“Whatever it takes”, to the best of our ability, is one of the commitments we have made, to help our fully guided clients have the best opportunity we can provide in filling their tag. 

That's what happened with Tony. 

This last 1st rifle season, in 2020, we had two clients that we were guiding out of the cabins here where we live. As the days went by, our hunters in the high country were harvesting bulls, however, at lower elevation, we just weren't seeing the animals. 

On the second to last day of the season, we offered both hunters the opportunity to be taken to camps that were open due to the early success of the previous hunter. One of the hunters jumped at the opportunity. 

Tony left with our guide Rob, before dawn, to hunt horseback on the way to the camp. No opportunities presented themselves on the ride up, after settling into camp and a quick lunch, Rob took Tony to a meadow that he thought would be productive. Tony was comfortable, and actually preferred the solitude of sitting alone, while Rob went on to see if anything else was moving in another meadow. 

Sitting with his back against a pine, hidden behind a dead-fall, Tony made a few cow calls. As the afternoon moved on, a light wind came up and Tony was putting on his jacket when he saw three cows coming in. Calling again, the cows moved towards him, then disappeared behind a swell he hadn’t noticed before. A few minutes later they appeared moving up the hill. It was then he saw only the ivory tips, that could only belong to a mature bull, moving towards him. The bull came on a string, up the same hill straight towards Tony’s hiding place when the wind shifted and started blowing from behind him straight towards the bull. Worried that his scent would blow his cover, when the bull turned sideways presenting a good shot, Tony dropped him at 320 yards. An interesting side note was that the two cows following the bull didn’t even spook with the shot. Tony didn’t see the bull run off, but was unsure that it had gone down. Moving through the timber, he could see the cows looking at the place he had last seen the bull, and, it was then he realized that the Browning .338 once again sealed the deal on another bull elk harvested with Mineral Mountain Outfitters. 

Thank you for letting us be a chapter in your story, Tony, it was a pleasure to hunt with you. 

What an incredible encounter this guest had last September 2020.

Joe was a non-hunting guest from Wisconsin, who had accompanied his cousin that was hunting out of a drop camp with us during muzzleloader season.

He likes to poke around the mountains here, watching wildlife, looking for sheds and any other unique finds found on the pathless, forested slopes. Then when needed, he helps pack out the elk that his cousin, Dr Bob, almost without fail, harvests every year.

While hiking a creek bed on this same excursion, he saw bear tracks of the size not commonly seen in these parts. Placing a dollar bill next to them, we can see just how much we would NOT want to walk up on such a bruin unexpectedly.

To hear him tell the story of the bull he captured bugling, it’s the kind of stuff elk hunters dream of, but in this case, Joe did not have a tag in his pocket.

Hearing the brute coming through the timber, he paused to see what would unfold. As you can see, the bull came straight on a string towards Joe. If you listen closely, you can hear Joe softly say “Whoa” to try to get the big guy to pause in his pursuit of an elusive cow and running over himself, the spectator.

​