January 2023 - 34

Backpack hunting requires carrying everything you need on your back. If someone bags an elk, backpacks also are used to transport the meat back to coolers.
T
he Wyoming Range has framed my life and
the lives of my best friends for more than 20
years. We stumbled upon a drainage there
years ago. There were no horse trails, no vaulted
toilets, no corrals, no trailhead sign-in register, no cell
service - the perfect place to get away from it all.
The area wasn't considered a trophy-elk
area, so we were left, more or less, alone
among the spike elk and raghorns. We
hunted those rare weekends in September
when the whole elk society sang and ran
frantically with the thrill of the rut. I was in
my early 30s when I first hiked the timbered
slopes, but even then, I knew I had to come
up with a better way to spend more time in
the forest with less time walking back and
forth to the truck. So, a pack of us developed
certain habits. We learned where to gather
reliable water with our filters, and we put our
faith in those filters as we turned muddy, elktainted
water into drinking water. We bought
the lightest tents and sleeping bags on the
market, and we dedicated a few weekends
34 | January 2023
every fall to sleeping among the wapiti. It
worked. We took a few elk over the years. It
wasn't glamorous, but the ache in our legs
carried a certain honor.
This year had the feeling of finality. My
good friend, Tom, after 15 years as a teacher
in Wyoming, was closing on a house and
moving back to Michigan to be closer to
his aging father. He would no longer be a
Wyomingite after this year, and no longer
able to buy a general elk license. Another
friend, Patrick, said it was time for us to
take the llama class in Lander and discover
another way to hunt. It seemed as if most
of the elk hunters I hunted with had aged
out. But this fall Tom, Pat and I marked our
calendars for the rifle opener and gathered
our gear.
We stopped in Jackson Hole for lunch
and bought six 10-pound blocks of ice for
the cooler. Two black horses were corralled
at the logging road that marked a one-mile,
bovine-infested stroll to where the incline
began. The owners of the black horses were a
father-son pair from Utah who bought outof-state
licenses. I looked over their ponies
while they looked over our gear. We laced

January 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2023

January 2023 - 1
January 2023 - 2
January 2023 - 3
January 2023 - 4
January 2023 - 5
January 2023 - 6
January 2023 - 7
January 2023 - 8
January 2023 - 9
January 2023 - 10
January 2023 - 11
January 2023 - 12
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January 2023 - 14
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January 2023 - 25
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January 2023 - 27
January 2023 - 28
January 2023 - 29
January 2023 - 30
January 2023 - 31
January 2023 - 32
January 2023 - 33
January 2023 - 34
January 2023 - 35
January 2023 - 36
January 2023 - 37
January 2023 - 38
January 2023 - 39
January 2023 - 40
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January 2023 - 48
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/wyoming-wildlife-may-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2024-e-edition
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/february-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/december-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/may-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/february-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/december-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/may-iak-special-issue
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/february-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/dec-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/may-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/february-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/January2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/December2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/September2020
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