This year was an exceptional year in the elk woods of Utah for me...though, no animals were harmed in the making of this tale! The past two years, I've been doing backpack hunts in a wilderness are. This year's hunt began immediately upon arrival to my campsite! Before I even got my tent pitched, two bulls were bugling approximately 300 yards south of me. I dropped all camp setting utilities, grabbed my bow and made my way quietly toward the bulls and set up just inside the tree line surrounding a fair-sized meadow to my west. Bugling back at the bulls garnered an immediate, aggressive response. As the "conversation" between us ensued, the two bulls emerged a mere hundred yards from my hide. They made their way to a spot 75 yards from me where they hung up...to come no closer. However, for the remaining twenty five minutes of shootable light, they put on a show of bugling. chuckling, ground pawing and tree raking the likes of which I'd not previously witnessed in my elk hunting experience. At the arrival of darkness, I returned to complete the setting of my camp and enjoy my evening meal.

This was only the beginning two hours of elk adventures that would last the next six days. Stay tuned for, "The Rest of the Story!"