Wife took this pic when we got back to the truck this morning from elk huntin. 4 degrees with -20 windchill and 1.5 feet of snow to trudge through...

Of course the only elk we saw was 5 big bulls and we only have cow tags! We were the first up the road after the wind blowing for the last 24 hours. We were busting through 3 foot drifts the whole way but luckily it was dry powdery snow that hadn't been packed by the wind. I love elk huntin! Going back for more in the morning!

Makes me COLD just looking at it!

It was cold here, too, today. 57 degrees, with 55 windchill and no snow.

Eric

Great story....but I just remembered why I like to hunt elk in September or October.

You guys are too tough for me!

donsm70

Looks brutal cold.

Last year I hunted deer up there in negative digits with a high in single digits. I couldn't stay out very long, even wearing all the cloths I brought. My hat is off to you guys that do it.

How long do you have to cut them up before they're frozen solid?

Not sure how long it would take to freeze one solid. Not long though in these temps. Every elk I have killed has been when it was above freezing or it hung quartered in a tree for a few days in very cold temps in the bob Marshall so of course it was frozen when we rode out

Reckon your scope looks the same on the inside as it does on the outside?

Yes it was a cold day here also.-23C

Not inside the scope but the lenses frosted over just as bad. Had the heater blasting for quite a while to thaw everyone and everything out

Man, that just looks and sounds too cold!! Brrrr!!

Might oughta try one of those rubber scope covers when you get a chance. I thought I had hunted in cold weather but I don't remember my scope ever frosting up like that.

Well, go gettum and good luck.

They weren't frosted like that while we were huntin, just when when we got back in the pickup. Slight snow was fallin so dad and I had our neoprene leupold covers on and I had a rubber "bikini" cover on wife's rifle. Supposed to be -5 when we get out in the morning!

Sounds like good elk hunting.

DeerTracker,

I was poking around that same country too, and looking for a cow as well.

It was damn cold!

Yah, I should have known that. Get in where there is some warm and that's when it happened. Me savvy.

Keep us posted on the hunt. Well, after the hunt.

All I got to say is you guys/gals is TOUGH!

And good luck.

You guys can have that cold weather. It was about +40F when I shot mine this year - damn near perfect.

I've found the game tastes the same either way.

Looks really cold and was wondering if the lenses were frosted over. Pretty hard to shoot if they are. Almost cost me a shot at a big mulie some years back and I developed a habit of leaving my rifle out in the cold (if it was cold) so it would normalize and not frost over.

They werent frosted over until we got back in the pickup

Today's update...When we left the house, it was -10 out and dead calm. We drove 30 miles up to the mountains and it was 20 degrees but the wind was blowing about 30mph...it sucked to say the least. The snow set up over night so it was alot tougher to get around today. We ran into a buddy who was sitting off the road contemplating whether to try and bust drifts to get to a spot to glass. Figured we could with two pickups and it wasn't to hard to get up to the ridge. We found a spot where a herd had fed all night but it was on private ground on the other side of the fence from some national forest ground...this is what it looked like while glassing...looked like the north pole


We thought about gettin out and hiking around the inside the forest fence but decided we better get out before we got drifted in bad. Well it was to late even after only being there 20 minutes. Our tracks were already covered. We got to the edge of the ridge and I let the other guy go first since he had a 3/4 ton duramax and my pickup is only a 1/2 ton. Well he made it down the hill but had to make a corner to go across a built up road across a creek. Well the drift sucked him in and he was stuck beyond horrible. Luckily he left me enough room to get by. He was right on the edge of a 10 foot drop off where the culvert went under the road. I stepped off to find the culvert and sunk to my waist. Well we hooked the tow rope and I backed up within a couple feet of his bumper.

Told the wife to hang on and took a run. We hit the end of the 20 foot rope and I smashed my head off the visor...He moved a couple feet forward but deeper into the snow and farther off the bank. If the snow hadnt been there, he would have rolled over. I backed up and repeated a few times and by the grace of god, he came out. I never thought my 1/2 ton would pull him out and knew it would take alot of work from a tractor to get him out. Good tires helped alot! Didnt get any pictures of him in our sticky situation as the blowing snow felt like razor blades and just didnt even think to take pictures until after the fact. We decided that was the end of the trip for us and headed home. Thank god it wasnt below zero or it would have been unbearable with the wind. Here are a few random pictures from this morning.

This was the road to where we parked yesterday...decided we better not try it. Even if we made it up there, we probably wouldnt have made it back out

Dang! Stuff like that takes all the fun out of what should have been a good elk hunt. Better luck next time.

Weather sure looks miserable!

Ah, you Yanks are just too soft....it was a nice cool 34 celcius here today, I put the shop air-conditioner on about an hour ago to freshen things up, and looking out to the west there appears to be thunderstorms in the offering.

...seems okay to me!

Way to go for pushing back on the elements!

Well- we haven't enough snow to go tundra trekking with the sno-go's, yet, except on the river and sea ice. (We are desert up here, after all)

I'm going out at daylight (about 11 a.m.) on the 4-wheeler on a tundra look-about, cuz most everyone else in the village are on the sno-go's- running crazy up the river and across the Sound... As Robert Frost advised, I'm taking a road less traveled...

Hi today was 2 degrees, with a 10mph wind. About the same tomorrow. Probably near -10 when I leave, just above zero before sunset, when the temps take a nose dive. A 10 mph wind here is considered "calm".......

Dress for it. Ride slow. A Thermos of sugered tea...

Unlike last week (see Alaska forum), I'm leaving the dog at home.

He was gimped up for 2 days- and it's colder now... Poor bastid is nearly as old as I am. I'm going to be in so much trouble when I get home.....

And the wife missed her flight from Anchorage today- thus also the short, scheduled, "clean house" envelope...


Boy, am I gonna be in trouble....

I used to be crazy like that. Coldest I've hunted in was -64 windchill. Hated it. I'm not sure I've gain wisdom with age or what, but I just can't talk myself into hunting in that kind of cold and snow anymore. Well if I knew for sure there was a 180+ muley or a 350 bull in the area I might, but it would take at least that to get me out the door these days. Just for the record DeerTracker "you is crazy", but it's a good kind of crazy.