I had been following the story of Pennsylvania’s elk herd and putting in the draws for years as the bulls there are some of the largest in the world. Despite incredibly long odds, on August 16, 2020, I watched the Keystone Elk Country Alliance elk drawing live on Facebook. When the name Duane Kramer was called out, I could not believe my luck!
After I saw my name drawn, I quickly contacted a very close friend who knew a lot about Pennsylvania. He said I needed to call Jack Manack at Elk County Outfitters. Jack and his team had donated the guiding services, meals, and lodging for the winner since the tag’s inception. Shortly, I was on the phone with Jack, and he offered the donation just as he had always done. Although my friend highly recommended ECO, I did not make an immediate commitment. The reason was that what I had won was a package, and this year, KECA had partnered with another outfitter. Along with the tag came donated guide services, full meat processing, a mount, and professional filming. I felt a sense of commitment to the new outfitter who had donated as well. With the magnitude of the tag and the world-class elk that could come with it, I spent considerable time speaking with both outfitters. The conversations with Jack were long and detailed, and he sent me pictures and video of bulls he thought would be contenders. Some bulls were ones ECO had been watching for five or six years. There were quite a few bulls that made my eyes pop straight out of my head!
In early September, I went to Colorado to hunt and was honored to harvest a huge non-typical mule deer. Since I finished earlier than expected, I decided to call Jack to see if I could come for a meet and greet, look around, and possibly hunt with ECO. I thought they were my best option because they had spent years following so many giant bulls, developed incredible relationships with private landowners, and patterned the bulls yearlong whereas the other outfitter just kept saying, “Trust me, we have giants.” Trust is hard on a tag like this when the other outfitter had proof in pictures and his history. I had seen plenty of monster bulls from Pennsylvania and knew of ECO’s past successes with these tags. Jack said they had guides out scouting, and within a few hours of my call, we were prepared to meet and hunt.
I hunted a mix of public and private land that trip, seeing rut action early and late in the day. Since it was still very early in the rut and the temps were extremely high during the day, the rut activity was very subdued. Despite the heat on Saturday evening, we worked in a huge bugling bull that we thought was in the 410-420" range. Being so early in my season and with the incredible number of giant bulls that were still out there, I decided to pass. That bull was later taken by ECO’s auction tag client and ended up grossing 432" as a 6x7. To say I didn’t wonder whether I had made a monumental mistake would be a lie. They did not act nervous about me passing at the time, but I later found out that Jack and his team were scratching their heads wondering what they would have to find if this guy was passing 430" bulls. Fortunately, they had a few bulls on their list that they thought were a hair bigger.
I headed home from that trip with plans to return in a few weeks once the rut activity picked up. Unfortunately, I got sick, but luckily not with Covid, and my work commitments changed, so I wasn’t able to come back to hunt as soon as planned.
On Sunday, October 18th, Jack called me excitedly. He informed me that a monstrous bull they knew of had been located. He said they needed to confirm, but I needed to be ready if it was true. This was a bull they had watched explode antler wise for the last six years. Each summer, they would say, “There’s no way he could get bigger,” yet he did just that! The bull was a ghost 10 months out of the year but was boldly in the public eye during the rut when he would travel eight miles from his core area to his rutting grounds, which were closed to hunting. He had become a legend over the years due to his antler size and dominance and was labeled by many as “The King.” ECO had been working on patterning the bull, and during the 2019 hunt, they thought they had him. A trail cam pic and sighting just before elk season had hopes high, but as hunting goes, the bull vanished.
A few hours later, Jack called. It was go time! The bull was hanging in some pieces of private property with limited access. We had permission on one of the larger pieces, but I did not like the scenario. Luckily, there was adjacent public land that the elk were using enough to be another option. Tuesday morning, we were in position on the public ground watching the bull herd his cows slowly towards us. They crossed the creek below and disappeared under the steep bank. We could hear splashing and rocks rolling as the elk climbed out of the creek and approached. All of a sudden, a cow popped up right in our lap at seven yards. We were too close. The bull was behind her, standing 20 yards away behind some bushes and trees. Before I could get an ethical shot, the elk spun and were back across the creek headed away. That ended our morning hunt. The evening was spent in the same area, but the herd never ventured back across the creek.
Wednesday morning, we were back but set up further from the creek crossing. The herd didn’t cross to our side but worked further downstream. We relocated about half a mile and found that the herd had crossed the creek to our side but onto some private land. We watched the bull work his cows towards the steep hills of the state ground and eventually lost sight of them. We stalked out a logging path and saw a few elk. We passed a split in the path and soon after that heard a bugle up the hill. We hurriedly backtracked to take the upper split in the path, and after only a hundred yards, we saw a cow and froze. Suddenly, The King stepped into the opening, not having a clue we were there. I readied the gun, but there was a tree covering most of his vitals. I thought a ghost of a bull was not likely to give people multiple chances. As I watched him turn and clear the tree, I squeezed the shot into the tight window. He came crashing on a dead run right towards us, veering off at the last second.
I took off on my own “dead run,” hurdling logs in hopes of getting a second shot. As I crested the bank and saw him lying in a clearing expiring, an explosion of emotions ensued. He was down quickly, and a six-year quest for Elk County Outfitters and longer for a bull of this magnitude for me was over. We knew he was big, but we couldn’t fathom what was laying before us.
He was truly a bull of many lifetimes. After the mandatory 60-day drying period, we had him officially B&C scored. He had 78" of non-typical antler, 74" of mass, and a gross non-typical score of 468 7/8" and a net score of 455". He smashed the previous Pennsylvania state record, also taken by an ECO hunter, by over 12 inches. This bull was the largest hunter- killed elk in the country for 2020 and would be the new #6 all-time B&C non-typical bull. There are two bulls ahead of it that are dead head pick-ups, so technically this bull is the fourth largest hunter-killed elk of all time, and it came from Pennsylvania!
I’m thankful to my family for their patience and understanding, for all the time I spend hunting, and especially the Lord Almighty for these opportunities. I also cannot thank The Pennsylvania Game Commission, KECA, Elk County Outfitters, Jack Manack, Ned, Sean, Bryan, Dave, Kim, Ross, Cody, Jack Sr., and Mary enough for all the years of dedication they put into the elk that allowed me to take such a magnificent bull. The whole crew spends crazy amounts of time watching the elk. I have hunted a lot of places and have met some of the best guides in the country, and the knowledge and effort ECO puts forth is on par with any outfitter in the nation.
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