Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/496918
S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S 1 2 3 Top, left to right: This spectacular straight six was killed in Alberta by Clarence Brown, and this great non-typical bull was taken by Montana rancher John Luthje. Idaho miner Fred Scott (pictured) shot his non-typical on an unexpected day off from work. Photos courtesy of the Boone and Crockett Club. whitetail buck standing in some Christmas trees and her shot was spot on. We dragged him into an opening and waited for the sun to top the Swan Mountains so the pictures would turn out just right. Celebrating the moment, we talked loudly and never gave another opportunity a second thought. Family tradition calls for everyone to dress their own game, so I presented her with a knife I had carried in my pack for three years in anticipation of this day. Just as she was making the first cut, a bull bugled from the timber below. Thirty minutes later she was tying her tag to a big six-by-six elk that dropped to her single shot. She then matched me pack-for-pack, and we managed to have the truck full of quarters, capes, and heads just before dark. We had quite a time at the game check station. A couple of officials doubted her story, but it all worked out. I wasn't much surprised when several marriage proposals came her way in the following days. F or many hunters, elk is the biggest of big game and the most difficult hunt they will ever attempt. It might also be the only time an outfitter will be considered or a nonresident application gets submitted. With so many choices, it really pays to have an expert working your corner. Jack Atcheson Jr., and brother Keith of Atcheson and Sons (atcheson.com) have probably put more elk hunters together with outfitters than any other booking agency, and many of their hunts do not require drawing a permit. I've worked with these guys for years and every suggestion they have ever made has been blue chip. John McClendon (jmac@cactusbull.com), Aaron Neilson (globalhuntingresources.com), Huntin' Fool (huntinfool.com) and Cabela's (cabelas.com)—all have hunter application services that will point you in the right direction. They will assist with applications in most of the elk states after consulting about the options and can even recommend a good outfitter if you draw and then decide not to make the hunt on your own. One of the best ways to judge the professional commitment of a potential outfitter is finding out if they give back to the resource. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation publishes a list of member outfitters in every issue of their great Bugle Magazine. To join the foundation and get the magazine, visit rmef.org. Make no mistake, once elk hunting gets in your blood it will stay with you forever. In 1984 I helped out in the fledgling Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation's booth at a sports show in Spokane, Washington. To promote the show, the foundation had borrowed for display what was then the second largest bull in the record book, one scoring more than 440 points. Several local TV stations featured that bull on the news the night before the show started. As the doors opened I noticed an old man standing in the cold spring rain at one of the box office windows, slowly counting out dollar bills for admission. Bracing himself with a cane in each hand, he came into the hall and shuffled his way to our booth. Once there, he leaned hard on the table, looked at that big elk for a very long time, then turned away, and slowly hobbled toward the exit. I caught up to him, asking if I could be of help. He looked me over carefully, then said "I shot an elk like that, long before you were born. Didn't have a place to put the horns and eventually lost track of them. I've always wondered if he was number one." "That must have been some elk," I managed. "You think that one is yours?" "Not sure," he said turning toward the door. "Maybe." I sure wish he would have shared his story, one elk hunter to another.