 of a mile from the trailhead. On out the ridge I saw elk to the right of the saddle in the timber as I looked down. It was hard to get a count and I didn't see any bulls. The snow was fresh and quiet and I slipped down into the saddle one slow sliding step at a time. I got to the point where I figured better stop and really pan the area for eyeballs and ears. As soon as I peeked through the binos I saw a bull. He was facing directly away from me toward the rest of the herd. But I didn't have a good shot so I decided to creep up a little closer and try to find a better lane through the trees. I moved up about 20 feet which put them at about 100 yards. A little too close for comfort really. I had lost sight of him but knew exactly where he was so up came the binos again. What! He is still bedded but now facing directly toward me. How could he have done that so fast? How did he not see me if he stood? Wait a minute.... look right... look left. Holy smokes it's not the same one. Two bulls bedded back to back facing opposite directions with their butts nearly touching. Identical 5 points. No doubt I was luckier than good getting that close with a bull facing right at me. He must have been asleep!

This time I had a shot which I took. Elk jumped up and started running toward me but downhill off to my right. The bull stopped in a wide open lane at 75 yards and I let him have it again and down he went for good. What happened next was cool. It turns out the ridge I had come out on had another herd bedded on the west wide. The 35 or 40 I had jumped got over there and they joined together and kept going now in a wide open burn. Before they got to the other side a herd of over 100 joined them... none of which I had not seen when deliberately making my way to my spot. On the opposite hillside about 1200 yards away now were 200+ head with about 5 legal bulls, one big one in the bunch. They were literally stacked up just out of reach from anyone who came from below. I had a friend kill a bull in the same spot the year before. Last year another buddy killed one in the exact same spot but the snow wasn't nearly as bad. They drove the truck up. It was the last week of the season and so even though the snow wasn't as deep they elk were doing their thing moving toward places like that. I've known of dozens of bulls killed there including a 360. But when the snow is seriously deep it's as sure of a thing as I know.

Side note: When I packed that bull out the snow was to my crotch and I swore I would never hunt in snow that deep again. The night before I was worried if we'd even be able to walk in there. Way too many blowdowns for snowshoes. it was the line between where a person could hunt... and where it was literally humanly impossible to get to. That's where they were. My brother and another guy gave me hell all the way and the whole way back to the truck. I pretended I cared. But the fact was I could never have packed that bull out solo.

[Elkduds]

1. Snowshoes.
2. Cross country skis.

[Swede]

I hunted two foot deep snow years ago. I did not find it all that great. It was very hard to get around. Finding elk was difficult where I was. There was just one open road in the area. Every hunter traveled over it trying to cut fresh sign, or they would hike out and see if there was something over yonder. The problem was that you just could not get far away from the road. We had no snowshoes. Most of the elk had dropped down onto private land where the snow was not as deep. My friend and I ended up going home skunked on one hunt, and on the other I got an elk on the last day of hunting.