Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting an other horse accident

One year an outfitter gave us a mule rather than a horse. I was apprehensive because I had always heard they were stubborn and I worried that I might have trouble. During the hunt it was a great pack animal. The only time it balked was when the human leading it was at fault for some reason or another. Over the week I got to really appreciate that mule.

Last year’s rental horse was an interesting animal too. She was said to be un-rideable as a mount and we never tried. She was very muscular and seemed to have some mule-like qualities about her. I was very impressed with her strength dropping down into and climbing out of the steep banks of mountain creeks while loaded with ½ an elk.








We killed 2 elk at the bottom of the valley in the picture below and I was grateful for that paint horse. It certainly extended our hunting range. We were able to have a spike camp down in that valley.





Rental horses don’t always get treated well and they get real good at evaluating their renters. The outfitter we rented from had another group that had rented 3 horses in another part of the unit. The first horse ran off and they lost a 2nd horse trying to recover the first one. The guy with the 3rd horse told them they were on their own and that he had come here to hunt. My experience has been that they usually don’t have reason to try to get away if they are treated right.

25 years ago when I wasn’t so fat I didn’t care so much how strong a horse was. This horse would actually stop and alert my of elk up ahead by pointer her muzzle and ears – just like an upland dog.