Hunting Elk Was Like Shoe Shopping
“Oh, are you going with him?” the hunting guide asked Lori Martin when she sat down to sight-in her rifle after her husband, Charlie. The Martins were about to start their elk hunt in Idaho. Lori had shot the largest moose in camp the previous hunting season in Newfoundland without her husband. This season, Charlie wanted to be with her when she shot a big bull elk. So, while they were technically hunting together, he was going with her.
“The outfitter offered hunting from horseback and ATV’s, but I wanted to hunt on foot,” said Lori. “We covered 15 grueling miles up and down mountains on the first day and saw gorgeous elk everywhere.”
She did not settle on a bull that day and proceeded to track and stalk numerous elk over the next few days. Early on, Lori says they had tracked a huge bull only to have him run off as they got on him. As she rounded a ledge, hoping to catch sight of him, she came face-to-face with another large but much younger bull that she decided to pass on.
“It was a bit discouraging to lose track of that bigger bull after another day of walking up and down mountains,” she says. “But honestly, there were so many great-looking bulls to choose from. At one point, I felt like I was shoe shopping, trying to decide which beautiful pair I would take home.”
It was lunchtime when their guide, Chase, received word from another guide without a client that he had sighted a monster of an elk and that he should bring the Martins to his location. Again, they climbed up and down and up again to a ridge where the bull had been seen. A small group of bison bulls were filtering down and Lori prepared to shoot, leaning against a tree for support.
“Ants from the tree were crawling all over me,” she said. “I stood still, watching the bison move out, but I could not see the elk right away.”
The bull worked his way down slowly and stopped. Lori heard her husband whisper, “Oh my God!” The guide cleared her to shoot and the bull dropped with one shot taken at 250 yards.
Lori was the last hunter to kill an elk in camp and took the largest bull elk of the season. When they arrived at camp with her elk, all the guides and men in camp came out to see it.
“My guide was the most excited of us all,” Lori said. “He was giggling in happiness! Just seeing his and my husband’s reactions was worth it.”