I simply saved making an attempt to breathe. The large bull elk was trotting ahead together with his head down as he chased one other bull down the facet of the mountain. “He’ll cease,” I mentioned to myself as I did my greatest to carry down the rising panic I felt fluttering in my chest. He was 350 yards away, and I attempted not to have a look at his antlers as I adopted him within the rifle scope. I simply took a deep breath and tried to remain regular…I may get excited later.
Lastly, virtually miraculously, the bull got here to a cease on the sting of a pointy downslope. I half anticipated him to bugle as he stared down on the different bull, regardless of it being effectively previous the height of the rut. I centered the crosshairs within the crease behind his shoulder, concentrating the whole lot on simply holding fastened on that time as I clicked off the security. Then simply as I began to squeeze the set off, I had a quick thought — “I’m so glad I went elk searching immediately.”
The Construct Up
I’ve wished an enormous bull elk for nearly my whole life. Ever since I noticed my first elk mount hanging in a neighborhood restaurant after I was a bit child, the thought of getting considered one of my very own had bordered on obsession. Once I moved to Montana in my late 20s, I noticed the potential for that dream turning into a actuality and set my sights on getting an enormous bull, which instantly proved to be a lot more durable than I believed.
Elk have been lots more durable to hunt than the whitetails I used to be used to. The animals have totally different habits and dwell at greater elevations and in additional rugged terrain, and it took me a while to regulate and to discover ways to discover them. As well as, whereas Montana’s public lands are wild and exquisite, they’re additionally well-liked. The primary 12 months I went elk searching, I discovered six or eight vans parked at each trailhead I’d scouted throughout the preseason, and many of the elk herds I’d seen within the space had rapidly been pushed to elements unknown by different hunters.
Nonetheless, I stayed decided and saved working at it, going additional and better and doing my greatest to seek out these out-of-the-way areas the place the animals have been much less pressured. Quickly sufficient, I began stepping into elk.
Over time, I managed to get a number of raghorn bulls and a pair cows in my sights, however nonetheless by no means managed to carry dwelling the large bull I’d been dreaming about. Although I admittedly had gotten a few alternatives at an enormous one, as quickly as I noticed the animal’s antlers, my virtually paralyzing bull fever would make my bullets go low or my arrows fly excessive.
It simply appeared like I used to be simply destined to go the remainder of my elk searching profession filling my tag with one thing lower than I wished and even not filling it in any respect.
By all of it, I by no means misplaced hope. Regardless of my frustrations, I saved on searching with huge bull ambitions. I practiced taking pictures at longer distances, scouted extra and walked additional, and even began letting alternatives on smaller bulls and cows go by so I may dangle onto my tag till the twilight of the season. I simply knew that if I saved going up into the mountains and placing the miles on, considered one of today it was certain to work out.
My Wake Up Name
At the beginning of the 2025 season, I deliberate to go after an enormous bull elk more durable than I ever had earlier than. I made certain I used to be forward at work and didn’t take any new information journeys so I may fully clear the primary week of rifle season for elk searching. I sighted in my rifle at lengthy vary, hit the fitness center to verify I used to be in elk form, and felt fully ready and able to tackle opening day.
Throughout the first three days of the season, I hunted my ass off. I awoke effectively earlier than daylight and climbed into terrain the place it appeared like a mountain goat might need bother. I stayed up there, glassing from ridgetops and mountaineering and searching my means via timberlines and canyons till the previous couple of seconds of taking pictures gentle had light to black. Then I’d come dwelling and scrape collectively some semblance of a meal earlier than crawling into mattress so I may get up early to do it once more.
By the fourth day of the season, I used to be already exhausted and had seen only a few elk. Nonetheless, I used to be decided and managed to climb my means into one other mountain vary. That night, I noticed a herd of elk throughout the drainage that had a few good bulls in it. Throwing on my pack, I ran down the facet of the mountain and throughout the brush-choked basin under after which scrambled up the following ridge. I acquired to the highest and rapidly discovered the herd feeding alongside the sting of the timber, however by the point I acquired inside taking pictures vary of the bulls, I had run out of sunshine.
Disheartened and annoyed, I labored my means again right down to the truck at the hours of darkness and drove dwelling. As I pulled my boots off my blistered toes, I pulled out my cellphone and glanced on the subsequent morning’s climate and noticed that the wind was going to be outlandish. By daylight, the forecast referred to as for regular 35 to 45 mph winds blowing down from the north, with gusts of as much as 65 mph. “No elk goes to be out in that,” I believed.
So, feeling the ache in my muscle tissues and with each a part of my physique and mind exhausted, I made a decision to take the time off. Resigned and comforted by the truth that I’d nonetheless have three days to hunt if I didn’t go tomorrow, I lay down in mattress and closed my eyes, pleased with the considered sleeping in.
My eyes opened at 4:15 am the following morning. Now, I’m not fully certain if this was as a result of my physique was simply used to waking up early at that time, or if my black lab pet, Sackett, had an excessive amount of water earlier than mattress and had whined just a bit louder from his crate. Regardless of the motive was, I used to be awake, and after letting the canine out, I made a decision that maybe I wasn’t all that sore and perhaps the wind didn’t appear all that dangerous.
“You may’t get a bull from the sofa,” I advised myself. So I grabbed my gear and threw it within the truck. Nonetheless decided, I went out to face the elk woods as soon as once more.
Embracing The Second
The wind was as dangerous as predicted, and after going a number of miles down a logging street in 4WD, I made a decision to hunt a spot I hadn’t been to in a few years. It meant a brief however almost vertical stroll up a steep avalanche chute at the hours of darkness to get to a flat bowl of timber, grass, and rimrock under the ridgeline, which was each sheltered from the wind and solely a brief distance from the place I’d seen elk the earlier night time. I figured that it was the closest sanctuary the herd would have from the gale and that if I acquired up there early sufficient, I simply would possibly get fortunate.
A couple of minutes earlier than taking pictures gentle, I knew I had made the correct determination as I watched a gaggle of cows squirt excessive of the ridge and drop down into the bowl. I used to be sitting on some extent of rocks that neglected the complete space and was simply getting my breath again from the onerous climb, after I noticed a bull. It was an enormous, tall 6-point that was following the trail of the cows, and I instantly began crawling throughout the rocks in direction of it in hopes that my second had come.
The bull stopped on a small knoll at 350 yards, and I slid my rifle ahead, feeling the acquainted shakes of pleasure and trepidation that got here every time I had an enormous bull elk in my sights. I acquired lined up on him and was preparing for the shot when the bull out of the blue glanced behind him after which took off down the hill at a dash.
I cursed, and for a second, it felt like my dangerous luck was by no means going to finish, till I noticed an absolute dinosaur of a bull come tearing out of the timber because it chased the opposite elk. Rapidly, I switched targets, and because the crosshairs settled on the larger bull’s chest and I began to squeeze the set off, I simply remembered to breathe.
For the Love of the Grind
It simply didn’t appear actual after I walked as much as the large previous 7×8 bull and noticed the three drop tines jutting down from his antlers. I had by no means even seen a bull elk like this, not to mention had the chance to take a shot at one. The non-typical rack on the bull was a lot greater than I had ever dreamed of, and the one factor I may consider was simply how damned stunning he was. Then, as I held his antlers in my fingers, I went again over the whole lot.
I considered how all these lengthy days and onerous climbs, the late nights, missed pictures, and shut calls had led me right here to this second. I considered the exhaustion and the aching legs, the twisted ankles, the taking pictures pains in my again, and the way all of it had been price it.
As I began to quarter out the bull and thought of how the hell I used to be going to get such a wealthy bounty right down to my truck, I regarded on the mountains rising throughout me and was struck by one ultimate thought. Although it could be in one other spot, in one other mountain vary, and perhaps even in one other state, every time elk season comes again round—I’ll be proper again right here once more.
