A lucky lady and her dandy Michigan bull elk

Tom LounsburyHunting Stories & Adventures

Due to the odds, drawing a Michigan elk tag is a matter of pure luck. It only took me 36 years (of faithfully applying each year) to finally draw a tag in 2020. Up until then, I had always applied for “bull only”, but getting a bit long in the tooth caused me to apply for “any elk”, and I drew an antlerless-only license, and I was mighty glad and excited to receive it in the mail.

I had the early elk season which is divided into three 4-day periods in August, September and October, and I made a point of contacting my good friend, John Jones of Atlanta, who is a Michigan hunting guide. Elk hunting up in that neck of the big woods is a patchwork mix of both private and public land, and some parts of the public land don’t allow elk hunting. Knowing exactly where you are before touching the trigger is critical, and in my case, I was glad John Jones always knew where we were, because after miles of traveling down backroads and trails in the Pigeon River Forest looking for elk, I didn’t have a clue.

I remember hearing an avid elk viewer claim that hunting Michigan elk would probably be as simple as going after farm cattle grazing in a pasture. Well, folks, I know firsthand that nothing could be further from the truth. It took me 9 days of hard hunting to get a clear shot at a cow elk, which I put down on the spot at 130 yards using my Ruger rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor. A real difficulty is the cows were typically in groups featuring a lot of eyes, ears and noses which made stalking into range challenging, and then I had to be sure a calf or another cow wasn’t in the line of fire if a bullet made a passthrough. Yep, there is a big difference between elk viewing from afar and much-closer elk hunting, especially when the elk become skittish at the get-go caused by a sudden influx of hunters targeting them.

Nick Chippi of Cass City figures he applied for “bulls only” at least 20 years in a row when in June of 2018 he got the shock of his life in discovering he had received a Michigan bull elk license for the early elk season. First thing on his agenda was contacting a reputable elk guide, which was Kevin Johnson of Gaylord. Nick would hunt hard with a goal of getting a once in a lifetime record-sized Michigan bull elk, which meant he passed on several smaller bulls and was getting down to the wire. On the final day the pieces all came together, and he shot a real dandy 6 x 6 bull using his Ruger rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor (I can attest it is a dependable flat-shooting caliber for the task).

The Chippis’ are successful elk hunters

Nick had gotten his wife, Ashley, to apply regularly for a bull only elk license for nine years in a row with no luck, but in June of 2024 she and Nick were surprised to discover she had drawn a bull license for the late December season. They immediately contacted Kevin Johnson to be their guide and began making other preparations, including learning how to shoot a rifle because Ashley had never hunted before. Nick equipped Ashley with a Springfield Armory rifle in 6.5 PRC (a new beefed-up version of the 6.5 Creedmoor) which was fitted with a suppressor that not only quiets the rifle’s report but also tames recoil.

If I had my druthers, I would prefer Michigan elk hunting in December due to colder temperatures regarding carcass care, as well as typical snow conditions which allow locating fresh elk tracks, often allowing a hunter to “lock-on” to a particular set of tracks, which would be my cup of tea. However, a downside to elk hunting in December is that the winter weather can get a tad testy and unpredictable, which Ashley soon discovered. At the onset of her elk hunt, the Gaylord area had been literally dumped on with heavy snowfall, and Ashley found herself often wading through nearly waist-deep snow and doing her best in keeping up with her guide who had locked on a set of large bull elk tracks. In woodsy, thick cover, deep snow covers snags such as fallen tree limbs and roots which can readily trip a hunter. Ashley admits making “snow angels” face first isn’t all that pleasant, but she kept at it, determined to make a good shot if the pieces came together. 

They eventually did, and abruptly so, when her guide, Kevin, suddenly whispered for her to shoot a bull standing in heavy cover 45 yards away. This is when Ashley discovered how well a bull elk, antlers and all, can blend into dense cover, but she soon figured it out and touched the trigger, with the bullet performing a perfect “double-lunger”. The dandy 6 x 6 bull elk didn’t go far and went down for the count, which was a great elation to all involved, including Ashley’s husband Nick jubilantly congratulating her. But then the real work begins.

First, the DNR needs to be notified an elk is down, location of the kill given, the gut-pile also must be visibly marked with orange marking tape on nearby brush, and then the elk carcass must be taken out whole, which can become a monumental task. This is when a backup plan involves extra helping hands and muscle. Kevin Johnson put a call out to his crew who were on standby, and they soon arrived. The bull was loaded into a large jet sled with the heavy load being tugged and pulled by hand through an obstacle course entailing dense brush, deadfalls and fallen trees (the way out had to also be marked with orange marking tape for the DNR to locate and examine the kill site). Getting the bull finally out and loaded up at the road marked the end to a hard earned, successful Michigan elk hunt.

Once back home, Ashley and Nick worked together to process her once in a lifetime Michigan bull elk, which would include canning a goodly portion. Ashley knew after dining on Nick’s 2018 bull elk; elk meat is some of the best eating Mother Nature can provide.

Both of their dandy 6 x 6 bull elk shoulder mounts now adorn a wall in their home, side by side, commemorating fine Michigan elk hunting experiences and memories, thanks to the luck of the draw.

Tom Lounsbury
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