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Elk Hunting — November 2022
My husband shot a bull elk last weekend. It was already near dark and freezing cold. He’d been out all day — and he was out of water. My coworker and I raced up the forest service road to meet him. He’d managed to gut the elk and remove one of the hind quarters, but was too cold and tired to do anything more so had hiked down to meet us. I couldn’t believe the weight he was carrying — we later weighed the hind quarters and found they were 50lbs each. We refreshed my husband with food and water, and moved the elk quarter to our sleds.
The next day we had a family event mid-afternoon and couldn’t get out to the backcountry. The temps were around 15–20F all day, so we didn’t worry about the meat spoiling. I fretted about the possibility of predation — knowing there were coyotes in the area, but likely not bears and wolves at least.
Sunday morning we woke up at 4am to get ready and started hiking around 5:30. There was a frozen dirt road for part of the way, but we soon had to cut uphill and off the trail. We made it back to the elk just after first light, around 8am.
He was massive, about the size of a small horse — with a similar sweet, musky smell. We both felt it was important to greet him and thank him. I knelt by his head, inhaling his wild scent, and placed my hand on his head. We said a few words of gratitude for his life and the sustenance…
