Heard a story once out of Chama, New Mexico about a down in his luck rancher facing bank foreclosure. It was coming up on elk season and Chama was filling up with eager hunters. The rancher tied elk horns on an old dry milk cow and tethered her out in a field near a hay stack by the road. He and his son hid out behind the hay stack. Sure enough along came some elk hunters, BAM, down goes ole Bossie. As the hunter are walking out to the "elk", he steps out and confronts them about killing his family cow. Meanwhile the son is pulling on a cord and dragging the antlers through the high grass to back behind the hay stack. It worked so well that he propped ole Bossie up several times more until she justhad too many holes in her for him to be able cover them up. That elk season saved the rancher's place for him and put food on the table all winter. I thought of that story as I looked at a Slow Elk Beer poster in a Cafe in Great Falls, Montana this Summer. Looks like maybe more than one rancher may have used that ploy.
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