I had a cow elk tag, this season, and ended up not pulling the trigger because getting to them was so hard when I did the math, I just did not think I could get her out. What do everyone think? What's your worst pack outs? I know I would have made it happen for a bull. The people I talked to had an attitude of "don't work that hard for a cow". I don't know, seasons over and I'm kind of kicking myself. The best thing would have been to be in much better shape, and found some easier elk.
When I took my oldest son (then 20 years old) on his first cow hunt in NM, we came across a bowl in a steep mountainous area. We parked about a mile away and after hiking a bit, glassed a bull with several big cows at about 600 yards. I worked out a good stalking plan with my boy and he came in at the top of the ridge overlooking the little steep bowl while my youngest son and I stayed out in the open where we glassed them and kept their attention. My son snuck over and shot the largest cow from about 400 yards with a single shot. The cow dropped and wrapped itself around a juniper in the bottom of the bowl. Oh yeah... it was already 4 pm in afternoon too.
My youngest son, then 8 years old was not much help with the downed elk, so my oldest and I started gutting and skinning animal to cool it off. First mistake we made was only bringing one large pocketknife (although it was a Benchmade that skinned well) and a hatchet. We finished that task after sun set and propped open the cavity. I removed the tenderloins & backstrap and separated the top two quarters from the bottom two (real fun cutting the spine in two with a rinky-dinky hatchet). We then cut off a limb with the axe and using every ounce of strength we had, we lifted the bottom half up and hooked it on the cut-off stub. The top 1/2 we covered with juniper branches and prayed that predators didn't find it overnight.
Next mistake in preparation? We only had our phones and a single penlight with us to light the way through the NM mountain area up to pick-up- all went dark halfway back. The lechuguilla (a nasty little plant here in NM) I stepped on hurt for weeks afterward in my calf. That night, my son drove three hours back to college to get his athletic cousin, also in football, while I drove 2.5 hours home the other direction to get the things I knew should have taken with him the first time- game bags, my cordless Sawz-all (absolutely a lifesaver with a long combo blade), several flashlights, large ice chests, and larger backpacks for the meat.
We met back there the next morning and fortunately, it had been below 32 F that night and no predators discovered the carcass. I quartered the halves and cut up rib cage with trusty battery-powered saw., trimmed off neck and other HB meat, and packed all in game bags, while the two big young men ferried the meat from the butcher site to the pickups (four trips). We were out of there by 1pm that day.
Moral to the story: always have all your tools with you when you hunt.
Would we have gone for the shot had we known the work necessary given our lack of proper tools? ABSOLUTELY. The meat was fantastic for the next year. Best part, my son's stalk and his single shot were both perfect. This was his first big game harvest, and created memories that will last a lifetime.
It's been a petty good life.
