2014 Wyoming Elk Hunt
- Thread starter npaden
- Start date
Art Vandeley
Well-known member
Holy crap, you worked your arse off for that one, congrats! Great write up of the hunt, thanks for sharing!
ashersdad
Well-known member
That is one heck of an adventure!! Very exciting stuff. Thanks for taking us along and congrats on the success!
Summitthunting
Well-known member
Holy crap man! That was awesome! Thanks for the great write up.
Fixed that for you.
Awesome hunt and awesome story. I'm really glad you got to writing the second half.
elkrchr
Well-known member
That was an elk hunt for the ages!!! Thanks for taking time to write up the adventure and share it with us. The pictures really helped make the story.
Thoughts that popped into my head as I read this:
#1 Awesome story/hunt!
#2 You're a madman!
#3 You need some trekking poles!
#4 Hope my wife doesn't read this!
#5 You've got some really, really good friends!
#6 Congrats on an epic season (or two)!
#1 Awesome story/hunt!
#2 You're a madman!
#3 You need some trekking poles!
#4 Hope my wife doesn't read this!
#5 You've got some really, really good friends!
#6 Congrats on an epic season (or two)!
Every time you write one of these I tell myself it'll be a week or two before I finally read it, and every time I find myself glued to it for the next 30-45 minutes.
Awesome write up and great bull, glad you guys made it out in one piece. That's some awesome looking country.
Awesome write up and great bull, glad you guys made it out in one piece. That's some awesome looking country.
elk_hunter
Active member
Another epic trip and one helluva story. Absolutely insane hunt, crazier terrain but thankfully you all got out of there with your bull and your lives. WOW! Congrats man!
junior88
Well-known member
Now that is a hunting story!!!!! Congratulations to you and Zeke. The hard earned trophies are always the best
flyfishmadison
Member
Really enjoyed the write up and pictures. Will you be doing a pack trip again, or was once enough? I know you didn't get an elk in NM but will you be doing a write up of that hunt also? I hope so.
Andy
Andy
noharleyyet
Well-known member
Publish much?
Awesome account...
Awesome account...
Nathan,
Thank you for sharing a wonderful recount of your hunt. I got a heck of a laugh out of your narrative. It gave me vivid memories of the first pack in hunt I did with my best friend and roommate from college. I remember all of the anxiety and trepidation and worry that comes with having horses in the backcountry, trying to get a wall tent up, and so on. The first time you look at that big pile of gear, and are contemplating how in the world you are ever going to get it packed, balanced, and loaded on the horses is a pretty daunting moment.
Those are some fantastic pictures, and yes, that's some steep country. I can't believe how open that country is, it's truly spectacular. Those are some amazing and treacherous looking waterfalls too.
Just curious, why were you filtering water for your Mountain House? Why not just boil it? Also, for a setup with horses, you'd be much better served with a bag/gravity filter setup instead of pumping everything.
Get some trekking poles. Get a set for your buddy too.
Congratulations on what looked like an epic hunt.
Thank you for sharing a wonderful recount of your hunt. I got a heck of a laugh out of your narrative. It gave me vivid memories of the first pack in hunt I did with my best friend and roommate from college. I remember all of the anxiety and trepidation and worry that comes with having horses in the backcountry, trying to get a wall tent up, and so on. The first time you look at that big pile of gear, and are contemplating how in the world you are ever going to get it packed, balanced, and loaded on the horses is a pretty daunting moment.
Those are some fantastic pictures, and yes, that's some steep country. I can't believe how open that country is, it's truly spectacular. Those are some amazing and treacherous looking waterfalls too.
Just curious, why were you filtering water for your Mountain House? Why not just boil it? Also, for a setup with horses, you'd be much better served with a bag/gravity filter setup instead of pumping everything.
Get some trekking poles. Get a set for your buddy too.
Congratulations on what looked like an epic hunt.
npaden
Well-known member
Thanks for the comments. I write these up as much for myself as anyone, but it is nice to see that some others appreciate them as well.
As far as filtering the water, we didn't have any large containers to hold unfiltered water, all we had were our nagalene bottles and the coffee pot. So if we filled them up with unfiltered water then in theory it would contaminate the bottles that we would be using daily. We were far enough from the river that running down and filling the coffee pot and boiling it over and over again would have been more of a pain than filtering water. Having a large collapseable bucket to hold unfiltered water would have made things WAY easier, but we didn't think of that ahead of time.
As far as trekking poles, I do have some and used them quite a bit the week before on my mountain goat hunt. Kind of getting back to my initial expectations of this hunt I didn't see any reason to bring them for the elk hunt. I really expected that we would be riding horses 90% of the time and possibly getting 1/2 mile or so away from them at the most. I sure didn't expect to be hauling an elk on my back with horses in camp. Obviously my expectations didn't match up with reality on this. On that last day going down the steepest slope heavy I'm not sure trekking poles would have helped that much though. It really was so steep that going from tree to tree and moving down backwards was about the best way to go down. I wouldn't have trusted going down front first with only the trekking poles to help me, but they would have helped with the climbing for sure.
I was amazed at the trailers! The amazing thing is that it didn't seem way overcrowded once we got in a ways. Lots of different drainages to go into and different spots to camp. It sure wasn't like you were in there all by yourself though. From where we camped there was one camp about 1/2 mile up river from us on the other side and there were 2 camps up a drainage about 1 1/2 miles down river from us. The main outfitter camp was about 2 1/2 miles down river from us and they had 9 different tents setup and it seemed about the size of a small town. If you are looking to get away and have the place to yourself, this area isn't going to work very well for that.
As far as filtering the water, we didn't have any large containers to hold unfiltered water, all we had were our nagalene bottles and the coffee pot. So if we filled them up with unfiltered water then in theory it would contaminate the bottles that we would be using daily. We were far enough from the river that running down and filling the coffee pot and boiling it over and over again would have been more of a pain than filtering water. Having a large collapseable bucket to hold unfiltered water would have made things WAY easier, but we didn't think of that ahead of time.
As far as trekking poles, I do have some and used them quite a bit the week before on my mountain goat hunt. Kind of getting back to my initial expectations of this hunt I didn't see any reason to bring them for the elk hunt. I really expected that we would be riding horses 90% of the time and possibly getting 1/2 mile or so away from them at the most. I sure didn't expect to be hauling an elk on my back with horses in camp. Obviously my expectations didn't match up with reality on this. On that last day going down the steepest slope heavy I'm not sure trekking poles would have helped that much though. It really was so steep that going from tree to tree and moving down backwards was about the best way to go down. I wouldn't have trusted going down front first with only the trekking poles to help me, but they would have helped with the climbing for sure.
I was amazed at the trailers! The amazing thing is that it didn't seem way overcrowded once we got in a ways. Lots of different drainages to go into and different spots to camp. It sure wasn't like you were in there all by yourself though. From where we camped there was one camp about 1/2 mile up river from us on the other side and there were 2 camps up a drainage about 1 1/2 miles down river from us. The main outfitter camp was about 2 1/2 miles down river from us and they had 9 different tents setup and it seemed about the size of a small town. If you are looking to get away and have the place to yourself, this area isn't going to work very well for that.
npaden
Well-known member
Of course I've remembered a few things that I forgot to include originally.
Final total on the GPS from the time we rode out until we got back to the trailhead was 52.16 miles and 14,943' of elevation gain. There was also about 1 1/2 miles that I didn't get logged when I forgot to turn the GPS on and when it ran out of batteries once. Of course that included quite a bit of miles on the horses, I tried to go back and keep track of it each day and ended up with 37 miles on horseback and 16 miles on foot when it was all said and done.
The thing about the hunt that still leaves me shaking my head is that we actually lost half the meat and the antlers packing out that first night. We had a good idea where they were, but I really wasn't sure if we were going to find them the next day or not.
Also, I'm not sure if I effectively communicated how much Zeke really didn't want to go after that bull in the first place. He understood how steep that spot was and how much of a pain it was going to be to get him out a lot more than I did. I did a lot of apologizing for pushing him into going after it with me and thanking him for helping me that night while we were packing back to camp in the dark. It pushed my limits physically and mentally. Looking back on it now it doesn't seem near as bad as it did when it was actually happening.
Final total on the GPS from the time we rode out until we got back to the trailhead was 52.16 miles and 14,943' of elevation gain. There was also about 1 1/2 miles that I didn't get logged when I forgot to turn the GPS on and when it ran out of batteries once. Of course that included quite a bit of miles on the horses, I tried to go back and keep track of it each day and ended up with 37 miles on horseback and 16 miles on foot when it was all said and done.
The thing about the hunt that still leaves me shaking my head is that we actually lost half the meat and the antlers packing out that first night. We had a good idea where they were, but I really wasn't sure if we were going to find them the next day or not.
Also, I'm not sure if I effectively communicated how much Zeke really didn't want to go after that bull in the first place. He understood how steep that spot was and how much of a pain it was going to be to get him out a lot more than I did. I did a lot of apologizing for pushing him into going after it with me and thanking him for helping me that night while we were packing back to camp in the dark. It pushed my limits physically and mentally. Looking back on it now it doesn't seem near as bad as it did when it was actually happening.
HSi-ESi
Well-known member
This happens to me all the time. Especially when I see elk. I would suggest starting a support group for other people with this ailment - but I don't think I want to be cured.
Great write-up and congrats on an awesome season.
Great write-up and pics!
Thanks for sharing, cowboy! I really enjoyed experiencing your adventure (from the comfort of my chair)!
You'll be smiling to yourself for years to come every time you look at that trophy (or maybe shaking your head)!!
Thanks for sharing, cowboy! I really enjoyed experiencing your adventure (from the comfort of my chair)!
You'll be smiling to yourself for years to come every time you look at that trophy (or maybe shaking your head)!!
Bighorn191
New member
Really good read, great photos, great effort - was just like being along for the hunt. Thanks for sharing.
