Loaded the pack up and started off. My thought was to go where no one would be, get as high as possible and glass until my eyes bled for three days or so and switch valleys if it was an empty hole. I passed a couple on horses right at the trailhead coming out at around 1 or 2pm but saw no other hunters. There was a front moving in and I guess they didn't want to be caught in it... After a couple or miles the mountains on either side were still straight up and looking at the map I knew horses couldn't make it on that side at all, and doubted that any hunter was dumb enough to try climbing it.... so I did. grin...

Here's a shot of where I climbed up from later on when the snow melted-
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From the bottom it was around 2k feet up...


At that time everything was covered in 6-8 inches of snow. The photo does not do the steepness justice. It was pure hands and feet climbing for over two hours at a very solid pace. About halfway up I took a break and glassed what I could see of the valley and opposing ridge. Right up near the top of the opposite ridge, I spotted elk feeding out of the timber-
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Eventually twelve cows fed out.


And then the weather came in...
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I knew that I was close to where I wanted to be and that it was supposed to be a rough night, so climbed a bit further until I found a decent place to camp. Gathered some wood, bundled up and made a fire-
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That night was not fun. The wind howled. I was using a bivy and bag and I had thought it had turned to rain in the middle of the night as it pelted my face the whole time. Turns out it wasn't rain-
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But it did clear up-
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So with frozen boots on, I packed up, made sure the fire was out, and trudged up the ridge in fresh foot deep snow. At the top, along the spine of the ridge I noticed a couple of Muley's staring at me above a steep rockslide. Two does and a decent 4x4... The ridge offered an excellent view for several miles. Out the glass came. For 40 minutes or so I scanned every ridge, meadow, and snow-slide in view. First binos then the spotter. I came off the spotter to give my eyes a break and immediately noticed something on a snow covered ridge nearly two miles away. A quick peek with the bino and quickly put the spotter on them-
[img]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx87/Vereor1/image_zps4145b5ae.jpg[/img]

It was a bunch of elk with three legal bulls that I could tell. They were also in a place that would be awful to get to. Suppose that's why they were there. Looking them over and deciding what to do as I figured that it would take the entire day to reach them, I noticed that the bull just right of center chasing the others off and then get assert his dominance on one of the cows..... grin
[img]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx87/Vereor1/image_zpsa7bdbc84.jpg[/img]

Game on....

It took 30 minutes or so of pushing hard to reach the bluff I had climbed the day before. I never know why I don't think about coming down, while climbing up, but I don't. With over a foot of snow now, it was not good. I started off trying to go forward using the shooting sticks to find rocks, but after 4 or 5 slips and ensuing slides until catching a tree or boulder I switched it up and just climbed down facing it. Already the rifle had taken two or three hard smacks on the rocks seeing how it was in a Kifaru Gun Bearer. I knew that if I didn't take it out and hold it, I would break the stock. I held onto the sling and forend for the next 20-30 minutes. About 10-15 yards above the sheer drop off, the rocks gave way and I flipped on my back tossing the rifle, knowing that I was about to go off and hoping that if I went feet first I would just break my legs... It was around a 60 foot drop and I watched rifle flip end over end until it dropped over the ledge. I was on my back sliding fast trying to grab anything to stop. The first two bushes just tore away doing nothing to slow me down. I was able to snatch the last small tree right above the drop off and it held. When it stopped me my right foot was dangling over the edge. I was still only holding on by my left hand and used my right to hit the quick releases on the pack. It broke away and shot off the cliff, taking what seemed like forever to hit.

I pulled myself up into the bush and scooted over to a bigger boulder and just sat there for a while. While not one to get bothered by trials and tribulations, I needed a break. After while I was able to see a route down that looked doable, and made it only going down one or twice along the way. Once at the bottom I went straight to the rifle, sure that the stock was toast. To a bit of surprise I could find nothing but chips and deep scratches. The pack of course was fine, though I wanted to check the zero on the rifle. Truly wasn't worried about the scope, but still figured the stock was gone. So I loaded up, and gave one last look back at what had just happened. [bleep] that.

Two hours later I was back at the trailhead. Drove for a while until I found a safe place to shoot and found a rock at 587 yards. Pulled the rifle out, put glasses on... grin, dialed and held 1.4 mils for wind. Shot two rounds and wouldn't you know it was still zeroed-
[img]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx87/Vereor1/image_zps6989949e.jpg[/img]

If you look two mils right and 1.75 mils down or so you'll see a small black spot and two white dots just above and on either side of it. The black spot was the aimpoint and is approximately 4 inches in diameter. Good gear sells itself, and glass "clarity and brightness" are not at the top of the list of importance.

to be cont.....