Cowboy Heaven Consulting, LLC
6116 Walker Road
Bozeman, MT 59715
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We’d packed into the Madison Range a couple of days before the 10/21 season opener to get a camp set up. To avoid multiple trips, we packed our saddle horses in addition to the regular packhorses, and hiked in, about ten miles. For those interested in horse packing, in the adjacent photo the manties on the white horse are loaded on a riding saddle. In all, we took in about 685 pounds of stuff, 320 of which was horse feed.

I’d camped in this area before, but only with my backpack tent and a spike tent. This time we were equipped for luxury with the wall tent, and I figured we’d have to cut tent poles. Luck was with us from the start, though, and we found a campsite that already had tent poles cut, and showed no sign of use for at least a year previous. I might add that it’s considered extremely bad backcountry form to take over someone else’s campsite, but a lack of old horse droppings and cut firewood are pretty reliable indicators of a site that prior inhabitants are no longer using. So, by dark we had a great camp put together, and my renowned hunting camp chili simmering on the woodstove (made with elk burger harvested nearby the previous year, I might add). The most noteworthy point of the evening, though, was shortly after we’d turned in, when a couple of wolves tuned up not too far away. I’m still somewhat at a loss for adequate words to describe the resulting emotion; it’s somewhere between awestruck and profoundly disturbed! For better or worse, wolves are back in Montana. They serenaded us again the next night, although from a distance. Yep, it’s wild in there…

We had a full day to cut firewood and scout around, and ascertained that there were plenty of elk around, although mostly cows and smaller bulls. Even they were fairly high, and the big bulls are still way up there, from all indications. So, an hour and a half of hiking in the dark opening morning found us up at about 9000 feet. The only other hunters in evidence, another father and son, were well below us, but it turned out the elk were still mostly above us. As it got light, I saw a big herd of elk on the ridge maybe 500 vertical feet above us, and we started to kick in the afterburners. Luckily for my legs and lungs, though, we shortly spotted a pretty decent bull through the timber across a ravine. After gaining a little more elevation for insurance, we started creeping through the north-facing timber out toward the open slope where the elk were feeding. Just before we got out to the edge of the timber, a spike appeared just below us. He got our scent, and/or heard us in the crunchy snow, and started trucking up the mountain. A group of about 50 other elk weren’t quite sure what was up, but elk aren’t given to long deliberation and they all started heading for the ridgetop, not too far away. We only had about twenty yards to get to the edge of the timber. I turned and whispered to Cody "it’s show time" and we beat it out there. The bunch was mostly cows, spikes, and raghorns, but one bull in the middle of the bunch immediately caught my eye. They were already spooked and vacating the neighborhood, so there was not much point in being quiet. Cody and I had both hustled to handy trees suitable for rifle rests, and I called to him "good bull in the middle of the herd, take him". To his credit, he picked him up right away but waited for a clear shot, which resulted in the reassuring "whack" of a hit. "I got him", cried a very excited 12 year old. What follows is why you don’t want to use 243’s or other light calibers on elk. Cody was using 180 grain Hornady Light Magnums in his Husqvarna 30-06, and I had 180 grain Barnes X in my 300 Dakota. The bull was obviously hit hard, and was rapidly falling behind the rest of the bunch, but was still making good time toward the ridgetop. Cody shot again three more times, and hit him twice, once in the neck and once low and forward in a front shoulder. I decided I’d better get in the act and shot twice, hitting him in the neck again. Finally, he stopped and Cody’s last shot toppled him. Retrieval could have gotten really ugly if he’d made it over the ridge, and although Cody got the "magnum eyebrow" from the experience (a fairly minor case, and the absolute least of his concern at that point), it further reinforced my opinion you don’t want to be undergunned for elk.

So, after some major celebration and field dressing, I figured we’d better have a look over that ridge to see if there was one for me, also. It was absolutely elk central up there, although not big bull elk central. There was only one bigger, a 6-point, that after considerable deliberation I decided to pass on. It’s only opening day, you know….He was kind of short in the tines, narrow in the spread, and I don’t think would quite go 300 B & C. After four consecutive mild winters, with low hunter success and pretty much non-existent winterkill, there’s a whole lot of big bulls out there, perhaps about as many as there’s been in modern times, and I want one! There’s lots of time left, and with any luck we’ll get some good snow. While I’ll take packhorses back up to 9100’ if I have to, it’d certainly be more convenient (loosely defined) to find one a little lower.

Initial reports from opening day indicate only so-so success, no big surprise given the bluebird weather conditions. Only twenty elk came through the Gallatin check station Sunday and Monday. I have reliable reports that a lot of elk, including a notable number of big bulls, are hanging just inside the Yellowstone Park boundary, and a good storm will push them out. It doesn’t look we’re going to get that storm this week, but early indications favor a more normal winter. I recall saying this time last year that a fourth mild hunting season was improbable, and I’ll stick my neck out and say a fifth is even more so. Come on snow.…