Deputy Editor Jay Cassell spent eight months in the gym preparing for a week-long high-country elk hunt in the Rocky Mountains this September.

If you want to book a hunt with Commander and Company, visit their website. They books rifle hunts as well as bow hunts for elk; plus mule deer, mountain lion, and bear. Archery elk in her unit ran from August 30 - September 28 this year; rifle seasons are staggered into four different time frames, starting in October. Nonresident elk tags cost $526, deer tags $316.