Long winded write-up, hope you don't mind.
Finally got it done. We had 4 full days of hunting and the weather was terrible. On our way in on Monday it was raining on top of the snow that was already there turning evrything into a slushy muddy mess. It took four wheel drive just to get our trailer down a mostly level dirt road. The snow was too deep to access the high country we like to hunt even with tire chains so were were limited to the lower stuff.
First morning out we saw a small herd of 3 bulls and 5 cows come out of a field in the headlights and figured that was a good sign. We stopped and waited about 45 minutes for daylight and started tracking them to no avail. They just kept getting farther and farther away into the hills and the snow was very crunchy so I'm sure they kept hearing us coming.
Across the valley there was a truck parked watching the field but I guess it was too cold for them to get out of the truck because a group of cows went across a sage flat about 150 yards behind them and the never saw them.
Day 2 we walked up the hills behind the field and saw lots of tracks heading into the tree covered hills and saw some disappear into the trees. We figured we would come back in the evening to wait for them to move back down towards the field, went back about four hours later and saw their tracks on top of our footprints heading down. Never saw them. Sneaky devils.
Day 3 lots of tracks no elk sightings and ever deepening snow everyday.
Day 4 we woke up to about 8 inches of more new snow. We saw the same group of elk come out of the field again at the exact same spot as before. Checked out the area behind the field again and found no elk. We went back to where the elk crossed and started tracking them again for about 3 miles into the hills we were getting quite tired. I told my son this is the last hill I'm going up, got there and spotted some bulls and 2 cows about another mlle away, and off we go.
By the time we got there the cows were gone but I got pics of the bulls. At that point I was done and said let's just head back.
We were headed back down when a smaller bull that had watched us go past him stood up to look at us so I took his pic and he got nervous and took off up the hill and there go 2 cows with him and the hunt is back on. Of course the went up the steepest hill there was.
First time they stopped was at 346 yards and I just plain missed, guess I was breathing too hard. Next time they stopped was at 374 yards but the cows were standing one in front of the other, no shot.
They finally stopped again at 401 yards and I knocked one over. Woohoo!!
Took us about an hour to climb up to where it was and she had fallen over the farside of the ridge making for an even harder pack out. Finished quartering at 2:30pm. Lucky for us my son had brought his packframe because he said he knew we would stay out till we got one or it got dark. He packed out both front quarters and my brother and I each had a hindquarter and a backstrap. I also had the tenderloins in my cargo pockets.
We took the most direct route downhill in the general direction we needed to go. Got to a road about a mile away at 4:30 and it was still 2 more miles back to the truck.
