Formidilosis, I for one commend you. I think while you may have done some planning "on the fly", you seemed from your diary (ok, text) to approach things intelligently and it seemed you knew your limits as you went. Life isn't risk-free regardless of what a risk-adverse culture would like; nor is risk the same for everybody in the same circumstance. Physical ability, temperament, equipment and the knowledge to use it effectively are all on different locations on the Bell Curve for all of us.
For some, getting out of the truck and walking a mile would be as risky for them as "Form's Little Adventure" was for you.
While I've never been pressed physically to quite the point you accepted I can relate; before GPS, cell phones, etc, I enjoyed nights alone on timbered mountain slopes with a fire and a candy bar wondering how I could have gone wrong after vetoing my compass. But, it's remarkably quite, calm in the "black timber" after one has a fire and nourishment. Even almost comfortable in early fall.
Great effort and, really, your bull is a world class trophy, worth more in my eyes than any 400 + bull taken on a yellow-aspen hunt on a ranch hunt in NM. Not even in the same universe.
Thanks for the effort in the posting!
Edited to add: maybe with a few more years it will occur to you but one suggestion I would make for an "extreme" do-it-yourselfer, rental fees aside, is a sat phone. You know, for those you know, who care.
