#35 2016 Archery Elk "The Gay Bar"

This essay is a look back at my 2016 archery elk season and what really kicked off a formalized effort to share complete accounts of my hunting seasons with audiences beyond my close friends. For all the years prior to this point, my hunting “Rut Reports” would go out as emails accompanied by photos of highs and lows of what each archery season had provided. (And that actually goes way back, even before the social adoption of email, to the 90’s when I’d haul photo albums around with me!) 

2015 had been a banner season and was reflected by several lengthy email sends. I’d put an archery bull and a rifle buck in the freezer and had soaring hopes for what a whole new unit would offer for my coming 2016 archery elk season. My ensuing 2016 “Rut Report” kicked off something like this: