South Mesa Elk

I believe you can find in every young boy’s heart the desire to be out in the wild. This is apparent in this urban world that we live in when you see your little brother or younger nephew trying to build a tree house or camp in the back yard. I was no different growing up. From my little toy squirrel rifle to watching Robert Redford’s Jeremiah Johnson, I wanted nothing more than to be a real mountain man. Unfortunately we all grow up and have to face reality. For some this reality sets in earlier than for others. Growing up for me started in high school. Contrary to some of my peers, growing up for me had nothing to do with girls and everything to do sports. The increased responsibility of after school practices and fall training camps kept me out of the woods more and more as the years passed. Luckily there are those occasional weekend hunts and summer fishing trips that make us feel alive again. Let me tell you about one of these moments that I had a few years ago.

I had the opportunity after high school to work the fall elk hunts with my dad. Our camps were set up about 3 ½ hours on horseback from the truck. It was a busy fall as we had a pretty successful year getting tags for our hunters. In fact, we had so many hunters draw tags that year that we had to get some extra guides and hunt out of two separate camps. This is good for business, but means a lot of extra work for our small operation. My job: pack hunters in and pack the successful hunters out along with the meat and trophy. The sad part of this story is that I too had drawn a license that year and would not be able to dedicate the time necessary to fill the tag. I would spend the first week of the hunt riding from the truck to camp, from one camp to the other, from kill sites to the truck, etc. I put in more hours on my trusty ride, Little John, that week then ever before. Later in the week as things slowed down I realized that I would have a morning to dedicate to my hunt.

Riding across North Mesa from White Rocks to Spring Canyon almost every day gave me the opportunity to scout out the elk traffic. I knew there wasn’t much as far as the big herds go, but I had seen a lone bull out on South Mesa a couple of times. I wasn’t close enough to tell how big he was and I didn’t have time to go after him, so I decided to put on the pursuit on my free morning.

As I woke up at 4am in my Spring Canyon camp the fog was very thick. I had to get the mules fed and watered before I could leave. What would usually take me an hour to do ended up taking a little longer. I couldn’t see the animals through the fog until I was right up to them. I finally fought my way through the fog and it was time to pick up my Savage 7mm Rem Mag and head up the canyon. Spring Canyon, slicing its way between North and South Mesa, is in an advantageous location for the elk hunts. I would have my choice of topping out on either mesa, both known for having large herds in the fall. What I didn’t want to happen was climbing out on one side just to find out that the herd was feeding away from the rim on the other mesa. With the heavy fog that morning it would be a gamble. Knowing that South Mesa hadn’t been hit very hard I decided to rim out on the south side just a mile or so up from our camp. At this point I was pretty frustrated with the fog. Not only was it a cold and wet fog, but there was no way that I could possibly see the elk before they had me made. I had conceded that getting a shot off this morning would be nothing more than pure luck.

As I labored my way out of Spring Canyon I decided to stop and catch my breath before rimming out. I became witness to one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen. With the sun finally peaking over the horizon I realized that the fog wasn’t as thick up high. As I turned around I could see the sun was revealing the fog pouring out of the canyon like a pot of water boiling over. It was time to get serious. There wouldn’t be any fog on top. Originally I thought it would hurt me to have the fog so thick, but now I realized I would have no cover once on top. I had one chance at whatever elk might be close. With my breathing under control I inched my way to the very rim of the mesa. My plan was to get to the edge and have look to see what was around. As I did this, the giant beast of my dreams came into view. There was no more controlling my breathing. My heart was about to explode out of my chest. With only a few pinon pines to use for cover I jacked a bullet into the chamber. He was only maybe 150 yards away. He had no idea that I existed. I had him dead to rights, but wait, did I have buck fever? I took a second look at his rack to realize that he was just a 4x4 rag bull. He was a lone satellite bull hoping to come across some cows that hadn’t joined the big herds yet. I had been skinning and packing elk all week. Did I really want to go through all of that work for this guy? I decided to just sit and soak in the moment. It isn’t every day that you get to admire nature in this way. That was a special moment for me. After about ten minutes he finally caught my scent and hustled off to the other end of the mesa and out of sight.

I hunted my way back to camp so that I could water the horses again and head off to the other camp to see what work had to be done. Turns out I had another elk to pack out which meant another long trip to the truck and back to camp. But I rode with my head high. Sure I had been skunked on this hunt, but I like to think someone else would have a chance at that same bull, if not this year then in years to come.

As fate would have it I got a call on my radio the next day as I was riding back in from the truck. Ty, my 16 year old brother, was on South Mesa with more work to be done. He had found an elk and made a heck of a shot with his Ruger M77 25-06. I got to ride up and help him quarter out and pack his trophy. Turns out he found our little friend from the morning before. I was never more proud of my little bro nor the fact that I had let one get away. I may have gone home empty handed, but that was a successful hunt.