By Ben Romans

Score update—Elk 2, Ben 0. It didn’t matter if it was the peak of the rut, or the fact that it was national hunting and fishing weekend, getting an elk during archery season this year simply wasn’t in the cards for me.

Aside from coming home empty handed, my brother and I had a blast. We saw some great country, started a list of our favorite freeze-dried meals, and even had a cool encounter with a pack of wolves. The days were a little on the hot side, but the temperature dropped at night which made it nice for sleeping. No Ramada Inn for us, we slept where we stopped and spread out on any flat spot we could find (pictured above). Fortunately, we were always near water so it made it easy to cook at night and brew coffee in the morning.

But it’s not over until the fat lady sings. I’m down but I’m not out. I still have a few opportunities for deer I’m looking forward to during gun season, and nearly all of November is muzzleloader season for (cow) elk.

Anyone else have a chance to go out over the holiday? Let’s hear about it. I need to know someone else out there has better luck than I do. —Ben