diamond hitch
Well-known member
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!
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!
