I measured a 348 Boone & Crockett class elk,* on the 21st, and the hunter gave me some elk burger. I had some last week and it was excellent. As good as beef, or better. The only other time I ate it was a sample off of a roast in SK 30 years ago. That was good, too.
One of the first posts I made was about elk. Elk drive people nuts. The guy I measured the elk for has it bad. He has been driving from SE Canada to hunt elk in the American west for years. He goes to the states because elk are more available and a guide is not required. His 348 elk was an incredible piece of luck. I can’t remember the details but getting drawn there as a non resident was near impossible and then finding a 348 class bull on public land was even more so. I remember a John Barsness article where he described modern elk hunting a reduced watered down version that is nothing like the fantasy of how it used to be. Yet, there are still elk and they still get in people’s blood. Many years ago, when I was in Alberta I met a guy, who like me was from the east, but living there. He was an elk hunter and I was asking a lot of questions. He described how much he loved to hunt the Ya Ha Tinda.** At one point, his eyes went dreamy, he got real quiet, and said, “I will hunt elk as long as I live.”
I have read a fair bit on elk hunting but I haven’t read much I remember as great. Steve mentioned in his A Sportsman’s Library a piece on elk, in Steve Rinella’s book The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine, that was good. E Donnall Thomas Jr. has done a few good pieces and I borrowed A Man Made of Elk once but never read it.
Any suggestions on what is good for elk stories?
*The elk misnomer has always been a peeve. Elk is the Euro name for moose. It is too bad Wapiti never became the dominant term.
Steve mentioned a similar peeve in A Rage for Falcons. He railed against peregrine falcons being referred to as duck hawks by the biologically illiterate.
One of the most unusual names for moose in Quebec is L’Orignal. It is a French name and I have read it means The Original. I looked but couldn’t confirm that. Anyone know?
What really peeves me is locals who refer to deer fawns as calves, lambs, or anything, but a fawn.
** I have always loved that name.