One Ticket. One Dream Hunt. One Unforgettable Story.
Last year’s Wyoming Game & Fish Commissioner’s License winner turned a lifelong dream into reality. Your ticket could be the beginning of your own story.
Dreams, we all have them and we all chase them. Some people though are just crazy enough
to leave everything and move across the country to chase theirs. That, of course, is what I did
over a year ago. I didn’t know a single person in the state of Wyoming, but I moved here from
West Virginia with the anticipation of feeding my new addiction of elk hunting.
Through my first season living out West, I was lucky enough to harvest a Wyoming archery bull
and a Montana rifle bull. This only amplified my passion and I could not get my new hobby
off my brain. Scouting, training, running trail cams, etc, it seemed as if I was spending all my
free time getting ready for the 2025 season. With anticipation of having my first over the
counter resident general tag, I was hoping to capitalize on this opportunity. Fortunately
though, I would find out that I was about to become one of the luckiest individuals in the state
of Wyoming.
In June of 2025, I was notified that I had won a Commissioners Tag through the Wyoming Wild
Sheep Foundation. This meant that I could choose any unit in the state to hunt either antelope,
deer, or elk. The species decision was easy for me, but choosing the unit was so difficult. After
much thought, I decided that I wanted to go with an elk migration hunt. Not only would this
give me the chance at a giant bull but it would also give me the opportunity to help others
during the early season.
September is the best time of the year to be afield. The elk are bugling and there is nothing
more majestical. One of my friends from work informed me that he had a very good tag during
this time and he was on bulls. Unfortunately, he had not been able to close the deal yet. With
my main hunt being later in the year, I decided to join him. Luckily on our first morning together,
his fortune changed and he was able to arrow a 380” giant. After this, I was able to use my
time that I had planned on dedicating for my own hunting to go join a friend in Montana to help him get his first archery bull. None of this would have been possible without the generosity of Commissioner Haskell and the Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation.
After much anticipation, November finally rolled around and it was my turn. For migration
hunts, it really depends on one thing… snow. Sadly, there was no snow and no migration
happening at all. Fortunately, I was prepared for the worst as I had booked an outfitter.
Normally I am a DIY guy, but with the hunt of a lifetime, I wanted to go with the best. Not only
that, when hunting in the country around Cody, you really need horses. After much research, I
chose Shoshone Lodge Outfitters to lead me on my quest. That ended up being one of the
smartest decisions that I could have made.
With no migration, there were no bulls pushing through the area. Luckily I had a team of
guides who worked extremely hard to find us a bull that was already in the unit. Midway through our hunt, one of the guides said that he found “The One”. Anxiously awaiting to hear more, he notified us that he had found a 6×7 that would score in the 360s. There was one catch though. This bull was in the nastiest spot possible in the whole unit. It would take a lot of work to even think about hunting him.
The following morning we set out prior to daybreak, knowing that we had a difficult journey
ahead of us. This was going to be a couple hour trek up some of the steepest faces around.
As someone who is a novice with horses, I had to learn to trust my horse quickly because we
were not in easy terrain. Finally, we made it to the top. As we looked down into the canyon,
there “he” was. The giant elk was feeding about 1000 yards away. With some strategy, our only option was to circle around to a peak that would offer a 700 yard cross canyon shot.
We closed the distance but he was already bedded in some timber. With anticipation of
waiting all day and possibly even sleeping under the stars if we had to make a late shot, we patiently waited. Thankfully, it only took until 9:50 am for him to get back on his feet. I steadied the 7 mm PRC and let a bullet fly at that point. The bull was quartering and the shot was back but still likely clipped a lung. Five seconds later, the second shot rang out and hit the bull right by the spine. I was able to put a couple more follow up shots and fortunately the bull expired shortly after.
The work was about to begin because where the bull expired was over 1200 feet down a canyon and up a rocky cliff face. One of the guides mentioned that this may be the worst spot that he has ever retrieved an elk in his ten year career. After much work though, we made it to the bull. On arrival, he ended up being just as big as we thought and will likely score in the 360’s. After letting everything soak in and a short photo session, we processed the bull at the kill site. However, we knew that this was not the end of the adventure. The meat, head, and hide had to stay overnight in the backcountry because it would be impossible to get the pack mules there that day.
After surviving a close rock fall and hiking out of the vertical 1200 foot canyon, we led the
horses down the mountain so we could all get some rest. Given the difficulty of the retrieval
and my novice horsemanship, I stayed back the following day and let the guides pave the way
with new trails to retrieve the elk. Thankfully, they made it back by dark and only had to scare
one grizzly off as they were coming back to their trucks.
Back to our dreams, this hunt really satisfied so many of mine. I was able to complete a
remote wilderness hunt off horses in the great state of Wyoming and harvest the bull of a
lifetime. There is literally nothing else that you could ask for in an elk hunt. I am so blessed to
have won this tag and to have had the experience that I did! Even though so many of my
dreams have been met, I look forward to experiencing all Wyoming has to offer in the future… And maybe even draw a sheep tag one day!
