THE Many Mates BULL

This is the story of the many great mates who contributed to 190+ pounds of prime elk meat making its way to the processor in the United States of America. I'm the one who released the arrow, but I contributed the least to this hunt.

Let's go back to the start. In 2018 I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to visit the USA for business. As I started to do some research, I was elated to learn that my visit time coincided with archery seasons in many of the states.

However, the more I researched, the more I realised that a USA hunt would be difficult to plan on my own. The rules for each state were different, with confusing ballot and draw processes, and different rules applying to public and wilderness land.

After reaching out to a number of contacts, I eventually made the decision that elk (Wapiti) would be the chosen quarry. I joined one of the large Facebook groups associated with elk hunting.

Like a lot of So it was a very big step for me to put it out there, on this Facebook group, that I was heading to the USA, that I was keen for some assistance planning my trip, that I didn't want anyone's secret place, that if I was successful whoever helped me would be the beneficiary of all the meat, and that all I could offer in return was to assist them planning their own adventure in New Zealand or Australia at some future time.