Hardware Ranch

 

On President’s Day Andrew and I decided to drive up to Hardware Ranch to see some elk.  We also took up a canoe to switch with Andrew’s brother and a couch his grandparents were giving his brother and sister-in-law, so we didn’t drive 2 1/2 hours just to see elk.  On our way there we stopped at a trapping store so Andrew could buy some more traps.  Right when we stepped out of the car it smelled like skunk and as we got closer and closer to the store so smell just got stronger!  So we pretty much smelled like skunk the rest of the day and inside our car definitely smelled disgusting.

We were a little worried it would be really busy at the ranch on a holiday, but it was GREAT!  We didn’t have to stand in line at all and we only waited about 5 minutes for our sled to fill up! 

Those little specks in the distance are the elk!

The sled was a sled with wheels because there was so little snow on the ground.  I think there was more mud than snow on the ground.

The horses that pulled our “sled”!  They were really pretty and they were huge!  Andrew kept telling me to get closer and when I did he yelled, “Watch out they bite!”…it sorta freaked me out haha.  I have like 4 layers of clothes on in this picture because it was soo cold!

Andrew excited to have his picture taken haha I kept trying to take more but he wouldn’t let me.

We got really close to some of them!  All the little kids on our sled thought it was really cool that the elk didn’t run away from them…I didn’t want to burst their bubble and tell them they’re just habituated to the sled because they know it brings them food haha.

Our driver told us this guy is 9 years old, then he told us elk usually live 9-10 years….so he’s pretty much a goner in a year….so sad because he was one of the biggest bulls there and really cool to watch!!  His antlers were huge!

We forgot to zoom out our camera….whoopsie!

Our driver told us there was 370 elk there!!!!  Holy Cow!….or Holy Elk!

They said last year they had over 600 elk here!  The winter hasn’t been bad this year so not that many have come.  We’ll have to go again when it’s a bad year so we can see lots more and maybe some bigger bulls!!