My Oregon Hunt this year was....well lets just say awesome. A lot of folks that have never packed horses or wrangled them look at the success we have every year and call us lucky. Lets just say that it's a lot of work to pack in 15 miles with 14 stock animals. The logistics alone are mind boggling. The rewards are priceless
This year we embarked on our 8 hour journey from home with high hopes and lots of anticipation. There would be five of us hunting this year and grandpa would ride along and be the camp manager and horse wrangler while we hunted. The previous two years were filled with literally thousands of bugles during the course of our 10 days in paradise. We felt sure it would happen again.
I am fortunate enough to own a little piece of property that borders the eagle caps wilderness. We always stage out of there before we embark on our 15 mile adventure. The first day this year was a little different. My buddy Jim has a son that secured permission from the forest service to restore an old trappers cabin that is in a huge old meadow. It is his eagle project for scouts. They had previously packed in on horses 70 6' round fence posts( that alone was an adventure
) and 500# of concrete. This years goal was to just get a fence up to keep the cattle out. Next year we will put new shingles and chink on the 150 year old cabin. So we packed in our drills and lag bolts with lots of spare batteries and finished the fence for our first day.
Next day we loaded up all our gear and headed up the trail. About 8 miles in and right on top I spot a wolf not 80 yards off the trail.
. He was a big grey and he was accompanied by a big black. I thought that that's not a good way to start a hunt.
We make it to camp with no major wrecks and start to put everything together. As we are setting up a big 340 class 6x and 3 rags and 3 spikes, with 20 cows goes right across the ridge. We are pumped as the sun sets. And full of anticipation. The only thing that lacks are the bugles. Nothing!! ( we only heard maybe 30 in 10 days. I think the wolves had them clammed up) . The next three days were tough. I passed on 2 cows. Drew on a 340 bull at 18 yards and could only see his head and antlers, and drew on a 3 point and couldn't get it done. We were hunting these elk like a mulie. Still hunting areas that they frequent, cause we can't locate them for their lack of vocalization.
On day five we change up tactics. We have a honey hole we hunt that is never bothered by others because its almost impossible to get to. The elk are always there but you have to know where there escape routes are to make this a possibility. They like it here but leave on mt. Goat trails if pressured. We all get in position and the fun starts. Elk start going everywhere!! My buddy Jim connects on his biggest bull to date!! He is a 348" whopper!! He shoots him at 32 yards at 9000' and on literally a cliff. He dies on the on the on 6' ledge on the whole mountain. After some good pics he and I secure the elk with rope to keep him still and try to figure out how to get this 800 pound animal down 2300 vertical feet.
. We settle one small body cavity hole to get the guts out and to forget the cape. We cut the antlers off and the legs at the knees sewed up the hole in the cavity, and cut the ropes, and give him a kick.......it worked like a charm. That bull rolled all the way to where we could get horses
. We had to dislodge him a couple times but that was it. We then quartered him and packed him back to camp. The fall didn't hurt the meat a bit. Remember you can't bruise meat once the heart quits beating
. 30 mile round trip and bull #1 is in the locker.
On the next day I pass on two more cows and just enjoy my time in Gods country. The days go buy and we are running out of time. One of the guys in camp shoots a small bull. So now we have 2 tags notched. The weather turned cold and we are able to keep him in camp. The next day we decide to hunt another secret hell hole. That's when I connect at 9 yards with my small 5x5. He dies at 8900' and we glassed 10 goats 200 yards from where he died. We think we MIGHT be able to get horses to him with a little risk involved. We plot the course and ride the stock as far as we can safely and then lead them the last 1.5 miles up mountain goat country. I can honestly say that my horses are probably the first to leave horseshoe tracks on that pass. It was crazy but added a whole new dimension on how we will hunt there again. My stock is not big but they are awesome mountain horses. 3 tags notched!! We are going one tomorrow. We think we can get all the gear and the 2 elk off the mountain in one trip. We are stoked. As we are packed with my quarters and heading back to camp we notice a campfire about 3 miles down the trail. One of Jim's sons has also shot a nice big cow. It's all quartered and ready to load. Crap... So much for riding our horses back to camp. Now we have a 4 mile walk pulling the horses which are laden with 2 elk. We also won't be going home tomorrow. Oh well there could be worse things than packing 3 elk off the mountain in the am.
Well long story short off the mountain we go with 3 elk in panniers. And back up, we pack up, and back down! 45 miles on horse back in 29 hours. We slept 7 hrs in there and packed up camp too
. Those horses sure earned their oats!
Sorry I was so long winded! Thanks for reading and enjoy the pics.
