Until quite recently, in collective human history, hunting, fishing, and gathering various plant products were necessary activities, toward the survival of all humans. Today, within much of the modernized world, very few citizens have any concept of what it means to be a direct participant in the harvest of nature's bounty; in a very real way, many such folks believe that milk comes from a carton, steaks comes from a plastic-wrapped cellophane tray and vegetables come from cans on the grocers shelf.
            It is most entertaining to listen to some of these folks decrying the evil of hunting, while savoring the aroma, texture and flavor of a fine steak – such folks evidently prefer to have their killing done for them. The hunter, on the other hand, is driven to celebrate his primeval heritage, if only in a relatively symbolic way, by occasionally doing a bit of his own killing. Be it rabbit, deer, quail, duck, trout or bass or be it beet, radish, tomato or carrot, to the hunter, direct involvement in the harvest holds special meaning. Perhaps the phrase, "primal instinct" conveys something of the motivation but the sense of fulfillment runs far deeper than any words can convey.
            Evidently, it is simply impossible for some folks to comprehend what it is that the hunter gets out of harvesting his own food; I can assure you, it is completely impossible for the hunter to understand how anyone could not feel this compulsion. As a hunter, this author is happy to take a direct hand in the killing of other living things, toward his survival; moreover, he fully recognizes that in order for his family to survive, other living things must die (even lettuce was alive).
            Moreover, I choose to accept the Biblical precept that man has dominion over the plants and animals and I do not arbitrarily assign some species as "superior" to some other. To me, "Bambi" has no more merit or right to life than does a chicken (hatched or not!) or a tuna or a head of lettuce, or the seeds of any plant. Certainly, those who choose to assign special merit to certain critters are welcome to do so but one could righteously challenge them to explain exactly how it is that their opinions are more valuable than the opinion of anyone else.
            Should one choose to be scientific and logical about this, it is a simple fact that mankind (and most, or all, other "higher" life forms) can survive quite well without rabbits (as one example); conversely, we cannot survive without bacteria; hence, it is easy to assert that scientifically and logically bacterium are far more "sacred" than rabbits are. Therefore, if the choice is between shooting a rabbit (for food) and brushing one's teeth (for fresh breath), the former is inherently moral and the later is inherently immoral. As noted, some folks cannot understand this author's motivations and he will never understand the illogical self-righteous piety of some of those folks.

BACKGROUND
            Along about 1989, my brother, Stan McPherson, began fulfilling a lifetime dream, an elk hunt in one of the "Trophy Game Management" hunting units in Colorado. To this end, he began applying for preference points toward a special, lottery drawing, elk license.
            Having killed his first elk in 1971 and having killed eighteen bulls and six cows since then, all taken on Public Lands in Colorado, Stan had never taken a trophy-class elk. His wall of fame includes many branch-antlered deer and elk racks but only one of those is worthy of significant mention.
            This exception is a mule deer rack collected in 1965, in a hunt that this author has previously detailed. That was a truly exceptional animal, a huge buck with a massive set of antlers that dwarf all but the largest of mule deer racks ever taken. With non-typical antlers having more than two dozen points meeting the Boone & Crockett requirements to qualify as individual points, that rack is something to behold. Stan took that buck when he was 18 and, quite likely that was long before he was sufficiently mature to comprehend just how special such an experience was – he has long-since learned to appreciate that such opportunities do not come to every mortal! With the memory of collecting that exceptional buck, in what was almost certainly the last fall of its natural life (the game warden, who examined the carcass, suggested that that buck was probably 11½ years old!), Stan has hunted each fall with the dream of eventually collecting a trophy-class elk.
            Working under his self-imposed restriction that he will not hunt on lands where he must pay for the privilege of harvesting animals that, as explicitly stated in the Constitution of the State of Colorado, belong to the people and cannot legally be sold in any manner whatsoever, fulfilling such a dream is no mean task. Yes, bulls with good 6x6 (six points on each antler beam) and better are taken on public lands every year but such an event does not happen often and no reasonable amount of good planning or hunting effort can guarantee the average work-a-day hunter success in bagging such a trophy.
            Fortunately, Colorado offers the dedicated hunter a viable alternative. Elk hunting access for several game management areas of the state (particularly 1, 2, and 201) has always been limited. As it happens, all three of those units border Browns Hole and two extensive National Parks (Dinosaur and Browns Park), which are wildlife preserves. Hence, a large population of elk inhabit and wander within the confines of those game management units, such animals are relatively unmolested by hunting pressures.
            In the early years of my memory, it was possible for a hunter who was willing to save preference points (rather than using a few of those to gain access to a muzzle-loading or archery season hunting permit) to obtain a license for one of these areas with as little as a five-year wait. This is no longer the case and, circa 2003, getting one of these licenses required at least 13 preference points and (unless I miss my educated guess badly), rest assured, anyone who starts collecting points now can look forward to at least a 20-year wait!
            Perhaps we should visit the preference point system used in Colorado. Hunters can collect preference points in one of two effectively distinct ways. First, they can apply for a license in a limited area and fail to draw such a tag. Should this happen, they are awarded a preference point, which gives them an advantage in the following year (which we will clarify shortly). Second, they can simply apply for a preference point.
            Basically, the preference point system amounts to a weighted lottery. Rather than try to explain this system in critical detail, an example should suffice. Colorado allocated 25 licenses for rifle elk hunting in Area 2 in 2003 (in a special early season that is also the last elk season in that area; in 2003 this season was October 1-10). Several hunters (less than 25), who applied for an Area 2 rifle season tag in 2003 had accumulated more than 13 preference points; each of those hunters received a license.
            Many hunters, more than the remaining number of tags available, who applied for a license in Area 2 had accumulated 13 preference points. Those in that group were all in a lottery. Names were selected at random (by a computer) until all available tags had been awarded (Stan was in this "successful" group). Those with 13 points who did not get a tag were awarded an additional preference point. Those with 12 or fewer points who applied for an Area 2 tag were automatically awarded an additional preference point, as were any hunters who simply applied for a preference point. All limited tags for all species in all areas are handled similarly (for reasons that are incomprehensible, the system used for drawing the extremely limited moose permits is somewhat different); elk preference points apply only to elk tags.
            So, as fate would have it, thirty-eight years after taking one of the largest-bodied mule deer ever recorded (at least 450 pounds on the hoof!), Stan was finally in possession of a permit that would allow him a reasonable chance of collecting a trophy-class elk. As fate would also have it, his brother (this author) had been planning to make himself available, to accompany Stan in the field, whenever Stan finally was successful in drawing an Area 2 tag and, proving Murphy wrong for once, was able to fulfill that dream. Now holding 10 preference points in the bank, this author had more than one motive for joining in on Stan's hunt. Few, if any, hunters with such a special permit even consider taking the hunt solo. Why would anyone want to do so?
            Stan was able to scout the area on several expeditions earlier in the year, late summer. With good BLM maps and advice from several hunters who have worked Area 2 in previous years, he was able to get a general idea of where he wanted to hunt and how he could legally access those particular areas.
            A general goal for such a hunter is quite obvious, find the biggest bull in the area! While this might seem an impossible task and, in fact, might actually be impossible to fulfill, it is certainly reasonable for a hunter to hope to find a relatively good bull (one of the few largest in the region) by the simple expedient of locating a herd of cows. Since this hunt occurs during the rut, dominant bulls will certainly be jealously guarding a harem of cows. Within the area Stan intended to hunt, one could reasonably expect to find several such groups, any one of which could be expected to contain a Boone and Crockett class bull.
            That is all well and good in theory and we did have several things working in our favor; e.g., some knowledge of how elk behave along with an understanding of the geography of the area and the associated bedding, watering and feeding habits and locals of the elk there, along with the good advice of those familiar with the area; however, reality cares not for theory. Specifically, a significant complication in hunting this unit is the existence of private lands that are not available for hunting and similar lands where access requires payment of a fee to the landowner and most unpleasant of all, public lands that cannot reasonably be accessed without paying a landowner for permission to cross their intervening lands (often a strip only a few hundred yards wide where a well-established road is marked, "No trespassing").
            What may well be more detrimental to the rifle-season hunter, in my opinion, is the fact that several Archery and Muzzle Loading season tags are awarded for Area 2 each year and that those hunts end only a few days before this special early rifle season begins. Additionally, many hunters with rifle-season tags understandably want to scout the area immediately before opening day of rifle season. These pressures, particularly any from careless hunters "scouting the area" and who might inadvertently venture directly into watering, bedding, and feeding grounds may very well spook any herds out of the area where it is either feasible or possible to hunt!
            Since much of the best elk habitat in Area 2 is on the west and south border and since National Parks surround Area 2 on essentially all southern and western borders, this is no small matter. While this author is not ready to claim that large elk harems no longer exist on public lands in Area 2 during the rifle season, I am ready to suggest that many of those herds may well have found refuge in the National Parks and on inaccessible private lands, long before rifle season starts.
            (This situation is certainly not unique to special "trophy-class" hunting units. Each year, as the first regular hunting season progresses, one can easily find hunters camped in and near various good hunting areas throughout Colorado. Often, when one strikes up a conversation with such folks, they will readily admit to having come to the area several days early, in order to, "scout the area." Typically, in the same breath, such hunters will then bitterly complain thusly: "I don't understand what happened to all the elk, we saw hundreds of elk while we rode around on our ATVs and scouted the area (before season opened)!" One can pray that eventually all such hunters will become sufficiently educated to understand the folly of such "pre-season-scouting" but this author fears that such will never happen; hence, I will take this opportunity to explicitly suggest that incautious pre-season "scouting" by nimrods is probably the single biggest event working to limit overall hunter success in Colorado each year – elk (and deer) feel such pressure and hence migrate to adjacent private lands, where such pressures do not exist!
            Does it take a genius to figure this out? In all fairness to such hunters, many come from areas where such scouting, in chiefly whitetail habitat, where essentially all land is privately owned is invaluable. However, in most of the mountainous west, where so much land is publicly owned, and is so often surrounded by private lands, such scouting is terrible technique. Professional guides who work private lands consider it "The best thing that could happen for our clients!")
            What this means is that it is no longer necessarily easy to locate any of the largest mating bulls during the rifle season in Area 2; conversely, we are told that in decades past such harems with large, dominant, bulls were relatively easy to locate on public lands there. This year, we were not able to do so, despite covering about 18 miles on foot in three days and having checked some of the more remote areas quite carefully. Since the bulls are bugling during the rut, it is not particularly hard to locate elk particularly in the early morning hours.

 TUESDAY: OPENING DAY EVE
            After setting up our camp on Tuesday, we drove some of the main roads, looking for tracks and listening for bugling. We stopped and visited with Mrs. Wanda Walker, a grand old lady and a longtime ranching resident of the area. Walker owns lands adjacent to several of the areas that Stan intended to hunt. She graciously granted permission for us to drive across her land, should we need to do so, in order to remove an elk that Stan might henceforth kill on adjacent public land.
            We also parked and hiked to the steep northern-facing rim of Douglas Mountain, where we sat and watched a feeding bull (probably a 300-point class 6x6) on Mrs. Walker's land in the bottom, far below us. We also heard several bulls bugling on the steep slope, under the cliffs along that precipice.
            Mrs. Walker then told us that another Colorado hunter, from Grand Junction, was camping and hunting from the bottomland that she owned. Because that hunter was from the area where Stan and I had grown up, which seemed an interesting coincidence, I told her that we had been raised near Grand Junction. She therefore mentioned the name of the other hunter, Alan Pennington.
            Alan is the son of Dick Pennington and they are both now retired but were long world-famous hunting guides with many a luminary as former clientele and many a record book trophy to their credit. It also just so happens that Alan is a long time friend of mine! What are the odds? Stan happened to know where Pennington's camp was located so we later drove there but Pennington was out scouting (as a superior hunter, you can bet that he did not alert any big bulls of his presence!), so I left him a note. While we did not get to visit with Pennington, we did later learn that he took a very good trophy. Knowing his skills and natural talent, I can guess that he bagged his bull, early opening morning and based upon already having learned exactly where it would be – he is a member of that class of extraordinarily special hunter, he just seems to know how elk think and act.

WEDNESDAY: OPENING DAY
            Stan's hunt began with our ride in the predawn hours toward a particular area that he had scouted from the perimeter, earlier that year, as a likely locale for a herd. Before we had arrived at the area that he intended to hunt, he stopped his 1970 Land Cruiser at a picturesque vantage point; there, we looked eastward, across the upper end of a large canyon, where it opened wider and was populated with a mixture of Ponderosa Pine and various shrubs. I glassed the valley in front of us along with the canyon walls across the way. Stan explained that toward the bottom of the canyon lay a perennial spring and two stock ponds.
            Although it was long before legal shooting light, with the help of a good set of Bushnell binoculars and good night vision, I was able to spot two bulls that were feeding along the sagebrush covered hillside opposite our location, about ½-mile distant. Looking through the binoculars, I determined that both were mature bulls and that one was far larger and was almost certainly a 6x6, or better. Stan was looking for a herd bull and these were obviously not that, possibly satellite bulls and perhaps not even of that class – we were looking for a herd!
            Nevertheless, we followed the winding jeep road that took us around the upper end of the area where those bulls were feeding. Stan parked the rig, and we sneaked up the easterly facing (back) side of the ridge where the two bulls had been feeding. When we had hiked to a point where we could see the hillside below we saw no elk.
            We suspected that any elk in the area had already been to the watering hole and were moving down the west-facing slope of that ridge, toward their feeding and bedding grounds, on the westerly facing side of the ridge and farther down the canyon. We walked back over the relatively barren ridge top, to the east-facing slope. Our goal was to work our way down the ridge, while walking in the open and out of sight and sound of the timbered, westerly facing slope, where we believed the elk would be and from whence we could occasionally hear bugling.
            Walking as fast as we could, while occasionally sneaking back over the ridge crest and glassing the Juniper and Piñon blanketed slopes below and across the canyon, we hiked about one mile down the ridge, before discovering a small pocket on the west-facing slope of the canyon. We found a good vantage point near the head of that draw. By then it was legal shooting light and we were close to several bugling bulls; therefore we stopped, listened, cow called, bugled and scoped the surrounding area. I set up the 80mm Bushnell spotting scope on a tripod and concentrated on observing the scattered openings showing through the timber in the pocket below us.
            Eventually, through the binoculars, I saw a bull peering around a juniper tree. That bull was at 409 yards, according to the Bushnell rangefinder. While getting the spotting scope aligned, that animal moved and it was several minutes before it and a single cow came back into view. With the spotting scope already nearly aligned, I was almost instantly able to find it in the field of view. With 20X magnification and the 80mm objective lens, that scope provided plenty of brightness, despite the early dawn conditions on that shaded side of the ridge, and visual clarity to clearly see antlers and count points. It was a 6x6 bull sporting a 300-point class rack. This was not what Stan had waited 14 years to take! Soon, despite our cow calling, both elk moved down canyon – the continuing bugling indicated that most of the elk in that area were gradually moving that way.
            We gathered our gear and headed back to the top of the ridge, so as to move farther down country without disturbing any elk, then we hurriedly proceeded down the ridge, in an effort to get ahead of the moving elk. Soon, we came to the head of a larger pocket on the west-facing side of the ridge and proceeded toward another vantage point. By now it was fully light and we were able to see several cows and at least four bulls that were feeding near the relatively open bottom of that pocket. These bulls included at least one 5x5 and two 6x6-class animals and two spikes. We could hear at least two other bulls bugling farther down the draw that defined that pocket. One was up-canyon and toward the bottom of the main canyon; the other was down-canyon and toward the bottom of the main canyon. The heavy Juniper and Piñon Pine cover made it impossible to see much ground but we could see enough so that any moving elk were apt to be periodically visible. Several large areas were covered only with sagebrush.
            Deciding that the herd bull, if any, had to be one of those that we had not yet seen and that it was likely that it was one of those still ahead of us, we circled above the head of that pocket and quickly moved down the side of the ridge, along the down-canyon side of the draw. We were heading toward the most raucous bugling, moving through unusually heavy timber, when we spooked two bulls on the steepest part of the westerly-facing slope. Both ran down canyon, along the side of the ridge but hesitated several times and may not have traveled far before stopping – we can hope that we had not spooked those animals clear out of the region, but perhaps we did, carelessness! Twice I had heard movement nearby and should have told Stan that we were close to elk, so that we could have retreated and chosen another path, but I was so enthralled with listening to the bugling that was coming from beyond those bulls – just too great a distraction. Lesson learned.
            Meanwhile, we got to where we could see where the ridge that divided the two pockets above us (the upper one, where we had seen the cow and the bull and the lower one, where we had seen so many feeding elk) ran down into the bottom of the main canyon and then petered out as it swept into the canyon bottom. Near the lower end of that ridge were at least two bulls in heavy timber. One was a very good 6x6 that sported a rack that I would guess would easily measure 350 Boone & Crockett points. We could not get a clear view of anything but its antlers. Finally, it moved and would not show itself again. The other we never did see clearly, there were certainly two large elk there within an area of about one acre and both were big. We moved down the side of the ridge a ways but were never able to get any closer to the most raucous bugling.
            Since most of the elk we had seen were bulls (at least seven bulls and no more than two cows), Stan decided to give up on this area and try a different location – we were still looking for a herd of cows. However, as we headed back toward where we had parked, Stan heard a bugle coming from the same pocket where we had seen so many elk. He then started cow calling. Since I was close to him but above him and had lost sight of him temporarily, as we had picked different routes through the heavy timber farther down the canyon, I wondered if he was trying to find me, so I cow-called back.
            He thought that I was below him and so, when he heard a cow call above him, he thought that it was maybe a real elk and he continued to cow call – this, despite his having earlier insisted, "That cow call doesn't sound anything like a real cow!" Since I had a great view of the upper side of the pocket, in which we had seen so many elk, I stayed put; figuring that Stan would come to me, sooner or later. Hence, we cow call whistled back and forth for perhaps one minute.
            Then, as I scanned the ridge in front of me through the binoculars, I spotted a beautiful 6x6 bull with a 350-point class rack peering from behind a juniper tree; range, according to the rangefinder, 420 yards. The coat of this bull was relatively dark, with a heavy and unusually red "beard." It sported unusually long points and a wide spanning, obviously symmetrical rack. It was simply beautiful, be it a herd bull or not.
            Since I was standing on a relatively open hillside and the bull was looking for the source of the cow calling that we had been doing, it would almost certainly notice any significant movement; I could not move without chancing alerting that bull! It occurred to me that Stan might be watching the same bull and trying to coax it to move to where he could get a clear shot, so I redoubled my cow calling. This backfired for sure, because when Stan heard my increased cadence, he figured that he would just go to the source of "that incessant whistling," be that elk or Mic.
            I heard him approaching incautiously and coming out of the timber and heading directly toward the opening in which I stood, which I knew would spook the bull that was looking toward me. Hence, I tried to quietly ask Stan if he had seen the bull. He said no and asked where it was. I replied, "on the far hillside." Stan thought that I meant the elk was clear across the main canyon, ½ mile away, so he just boldly marched across the opening, to where I stood. All the while, as he proceeded, I frantically tried to get him to stop and to do so without spooking the bull by talking too loudly! Of course, the bull saw Stan moving and then became extremely wary.
            Stan finally saw the bull but while trying to locate a decent rest for such a long shot, he lost track of it and then the bull came out and presented a perfect classic standing broadside pose –  I had a perfect shot! But I was not shooting! After what seemed an eternity to me, Stan finally located the bull in his scope, just as it began to move behind a tree. Twice, as the bull meandered around, Stan had it in his sights but he never had a great opportunity to take a well-placed shot. Finally, the elk meandered over the top of the ridge. Twice I thought Stan would shoot but he did not, mainly because he was not anxious to take a questionable shot and particularly since he was still looking for that special "herd" bull. Nevertheless, this episode certainly got my adrenaline running.
            We then hiked back up the ridge, over the top and back to the rig. According to the map, we had hiked about 3 miles that morning. Our hike had included sufficient vertical relief to usefully exercise our lungs and legs.
            Later that day, we drove to a different area and walked several miles but found no evidence of any herds. The dry conditions made it quite easy to see where elk had recently been but also impossible to tell just how recently any tracks had been made. We had no luck in finding any indications of significant herds.

THURSDAY: SECOND DAY OF SEASON
            The next day, we drove to an area that was several miles from where we had started on opening morning. All along that drive, in the pre-dawn darkness, we stopped periodically and bugled but got no responses. Having driven as far as possible in that direction (we came to a private land boundary crossing the jeep road), we got out and walked about ½-mile up the side of a steep ridge and across the top, to where we could overlook a very large basin. We saw no fresh tracks and heard no bugling. We did get a break though, it rained enough to dampen the soil and therefore clearly mark pre-existing elk tracks; thereafter, we could instantly distinguish any tracks, as having been made pre- or post-Tuesday morning.
            We then drove several miles back along that road and headed up a side road that led far into a remote canyon. Finally, we stopped where that road ended at a stock pond (long-since dry in the fall of a drought year) and got out of the rig to do a bit of hiking. Stan bugled. Immediately, a good sounding bull answered from the ridge behind us – well, actually, determining where the responding bugle had come from was not so straightforward as that. I thought the reply had come from in front of us. However, I was standing beside the rig and I now think that I was hearing an echo off the steep canyon wall, in front of me, rather than the direct sound; conversely, Stan was in front of the rig and heard the bugle louder and more directly. Anyway, as we soon learned, his impression of where the sound had come from was, evidently, correct.
            We walked up that relatively steep canyon wall and soon enough heard another bugle, closer; then we heard a separate bugle. These came from above us, one up-canyon the other down-canyon, both evidently on the same hillside that we were on and in heavy timber. Finally, we got to a point where we could see into a large basin on the same side of the ridge that we were climbing. We immediately spotted a 6x6 bull that was in the 300-point class. This bull had a large body and sported unusually light coloration.
            That bull kept looking back, so we suspected that something was behind it. Soon enough, it topped the ridge, at 409 yards, and disappeared into the heavier stand of Juniper and Piñon Pine there. Eventually, an obviously smaller and redder colored 5x5 bull showed up and soon also topped the ridge.
            We followed those bulls over the top and into a large basin. We continued to hear occasional bugles in the area for a short time. Eventually, as we watched that basin, a cow, followed by a calf and a young 6x5 bull, came into view on the ridge across the basin, moving from the bottom. Obviously, these elk had been to a watering hole and had been wallowing in the mud. The bull, particularly, was covered in mud, so that he looked very dark. I have been told that any bull that is completely covered in mud during the rut is often a herd bull. This one was with a cow and so may well have been a herd bull, albeit an unusual one.
            We called with both the bugle and our two cow calls for quite some time. Finally, we got an answer from a bull close to us in the heavy junipers. Finally, that good bull raised his head and I happened to see antlers, as I scanned with my binoculars. Momentarily, the tips of antler points and part of one beam showed clearly above the tops of some lower shrubbery and Piñon Pines, on the facing hillside, no more than 100 yards distant. Those antlers were very light in color and the points were heavy and long.
            We continued to call. After about five minutes until the smaller bull came walking through the area where I had seen those antlers. Evidently, the larger bull was bedded in those trees and simply remained in his bed because we never saw him again, despite the fact that the younger bull walked within a few dozen yards of the spot where I had seen antlers and it even bugled several times while there! I know I saw those larger antlers and I now wish I had circled that area and walked into it, just to flush that larger bull from its bed. I know I saw it and I know that it could not have sneaked out of there without our having seen it; hence, evidently, it simply stayed bedded and stayed quiet, despite a smaller bull passing so close.
            The smaller bull had evidently left the cow and calf in a bedding area over the top of the small ridge in front of us, as it came to our calls – those elk may well have bedded down there. As we continued to call, the small bull slowly proceeded toward us. For several minutes it kept stopping and circling from vantage point to vantage point, all the while scanning the area where we stood, in plain sight, under a very large Utah Juniper. Finally, it came out onto the open hillside, below us and then walked closer that 10 yards to us, staring at us the entire time.
            I slowly raised the binoculars, just to see it super-close-up and observed water dripping from its muddy coat and noted that it was indeed as small as I had imagined – I believe that I have taken bigger mule deer! It sported a 5x6 rack but I believe that it could hardly have weighed more than 300 pounds on the hoof. Anyway, as I lowered the binoculars, it startled. I figured that it was gone but it only jumped backward about five feet and then stopped and continued to stare.
            Stan started "chirping" at it. Every time he let loose a quiet chirp, that little bull would startle but it would not move. Evidently it knew that there had to be some cow elk somewhere close and it knew we were not those but it also knew we were something. After several minutes, it began to circle our position, still looking for those cows! Eventually, it had circled us completely, never getting farther than about 100 yards from us. Then it headed back toward where it had left the cow and calf. What a thrill!
            After having hiked about 1½-miles and eaten some delightful Piñon nuts, taken directly from the opening cones (very sticky work), we headed back to the rig. We hit the road near a mile below where we had parked and so were able to observe a good deal of jeep road as we walked back to the rig. Although any relatively fresh tracks would have shown clearly, we saw none. This confirmed our beliefs that the few elk that were in that area where using the watering hole on the other side of the ridge (where the group of three that we had seen had been wallowing); that elk were generally staying out of the canyon up which we had driven; and that no large herds had recently crossed that road.
            After an early supper, we headed to another area, still looking for that ever more ephemeral herd of cows. We walked about 1 mile into that area and saw a few older tracks and several sets of relatively fresh tracks (the early morning light rainfall made it quite easy to distinguish) but nothing to indicate that any large herd had used that area in the recent past. Later, as we drove back toward camp, we saw a 6x6 bull and one cow.
            We drove to one other area that Stan thought worthy of a look-see. We hiked about one mile into this area, spotted one satellite-class 6x6 bull feeding along the base of a cliff about ½ mile distant and many trails where relatively large numbers of elk had recently passed but we found no fresh tracks. Since it was getting along in the day, we did not pursue getting any closer to that moderately interesting bull.
            That evening, we headed back to the steep hillside overlooking Walker's lands and did some more bugling. Two bulls (probably satellite-class animals) answered us. We followed one for nearly 1 mile through the relatively heavy timber, as it kept a minimum of about 150 yards between us. Whether it was wary because of our use of an artificial call or it had cows that it preferred to protect, we will never know – every time that we got almost close enough to see it, it would move away from us. The wind was in our favor, so chasing it nearly 1 mile through the Ponderosa Pine and Oak brush covered area along the top of a cliff was rather exciting, if ultimately unproductive. We then called it a day.

FRIDAY: THIRD DAY OF SEASON
            Friday, we headed back to the area where we had started our hunt (on Wednesday, Opening Day). This day, we had a different plan of attack, based upon what we had learned. We left earlier and drove farther down the draw, to the east of the ridge and canyon that we intended to hunt. We parked, so that we could easily walk to the down-canyon side of the large basin in which we had seen so many elk opening day (including the 350-point class bull that Stan had, sort of, passed up). Since we had not been able to find any herds, Stan had declared that any 350-point class bull was hereafter fair game.
            Almost immediately after parking the rig and heading up the side of that ridge, long before shooting light, we heard bugling from two bulls. Two other hunters (the only ones we had seen in the field since opening morning!) were heading toward the nearer of the two sources, which was near the top of the pocket that we intended to watch. As we later learned, they hoped to find the source of the bugling, since they had spotted and glassed two 350-point class bulls in that pocket the previous day. One of those had a harem of six cows and the two were very similar in both size and rack quality.
            While those hunters headed straight for the source of the bugling, our goal was to position ourselves so that we could be in front of any elk that moved down canyon, after visiting the watering hole in the pre-dawn hours. The other hunters' plan backfired because they misjudged the distance to the source of the bugling and inadvertently walked to within about 100 feet of a bull and thereby spooked it. They could not get a shot through he heavy foliage but were able to see the rack sufficiently well to ascertain that it was the large satellite bull they had observed, at a distance, the previous day.
            Whether one chooses to call it good luck or to accept it as a logical result of a good plan followed by good execution, the path that the spooked bull took brought it directly toward us! (I happen to believe in the latter explanation). Even if those hunters had not spooked that bull, we were located where it, most likely, would eventually have gone anyway! In any case, as Stan, who was about 15 yards in front of me, drew within about ten yards of his pre-chosen vantage point, that bull came trotting out of the junipers at the upper end of the draw and headed down the relatively open sagebrush- and buckbrush-covered bottom; it was heading directly toward Stan!
            As the bull came within about 50 yards, the contour of the bottom and side of the draw was such that, momentarily, the trotting bull dropped below the immediate horizon. Stan quickly moved forward and toward the bottom of the draw, so that he could see the elk. However, the bull never changed course and, as Stan was moving that way, the elk trotted over the intervening shallow rise and came into full view, not 35 yards distant.
            The bull spotted Stan and stopped. It was facing him almost directly with its head raised high. Stan quickly shouldered his trusty 280 and placed his handloaded 139-grain Hornady Spire Point Boat Tail directly into the spine, just below the skull. The kill was essentially instantaneous, as the bullet fractured one vertebra and disrupted the brain and spine so completely that the animal simply collapsed. Then the work began.

STAN'S 2003 TROPHY BULL ELK: AS IT FELL.

(For readers who might question Stan's choice of chambering and load, keep in mind that, since 1965, Stan has killed twenty-four full-grown elk and many, many deer using the same bullet loaded at about 2900 fps muzzle velocity. Precisely one required a second shot for proper anchoring – in that instance, the first shot was poorly placed, too high. As this author has repeatedly stressed in other writings, on a scale of 1 to 10, shot placement rates at least a 7, bullet terminal performance rates about a 3, and delivered energy rates no more than a 1 – e.g., practically any big game bullet delivered into the thorax of any elk results in a dead animal within a few minutes, while any feasible big game bullet delivered in to the guts results in a wounded animal that is unlikely to stop running for many miles!)

ON FIRST APPROACH:
HUNTER HIDES SHOCK WELL!

            Preliminary Boone & Crockett scoring indicates that the rack on this bull measures near 360 points raw score (before drying), with only about 6 2/8 points deductions! Were it not for the fact that all but one of the points are broken, losing perhaps an average of one inch of length each, with at least three inches being broken from one point, the raw score would probably approach 375 points with not more than 2 points total deductions. For those who may not know, such a tiny deduction indicates an unusually symmetrical rack, which upholds ones first, intermediate, and final impression of these antlers. The points are long and the beams are heavy. This rack may not make the record book but it is for certain a beautiful example of American Elk; this is probably the most symmetrical and balanced large elk rack that this hunter has ever seen.

THIS PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS UNUSUALLY GOOD SYMMETRY OF THESE ANTLERS:
NOTE BROKEN 5^TH POINT ON LEFT BEAM & THAT 1^ST BROW TINES HAVE EXTRA (GUARD) POINTS.

            (Boone & Crockett scores elk antlers on symmetry, point length and minimum beam diameter between adjacent branch points (the latter for points one-through-five only), one inch equals one point and all scoring is to the nearest ⅛-inch. When one beam is longer, any particular point is longer, or any circumference is greater, compared to the same measurement on the opposite side, the difference is deducted from the total. Inside, outside and tip-to-tip spreads are also measured and symmetry of those measurements is a factor in scoring.)

HUNTER (LEFT) AND AUTHOR WITH BULL TAKEN IN COLORADO, AREA 2, 2003:
IF WE LOOK PLEASED, THAT IS BECAUSE WE ARE, THIS REPRESENTS THE FULFILLMENT OF A LIFETIME DREAM FOR BOTH OF US.

            While this was not a herd bull, it had been fighting for several years, as evidenced by bruising and cutting on and into the hide along its shoulders and flanks, which indicate that it was closely matched to at least one bull and that it had been seriously contesting for a harem. Stan is pleased as he can be, while he did not take a herd bull, he came very close and the elk that he did take is a treasure to him. This hunt fulfilled a lifetime dream.

ONE MORE IMAGE OF STAN WITH HIS TROPHY:
 AUTHOR BELIEVES THAT EXPRESSION ON THIS HUNTER'S FACE SUGGESTS THAT HE IS ALREADY THINKING ABOUT "NEXT TIME…"