2007 elk hunt

[Missouri Sherpa]

Mo Sherpa here.  I did not get my elk this year so there isn't going to be a blood trail ending in a gut pile on this thread.  If thats what you are looking forward to you will be disappointed.  If you want to enjoy some elk country pictures kick back and carry on.  

I am standing in front of a dry wallow.  There were over a dozen of these in a relatively small area in Wyoming where we were hunting this year.  They had urine and elk tracks in them so I assume they were made by some bull elk.

 


This bleak picture is taken out of my office window today.  The first week of March is behind us and I should be getting ready to put out my lettuce and radishes.  12 degrees F and snowing this morning.
   
 I worked horses all summer.  I bought this one unbroke in June and put a few rides on him.  I broke him to a packsaddle and he is doing pretty good.  Most people wouldn't take a green horse to the mountains but I work him just about every day and think he has a good mind, ready for the trip.
   

This is a two year old grulla quarterhorse that I put about 30 rides on, bought in June of this year.  Another steady horse that I am not afraid to take to the mountains.
   
 I bought this 24 ft aluminum gooseneck stock trailer cheap.  I had to put the center gates in.  I couldn't afford aluminum so I used steel but I think the gates worked out good.
   

Loaded up at the trailhead in the Weminuche Wilderness of Colorado, south of Creede.
   

Ready to head up the mountain.  Its over 10 miles to camp.
   

[Missouri Sherpa]

We saw several mule deer on our way in.  This picture was taken from horseback.

 

We saw several mule deer in this meadow.  There is a good sized creek that runs along the edge with lots of willows.  Seems to draw the deer.
   

Home for the week
   

There was plenty of graze for the horses.  I am fortunate to have horses that will stay in camp.  I hobble a couple and let the rest run loose.
   

I highline the horses together behind my tent at night.  I sleep better knowning they aren't going to wander off.  
   

Yes, there are fish in the creek.  I always pack a small flyrod and some flies.
   

[IB]

OH.....YEA......This is gonna be a GOODUN  

Don't WEAKEN DOC.  

[Missouri Sherpa]

This is some beautiful country but it is steep.

   

Thats my partner down there below me.  He is a rifle hunter that I am trying to convert to bowhunting.  I think I might climb a bit more than he is used to.
     

We found abundant elk sign up high along treeline.  Unfortunately we didn't get up this high until late in the week.  I only had one shot opportunity all week, first day not more than a quarter mile from camp.  I slipped up on a big spotted calf and had him at about 40 ft (not yards).  I thought he should have a mamma or family group nearby, maybe a bull.  We dogged him all morning but never did find the rest of the elk.  A young elk calf would probably be great eating, and an easy pack job.  I regret passing him up.
     

This is a shot of a rock formation called the window and to the right is the pyramid.  Found on the Continental divide separating unit 76 from 751.
     

More scenery.  We saw 7 bull moose on this trip, more moose than elk.  Saw even more hikers, riders, llama packers, and muzzleloader elk hunters moving in getting ready for muzzle loader elk season.  Not my best trip ever but still an ejoyable outing.
     

I went home and caught up on my work for a few days and then headed to Wyoming.  I like the Bighorns but have trouble drawing a tag there.  Some day in the not too distant future I will be a Wyoming resident and that will cease to be an issue.  Here I am packing in for my next hunt.  9 miles to camp.
     

[Missouri Sherpa]

Bullwinkle was ready for love and wouldn't leave this cow.  He wouldn't get off the trail to let us pass and we had to go around him.  I have had a couple of bad experiences with young packmules and moose and this situation made me just a little nervous, but we made it by without incident.

     

Highlined at camp for the evening.
     

Grilling some bagels and ravioli for lunch.
     

I nearly got killed on this trip.  My good dun saddle horse was getting saddle sore to the point he didn't want me to ride him.  I insisted and he rolled over backwards with me on him.  He knocked the wind out of me, broke a couple of ribs and crushed me from the waist down to below the knee.
I initially thought my pelvis was broken but I was able to get up and catch him.  I have been riding that horse for over 10 years and never got dumped.  He was a bit much for most people to ride but we got along fine.  I had been using him hard going up and down the mountains every day and after about 3 weeks he had enough.  I let him rest until we packed out.  He was a great horse with power steering, power brakes and lots of acceleration but at 19 years of age he was blowing hard compared to the other horses.  I have since replaced him with another zebra dun that I am looking forward to working with this spring.
     

Here I have the horses turned loose grazing next to camp.  There are too many trees and shrubs to picket them.  The big lineback dun is in the front.  Sad to see him go.
     

Here are a couple of gomers resting up after a good hike, waiting for the evening bugle show to get started.
     

This is another of many of those dry wallows.  Water was pretty scarce in the Bighorns this fall.  We were able to get on them every evening when they would come to water but the wind was especially fickle in this area and it was only a matter of time, not if we were going to be winded by the elk.
     

This is part of the thousand acre quakie patch.  Lots of elk sign, daily elk but fickle wind.  Eric and Steve both had long shot opportunites on elk I called in but they excercised good judgment and waited.  No elk this year but lots of fun.
     

[Missouri Sherpa]

Steve in the quakie patch after a brief shower.  What a colorful place.

 

Loading up getting ready to go home.  I am selling my Fjords this spring and have some great quarterhorse prospects ready to start working as soon as things warm up a little bit.  The buttermilk buckskin closest to the camera is only a three year old but he is the quietest horse I have.  Two speeds, slow and stop to eat.  I had a great trip especially with these young horses.  We have years of good elk hunting ahead of us.
   

Eric, headed for home.
   

[Tim Fishell]

I am liking what I am seeing so far!!  Except that leg!!  OUCH!!!  

[HalfRack]

When you do become a Wy resident, then magically a whole bunch of new hunting land (wilderness) becomes available to you, that'll be nice...  Great pics, I've got 2 PP's soon to be 3...

-Mike

[kennym]

Excellent pics,makes me wanna be out there!! You were lucky you didn't have more damage in the fall,hard to get back to the truck out there!Only time I rode in,we went on mules,whats your take on horse vs mule? Just curiousity,I'm no cowboy!!

[Son of Texas]

Glad your ok beautiful country.

[Missouri Sherpa]

I had a couple of 3 year old mules several years ago.  We got along great until the moose incidents and then I was convinced mules were crazy and dangerous.  I know any equine could react the same way.  I do a lot of ground work, sensitization and desensitization, getting horses to trust me and not take flight or spook.  Mules would probably train the same way but I didn't have the training experience back then that I have now.  I like mules but don't have any.  I understand horses and make quick progress with them when training so I will stick with horses.  A mule may have more sense of self preservation which can be confused with stubborness.  Mules may be more durable, better packers.  Many of the outfitters seem to prefer them these days.  A good mule seems to cost more than a good horse anymore.

[PICKNGRIN]

If you need somebody to come along and fry those trout for you, stop by Sioux City on your way out back to Wyoming!!!!

[kennym]

Thanks John!

[straitera]

Great story & trip. Much oblidged.

[pathdoc]

I sure enjoyed your tales from last year and the pics from this year are even better.  Glad to see you didn't catch the saddle horn in the chest like a guy I knew.  Still, hiking around the high country with broken ribs- guess you like them mountains about as much as I do.  I love having a couple of brookies in the frying pan a few nights in camp.  Keep those pics coming and can't wait to see next year's trip.

[Shaun]

Nice John. I like your new avatar and have good memories of that hunt. Gotta get back out west again myself soon.

[Brian Krebs]

I have spent months packed back in bowhunting; and I rode a mule and packed horses. A good mule is worth what you have to pay for it. Mules mature much slower than a horse; don't expect the same level of maturity from a mule: at the same age as a horse.
 Then there is the age factor. You had a good horse that broke down after 19 years. I had a mule I used for packing until it was 44.
 Figure any given mule will live ten years longer than any given horse; and last 10 years longer even if being used heavily.
 That is why you are seeing more mules out there.
I have seen 'bomb proof' mules sell for $12,000 here.
 If you get a mule do not settle for anything less than perfection; let the young guys do the training. Buy them when they are tested and true.
  I shoed horses for a long time; and I would see beautiful built horses and ask if they had considered breeding for a mule. I did that because I pretty much knew what the answer was; and - it was normally: 'no way- if I breed this mare I am going to get a registered horse out of it"; but they would continue..."if I can ever catch that old white mare out there (points to back of pasture) I am going to breed that 6itch to a donkey and get me a mule".
 Well; that is just what you want to avoid. You want to avoid mules that are from idiotic/fractious horses.
 There are mule breeders out there; and they will sell mules that are trained and ready to go.
  If you have questions about training mules; then seek out Meridith Hodges - she is the best mule trainer in the world; and the best teacher when it comes to training mules.
  I have trained mules; and one thing that cowboys hate; after they hit the ground while training mules: is that a mule can run full tilt -sideways- and if your not ready for that.. you can meet mr ground.
  I know your probably thinking - hey I can train animals! and your probably right. But why invest money in something that might turn out to be a lost cause; or might turn out just plain ugly dangerous?
  This is about bowhunting; and how to get way back in safely. You buy a 12 year old mule that is trained and is bomb proof; and you will get ten years out of it.
          Thats a trained ten years.
 Mules have a habit of looking where they walk; if they step over an object; the rear foot will follow and step right into that front track. That makes them capable of crawling across rocks and boulders safely. It does increase the pucker factor; but its worth it.
  At 57; I walk pack animals back in. In Idaho the wolves will snack on or chase off unpicketed or highlined animals. The outfitters here are now taking in just what they can highline and keep track of.
 Generally I hunt on foot; and if I get something down back in- I get it out with my pack animals. I leave them at home in the meantime.
  I love the pictures; and can almost smell the horse sweat. Riding and packing back in is a great way to go.
  I have had my share (plus) of wrecks. I prefer carrying a rope in my hand and the option of dropping it in the case of a wreck; than to end up rolling down a mountain and breaking my shoulder blade; or having the animal I was riding run up an impossible grade; turn and jump back to the trail; and breaking my pelvis.
  I hate bucking horses next to t posts; or in swamps; or where branches can scrape you off the saddle. Or where elk jump out to say hello in herds of 30 or more; or moose humping your pack animal while you have your tent tied on the back.
 Hornet nests; deer flies; wring tail ( when a bored pack animal figures out its fun to get the lead rope UNDER the tail of the animal in front of it) ie: WRECK!
  I have been there done that on all these accounts.
  Horses and mules and donkeys are great tools; and useful in bowhunting. And a longbow is a great tool to carry while your riding; as you can reach out and tap the knothead your riding right on its brain can- or tap them to tell them what direction to move.
  As I said I love the pictures... but that leg of yours looks old enough to start riding 4 wheel drive horses ( mules)      

       

hay is $195 a ton here right now!!!!!!!!

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Thanks for sharing your beautiful part of the world with us! I'd like to get over there someday!

[just_a_hunter]

You sure know how to get a fellers blood a boilin'.

What great pictures!

Todd

[Missouri Sherpa]

Shaun,

I have to thank you for my avatar picture.  My camera crapped out and I did not get very many pictures from the Sweat.  I feel the need to go pig hunting again next year.

Brian,

I will not dispute any of the points you make.  I would add that Jake Clark has an auction in Wyoming every year on Father's Day weekend, Mule Days, and probably offers as good of mules as you will find anywhere at that sale.  Be prepared to spend some money though, because the top 50 mules bring average price of 3-4000.00 every year.

The bottom fell out of the horse market around here. In fact I sold 8 pack llamas this past year for more than registered bred quarterhorse brood mares were bringing this fall.   Several factors including more corn planted for ethanol production, late freeze killing off the first cutting of hay, kill market being closed down, bad economy.  I have over a dozen horses right now.  I go to a lot of horse sales and buy, sell, trade, and train horses.  I have less than 1,000.00 per head in the ones I have.  If a horse has a defect I find out what it is pretty quick and if I can't correct him I will sell him for about what I paid for him, maybe more if I have polished up his handling a bit.  Life is too short to ride a bad horse, or an ugly horse.  I select for colored horses; roans, grullas, buckskings, occaisional appy or dun.  Thats what people like and will pay more for, maybe more that twice what a plain bay or sorrel horse will bring.  If that colored horse doesn't measure up in the mind and skills area though he isn't worth anything to me and he goes back to the sale.

I purposely pull the tow rope under the tail of my horses, and use a crupper.  No wring tail for me thank you.  I spend my spare time when I am not at my day job or sleeping, working horses.  If you spend time with them the horse will know how to behave.  I think a lot of horse problems are from people not horses.  The guy that keeps a horse in the lot behind the barn and only uses him 2-3 times a year is the one that is most likely going to have problems, not the horse that gets handled every day.  I don't like to ride through a treacherous area, like a bog, swamp, tight trail, loose rocks, or boulders where the horse has to slip his foot into small crevices to pass.  I lead them through those areas, one at a time if need be.  Again its the humans call in these kind of situations that can mean catastrophic wreck or just a slight delay to successfully negotiate passage.  My horses eat out of the same hay feeder as the llamas, and I keep a big dog.  Two less things to have them blow up about on the trail.

My old dun horse was still a good horse and could probably still be good for several years but I need an animal I can depend on day after day.  I should probably have let him rest a little and rode one of those Fjords but they don't ride nearly as good (good packers and driving team but don't ride worth spit).  I have picked up a couple more blue roans and a blanket appy that came off of ranches in Texas and New Mexico.  Good broke cow horses that already handle good, just need schooling as pack horses.  A couple of these will be my Fjord replacements and I should be able to alternate riding horses every other day.
I like being able to let my horses run loose to graze.  I have never been in an area where there are wolves or grizzly.  I probably will some day but that doesn't mean I will like it.

Glad you enjoy the pictures because I sure enjoy taking them.