The reason I own horses is so I can take them hunting. Mainly elk hunting as I got tired of trying to pack an elk off the mountain as I become more successful at hunting them. We spend several days this week hunting. We got rained off the mountain today by a steady drizzle and the forecast for more tomorrow. My horses get a real work out when hunting season arrives.  We had to make several trips up a very rocky rough canyon to haul everything in for camp. And when we are done, we have to haul it all out and hopefull several elk as well.

Here are a few pictures. We pack in about 7 miles on the horses and then set up camp.  It's a very rough ride up the canyon. But the scenery is beautiful when we get there.

We set up camp in a grove of quakies

Highlined the horses, After I got camp set up we hobbled them and let them graze what little grass there was.

Home away from home. We pack in the tent, a wood burning stove, cots, sleeping bags, food and changes of cloths.

And this is the view I get for my effort

Here is the rain starting to fall as it came over the mountain

And here is what I was looking for,  But these were small bulls. The herd bulls have gathered the cows and run off the smaller bulls. Which are hanging around in smaller bachlor herds.

Wow!  You really know how to live!

Marla

I enjoy just being in the mountains during the fall.  I'd have just as much fun with out a rifle.

It was fun to just play with the 3 bulls in the picture above.  I cow called them and they stopped and looked. They eventually moved into the pines and I cow called again, They bugeled and came back to the edge of the trees to look again. I played with them for 5 minutes and enjoyed hearing the bugels echoing through the valley.

We hauled a nice wood burning stove up. Fill it up with logs and it will keep the tent almost too warm for 4-5 hours. Wake up middle of the night and throw a few logs in and you are good until it's time to get up. The wall tent is big enough to spread out in. We hauled in some cots and foam pads, So it's very comfortable. And to top it all off, we were 7 mile horse ride from where we parked the truck. So nobody driving by, no loud campers in the next camp site. We had the whole area to ourselves.

Spent a couple more days at camp this week,  We got a dusting of snow and most leaves have fallen.

Glad we got off the mountain last night.  A big storm blew through here and I got several inches of snow at my home. The weatherman says the mountains got 18".

Hope my tent is still standing, I'll find out later in the week when head up again.

Beatiful Pix Jon.  I hope to hunt like that some day. Saw on TV where y'all got a good first snow.

Got me a 1895CB in 45-70 this year...waiting for hunting to open up around here...looks good on the horse though!  

We are heading back up tomorrow.  If we fill the tags, we will pack everything off the mountain.  If not we have one more week of hunting and will make the trip up the mountain again next week.  Through Halloween, I can tolerate the high country. By the 1st of November temps are getting low enough that open water is hard to find. It's more difficult to get the horses a drink, of course the grass gets covered up with snow and you have to pack in all your own feed. And sitting in a saddle at 10* starts to challenge any persons willingness to subject themselves to the elements.

I like to enjoy October in the high country and then head for the desert and southern parts of Utah in November through February. There are some great trails to explore only a few hours south. They are way to hot to enjoy during the summer months, but very pleasant  during the winter.