FEATURE: DIY Elk: The Tale of Two Bulls

No matter how great your success, certain things can haunt your mind, sowing the seeds of unrest. For me that thing was elk.

- CASEY NORDINE

Despite being a successful hunter when it came to whitetail, mule deer, and antelope, I had always dreamed of chasing bugles in thick timber and mountain meadows, but I was consistently left without the opportunity to do so in my home state of South Dakota, where 15-25 years of preference points are required to pull a tag. I knew I either needed to bury that desire for several more years, or start looking at the variety of non-resident elk hunting options in other states.

My brother Cody and I agreed to venture into the world of DIY elk hunting together, and both applied for the same western state. We were fortunate enough to both draw general elk tags that year. Call it beginner's luck, but he notched his tag on a bull during the archery season, and I was able to get a cow later on with my rifle. We were hooked.

The obsession quickly turned from "How can I get myself on an elk hunt?" to "How do I hunt elk every year?" Cody and I drew tags to the same state the following year, this time going into it with a little bit of real-world experience and know-how. The season started out hot, with large fires raging throughout the American West. Needless to say, the bulls weren't vocal for the first half of our trip. We quickly turned to sitting water and wallows, knowing the weather would soon break, and daily temps would be dropping twenty degrees.

We devised a plan for the first day of cooler weather, but the elk didn't show at sunrise, and we quickly pivoted to a different location for the mid morning hunt. There was a ridge within a few miles of camp where we could cover some ground quickly, calling periodically and hoping to catch a bull in its first bed of the day.