Big Game

IN PURSUIT OF SOMETHING BIGGER...

If your sights are set on big game hunting, go to the next level with our collection of big game hunting videos and articles. Made to inform and inspire your adventure of a lifetime, you’ll hear firsthand from the masters of high-altitude achievement, and begin your quest toward becoming a stronger & better-prepared big game hunter.

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Kelly Hicks on Getting the Meat Back to the Truck

I always carry my elk meat back to my house, cut it up and process it there. I've always cut, wrapped and packaged any animal that I’ve harvested, except when I drew a once-in-a-lifetime moose tag. When I looked at that moose lying on the ground, I realized he was much bigger than the elk I was accustomed to processing. So, I decided to have him processed at the closest processor to where I had

Big Game

Kelly Hicks on Utah Hunting Versus Wyoming Hunting

When I'm hunting around home in Utah, I primarily hunt from tree stands with my crossbow. While my hunting partner, John Spears, and I are hunting in Wyoming, we’ll be there during the peak of the rut. So, we’ll get up before daylight, fix breakfast and listen for elk bugling. This kind of hunting will be pretty much hunt-and-stalk.

Big Game, Bow

The Elk’s Down - Now What

I always like to hunt with another person, and we’ll switch being the caller and the shooter. One of the big advantages to hunting like this is that if you take an elk, you have someone with you to help field dress, quarter and pack the elk out. Even if we split up, we try not to be too far from one another. That’s one of the advantages of having a quality GPS – so

Big Game

Kelly Hicks Hikes 4 Miles Before Hunting Elk and Explains His Equipment

If I start hunting a mile from the trailhead, I've learned that then I’ll be farther in the woods than 80 percent of the other elk hunters. If I go 2 miles more, I'll eliminate another 10 percent of the elk hunters or 90 percent of the other elk hunters. When I go 3 miles, I’ll lose another 5 percent and at 4 miles distance, I’ll rarely, if ever, see any other hunters. John Spears

Big Game, Mossy Oak, Bow

Do-It-Yourself Elk Hunting with Kelly Hicks

Fifty-five year old Kelly Hicks from Mountain Green, Utah, just outside of Morgan, has been hunting elk since he was 17. He’s been a member of the Mossy Oak Pro Staff for 3 years. icks never has hunted private land for elk and has taken nine bulls on public lands. Hicks only has hunted Utah, but this year (2016) he's hunting in Wyoming with a friend, John Spears, to try and take a bull in

Big Game, Mossy Oak Mountain Country, Mossy Oak

When an Elk Hunt Is Far More Than an Elk Hunt

I went hunting in a drainage that I never had hunted before in north Wyoming. I took my pack string with my horses and mules, and I picked out a spot on the map where we were going to camp. As I was riding in with two of my cowboy friends from Wyoming, I saw some beautiful country I’d never seen previously. About an hour before the sun went down, two grizzly bears stood up

Big Game, Predator, Mossy Oak

Karl Badger Hunts Mule Deer Bucks Close to Home

As I’ve mentioned earlier this week, I live in Salt Lake City, Utah, near a major mountain range called the Wasatch Range that runs north to south in northern Utah. The hunting in these mountains there is a lot of fun. I particularly like to hunt mule deer close to home. I’ll either do an all-day or a one-night hunt in these mountains, because they’re not more than 15 or 20 minutes from my home.

Big Game, Deer, Bow

How to Conduct a Remote Bow Bull Elk

I was hunting with a friend of mine at the headwaters of the Yellowstone River in northern Wyoming. My friend got his ram early in the hunt. So, we broke camp, packed up and headed to a place where we wanted to try and take an elk. We set up another camp at about 3 to 4 in the afternoon, got on our horses and rode a little way into the mountains. But the terrain

Big Game, Bow

How to Plan a Remote Elk Hunt

Once I have my base camp set up, my hunting party and I will get up at 4 a.m., saddle up our horses, cook a good breakfast and pack our lunches. We want to be on a trail to move farther into elk country by at least 1 to 1-1/2-hours before sunrise. We usually ride from 2 to 5 miles out from base camp before we start hunting. We make it a point to set

Big Game, Mossy Oak

Why Karl Badger Hunts Elk on Horseback

Karl Badger from Salt Lake City, Utah, captures the essence of what elk hunting is all about and hunts elk all over the West. He’s been a Mossy Oak Pro for 8 years and is a Regional Pro Staff manager. In some western states, mule deer and elk seasons start about August 15 for bowhunting and usually continues until the end of September. Firearms season continues to the end of November or the first of

Big Game, Mossy Oak Mountain Country, Mossy Oak

A Bull Elk for Jimmy

The first day of this hunt, Lisa Thompson and I were going to help Jimmy Brannan, a 71-year-old friend of ours, who had had two knee replacements, try to take his bull of a lifetime. Jimmy had 23 preference points to be able to hunt the Bosque del Oso State Wildlife Area - one of the prime elk areas in Colorado. Only four tags are given out each year to hunt this region. Jimmy had

Big Game, How-To, Firearm

A Lousy Elk Season Became a Great Elk Season

I had been shooting my bow every day to get ready for elk season. On the first morning of this hunt, I shot over the back of a 6x6 bull I felt I should’ve taken. As I replayed the shot in my mind, I couldn’t think of any mistake I had made, but I knew I must have done something wrong. The second morning of the hunt I shot at a 6x6 that I felt

Big Game, How-To, Bow

Increase Your Odds of Finding and Taking Bull Elk by Using Resources

Dave and I almost became obsessed with gathering hunting information and trying to help do-it-yourself hunters increase their odds for success. Just this past year we added harvest sites for goat, sheep, moose and lions with specific recommendations of where your chances are best to take these animals in our database, and we have about 13,000 kill sites in that database.

Big Game, How-To

Gather Information Yearly to Increase Odds for Taking an Elk

Dave researched Colorado’s Parks and Wildlife information to see what he could learn about elk hunting, where he could hunt on public lands, and where his chances were best to successfully take an elk. He also wanted to know how many preference points a person had to have to hunt the better units with the most elk in them with either a gun, a bow or a blackpowder rifle. In his spare time, he dug

Big Game, How-To, Firearm

Plan Your Own Elk Hunt with a Higher Percentage of Success

Donnelle Johnson of Franktown, Colorado, is an elk-hunting fanatic and has been hunting elk since 1998. When she’s not hunting and calling in elk for herself, she goes with friends and family members and calls in bulls for them. “I just love to be in the woods hunting, calling and trying to outsmart Colorado bull elk on public lands,” Johnson says.

Big Game, How-To, Bow