I know people who "hunt with horses and put up with 'em," "hunt with horses and love 'em" and "hunt with horses and hate 'em." I guess I fall into the "hunts with horses and loves 'em," but they sure can be a pain in the butt. If you go on a guided hunt, be forewarned that you will most likely be riding "dude ranch" horses. That is, horses that for the most part have been used for summer trail rides for tourists or horses that have been around long enough to know a rider that does not have a clue about riding horses. This usually means trying to ride you under low limbs, rubbing your thighs into trees, stopping for no reason and unwilling to move forward, or constantly walking so slow that they lag 50-100 yards behind the rest, then catch up quickly in a bone-jarring canter. If you don't have any, or much, horseback riding experience, your inner thighs will ache to the point you'll be asking yourself if walking the entire way would not be less painful.
They will get you into places you could not go on foot because of distance and allow you to feel rested enough that you can hunt hard and long when you arrive. They can get you beyond the foot hunters regardless of their physical abilities and make packing that animal out a pleasure, rather than your worst nightmare. They will identify game that is nearby before you have any idea it's there. All horses are good at this, but my mare "Charlie" was exceptional. You could be walking along by yourself or with other horses and Charlie would just stop in mid-stride with both ears pointing directly at whatever sound that caught her attention. Sometimes it was nothing more than a grouse or a coyote, but often it was deer or elk.
On the one hand, horses have incredible intelligence, strike that, I don't believe it's "intelligence" so much as "instincts." And on the other hand they can be as dumb as the saddle on their backs. I have ridden them up the same trail past the same object, be it a boulder, bush or fence post and on any given day they might go wild eyed when they come up to it on the third, fourth or fifth time as if it were a grizzly bear waiting for lunch and they....are lunch. Just work through it. It might even take you getting off, leading them to it and showing them it's a boulder, bush or fence post.
My son Jake and I were coming off the mountain from an all day elk hunt in a fairly new area. It was dark and I wasn't using my headlamp because I just don't use it unless I have to and horses have great night vision. As we came down to a point in the snow and timber where the trail forked I took the right side fork. Mac immediately balked by stopping and trying to turn around. I fought him a bit and kept him moving down the trail until the trail was blocked by a bunch of dead fall. I turned my headlamp on to find our tracks that we had come in on, but there were no tracks to be found. I let Mac have his head, he turned around, walked back to the fork and took a right on the trail we came in on. Horses "almost" always know where they are and if you are a bit lost and headed "home," they more than likely know where home is.
We had a "fun" horse incident one rainy night in Ed Hake's elk camp. We had all gone to bed in the wall tents, wood stoves were loaded up for the night, most of the BS had died down. If you were not already asleep, you were close to it. And then, all hell broke loose as we listened to horses in an all out stampede past the sleep tents. All of the horses were "secured" in some way or another, hobbles around the front legs, picketed in meadows and inside electric fences.
Horses are herd animals and when one gets scared and takes off then everyone of them that's able is usually right behind them. It doesn't matter that some or most have no idea what they are running from, they just know it's time to get. The last we heard of those that were able to break out was the sound of shod hooves running across the stone of the creek bed, up the other side and back towards safety and "home," which in this case meant the corrals at the "Covered Wagon Ranch," eight miles down the canyon.
Gone, were six of Ed's horses and my two, Mac and Charlie. Like I said, it was a rainy night, unusual this time of year as it would normally be just snow and cold. My guide Dennis and two others saddled up, called on the radio to the Covered Wagon to let them know they had horses headed their way and to please open the gates to the corrals. They made that eight mile ride in the wind and rain to the Covered Wagon where they had a hot cup of coffee, a quick bite to eat and then made the return trip in that dark, windy, rainy night back to camp. They were all tired, but we all hunted that day like nothing happened thanks to Dennis and the others. By the way, the horses spooked that night because a moose wandered into the electric fence, which spooked the horses.
One thing you might want to do if you go on a guided horseback hunt is maybe get some basics with horses. Riding some would help, but more important might be just the basics of saddling, putting a bit in, etc. On my very first trip into Hake's camp I had a guide from Wyoming that was all about being a cowboy He knew what he was doing around horses and I had no real experience at that time. One night it was pitch black, we'd rode a lot of miles that day and we were coming down a steep slope through the timber. Visibility was nil, but the horses were fine. My guide warned me that I was coming up on a very steep pitch, steep enough that if I'd known how steep it was I'd have probably got off and walked. I put all my weight in my stirrups, leaned way back and gave him plenty of rein. All the preparation didn't do me much good when my saddle slid forward up and over the horses withers, which then threw me head first over his head and down the hill. I can tell you it's not much fun when you have no idea what you are falling into or on to. I landed on my shoulder, hurt like hell, but no worse for wear. If I'd known then what I know now, I'd have double checked that cinch to make sure it was tight before I headed down the hill. You can also check the tightness by throwing quite a bit of weight into the stirrup on one side or the other. If you throw some weight into it and your saddle slides easily in that direction, it needs to be cinched tighter.
Another time, Bill who was guiding, was riding behind Randy Holmgren and myself. I was leading on Mac, followed by Randy on Charlie and then Bill. Now, Bill was a great guide, but did not have much experience with horses. We were on a good flat trail through the timber on a clear, sunny day. I was getting bored with the pace as we headed back to camp and asked Randy and Bill if they minded a lope. I got a thumbs up and off we went. Mac and Charlie both have real comfortable lopes and we were making good time and having fun, .....until we heard a loud, human, yelp. We pulled the horses up, looked back, and there was Bill, on the ground and his saddle was underneath the horse. The saddle was still on and cinched up. Bill had just put too much weight on one stirrup and when the saddle slid left and Bill fell off, it ended up hanging underneath his horse. Again, make sure you check the tightness of that cinch.
There is nothing better than having a horse to pack your elk out. Elk are big animals and horses make it about 500% more enjoyable when it comes to getting that meat off of the mountain. One year, we shot a bull a couple miles from camp. Dennis got on the radio and by the time we got done field dressing and quartering, a couple other guides showed up with pack horses. The bull was shot about 300 yards down a very steep slope and I thought we would have to pack the quarters ourselves to the top of slope. But, they just brought the horses down and we loaded the meat up. We got about half way up and "One Eyed Jack." a tiny, tough little mustang with one eye lost his balance. Before we could do anything to help, he went over backwards and did two "airborne" back flips. We thought surely he'd have a broken leg or some other bad injury, but knew he was fine when we helped him get up, still with his two quarters in the panniers and the first thing he did was reach down and grab a mouth full of grass.
I really do enjoy riding horses and enjoy it just as much out there by myself as I do with friends. There is nothing like riding out of the mountains on a cold, clear night, with a full moon lighting up the snowy meadows like it's the middle of the day. You can see the sparks fly off a rock as the steel horse shoe strikes it and if the wind is not blowing you can often hear the sound of elk running that you spooked out of a meadow. I really am one of those who "hunts with horses and loves it." I hope I can do it just as long as I'm physically able and a couple years beyond that.
Tips for the Day: Make sure those cinches are tight and also while I'm thinking about it. Never leave your rifle unattended in the scabbard on your horse if he's not either tied up short or you've got a good hold of em. If you aren't paying attention, that will usually be the time your horse decides to roll and either do some serious damage to your rifle or at the least, knock your scope out of alignment.
Hunt hard
Ron
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