Jlouis

Although missing the snow....Your photo reminds me of a time late season "cow only" elk hunting between Cody and Meeteetse Wyoming.   I was hunting with my father.  When we topped out and rounded a hillside around daybreak we could look across several hillsides.  I stopped in astonishment and said look at all of those elk..to which my father replied.  "where are they from the trees".   to which I retorted..."dad those aren't trees".....seemed like it had to be close to a thousand head.   watching the rear of the herd was like watching a receding wave.   hard to describe until you've seen it...like god laid out a plush blanket over a hillside then started pulling on it.    We just enjoyed the spectacle for several mintues, nobody said a word.

I see those kinds of herds in NE Oregon where we elk hunt too. Herds so large it looks like a dark cloud has covered a hillside, and is moving across it like the wind is pushing it.
I recall the first time my brother and I saw such a herd while scouting, a few days ahead of our hunt. We envisioned coming back on opening day to see if we could harvest a bull from the herd, but unfortunately it was impossible to get close with so many eyes watching in every direction!
We ended up going elsewhere and set up camp near a tree covered hill, and the next evening we watched about 100 elk move into the trees at dusk. The next morning we made a plan to "surround" the hill, and work our way up into the woods, in hopes of a shot.
My brother took the first elk, and when the herd turned they ran right past me within 50 yds., and were so close together I couldn't fire safely. But just as I gave up, here came a straggler 5x6 bull, and I dropped him. So we were done before 8:30 a.m., at least with the hunt part.
It was 11:30 p.m. when we finished getting them hanging in camp, which was only a couple hundred yards from where we took them! I hate the after the shot part of elk hunting!