If you want to put meat in the freezer and you don't care if you have a big set of horns to go along with it, you should consider hunting in a late season elk hunt.

After a quick count, and only looking at half the elk units, I counted over 50 different seasons and units to hunt. All run more than one month, and some of the seasons run from August to January. It is possible in many of these seasons to legally have two elk tags per person, and here's how:

1. Look at the DOW stats and find areas and seasons that historically have left-over licenses
2. Apply be successful in the draw
3. Purchase one of the left over licenses for your draw unit over the counter.

That's a cool way to do it, because when you are able to shoot more than one elk, the amount of meat you can bring home is doubled and your cost per animal was just cut in half! This advice is especially true if you are willing to learn to butcher your own animals.

Some of my fondest hunting memories are from those long seasons. I have made good friends by taking the time to ask permission to hunt on private land, and I've had ranchers take me right out to the herd (you heard me right--the herd!) so that their cattle didn't have as much competition for the hay in their hay stacks. It may not seem to be very sporting, but it sure is good eating. It's not always so easy, either. I have spent days snowshoeing and living in an Army tent with a wood stove for heat (the coldest night I ever spent out was 20 below), but you learn to enjoy and even brag about such things.

These are hard economic times, and it takes some planning and thinking to feed and care for your family and others that you care about, and hunting is one of the better ways to do that. Game meat is low in fat, has no additives and is 100% natural. I bought my first hunting rifle used. It was a 7 mm Mag for $350, and after 20 years that's $17.50 per elk, and that don't count all the deer, coyotes, prairie dogs and just plain shooting I've done. I also believe in just shooting one gun, because you just get used to it, you get better with it, and it comes to your shoulder naturally. You see what you're looking at in the cross-hairs of the scope the moment that you bring it to your shoulder. I started hand loading my own ammo and found it was a fun hobby and it made my shooting cheaper and my gun just shot better with my own loads.

If you are reading this, you probably are at least interested in hunting, and I hope my thoughts have made some sense to you. So remember--

Life's an adventure. Get a map. Edwin Watters