In 2023, my brother Morgan was able to get an amazing late season elk tag in an area just outside of Yellowstone. The season stretched into December, so we hoped to be chasing big bulls after they had left the safety of the park. We are usually 100% self-guided, but since this area was mostly wilderness, plus it really required horses to do it right, he decided to hire a guide. We decided to go with Shoshone Lodge Outfitters since they have a great reputation of killing big bulls.
Morgan, my other brother Cameron, and I flew into Cody, Wyoming and would be staying at a hotel. Our guides, Sam Kessler and Austin Kennedy, picked us up at 4:30 a.m. the next morning with the horses in the trailer, all ready to go. We drove about 45 minutes before heading out with our seven-animal horse and mule train. It was snowing just a little, but the wind was really blowing. We only rode about 30 minutes to a great vantage point, but man, was it cold! I spent most of my time glassing from the lee side of the ridge because if I went to top of the ridge, I could only stand the wind for a few minutes. We saw a few groups of bulls right off the bat but nothing worth chasing. We stayed there all day and didn’t really see much else. As cold and fruitless as it was, Sam and Austin were totally upbeat and positive. Nothing could bring these guys down! Towards the end of the day, Austin spotted 11 bulls on the other side of the highway, probably a good six miles away. They decided that would be a good place to try in the morning.
The next morning, we started off by crossing the north fork of the Shoshone River. It was a little harrowing, especially getting into and out of the river with ice all along the edges, but thankfully nobody ended up in the drink. Heading upriver, it wasn’t long before Sam spotted the herd from the night before. There were some pretty bulls, but the biggest was in the 330" range, so we decided to keep going. A little further up, there was a group of bulls laid up in a burn area with a bunch of fallen trees. It took us quite a while to get a good look at all of them. There ended up being 13 in the group, mostly raghorns with a couple mature 6-points, but again, nothing that we wanted to harvest.
The end of the day found us at the top of another good glassing spot when Austin pointed out some elk he was looking at. They were back on the other side of the highway and halfway up the mountain. I couldn’t believe he was spotting elk that far away! We found it on onX, and it was seven and a half miles away. I guess that’s why they get the big bucks!
One of their other guides had been scouting up another area and had seen a good number of bulls, so they decided to take us there for day three. The main trail up the canyon was actually a two-track because there had been an old lodge up there decades ago. We went as far as the old lodge site and waited for it to get light. Before we could see really well, we started to hear cows mewing. There was a herd of a hundred or so cows only a few hundred yards away. That time of year, the big bulls aren’t typically hanging with a bunch of cows, so this didn’t really get us too excited. We went to a nearby ridge that allowed us to glass further up the canyon, and we could see more cows. Dozens and dozens of cows spread out all over with a few raghorns here and there. Cool to see, but we weren’t there just to elk watch, so we went back to the horses and started heading further up the trail. The cows got anxious and started gathering.
As we were riding, we saw a really good bull in the mix with them. After getting the scopes on them, Morgan decided that wasn’t the bull for him. I hadn’t seen it yet, so I wanted to look at what we were passing up. It was a really good bull; I thought it would be pushing 350". I asked Morgan if he was sure he wanted to pass on this bull because it was the third day and it was by far the biggest bull we had seen. In fact, Cameron, Sam, and Austin all asked him if he didn’t want to reconsider, but Morgan said, “No, I’ll know him when I see him.”
As we continued to work up this creek bottom, they decided to take us up a sidehill to get to a higher vantage point for better glassing. We had barely gotten off the horses when Sam said he had found a pretty good bull. He was laid up on the other side of the creek at the edge of some thick timber. He had spotted us and was looking right at us, and then he turned his head and we got a great look at his antlers. Morgan said, “That’s him. I’ll shoot that bull.”
We ranged the bull at 530 yards, but before Morgan could get the rifle out for a shot, the bull stood up and slowly walked back into the trees. It was early afternoon, so Sam decided we should get back on the horses, keep heading up the canyon, and possibly come back to try to get him later.
The next couple of hours didn’t produce anything special, so we headed back to where we had last seen that bull. We tied up the horses and hiked up the sidehill across from where he had gone into the woods. Sam told us to get set up and showed us the area where he thought the bull would come out. I protested a bit, saying, “But we bumped him. He’s not going to come back out at the same spot.” Sam said, “He just might, that was about as soft a bump as there is.”
As we sat there waiting, I was thinking that there was no way that bull was going to come back out and this was a waste of an evening hunt. Imagine how happily surprised I was when with 10 minutes to go before sunset, he came out of the thick stuff right where Sam said he would!
We ranged him at 330 yards. As Sam and I took our guesses at what he would score, Morgan said he didn’t care, he liked him and was going to shoot him. Despite what he said, he seemed to be in no hurry. We watched him and took pictures for what seemed like a long time, but it was probably only five minutes. Finally, I heard Morgan take his safety off and knew it was about to happen. I was watching through my 15x binoculars when I finally heard the “boom!” I said, “You hit him, but a little far back. Put another one in him.” The bull turned to his right and was facing uphill, directly away from us. Morgan shot again, but this one missed. I told him, “You were too far right.” His third shot was a thumper, going in right near his spine. After about five seconds, the bull went down, sliding about 30 feet until he was stopped by a fallen tree. It was a perfect ending to a great plan.
It was a little strange watching these guys cut up the elk and load it onto the mules instead of doing it ourselves, but I have to say, I could get used to it. The next day, they put a tape on it and scored it at 376". This was Morgan’s biggest bull yet. Icing on the cake!
If there’s one word I would use to describe this hunt, it would be “fun.” Sam and Austin were always super positive about everything. They worked hard, from way before dawn to way after dark. You would think they would complain at least a little, but on the contrary, they talked about how great everything was and how much fun they were having. They were truly a joy to be around and helped make this awesome hunt an unforgettable experience. To be on horseback in the Wyoming backcountry, seeing tons of elk, with great company and a successful ending was really a dream come true. In addition to Sam and Austin, we also want to thank Josh Martoglio and the rest of his crew at Shoshone Lodge Outfitters for everything they did to make this hunt happen for us.
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