wildgene
Handloader
- Jul 4, 2011
- 1,597
- 2
...honestly, I had every intention of cooking a nice venison roast w/ baby carrots & red potatoes, parsnips, & shallots for Thanksgiving, but...
...late Wed afternoon, I got a text, "Rick's got a cow down". Well, Rick & I had been out Wed. morning & looked @ about 300 elk in different spots that we couldn't shoot. I came home & started cutting up deer, Rick & Mark drove out to the other side of the mountain, & found some elk. Didn't hear anything else till after dark, drove out to where they had their rig parked. They weren't exactly sure where the elk was, couldn't follow their tracks back to it because of all the cows. Finally convinced Rick, it was his first elk, that it would be fine until morning & that crossing 3 really bad ravines, innumerable drifted in irrigation ditches, & trying to find, quarter, & pack it back out in the dark wasn't the best idea...
...first light Thanksgiving morning, started out in 30-60mph winds, but @ least it wasn't cold. Lost hats, chased hats, lost sled, chased sled. Finally got it quartered, loaded the front shoulders on packboards, the hind quarters in the sled & marched back across into the wind for a mile & a half. Back, loaded up, & down the rd. by 10:30. Spotted another small herd on the way out, Mark had the last tag, so he took off after 'em, following them down a small valley. They went up over the top of the ridge, so Mark turned back towards the truck, the elk circled a knob & came back down right on top of him. Bang, last tag for the unit filled, & back up the hill to pack out another elk. Loaded it whole in the sled, down a 1/2mi. to the truck, into the back & off we go back to the barn. It was almost 5:00 by the time we got everything skinned & hung up, so venison roast got put off till this morning. Box of fried rice w/ elk tenderloins, a piece of pie, & a couple of cups of hot chocolate for Thanksgiving...
...late Wed afternoon, I got a text, "Rick's got a cow down". Well, Rick & I had been out Wed. morning & looked @ about 300 elk in different spots that we couldn't shoot. I came home & started cutting up deer, Rick & Mark drove out to the other side of the mountain, & found some elk. Didn't hear anything else till after dark, drove out to where they had their rig parked. They weren't exactly sure where the elk was, couldn't follow their tracks back to it because of all the cows. Finally convinced Rick, it was his first elk, that it would be fine until morning & that crossing 3 really bad ravines, innumerable drifted in irrigation ditches, & trying to find, quarter, & pack it back out in the dark wasn't the best idea...
...first light Thanksgiving morning, started out in 30-60mph winds, but @ least it wasn't cold. Lost hats, chased hats, lost sled, chased sled. Finally got it quartered, loaded the front shoulders on packboards, the hind quarters in the sled & marched back across into the wind for a mile & a half. Back, loaded up, & down the rd. by 10:30. Spotted another small herd on the way out, Mark had the last tag, so he took off after 'em, following them down a small valley. They went up over the top of the ridge, so Mark turned back towards the truck, the elk circled a knob & came back down right on top of him. Bang, last tag for the unit filled, & back up the hill to pack out another elk. Loaded it whole in the sled, down a 1/2mi. to the truck, into the back & off we go back to the barn. It was almost 5:00 by the time we got everything skinned & hung up, so venison roast got put off till this morning. Box of fried rice w/ elk tenderloins, a piece of pie, & a couple of cups of hot chocolate for Thanksgiving...
