This Thanksgiving I'm thankful for WY Elk with Friends

[seeth07]

Quick trip with 7 of us friends in Wyoming for the long Thanksgiving weekend. We are thankful for a lot, including 4 of us being able to get a generous offering from the state of WY to allow us to have a tag in our pocket with a chance to harvest a cow elk.

Friend 1 and 2: *SPOILER ALERT*


Friend 3 and his daughter:


My wife and I failed to take a hiking selfie and friend 4 apparently never got in one either.

 

[seeth07]

Need to give some credit first to one of the best here on HT, @ccc23454 for a little bit of a push to send me to this area to check it out. Area of WY we have never been before and he said we shouldn't miss out on.

I learned quickly why he loves this part of the state so much and I'm thankful for his friendship and willingness to get us into that area over this holiday weekend.










*Hoping these gorgeous photos are too identifying. General area should be possible not hopefully nothing too recognizable - alert me please if any are.

 

[seeth07]

The area we were in seemed to have no shortage of whitetails. Unafraid and willing to pose for the camera. I swear some of them we probably could have walked up to and pet. I'm thankful that places like this exist where a person can just drive around and have the joy of viewing deer like this.

 

[seeth07]

Mule deer too. Lots and lots of mule deer. No doubt the migration has happened and there are plenty of nice looking bucks around - all safe now that the deer hunting seasons have passed. Who the heck isn't thankful for big beautiful mule deer? Probably found a candidate for the big forkie thread if having just one side a fork counts?

 

[seeth07]

With the struggle of recruiting youth these days into the outdoors and hunting, I'm thankful that my friend has his daughter hooked on it. There may just be hope for the future generations of hunters.

 

[seeth07]

Call me crazy or insane but I'm way more thankful for a sunrise on a single digit morning in the snow covered mountains over watching a sunset on the beach with a Corona in my hand.

 

[seeth07]

I wasn't there but based on what I heard, I'm pretty sure these 4 were not thankful when they got just about cliffed out and had to rock climb up.

 

[seeth07]

I'm thankful that we were able to find elk...even if every time we did find them, they were always about 3 miles away.

 

[Lostinthewoods]

I am thankful you are doing a recap and have awesome pictures.

 

[seeth07]

I'm not sure about the average HT member but I'm guessing that the majority of hunters would see elk 3 miles away and think its too far to even consider - especially for a cow elk. Somehow antlers make a difference to some hunters whereas I don't see that logic because you have more thing to pack out along with likely more meat. I sure am thankful that at least my one friend was up for the challenge. The first attempt on Thursday evening got us to within 350 yards of a group in the herd but he missed the shot and my follow up shot myself missed.

It was a long walk back to camp but at least we had Thanksgiving dinner to look forward to. Elk camp had all the typical yummy Thanksgiving fixings - turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy and of course pumpkin pie!

 

[seeth07]

Friday was a rinse and repeat of Thursday where just my one friend and I were willing to put on the hiking miles required to get to this herd that had now moved about a mile further west and south of where we screwed up. This time however, I'm thankful that we didn't screw it up and we were able to get to within 200 yards and were able to knock down two huge cows!

Look closely and you can see them both!

 

[seeth07]

Elk don't always end up in a place that is easy to process them. With snow however, even a big cow elk will slide pretty good down a hill. I'm thankful for that. My friend joked that I should of got on her back and grabbed her ears for a better video.

 

[seeth07]

My wife and I love our Goldens more than anything. I'm thankful that they are full of energy and willing to not only help us by looking for deer but also with the pack out. Even the one that is now almost 10 still enjoys every minute of being outdoors with us and it seems to bring the pup in her right back out.



Going in empty:



Coming out loaded:

 

[Treeshark]

Looks like an awesome time!

 

[Dan-06]

Good times. My girls and I were super thankful to be successful too. Super thankful that the recovery is over as well.

 

[Sheltowee]

My wife and I love our Goldens more than anything. I'm thankful that they are full of energy and willing to not only help us by looking for deer but also with the pack out. Even the one that is now almost 10 still enjoys every minute of being outdoors with us and it seems to bring the pup in her right back out.

View attachment 351435

Going in empty:

View attachment 351436

Coming out loaded:

View attachment 351437

Days outdoors with your old-timer are priceless. Glad you got to enjoy this trip with her.

 

[wytex]

Nice!!
Glad to see your success and I think I know where you hunted, lol.

 

[seeth07]

I'm certainly not thankful for my truck to decide to break down after going thru the mountain pass. Not sure if it's a direct result of the work pulling the trailer thru it or random chance but the down exhaust pipe blew off the back of the engine snapping the clamp at the engine and breaking the flange of the pipe at the bottom from the clamp to the next section of the exhaust. The engine starting having issues and smoking from the heat starting to melt the plastic and wore coatings at the back of the engine. We were very close to an engine fire.

I am very thankful and owe many beers to my friend though for having the ingenuity to think of using some wire to rig something temporary up. We got both ends held not perfect but good enough to get the exhaust out the tailpipe. She made it the next 14 hours back home without moving much.

 

[CRJR45]

I'm thankful you're sharing !

 

[duckhunt]

Great stuff seeth.