diamond hitch
Well-known member
It's hard for me to not share a story, especially when invited. Periodically the stars line up and the elk just throw themselves at you. We had been hunting without much success until we hit a weather change, as usual on vets day. With 4 inches of fresh snow we started out on a 10-12 mile scan. When we got about halfway up the hill we cut tracks of 6 head of elk on one of the lower roads. In about 2 miles, we rounded a bend and the elk stopped to watch us. I jumped off, lined up a shot and missed. My partner followed the herd and I took a track going down. In about a mile the tracks took me below the snow line and the party was over. My partner worked his way up the ridge and in a blizzard shot a nice muley buck.
We got back to the horses and worked our way up the ridge towards our old camp. We had only gone about 1/2 mile when a herd of mulies walked in front of us. In the middle of the herd was a really nice 4x5 buck with about a 30 inch spread. The bad news was that we were fresh out of tags so all we could do was drool.
We continued to the top of the ridge and hit the ridge road. We got off to walk and warm up our feet and as we strolled around a ridge nose. All of a sudden I noticed a pile of brown hair in the middle of the road. It looked like someone had killed a couple and stacked up the quarters. I commented on what I was seeing to my partner and about that timea spike bull stood up in a pile of 6 cows. I pulled the gun out of the boot and shot the bull. My partner was just a hair behind me but missed a cow. I gutted the bull, threw a rope around the bull's head and started down the road towing the elk behind.
We hadn't gone more than a mile when my partner noted a cow starring at us from a patch of trees. He piled off his horse, pulled his rifle out of the boot, and took aim only to find he was too short to see the cow. He jumped up on top of the bull and shot the cow. She fell off the hill and slid into the road. We gutted her and tied her to the bull.
We continued 4 miles down the road to the end of the road and prepped them to pack them out the next day. We got back on the trail and made it back to truck. We got the horses loaded and started home only to run out of gas. With the chevy saddle tanks, the right was empty and the switch to the left was broken. We siphoned the full tank to fill the empty tank and drove home for a late dinner. We returned the next day for three round trips to pack out the meat. More fun than three people could deserve.
We got back to the horses and worked our way up the ridge towards our old camp. We had only gone about 1/2 mile when a herd of mulies walked in front of us. In the middle of the herd was a really nice 4x5 buck with about a 30 inch spread. The bad news was that we were fresh out of tags so all we could do was drool.
We continued to the top of the ridge and hit the ridge road. We got off to walk and warm up our feet and as we strolled around a ridge nose. All of a sudden I noticed a pile of brown hair in the middle of the road. It looked like someone had killed a couple and stacked up the quarters. I commented on what I was seeing to my partner and about that timea spike bull stood up in a pile of 6 cows. I pulled the gun out of the boot and shot the bull. My partner was just a hair behind me but missed a cow. I gutted the bull, threw a rope around the bull's head and started down the road towing the elk behind.
We hadn't gone more than a mile when my partner noted a cow starring at us from a patch of trees. He piled off his horse, pulled his rifle out of the boot, and took aim only to find he was too short to see the cow. He jumped up on top of the bull and shot the cow. She fell off the hill and slid into the road. We gutted her and tied her to the bull.
We continued 4 miles down the road to the end of the road and prepped them to pack them out the next day. We got back on the trail and made it back to truck. We got the horses loaded and started home only to run out of gas. With the chevy saddle tanks, the right was empty and the switch to the left was broken. We siphoned the full tank to fill the empty tank and drove home for a late dinner. We returned the next day for three round trips to pack out the meat. More fun than three people could deserve.
