LOGAN, W.Va. — “We’re not getting any younger,” laughed Greg Johnson as he looked at his brother-in-law Ronnie Barnette.
Both from Logan, where Ronnie still lives, Greg now makes his home in Cincinnati. The two had spent many years accumulating preference points to get drawn for an elk hunt in the state of Wyoming. They finally decided to pull the trigger on the hunt during the fall of 2023. Ronnie drew the archery tag and Greg decided to tag along as an observer.
They booked the trip with an local outfitter called Wagonhound in the eastern portion of Wyoming about four hours north of Denver.
“The owner has over 300,000 acres and those elk have figured out this is private land. They limit the number of hunters so there were bull elk all over this place,” explained Greg.
Ronnie was hunting with a crossbow during the rut. Elk were bugling all over the territory.
“It was exciting,” Ronnie offered.
They had already been instructed to pass on several big bulls, so when they were travelling to another location and jumped a bull, Ronnie assumed it was another non-shooter. Turns out he was wrong.
“I didn’t figure it was a shooter considering the ones he’d already made us pass up,” he explained. “But the guide said, ‘I’d let you shoot that one.'”
The bull jumped with two cows and headed over the ridge about a half mile. The three men parked and headed off in search of the big bull to see if they could potentially drawn him in for a shot. After trailing the bull and several cows for a while and having neither seen nor heard them again, the guide decided they would hike back to the top of the mountain to possibly locate another bull or set a plan for the next day’s hunt.
“On the way up the hill, we spotted him about 100 yards above us and he was looking right at us. We all froze and it was just a staring contest at that point,” said Ronnie.
The guide was 30 yards in the lead, Greg was behind him and Ronnie was a few yards behind Greg. Nobody could move for fear of spooking the elk. Nobody is sure how long the staredown lasted, but agreed it was long enough to be very uncomfortable.
“We were sweating because we had too many clothes on and the flies were buzzing around and eating on us,” Greg explained. “Neither Ronnie nor I can hear very well, so we’re trying to be quiet and whisper. But the bull must have heard us whispering and broke away from his cows and came down the hill toward us.”
The trek required the bull to veer off to the left and he disappeared from the line of site for a few moments. Ronnie took the opportunity to get next to Greg and ready his crossbow. The bull emerged about 60 yards away and had already passed the guide. All three knew it was now or never.
“He was about 50 yards and he chirped, which is like an alarm. We knew he was about to take off and the guide said, ‘TAKE HIM!'” Greg explained.
“I had been standing there so long, I used Greg for a rest and I shot him,” laughed Ronnie.
The bolt with a lighted nock found its mark and the bull disappeared over the rise. With the intensity now broken, the guide hurried down to the two of them.
“The first thing he said was, ‘You guys can’t be talking like that!” Greg said.
“But I told him, ‘well, it worked,'” laughed Ronnie.
The big bull had only travelled about 50 yards with his wound and the group was able to hear his last gasps and make a quick recovery. Ronnie was understandably excited, but in recent days he learned it was more than just a trophy bull, it was THE trophy bull for that year in the state of Wyoming.
Ronnie got a letter from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department in December notifying him his bull was the largest typical elk taken with archery equipment in the state of Wyoming during 2023. The certified Pope and Young score was 359 inches on the bull’s antlers.