We didn't find Norm's elk till after he left the ranch, he was beside himself worried, but relieved when we sent this photo of the antlers, and got it over to the taxidermist where he had reluctantly made mounting arrangements on the promise we would find it. Below is an abreviated version of Norms Hunting Story.

Thanks Norm!

Dear Sirs:
I subscribe to your publication and thought you would enjoy my short story.

I was hunting a mountain range in Chama New Mexico. It was late afternoon. I had just finished climbing a steep section when I came to a small plateau, when I heard a bull bugle way up the ridge. I knelt down and quickly gave a cow call. I heard nothing, so after five minutes I gave another call. Hearing no answer I continued on. Just before the terrain went straight up I came to a small waterhole with a tree stand about 40 yards from it.

The rancher has these stands up through out his range. I climbed the stand, took all my gear off and proceeded to take some measurement with my range finder. I sat down and thought ,maybe I'll give one more call. Before I got the whole call out I got a bugle about 200 yards straight up the steep ridge in front of me. I just had enough time to put my face mask on when I could make out a set of legs coming fast. I stood up and placed my bow directly in front of me, jamming the bottom of it on top of my belt for support. It's a good thing I did because I wasn't to take the shot for another 25 to 30 minutes.

When he first came into view all I saw was horns so I closed my eyes. He came to an abrupt halt maybe 30 yards on the other side of the water hole. That put him about 70 yards from me. It was obvious he was looking for the cow. Just then I felt a slight breeze on the back of my neck, and I thought%%5**&+%3#.

After being dropped off that afternoon (the guide was on stalk with my son for the afternoon) I had went to a small field and gathered some sage and rubbed it all over my clothes. It takes your breath away till you get used to it but that's what saved my ass, because he calmed back down, looked at the waterhole and slowly walked towards it. He walked into the hole up to his stomach and proceeded to drink. He literally sucked the water up and I swear I could see the level of the pool drop.

All this time he's facing me. He backs out of the hole without turning, and stands there for what seemed like an eternity. I was waiting for him to turn so I could take my shot when he comes back into the hole for a second drink. A small chickadee landed on the end of my arrow, just an inch from the broad-head making it go down in the biscuit and pop back up. He caught that movement and literally stiffened up. He starred at me for what seemed like an eternity and quickly backed out of the water. The noise he made doing that startled something in the woods behind him and he turned his head to look. Doing so ,he turned sideways giving me the shot of a lifetime.

I had taken this shot a million times during the past summer. There he is, I'm only going to get one shot, take your time, pick a spot, take a deep breath, easy on the release, NOW!!

That's the way it went down. After the shot, he put his horns on his back and flew; I mean flew through saplings so thick you couldn't see thru them. I could not nock another arrow, I was shaking so much. I had to hold the bow between my legs and use two hands to nock the arrow. Then I couldn't hook up the release to the small loop on the string. I waited a half hour and called my guide on the phone. By the time I found first blood it was dark. We went out first light in the morning but my flight would leave before we could find it. The bears got to it first but antlers were intact, a perfectly symmetrical six by six. lost he meat to the heat and the hide was ruined.

The rancher was awesome, he said don't worry that he would get me a hide during rifle season. He had his taxidermist do it up in time for him to take the Harrisburg sport show in Pennsylvania last week. That's where went to pick it up. End of story. The rancher (outfitter), Valerie and Lee Weiss own and operate very successfully The Fishtail Ranch in Chama New Mexico.

Norman Roy
Chicopee, Ma
413-533-4522