Winning the Arkansas Elk Lottery
Earlier last year I was applying for the Arkansas Elk hunt
and like usual I remind my close friends and family to do the same. One of those friends (who is really more
like family) happened to be a 15 year old boy who would go hunting with me when
our schedules would allow. We even had a
couple of successful deer hunts under our belts together. Fast forward to July and I was on vacation
with my family in Texas when I received a call from that 15 year old boy. He told me that the AGFC called him and said
he had drawn an either sex elk tag and would be receiving a packet in the
mail. At first, I thought that he was
just kidding with me, but the more I talked to him I realized that he was
telling the truth. I also realized that
he had no idea what he just lucked into.
He had the impression that this was just a normal common thing and
wouldn’t be much different from a deer hunt.
He didn’t realize that he was only one of about 25 that drew an elk tag
in the state of Arkansas this year. On
top that it was an either sex tag. To
those of us optimistic hunters, that translates to a bull tag. At
that point I told him that I would gladly help him out in any way I could. I don’t have much elk hunting experience, but
I had been before and knew the basics. You
know, find elk and shoot elk. That will
be a story for another day. So he asked me
to unofficially “guide” him. Which
really just meant help him prepare, scout, and go with him on the hunt. I do believe I was more excited than him even
though I knew I wouldn’t be pulling the trigger.
We only had till the end of October, so let the planning
begin. The first thing we did was figure
out what gear we had and what we needed to get.
We divided the list and he got some stuff and I got the rest of it. He also lined out someone to do the
processing and the taxidermy. Then we
started scheduling times to target practice and scout.
He had drawn elk zone 3.
This area is along the Buffalo River starting from the east side of Gene
Rush and continuing to highway 65. We
live in northwest Arkansas so it was about a two and a half hour drive. Our schedules were very tight and we needed
to make the most of our scouting trips. We
did the usual pre-trip modern scouting, lots of online map and elk
research. But what we really needed to do
was put our boots to the ground and physically see what was out there. We made a couple of trips and scouted the
eastern portion of the zone. We found
some sign, but not quite what we were looking for. By this time we had accepted the help of
another person. This guy had the same
mind set in that he wanted to do whatever he could to make this a good
experience and increase his chances for being successful. Turned out he had a connection with a
wildlife officer near the Buffalo area.
He scheduled a time to meet with him in Jasper. Little did we know that this would be one of
the most beneficial aspects of the expedition.
However, It wasn’t him that that
turned out to be useful. While we were talking to him the elk biologist showed
up. He introduced us to him and he was
able to tell us a lot of useful information in regards where to go look
around. However, there was a catch. Do you remember the government shut
down? That was going on during this
time. What that meant for us was we
couldn’t set foot on any Buffalo National Forest land or parks. But fortunately the biologist informed us
that there is portion of our elk zone that is not part of the Buffalo National
Forest. That glorious area is the
Richland Valley. If you have never been
there you need to check it out. It is a
beautiful, well managed, wildlife gourmet buffet, wildlife honey hole. I had never seen such a majestic ideal game
habitat in the state of Arkansas. We had
previously thought that this area was off limits because of the maps we were
looking at. Now that were armed with the
information from the biologist and we got our boots dirty in the elk promise
land, we knew exactly where we wanted to be on opening morning.
At this point we had all the gear we needed, had a plan for
camping, a spot picked out to bag a bull elk, and had places lined out for
processing and taxidermy. All we had
left to do was target practicing.
Planning and preparation was key for this entire venture. We had a plan and we were on a mission.
Finally the day came for the mandatory meeting the day
before the season starts. This is the
first time where you see everyone else that drew a tag for this season. The biologist ran the meeting and this is
when they passed out the actual tags.
Each tag was individualized with the name of the lucky hunter on it. I thought that was a nice touch. Basically the meeting just consisted of be
safe, let them know when you take an animal or leave, and they showed us how to
use a sample kit (they wanted blood samples and such for their research). Then he told us to meet with the others in
our zone and communicate to find out where everyone was going to be for
courtesy and safety purposes. This is
where it got interesting. We gathered
together and one of us had an I-pad with a map and I asked where everyone
planned on hunting. Believe it or not,
everyone of us pointed to exactly the same spot. There was one other youth so we all decided
to let them have that location. So now
we all had to find new places to be. As
soon as the meeting was dismissed it was basically a mad dash from Jasper to
Woolum, which would be elk camp for the next couple of days. By the way the government went back to work
by now so the campgrounds were open.
Once camp was set up we started our last minute
scouting. We didn’t have much time
before it got dark. We were still going
to hunt in the Richland Valley we just needed to find another spot. We circled a couple of areas and found some
promising sign but wasn’t complete satisfied.
At the last few minutes of daylight we caught a glimpse of an elk. We got into a better position and there was a
herd of about 20 elk with several bulls.
We watched the herd until it got to dark to see. To say we were a little excited was an under
statement. We now had a new spot picked
out for the morning.
Finally the day had come.
We wanted to be a little ways away from the road when the sun came up so
we were in the woods about 30 minuets before daylight. While we were walking in the dark through the
wildlife promise land, we could hear things all around us. I’m talking things like antlers clanking
together and large hooves trampling the ground.
As our vision was coming to us we spotted the herd. They were on the move but unaware of us. We immediately went into stalk mode and
started trying to get ahead of them. We
got into position in front of what appeared to be their direction of
travel. Then they stalled out. That must have been their breakfast
spot. They were out of our range and we couldn’t
safely get any closer at this point without taken a chance on spooking them. We watched the herd eat breakfast for about
45 minuets. That was on of the most
memorable sites I’ve ever experienced while hunting. The heard bull was amazing. What I mean by amazing is HUGE. Next the herd looked like they were getting
ready to move in a different direction so we decided to circle around to the
other side. After we made it around
there one of the other hunters shot a cow out of the herd from the other
side. At this point things got hectic. The herd dispersed and disappeared expect for
a group of three bulls. They didn’t know
which way to go and still didn’t know we were out there but they were going
somewhere. Our stock mode turned into
run and gun mode. We literally took off
running to try to get in front of them.
We did at one point but they spotted us and they turned around. We ran again to try to get in front of them
again and ended up where were started out.
We got there just in time for them to pass by at about 50 yards. The boy took aim and the 150 grain 270 slug
found its mark. The bull didn’t go down
but you could tell by it lifting its shoulder and then dragging it’s leg that
the shot counted. You could hear it
running through woods and its antlers racking the trees for a while. We took a few minutes to catch our breath and
try to figure what just happened before we started looking for it. We started looking and found somewhat of a
blood trail but it was difficult to follow so we decided to back out and get
help from camp to recover the animal. We
followed the blood trail as far as we could and then we split up into two
groups. We had radios so we could
communicate. After a little while the
same guy that helped us make contact with the wildlife officer radioed me and
said he had found it. It was bedded down
and still alive. The boy slipped up
where he could get a clear shot and shot it three more times.
The bull wasn’t a large trophy class bull, but it had all
kinds of character. It was officially a
4 x 6 but we considered it a 4 x 7. It
still had traces of velvet, its brow tines curled up like hooks, and it had a
drop tine on each side. It wasn’t large
but was definitely a trophy.
The now 16 year old boy had taken his first elk and did it
in his home state of Arkansas. He
couldn’t have had a better elk hunting experience anywhere else for any amount
of money. I couldn’t have had anymore fun if I was
pulling the trigger. The Arkansas Game
and Fish Commission did a wonderful job to make all of this possible. Our friends that camped with us, cooked for
us, and helped us pack it out with horses made it all enjoyable. It was a great experience for everyone
involved and the people where great.
Moral of the story, play the Arkansas elk lottery. You never know you might get lucky. We did!
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