Saturday morning I started hiking before it got light. The location was chosen on the advice of the old guy that runs the saw shop. Following his directions I head up the mountain, as I exit the thick bush and enter an area of lodgepole pine I see something move off behind a bush. It looked to be about mule deer sized so I liflted the binoculars for a look and could not see whatever it was. I lowered the binoculars and noticed 2 big tan coloured rocks so I looked again and saw 2 huge bull elk, one was a 5 point and the other was the same or bigger. Unfortunately my limited entry tag was for a cow/calf so I couldn't legaly shoot so I hiked on. The bulls saw me and trotted away, at 50 meters I could hear thier hoof beats. I followed thier tracks until it started pissing rain at which point I sat down under a tree to wait it out. Ten minutes later the rain stopped and I continued in the direction I was traversing. The elk trail went up a little steep pitch and I chose to travers instead of climb. I now know why it went up, I came to a nasty thick stand of alder and bush. Instead of backtracking I decided to go through. Next time I'll backtrack. I emerged from the bush after a getting stuck, falling down, and surprisingly cursing numerous times. About 10 minuted later I hiked over alittle ridge and there they were Moma and daughter standing haveing breakfast. I crouched down and took aim. Bang, nothing, the elk just looked at me, I fucking missed. I got into a better position and fired again and she fell on the spot and rolled 10 meters down the mountain. I stood up and noticed the others standing around the corner as they all decided I was bad news.
I walked over and she was dead. So began the work. I cleaned her and started dragging her down the mountain until I got to the bush. I cut off a hind quarter and headed down the mountain. It was really steep and rocky and the bush was thick. Not a lot of fun. I made it to the road and stashed the quarter and went for my truck. Picture a guy walking down the road covered in blood, with a cut on his nose (scoped, doh), and a pack with a rifle strapped to it. I got to the truck and retieved my quarter and went home for a bigger pack and a snack. As I was about to leave a friend showed up. Perfect timeing. He was keen to help so we went back and brought the rest down in a single trip. I think if I had to do it all myself it would have taken another 4 trips. We loaded our packs with the quarters then put the ribs on a stick and carried them between us. Down through the bush from hell again. By the time we reached the road I was jelly legging pretty bad. We loaded up and I looked at the time and said, "I bet I can have beers in our handes in 9 minutes." and headed for home and said beers.
Our estimated pack weights were both about 75 pounds and the rib cage about 90lbs. That, added to the first quarter put the total weight at just over 300lbs. I slept well on saturday night.
