CO Elk Camp 2012

[coOverwatch]

Have 14 does in this bowl
3 other hunters have one down in the adjacent bowl
Lots of shooting but nothing blew out
He was not big but will do

 

[coOverwatch]

What to do???
Keep turning up does every where
Two have me pined so I cannot move around the bowl without spooking them

 

[coOverwatch]

Found the buck. To bad he is now on private. Moving on as I am just about frozen

The other hunters crossed into private and did not know

 

[coOverwatch]

Stoping for lunch under a tree and to get out of the wind

Seems I have found the nursery.

45 does and young ones
2 bucks on privet
0 cow elk
0 bull elk
Herd of sheep 2 miles back towards the truck

 

[coOverwatch]

3x3 feeding above this gorge!!

 

[coOverwatch]

Waiting for him to turn for a shot

 

[coOverwatch]

Shot.....hit......down.... Rolling over edge to the bottom.
How the hell am I going to get down there, let alone back up

 

[a3dhunter]

Shot.....hit......down.... Rolling over edge to the bottom.
How the hell am I going to get down there, let alone back up

LOL
nice one. got to love when things go wrong!

 

[coOverwatch]

Giving up. No way back up without a rope and help. I am also 2.6 miles from my truck. This sucks!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Elkmasterwyo]

Good luck!!!! Let's see some pictures of this adventure when you get a chance

 

[a3dhunter]

Any way further down the valley?
I would definitely head back in tomorrow, good cold night tonight the meat should be fine.
Keep in mind, going down is usually worse than going up. You can de-bone the animal right there and only pack out meat.

The last two seasons I have carried 300 feet of heavy rope in the truck for situations like this,just in case. Haven't needed it yet, and hope I never do.

 

[coOverwatch]

A3dhunter – I will most definitely be getting some climbing rope to keep in the truck.
In this case the deer fell into some sort of crevasse. It is about 6 -8 feet wide and about 250 yards long sloping down at a steep angle and filled with brush and debris. Sides are about a 5 degree (guestimate) slop with nothing I would bet my life to tie off to. The outlet is maybe a foot wide and a tangled mess of brush. I will see if I can find the location on the topo to give a better representation of what I was dealing with. Would have taken a photo but phone was at 1% and I needed to check in with the wife as I was hunting alone. (again)

If I had a chain saw I probably could get in there and try and drag it out. However I did not carry the chainsaw on this trip. This is the first time I have not been able to retrieve game I have shot, but decided to error on the side of caution.

 

[coOverwatch]

here are a few pics.
the first pic is what I have in my pack which is right at 38lbs. seems alot for just hiking around. water bladder is 3 liters. think that might be the issue?

 

[coOverwatch]

more pics. there are about 20 more elk that went into the pinion above the two that are in the clearing.

 

[coOverwatch]

more pics

 

[coOverwatch]

Question: what weight do you try to keep your pack down to? With the forcast of 20-30 degrees and a 10 mile wind. I really didn't have much in my pack and it was 38lbs.

 

[coOverwatch]

Also, anyone use one of the GoPro cams?? tired of digging out the camra.. seem to forget to take picks until I am back at camp.