In elk country, you usually don't have a good man-made rest to shoot off of.

You certainly don't have the windowsill of a box blind or the safety bar of a big tree stand to rest over.

Plus, shots are often fairly long.

So being able to build a rock-solid, improvised shooting position in a hurry can be crucial.

I'm Joseph von Benedict, and this is the backcountry hunting podcast. Thanks for tuning in today folks. I'm here today to tell you a couple of stories

that are really, really special to me. These are the tales of my two boys first bull elk, which,

funny enough, happened this fall, only three days apart.

And both stories exemplify the importance of shooting skill in the field. How? Well, to be quite

candid, both of these examples were challenging situations. Neither of them was that

classic situation where you're sitting on the edge of a giant meadow in the high country

and a stream of elk comes out and starts feeding at 250 yards. And you have lots of time

to wait for the bull who comes out at the back, you know, like running bulls

often do, and wait for him to get clear the cows and stand broadside in perfect light.

No, these were rapidly evolving, very tense situations.

And I cannot tell you how proud I am of my boys. Williams 15, he's pretty

experienced now. Henry's only 11. And holy smokes, he held it together like an old pro. And so,

these are two great success stories of getting it done at the moment of truth against challenging odds.

And I want to take them and use them to kind of highlight, you know, what can be done and the

importance of polishing your improv shooting skills in field scenarios. Because in so many cases,

with a bull elk, when you've worked hard and long to earn that shot opportunity, it's not

going to be an easy shot. And unless you're prepared to make a challenging shot, you're going to go

home with a sad tale rather than a bunch of elk meat. I've addressed this before with Tate Bradfield.

...