Leaving in the morning for Wyoming.

[Cerebral Stalker]

That was a phenomenal write-up and I really enjoyed following the thread. Congrats!

 

[OwyheeHuntr]

Some of the hunts that mean the most have nothing to do with antlers...Sounds like you made the most of this opportunity. Congrats on doing it your way. Makes me think a little more about waiting to go on some of those hunts I say I'll do someday.

 

[rtraverdavis]

What a cool hunt and great write up. So neat that this started as a weather check thread and turned into what it did. Congratulations and thank you for sharing your adventure with us.

 

[Sask hunter]

Congrats!

 

[Northwoods Labs]

congrats, way to overcome the obstacles and get the job done!

 

[LCH]

Congrats on your elk! Sounds like some challenging conditions.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Congrats on the hard earned cow! Glad I'm not the only one that works as hard for a cow as a bull. To me they're all trophies because we draw the tags so rarely here in NV.

 

[OleRedbeard]

Congrats on the hard earned cow! Glad I'm not the only one that works as hard for a cow as a bull. To me they're all trophies because we draw the tags so rarely here in NV.

Thank you. I couldn't have been happier!

 

[LukeDuke]

Congrats and nice write up. That wind out there is no joke...nothing like trying to shoot when your eyes are watering like crazy...lol. Well done

 

[OleRedbeard]

Congrats and nice write up. That wind out there is no joke...nothing like trying to shoot when your eyes are watering like crazy...lol. Well done

Man that's the truth haha

 

[Duck-Slayer]

That was a great write up, thoroughly enjoyed reading this! Congrats on the meat hunt.
Matt

 

[CiK]

Great read. All you guys chipping in made this a community success. For us guys coming from the east, that was awesome to see.

 

[sdkhunter]

A lot of people would have bailed on the trip after the intiiail weather and road report - nice work to keep plugging away and way to get it done! Sounds like you got to accomplish a goal that you've had and been thinking about for a long time! Very true on how life has a way of passing us by before we really and truly realize it.

 

[OleRedbeard]

If it were not for some of these guys on here giving me a heads up and letting me know what was going on none of it would have been possible! I want to thank everyone who took the time to chip in advice and updates!

 

[undercover]

oleredbeard, would you mind sharing your winter cow gear dump? Meaning what you packed, and maybe what you didn't pack and wished you had? cooler sizes, clothing basics, optics, etc etc etc...thanks in advance

Brian aka undercover

 

[OleRedbeard]

oleredbeard, would you mind sharing your winter cow gear dump? Meaning what you packed, and maybe what you didn't pack and wished you had? cooler sizes, clothing basics, optics, etc etc etc...thanks in advance

Brian aka undercover

Yes, No prob. Will do this evening when I get on my laptop.

 

[Doc7]

great hunt!!! Hope to do it myself soon!

 

[OleRedbeard]

oleredbeard, would you mind sharing your winter cow gear dump? Meaning what you packed, and maybe what you didn't pack and wished you had? cooler sizes, clothing basics, optics, etc etc etc...thanks in advance

Brian aka undercover

This was everything I took for my hunt minus the tent which I ended up not setting up in lieu of sleeping in the back of my truck in December. I also ended up not bringing the rifle with me and just used the muzzleloader instead (I had the rifle in the truck though in case It ended up being too hard to get in on them with the smokepole)
These photos were taken in September when I went the first time. The only thing that changed with the December hunt was I had my cold weather gear which consisted of a couple of more layers and my gaiters. The September hunt was going to be more of a backpack style hunt and the December hunt ended up being a truck hunt which pretty much consisted of my sleeping in the truck (I have an aluminum topper I use during hunting season for trips I take around the house)
With the truck hunting and basically having it as my living quarters 90 percent of everything below except for your basic day hunt stuff.
Food
Water
Kill kit
2 headlamps
extra socks
extra gloves
extra warming layers
glassing pad
Binos
First aid kit
emergency sleeping bag
a couple of lighters
extra batteries
and other small random items Im probably forgetting.
I already had pretty much everything except for my spotting scope and tripod since I hunt in the Appalachian mountains and do a lot of overnight and 3 day hunts on the Appalachian Trail and in several wilderness areas we have and on National Forest.
I think as far as gear goes I had about everything I needed. The biggest thing I will have the next time is a bigger set of binos. I have my 10x42s which work great for what I do 99 percent of the time here in the big woods but really fall short when your glassing long ways. The spotting scope honestly I could have done without for the most part because it was just to heavy to bring with you when you left the truck.
In the truck for the December hunt I had everything pretty much squared away with a couple of totes and my bed with foam pad and zero degree bag I built in the back and 2 large coolers.
Big thing to have is a short shovel and chains. That is something that may be overlooked I think by some since I ended up pulling 2 people out while out who had driven through a drift on a two track and bottomed out.
I had my sled, saw, chains and cables with me and a shovel along with tow straps and other gear that pretty much stays in the truck during season like a small air pump and patches and such with a tool bag. The totes had extra dry clothes since I did not have a way to dry anything that got wet other than driving into town and hitting up the laundromat. The other tote had misc gear that could have been useful if it was needed or the weather was different.
Make sure you have a good windbreaker layer on it will cut you in two out there and possibly some sunglasses or the like since it blows so hard that your eyes water.
The difference in the September trip and the December trip were night and day. Most of the areas I could get to in September would not have been accessible by anything other than a tracked vehicle or a snow machine in December. Park somewhere and walk up over the ridge to glass areas people cant see from the road. Crazy how much game you see just doing that. Every local I ran into on both trips were all good people. I was fortunate enough not to run into anybody that treated me like an outsider.
I did however almost screw up a hunt for some guys that were a couple of ridges over though. I had driven down a two track a ways and parked to go up a ridge and glass. When I got to the top and peeked over the ridge there were probably 20 or more elk feeding 5 or 6 hundred yards away. I backed off the ridge and dropped my pack and went back up to glass them to figure out where they were feeding towards. That is when I noticed directly across from me probably 800 or so yards there were 2 guys with orange hats on watching those same elk. They had spotted me I think before I saw them so I waved and slipped back down the ridge went back to the truck and after pulling out and going back towards the split in the road I stopped and saw that the map showed that split went directly around behind where those two fellas were. Hopefully they got one. It looked like they were feeding pretty much in the direction they were glassing from.
The gaiters were something that really came in handy. Nothing worse than having water seep up your pants and down into your socks from the snow. I sewed up a hobo gun bearer that actually worked pretty good. I cant use it for around the house because you simply don't have the time to set up a shot like you do out there glassing. It beat the crap out of just slinging your rifle. I will be investing in a real one sometime before next fall for trips out that way.

 

[undercover]

Thanks ORB, I will definatley examine these photos.

 

[treedagain]

sounds like you had a good hunt. one thing to think about is how that elk reacted to your shots, alot of elk have been lost trying to save a little meat. they can suck up alot of lead. out in the sage brush it might work out, but do that on a mtn and have one go over the top and add a couple thousand feet of vertical packing and that little bit of meat "saved" will cost you. also there is the real chance of losing it.