I shot my first public-land bull elk in September 1978 after riding on horseback 22 miles from Victor, Mont., into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness area of Idaho. Back then, you could hunt with a rifle during the rut, and my old college roommate and I bugled up a pair of bulls in two days, mine a big 6x6 that scored almost 330 Boone and Crockett points. I was young and dumb and thought killing a big bull on public turf was easy. How wrong I was.
I arrowed my most recent public-land bull in September 2021 in an area of western Montana where tags are virtually guaranteed in the draw and hunting pressure is stiff from both locals and nonresidents. Fortunately, Rick Wemple, a good friend and a local outfitter from Victor (), with whom I last hunted 25 years ago and who has been guiding elk hunters for more than 40 years, came along as my hunting buddy. It
