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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 26, 2015)
B2 Outdoors wallowa.com August 26, 2015 Wallowa County Chieftain Steve Tool/Chieftain If you’ve got the time, Del Sol has the tack. Barry Cox placing some gear back on the rack in his extensive tack shed. Get the latest local news online at Wallowa.com Steve Tool/Chieftain Shirley and Barry Cox on the Del Sol homestead with just a few horns from previous hunts. Get your hunt on at Del Sol large horse herd. “They need- ed a job to do, and by golly, I put them to work,” Cox said. After working for percent- If you’re looking to bag that special animal, or even ages with another packer, Cox just head up to the high coun- bought the business and set up try and enjoy the reverie, Del shop on his own in 2007. He Sol Wilderness Adventures is also highly regarded for his may have your ticket to par- horsemanship/training skills. Although Del Sol offers a adise. Owned by husband and wife team Barry and Shirley number of animal hunts and Cox, the Wallowa enterprise pleasure/trail rides, elk hunt- offers a high quality wilder- ing is king. “Elk is our big moneymaker, and bow season ness experience. Barry Cox started life in starts at the end of August and New York state and began we have a busy month pack- coming west at the age of 16 ing bow hunters into the Eagle and ended up cowboying out Cap and Snake River units. I of Imnaha for some years be- have permits for both,” Cox fore his foray into the pack- said. Following the bow season LQJ DQG RXW¿WWLQJ EXVLQHVV “I was just interested in trav- LV WKH ULÀH VHDVRQ IRU GHHU eling around horseback in the which in turn segues into elk mountains, so I got handy at ULÀH VHDVRQ &XUUHQWO\ 'HO packing on my own,” Cox Sol is doing summer vacation pack trips and drop camps, said. After running his own cat- which makes up the bulk of tle, Cox discovered packing their August business. “We professionally offered more also offer some spring bear money than raising cattle, so hunts in April and May, and he sold his cattle but kept his we get the occasional sheep hunter as well. We pretty much shut down for a few months after the middle of November,” Cox said. Large groups are not a worry either, as Del Sol had 20 saddles and at least as many pack saddles in their tack shed. Del Sol has accom- modated groups as large as 50 people. Even though hunts are not offered year-round, gear and stock maintenance as well as horsemanship clinics take up the rest of the Cox family spare time. Surprisingly, most of the hunters Del Sol caters to are from the west side of the state, although he caters to a few lo- cals as well. “We get a few from California or Washing- ton, but it’s mainly from the west side — they love it here, and they look forward to it. “We’re providing a service to these folks to go to a place they can’t normally get to on their own,” Cox said. Del Sol has several wran- glers and one apprentice working through the season. By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain We are ready for your game processing needs - hanging, smoking, cutting. We do it all! 208 S. Main, Joseph, Oregon 541.432.0740 “Our Family Serving Yours” “The logistics of placing all the different camps and gear and people on a hunting sea- son time-frame takes a huge endeavor by all of us,” Cox said. Individual guided hunts are available where it’s just the customer and a single guide. “They just opened up a new muzzle loading season on the Minam unit. We’ve got a guy already scheduled who’s coming in to do a one- on-one guided hunt for that, and we have several other scheduled for this year too,” Cox said. Although there are reasons for guided hunts for people unfamiliar with Wallowa County, local hunters can ben- H¿WDVZHOO%RZKXQWLQJVHD- sons tend to be warmer than ULÀH VHDVRQV DQG PHDW VSRLOV quickly. “What I run into during bow season is when it’s warm, and a hunter gets a bull. That’s 500 pounds of meat and they’re back in there 15 miles. You have a time- frame to get that meat out. If \RX GRQ¶W KDYH ¿YH IULHQGV willing to drop everything and help you pack it out, you’re in trouble,” Cox said. One client killed a bull down low in the Snake Riv- er in 85-degree weather. “He called me and said, ‘We’re in trouble.’ He didn’t think we could get mules down in there, but I found an elk trail and packed it out. Without an RXW¿WWHU WKH\¶G KDYH ORVW WKH meat. I’ve seen that quite a bit,” Cox said. $Q RXW¿WWHUJXLGHG KXQW also includes many ameni- ties, including a wall tent with stove, not to mention the ride in and ride out of the area with Del Sol packing the meat in a timely fashion. Advice as to the location of game animals is helpful as well. “It’s hard enough as it is, and we’ve learned a lot because we’ve been in this area for a long time, and you learn where deer, elk or bear are at certain times of the year. We want our clients to be successful,” Cox said.