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bow. I practiced shooting most days after school until I turned

twelve and was old enough to

I may have been a better shot

of archery season dad took me hunting for bull elk. We hiked

for what seemed to be five miles

only one or two miles. Dad

answered. They came in fast and before we could really do

anything they started fighting just out of sight about fifty yards

in front of us. Dad grabbed me

right for them. He got me set up in a small group of trees and

told me to get ready. This was

anything like this. I was amazed

how hard they were fighting. I

it all in when suddenly the bulls

drew my bow and watched a massive six point push a rag

horn down to the ground right in front of me. The small bull

jumped back to his feet and fled.

me as he watched the rag horn

with his bugle. The bull spun around and started coming

straight at me, snot flying and

all fired up and not yards from me, but feet. I was face to face

at full draw on a pissed off bull. With all this happening in just a

matter of seconds it was just too

At any time I could let go of the

but I just couldn’t do it. The bull

fast as he came in.

my first time ever hunting. I was

I have never been that close to a bull. I like to hike and have

hunted hard. I’ve been lucky

small bulls with my trusty 7MM Weatherby mag and one 300

class bull with my bow over the

share of big bulls, especially in

able to get one.

of harvesting a large elk. They only give out four tags, and yes,

I am one of those lucky guys who put in for the first time and

got one. My hunt was set for the second week in January 2001.

I was able to get off work about five days earlier so I could get

familiar with the area and scout

bordered the hunting area. The rancher was extremely friendly

and helped point me in the right

elk. Another rancher in the area helped me glass in the mornings

and evenings. We spotted elk

away but consistently there every day we looked for them.

The rancher said they usually have a lot more snow and the elk

hung down low. That was not the case. The elk were very high

and only a few had migrated out of Yellowstone.

The day before the hunt, one of my best friends and hunting

partner Dane Brekhus showed up to join me. I told him about

the elk the rancher and I had

them out in the morning. We started hiking well before

light. By the time we reached the herd it was close to noon.

Glassing the group we realized

for and decided to pass them up. We settled up behind a big rock

on top of the ridge shielding us from the wind, ate our lunch

and glassed the opposite face.

together across the canyon at a much higher elevation. We knew

there was no way we would be able to reach them before dark

so we decided to get up even earlier the next morning and

go after them then. By the time we got back into Ennis it was

almost dark and Dane could

intense and he thought maybe something was wrong with his

hips. Turns out he had pulled

the lotto and we only had two days to cash in.

The next day we started hiking at 4:30 am. We brought

ski goggles with us this time to protect our eyes from the insane

wind. A couple of miles into it

much trouble he decided he’d

climbed to the ridge we were

behind a rock and glassed my stalk. Half way up the mountain

I was climbing, the sun was coming up and I spotted a 6x7

bull about 600 yards away. The snow was windblown, loud,

crunchy, and very difficult to walk on in such steep country. I

tried to sneak around him to get close enough to shoot but lost

sight of him and couldn’t figure

speaking with Dane I found out I walked too high up and came

out way above him. Oh well, I

the area were we spotted the

a dangerous hike. To keep the

the elevation of where I thought

an avalanche chute, up over a ridge and into a bowl where they

were hanging. When I got to the ridge it was already 1:30pm. I

sat down, ate lunch, and took some aspirin for the aches and

pains. It started to lightly snow

BY JIM YORK