Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Horse help Hayden CO in Sept

Gang,

Anyone know of a packer who might be available around Hayden, CO to pack out an elk if a guy would happen to get lucky on a DIY muzzle loader hunt? Any help is much appreciated.

I know there are a lot of outfitters in that area and Steamboat. I'd just starting running down the list and making calls.

Or rent a horse from Sombrero....

I used to take a set of saddle panniers along and hit up the nearest ranch. They'd give ya trailer and horse for 100 bucks. Very seldom would you get one that new how to pack

Those days are LONG gone.....

Thanks for the comments Gents.. I've never packed a horse, but am comfortable riding/managing one... I will seek out this Sombrero feller

Sombrero used to pack your elk for you...for $500. Don't know if they still do, but they rent horses for $100/day.

Yup. Haven't done it for a couple decades but they deliver to campsite (if next to a road) and pick-up.

Last I heard a few days ago is when you rent a horse it is for the season. 1 day or 10,same price. Ran into a fellow last year. His rent was about $ 600 for one day.

Sombrero has pretty decent web site with all the particulars. A person needs to get the contract done pretty quick as they do get booked up delivering horses and such. I don't think they run out of horses, but the ones that get left are not the best.

Dusty trails outfitting.

We saw a couple come running thru camp without their riders last year in the camp above J Bar H. 1 minute a horse comes by and about 20 minutes later here came the rider....

[quote=Gristle

We saw a couple come running thru camp without their riders last year in the camp above J Bar H. 1 minute a horse comes by and about 20 minutes later here came the rider....
[/quote]


Don't doubt it. When Jeanne (J bar H) needs 30 horses each year to supplement her stock, Sombrero sends about 40 horse or there about. Sombrero brings them up and her staff test them out for being dude safe. She typically sends back 10 or so. Guess who gets those ten ?? A fellow that hunts with me up there has rented 3-4 now over the last few years and has been pretty lucky getting a good one.

One of the two times we rented a Sombrero pack horse I was hunting with a co-worker and his friend from LA. Big mistake on both counts for multiple reasons.

Co-worker had no muzzle control. I made him empty his chamber. His friend had a rifle with a non-functional safety but didn't tell us until the last day. When we asked if he had been hunting with an empty chamber he replied that no, he had just kept his finger off the trigger.

When it came to leading the horse, we took turns. The LA guy started out. We spotted a deer and he dropped the reins and took a couple shots (both missed). The horse just stood there until one of use could run up and grab the halter. We gave LA guy hell for dropping the halter, figured we had made our feelings on the matter crystal clear.

Second to last day of the hunt we were headed back to camp just before dusk. Maybe a mile away. Another deer ran across in front of us. LA guy was leading the horse again and sure enough, he again dropped the halter and took a shot (and missed). Predictably, the horse ran off. We followed the hoof prints in the snow until they went over a small rise into an area where the entire 7th Calvary had apparently ridden through a couple of times. Dusk was fast approaching, the moon wouldn't be out until about 11PM and it was getting cold. Co-worker was in a t-shirt as his other outerwear was in a pannier on the horse. After discussing it, we decided there was nothing we could do but head back to camp. Since I had signed for the horse, I figured I would get stuck with the bill. Co-worker and LA guy said they would help pay but I had doubts I'd ever collect a cent from either (and still do).

We got to the road and were walking by a cam about 200 yards from our camp when someone hollered at us, asking if we had lost a horse. They had found it walking down the road, presumably back to our camp and the hay that it had been feeding on. It turned out to be our Sombrero horse.

Haven't rented one since. Backpacks and carts ever since. Haven't hunted with morons since then, either.

Good horseman get hurt with good stock.
For a "once in a whiler"to go horseback and expect no problems is unrealistic.
Outfitter's are fussy with their mules and ponies, vet bills are very high and the novice will create them. My little old opinion.