Yup, this hill was at least 45 degrees or steeper. Every piece of wood around him had moss, water, or ice on it . One time while cutting away on him my feet got out from under me and I rolled about a 100 feet down the hill holding my knife out as far as I could so I wouldn't stab myself. Lucky that about 150 yards above him was an old road cut so we could pack him out on relatively level ground...

Funny story about this guy is we had spike only tags in this unit. We had just sat down and spotted a huge 7x7 Bull feeding on the other side of the canyon. Probably would have gone close to 400 score, so we sat and watched him for a while. As this was going on, this herd of about 20 elk came out of the woods about 1500 yards away and made its way down toward this bull. Spotted the spike in the herd, but couldn't get a shot because of all the cows milling around. As the herd got closer, the big bull took exception to the spike and started to spar with him- separating him from the herd. After a while he got tired of the game and wandered off but by this time the herd had moved to the top of the canyon. The spike slowly made his way back up to join the herd and stopped in a perfect place for a shot- 700 yards away. We were out in the open and the big bull spotted us and took off going warp speed. So, got the bipod anchored down as best I could and rested against a stump. Two shots and he walked about 20 feet and fell over to where this picture was taken. I was darned lucky I had my son and my nephew to help me pack it out...

Bob

Never underestimate your ability to overestimate your ability.