Back in March of 2024, I received a call from a Wyoming prefix I didn’t recognize, so I let it go to voicemail. I tried to listen to it later in the day, and it was so garbled I could not understand it, so I just deleted it. A few days later, I left for a European business trip that lasted a couple of weeks. A week after I got home, I received another call from the same Wyoming number and chose not to answer it again. I listened to the voicemail later in the day and it was from the Muley Fanatic Foundation letting me know I had won their 2024 Wyoming Commissioner’s license raffle. I had reupped our business membership earlier in the year and had been entered in the raffle.
After calling the Muley Fanatic Foundation and finding out what a Commissioner’s license was and getting some recommendations from them, I called Chance Marshall and Extreme Outfitters. Chance and I had a long conversation on what species to hunt, either elk, mule deer, or antelope. We chose bull elk as the mule deer herd in parts of Wyoming had been severely decimated by drought and a very bad winter. We talked more about which area to hunt and decided to wait until September to decide on the area. That would give Chance and his guides time to scout different areas.
Early September rolled around, and Chance decided that we needed to hunt area 124, which opened for rifle hunts on October 15th. Area 124, also known as the Red Desert of Wyoming, is a huge area, larger than the state of Rhode Island! The Red Desert is a high-altitude desert with a lot of sagebrush and a rare desert elk herd. Chance felt that this area would be a good choice because of the small amount of tags allocated to the area and the herd had been increasing in size the last few years. We decided to meet up at our elk camp on the 14th of October. I had hunted bull elk on five different occasions, both with archery and rifle, and had never harvested an animal, so I was very excited about this hunt.
On October 13th, I started driving from my home in southern Arizona to Rock Springs, Wyoming to wait for Chance to give me the coordinates for the camp. On the morning of the 14th, Chance let me know where to go and I drove close to 40 miles south into the desert to wait for him to show up and set up camp. Around a fire that night, we made plans for the next day. Kevin, Chance’s father, and I would head further south towards the boundary of Wyoming and Colorado and set up and start scoping while Chance and the other guides would spread out and scope other areas.
Before sunup the next morning, Kevin and I drove out into the desert and set up on a small ridge looking east towards a large ridge system running north to south. Kevin spotted a bull with some cows, and we watched them for a while until Kevin decided he was not what we were looking for. We then moved west to an area where we spotted some cows. We finally spotted a bull with them, but we could not get a good look at him. After about 40 minutes, they started to move up a small wash to bed down. We decided to move southeast and look near the border of Wyoming and Colorado. Kevin spotted a small herd coming off the high ridge system we had looked at earlier. There were five bulls and a bunch of cows. We lost them in the small drainages coming off the ridge. We decided to drive south of them and hike up the large drainage system we thought they had gone into.
We hiked for a mile and a quarter but spotted no elk. Then we thought we should go back and see if we could sneak in on the bull and cows we had spotted earlier. We were driving down a dirt track when I noticed a concrete pillar and on it was the name Cherokee Trail. This was one of the overland trails in the 1800s that wagon trains used to get to California. After taking some photos of the historical site, we started hiking to the rim of the plateau we were on. Just before we got to the rim, the wind changed direction and started blowing directly at the elk. By the time we reached the rim, the elk were running north away from us. We could see the bull, and he was a small 5x5. It was getting late in the afternoon, so we decided to slowly work our way back to the camp.
The next morning, we decided to go up on top of the high ridge system to our east and scope down some of the big drainages on the other side. We were in position when the sun started to rise and immediately saw elk. We counted 5 bulls and about 15 cows when Chance called to let us know he had found a possible shooter. We thought he was on the ridge over from us and was watching the same bulls we were, but we finally realized he was three ridges over in a completely different drainage. We told him we would head that way.
It took us about an hour to get to the ridge he was on, and as we were driving up to the top of the ridge, we were spotted by the elk. We thought we had blown any hope of getting close. We could see Chance walking down the small ridge and decided to follow him in the hope we might get a look at the bull. As we met up with Chance, he said he thought the elk had gone down into the drainage to bed down. We decided we would sneak over to the edge of the ridge and see if we could spot the bull. When we were over far enough, we could see the bull and a couple of cows bedded on the side of the drainage in some big sagebrush. We decided he was big enough and crawled another 30 yards to set up for a shot at 450 yards. I had my bipod set up and was trying to get steady when the wind really started to blow and I was not comfortable taking the shot. Chance crawled back and got his backpack for me to set up on. In the prone position, I could steady myself enough for the shot. I aimed a little high behind the shoulder as the bull was below us and bedded. The shot hit pretty much where I had aimed, and he came out of his bed on a run. He ran for 50-75 yards and then stopped and finally fell down the hill dead. My first bull was on the ground!
I would like to thank the Muley Fanatic Foundation for the Commissioner’s license I won, and a big thank you to Extreme Outfitters for a great hunt and the guides for doing all the heavy work after the kill. Chance runs a great outfitting business, and it was a pleasure hunting with them.
Wyoming Elk Hunting
After calling the Muley Fanatic Foundation and finding out what a Commissioner’s license was and getting some recommendations from them, I called Chance Marshall and Extreme Outfitters. Chance and I had a long conversation on what species to hunt, either elk, mule deer, or antelope. We chose bull elk as the mule deer herd in parts of Wyoming had been severely decimated by drought and a very bad winter. We talked more about which area to hunt and decided to wait until September to decide on the area. That would give Chance and his guides time to scout different areas.
Early September rolled around, and Chance decided that we needed to hunt area 124, which opened for rifle hunts on October 15th. Area 124, also known as the Red Desert of Wyoming, is a huge area, larger than the state of Rhode Island! The Red Desert is a high-altitude desert with a lot of sagebrush and a rare desert elk herd. Chance felt that this area would be a good choice because of the small amount of tags allocated to the area and the herd had been increasing in size the last few years. We decided to meet up at our elk camp on the 14th of October. I had hunted bull elk on five different occasions, both with archery and rifle, and had never harvested an animal, so I was very excited about this hunt.
On October 13th, I started driving from my home in southern Arizona to Rock Springs, Wyoming to wait for Chance to give me the coordinates for the camp. On the morning of the 14th, Chance let me know where to go and I drove close to 40 miles south into the desert to wait for him to show up and set up camp. Around a fire that night, we made plans for the next day. Kevin, Chance’s father, and I would head further south towards the boundary of Wyoming and Colorado and set up and start scoping while Chance and the other guides would spread out and scope other areas.
Before sunup the next morning, Kevin and I drove out into the desert and set up on a small ridge looking east towards a large ridge system running north to south. Kevin spotted a bull with some cows, and we watched them for a while until Kevin decided he was not what we were looking for. We then moved west to an area where we spotted some cows. We finally spotted a bull with them, but we could not get a good look at him. After about 40 minutes, they started to move up a small wash to bed down. We decided to move southeast and look near the border of Wyoming and Colorado. Kevin spotted a small herd coming off the high ridge system we had looked at earlier. There were five bulls and a bunch of cows. We lost them in the small drainages coming off the ridge. We decided to drive south of them and hike up the large drainage system we thought they had gone into.
We hiked for a mile and a quarter but spotted no elk. Then we thought we should go back and see if we could sneak in on the bull and cows we had spotted earlier. We were driving down a dirt track when I noticed a concrete pillar and on it was the name Cherokee Trail. This was one of the overland trails in the 1800s that wagon trains used to get to California. After taking some photos of the historical site, we started hiking to the rim of the plateau we were on. Just before we got to the rim, the wind changed direction and started blowing directly at the elk. By the time we reached the rim, the elk were running north away from us. We could see the bull, and he was a small 5x5. It was getting late in the afternoon, so we decided to slowly work our way back to the camp.
The next morning, we decided to go up on top of the high ridge system to our east and scope down some of the big drainages on the other side. We were in position when the sun started to rise and immediately saw elk. We counted 5 bulls and about 15 cows when Chance called to let us know he had found a possible shooter. We thought he was on the ridge over from us and was watching the same bulls we were, but we finally realized he was three ridges over in a completely different drainage. We told him we would head that way.
It took us about an hour to get to the ridge he was on, and as we were driving up to the top of the ridge, we were spotted by the elk. We thought we had blown any hope of getting close. We could see Chance walking down the small ridge and decided to follow him in the hope we might get a look at the bull. As we met up with Chance, he said he thought the elk had gone down into the drainage to bed down. We decided we would sneak over to the edge of the ridge and see if we could spot the bull. When we were over far enough, we could see the bull and a couple of cows bedded on the side of the drainage in some big sagebrush. We decided he was big enough and crawled another 30 yards to set up for a shot at 450 yards. I had my bipod set up and was trying to get steady when the wind really started to blow and I was not comfortable taking the shot. Chance crawled back and got his backpack for me to set up on. In the prone position, I could steady myself enough for the shot. I aimed a little high behind the shoulder as the bull was below us and bedded. The shot hit pretty much where I had aimed, and he came out of his bed on a run. He ran for 50-75 yards and then stopped and finally fell down the hill dead. My first bull was on the ground!
I would like to thank the Muley Fanatic Foundation for the Commissioner’s license I won, and a big thank you to Extreme Outfitters for a great hunt and the guides for doing all the heavy work after the kill. Chance runs a great outfitting business, and it was a pleasure hunting with them.
Wyoming Elk Hunting