Early yeti rut hunt/elk hunt/camera recovery

[drahthaar]

We decided we better go grab the camera we put in a very remote location back in July, because we were getting some early snow. So my buddy and I decided we would do a trek that we did in two days in July, but do it in one on Saturday, just to get a camera. It ended up being more like we were hunting the elusive NW MT yeti than anything else. The snow kicked our @$$ boy. Had to just keep climbing on the ridges where the snow blew off, if you got off the ridge, you got into pockets up to your thighs. Sucked. 5 hours of torture, we reached the camera to find it had powered off after 3 days. Plus, the salt in the wound was, a lone bull had actually just been there, maybe a half hour before we got there. Cam took 60 pictures of nothing, I think bugs were setting it off, if that is possible. Here are a few pics.
Wondering if its worth it, I am thinking, leave the cam til spring.

I call this picture, oh $@!&. It was a white out for about half hour.

Mark, cussing me out after the whiteout.

Long way to go.

Camera is down there, so are elk tracks!!! Marko Polo on the left heading down.

 

[Tom]

Wow, leave the camera till spring sounds like a good option. Snow to the thighs is not too good. One wrong step, its over is what I'm thinking, and you can't see where you're stepping.

 

[Horn Seeker]

Drath,

I was up in some similar looking chit yesterday looking for elk. Saw about 4 sets of tracks all day...it was pretty brutal. There had only been about 5 inches of snow, but the wind had drifted it in places to about 18 inches and there was a gnarly crust on it!
I saw where some of the Madison range got upwards of 20 inches!
Did you leave the cam?

 

[drahthaar]

No, we made it to the cam. It powered off three days after we put it in there. I was sooooooo looking forward to that cam. Should have been some huge muleys on it. The day we put it in there, we saw a bachelor group of 8 bucks, 3 were superior.

 

[elk_hunter]

Damn! Great pics of snow and the country...too bad about the cam! Would definitely have loved to see the monsters that walked by!