old man
Active member
Well Since Sid and Jason told their story, that will make mine much shorter but hopefully worth reading. First off both Sid and i both caught the bug (which i am sure many of you have as well). that changed the plans a little. plus you have to remember that i had to plan my 1984 mile drive with concerns to the weather, and try to time it so i can get to hunt at least one day with both of them since now i knew they were both going to be hunting different areas. second problem second day on the road truck broke down with bad wheel bearing ,so that cost me $750 including the tow. Plus about 6 hrs drive time. So i tried to meet Jason on his last day at the refuge, but he had to leave a day earlier for work. But he told me i had to go to the refuge no matter what since i have never been there before. Now the refuge is 360 miles from Rawlins thru the mtns. and of course i ran into blizzard conditions with a few whiteouts which is why i am glad i just had new aggressive all weather tires put on. I was shocked when i pulled in to Jackson hole. the last time i was there it was only 1/8 that size. but it is still beautiful when covered with snow. So headed to refuge to see what it was like. when i first got there i just drove around casing the place, saw a small heard of elk, a single bull and a couple Bighorn sheep. I always thought hunting the refuge was kind of cheating so wasn't really enthused about hunting it. (at this point i have to say i have always loved snow and horses.)But when this heard of Elk came over the hill and this gentle man comes up to me and says can you ride a horse? and would you like to kill one of those Elk?, I couldn't resist. so i got ready while he got the horses saddled and off we went. now i know he thought we would catch those Elk right over the hill but not with me.It took us about 1/2 hour to catch up with them the first time. there were a couple other hunters there at the same time and one of them shot first and hit one in the leg witch i didn't notice so shot the same one and put it down. Since they wanted to claim it we moved on.The second time we caught up with the ELK they went into some timber, so we dismounted and headed for the timber. When i had a clear shot at a nice mature cow at 80yrds. i pull the trigger and CLICK. forgot to put a bullet in the chamber when i got off the horse. now half the heard is really on the move but thankfully we knew there was still a few in the other patch of timber. So off we went again. this time i made sure i had a shell in the chamber. just as we crested a knoll they were coming out of the timber at a prity good clip,when Matt let out a cow call and stopped the last one and i put her down with almost a hart shot. for my first ever Elk and not much experience on butchering i decided to take it to a butcher (never Again) in Jackson were they said it would be ten days, i told them no thanks and brought it to Rawlins where there was no wait time. but still expensive. Met Sid the next day and things still were not perfect but had an enjoyable time with him and got lots of good info from an experienced elk hunter. I am sorry i didn't get to see Jason but we are already talking about next season.
