Cow hunt report

[wmidbrook]

The herd minutes before thoughts of "death by elk herd stampede" ran thru my mind:
[attachment=57002:elk_herd1_md.jpg]

Sweet success and darned good meat:
[attachment=57003:billcow_md.jpg]


I'm glad I have Jesses to tell about my hunt rather than a rock & chisel!
[attachment=57004:elk_hunt_petro.jpg]

When I make some time, I'll put together a narrative to go along with the pics.

Speckmisser, if you see this I'd like that chiles elk roast recipe from you....that sounds awefully good at the moment.

 

[Lurediver]

Sweet photos and success.

 

[Kentuck]

Cool stuff. I've been told about the elk stampede and what happens. Don't think I'd like to be in one. Congrats and looks like some awesome country to hunt in.

 

[wmidbrook]

And now for the story.

I had some info on where a couple herds were located from some guys who had hunted the unit near Price last year. It was about a 4 hour trek from Salt Lake down to the hunting grounds on a Friday afternoon. We opted to camp since there were no high winds nor snows forecasted for the weekend. It had been getting up into the 40s and down into the low 20s at night so it would be decent camping weather imo. We pitched camp, built a fire and kicked back for a few hours up in the high desert canyon country.

As dawn broke the next morning we were on an open ridge plateau and spent the next couple hours glassing, changing positions, more glassing....you get the picture. At last we spotted about 9 animals. Mike breaks out his swaro spotting scope. Dang! ...just horses. Okay. Further up the ridge we go. Around 9:00 a.m. across the canyon, there appeared to be a moving ant trail just below the rim of the next ridge over streaming out of an aspen grove towards some open meadows and timber patches. Sure enough, we found a herd!! From our vantage point there appeared to be 200-300 head as they streamed along the ridge line. We broke out the spotting scope and could see that they were staging in an open area.

From our position we estimated that we were at least a 1 hours hike away from the herd. We'd have to hike down into the canyon and up to the next ridge. Before doing this we watched them to make sure that they were staying in that area....sure enough, we thought they'd bed in that vacinity--turns out they did.

Well, it was steep on the way down and then also on the way back up to the other side. It took us an hour and twenty minutes to hike over there....we basically slowed our pace as we glassed every few paces to make sure we didn't come up over a rise and spoke the herd. I finally saw a couple of cows emerge from a pocket of conifers. We crawled over to a fir and slowly rose up to see about 200 head...most of them bedded, some feeding. I ranged them at 865 yards to the nearest one. They were out in the open but the wind was in our favor.

I did not want to pack two elk out from this position. Mike had never shot an elk before so we formulated a game plan. He was going to drop below the ridge out of sight of the herd and then pop up in an aspen grove about 200-300 yards from the herd to position himself for the shot. The herd had started to slowly work across an open park towards another aspen stand. I was going to radio Mike if the herd moved and we had to go for a plan "b".

About 20 minutes later after confirming he could pop up in a grove for a shot since the herd was still there, I waited for a shot. During that time, I observed a few dozen bulls and as many spikes mixed into the herd. The big daddy was in the middle and enjoyed watching him and the others while Mike positioned himself. Bang!! followed by another two shots....

All of a sudden the herd started to stampede the 800 yards towards me...that big monarch of a bull in the middle of them towering above the rest of them....It dawned on me that I could quickly be in a bad situation if I didn't take some evasive action. I grabbed my rifle and jacked in a round thinking I could divert the herd if I found them getting much closer. All of a sudden one of the cows veered off as to drop down into the canyon...the rest of the herd followed! ....whew!!! relief. But what a sight it had just been.

I expected to hear any second over the radio that a cow was down. Instead, I got word that he was searching for blood and thinks he definately missed because he hadn't had a good rest and didn't see the one he tried to take hunch up as if it were hit.. I said to call me back in a few minutes if there was no blood where the cow had stood next to an aspen.....I told him that I might have an opportunity down the canyon if he didn't find blood....I didn't think we'd have the time to pack two of those cows out. After a while, he confirmed no blood.

I started to work over towards the ravine that these elk had been running towards. I came to another rise and there they were...at least a band of 50 cows out in the open. I moved to where I had a big fir between me and the herd and scurried up to it. I think broke out my range finder....437 yards to the nearest one.

Whipped off my backpack, lowered the bipod and I had to adjust things a bit to get a decent fix of my cross hairs on the cow. I knew I'd drop 2 feet at that distance so I held just slightly over the cows back. Boom!! The cow was hurt bad, connected with the front shoulder.

It was an easy 40 yard bright red trail down to a little gully where the cow had piled up. My trusty 30-06 150 grain Nosler Partition reloads had shattered the cows shoulder, passed thru both lungs and exited out the other side @ 437 yards as per my Leica. After some high 5s, the work was about to begin.

I boned out the cow. It took the rest of the afternoon for two of us to pack out the first half. It took the whole next morning to pack out the next half. Never again!!! *note to self* never shoot an elk where you have to cross a canyon again!!!...lol.

 

[hank4elk]

She's a beaut, wmidbrook! I had a herd spook right over me in NM. good thing I was next to log pile. Any one else have similar experience? I didn't know what to do but... duck. We've got steaks ....I filled my Tule tag wmidbrook.

 

[XDHUNTER]

Congrat's on your success.

.and good story..

 

[dw33]

Congratulations on the elk.

Cool petroglyphs as well.

 

[DEERSLAM]

Way to go...congrats!
Love the pic of the petroglyphs!

 

[Speckmisser]

Good stuff, Bill!

Which recipe, by the way?

I've never actually used a recipe, but I may be able to recreate it if you tell me when I did it.

 

[wmidbrook]

You had shot that bull thru the neck with your 180 grain reloads on the outfitted hunt in CO. Bigdog threw a soiree ala beast feast style. You made an elk roast that was top-notched. Slow simmered somehow with green chiles. It was around the time CCS was getting launched.

 

[wmidbrook]

Epilogue: Post cow shot
I had shot my cow and figured she was piled up. I glassed up on the plateau to see Mike, clad in orange vest chasing after the running elk herd! Was this a remake of "The Gods must be Crazy?" It was primordial at its best. Man, beast, and the quest for life.

Yup, the shot I took sent the herd his way!!! 'Oh crimaney cricket' I think to myself. There may be yet another cow to pack out (thinking....what excuse can I pass off to my company that I am gone yet another day unexpectedly)....then whew....radio call..."I can't catch up to them!" ...I'm thinking....daaaahhhhm....an ancient spear chucker would have looked very similar chasing a herd like that.

Needless to say, tomorrow when we have our processing fest---slicing steaks and grinding up some ground---I will give Mike a large portion of the harvest. If we get out there again and he's lucky enough to take a cow, maybe he'll return the favor. NEW 2009 Mantra---"Make Sausage, GET STUFFED" Get some, eat some. It's all good!

I must say, I enjoyed this cow hunt as much as any bull hunts I've been on. High Adventure, High Desert....good people, indelible memories. It just doesn't get much better imo.

 

[wmidbrook]

Post Post Epilogue:

In true exploratory style, there were no Radar Cross Section (RCS) nor Low Observable (LO) nor Primos Blood tracking light (PBTL) technologies nor any other technologies other than old-fashiioned woodsmenship, word-of-mouth and strong sense of intuition, native instincts and sheer luck employed on this hunt....

 

[Speckmisser]

Ahh... don't remember for sure, but that's probably the sauce I made with the homemade plum jam and peppers. If that was it, it's pretty easy to replicate...just take some plum jam (works with strawberry too), and heat it back to liquid with some red wine, then simmer in some chopped or sliced peppers. I also usually glaze the meat with some of the jam while slow roasting, then serve with the sauce. I expect what we had up at CCS was some version of that recipe.

 

[hank4elk]

Yeah Speck, now your talking. I love the new mantra. It just happens I have a new smoker for a try out with my cow. That sounds like it was a great time. And the glaze recipe works great for wild pig too! Try Apricot and Chipolte peppers.

 

[Vermonster]

Congrats!!! Good eats for sure!!!!

 

[WapitiBob]

Congrats Bill.

 

[buckfever07]

Way to go! Sounds like a fun hunt!

 

[SacFireJT]

Great pictures!

 

[OR186]

Bill, you sure know your elk meat. Seems like you always pick out a young cow. I like it all but if I can I'll take a yearling heifer everytime.

 

[arizona hunter]

Good job-enjoy the meat. Looks like a fine place to hunt, too.
I hunted in AZ 5 days and did not get an opportunity. Heck, I was not even seeing fresh sign. The last day I hunted I finally saw 8 cows running through the woods (spooked by another hunter, but I had no chance for one).

I also saw an antelope, two mulie bucks (were were they during my deer hunt?), and 5 coyotes (including one chasing a rabbit.)-I still had a great time.