(upbeat guitar music) - [Bret] Minnesota, a state rich with abundant hunting opportunities ranging from big to small.

Ducks, geese, pheasants, grouse, black bears, whitetail, deer and elk?

(upbeat music continues) Minnesota has elk.

It may be news to you, it's news to a lot of people, but not just elk, but some really big ones.

It's a once in a lifetime tag to hunt in Minnesota and we're here near Lancaster right now in search of some giant animals, like that one.

- So this corner of the state is very unique because we, we have elk up here in the northwest corner in the Karlstad work area, and it's historically elk range.

We still have a remnant population that has moved in from Manitoba and established a group of elk up here, which we manage actively.

- [Bret] Elk used to live all across the state, but due to loss of habitat and over harvest from market and subsistence hunters, they were nearly pushed to extinction in Minnesota.

They received protection from hunting in 1883, but it was too little, too late.

And the last native of elk was seen at the northwest angle in 1932.

However, in 1913, state legislation approved $5,000 to be used to ship elk from the western United States and a captive herd in Ramsey County to a captive pen at Itasca State Park.

Then in 1935, 27 elk were moved from Itasca to the Gridley area where they started to reproduce and continue to live there to this day.

In the 1980s, elk from Manitoba started to cross over into Minnesota and Kittson and Roseau counties forming two more herds that the DNR manage.

- Population management of elk in Minnesota has always been a mix of both biological and social tolerance.

Biologically we could carry, you know, x number of animals and the social tolerance of animals out there on the landscape is another one.

So you have to kind of find that happy medium, keeping both native elk out there on the landscape, for future, and keeping the locals and landowners satisfied with the number of elk.

As the population of elk and Kittson County in my work area has increased, we have had to come up with a way to keep that population in that goal range.

And hunt management is our number one tool.

- [Bret] To Elk hunt in Minnesota, you have to be drawn for a once in lifetime tag.

This weekend we'd be tagging along with Scott Moon, who drew one of the cow only tags this year and got ahold of us after hearing we wanted to film this hunt.

- Oh, I haven't slept in weeks.

I'm way excited.

Very excited.

- [Bret] And he has good reason to be, only 17 lucky hunters got drawn out of thousands of applicants and he's been trying for this tag for a long time.

- I've been applying since, well, the first one was in '88 and then back in two thousands when they started.

I've been applying ever since.

I have nine days to hunt.

I took the time off from work.

Like I said, I've been here six weeks, I've been coming up here.

If I go home next Sunday and I don't have one, at least I know I did my work.

I have my brother Steve, he's going to be helping, so hopefully he's got a sharp knife.

Yeah, I heard about this through my Aunt Ruby that she's the one that had me give you a call.

Hey auntie, you got a second?

- [Ruby] Yeah.

What?

- Hi, I'm looking for the agent for Scott Moon.

Is that who I'm talking to right now?

(Ruby laughs) - Is this a joke?

- This is Brett Amundson actually.

- [Ruby] Oh, well hi.

- How's it going?

How, how you doing?

- [Ruby] Pretty good.

I listen to you every Saturday morning.

- Well, thank you very much.

I appreciate that.

So you're the one responsible for setting this whole thing up, I hear.

- [Ruby] Oh, yes, yes I am.

I got Scott right away when I heard you on TV.

- [Bret] Scott had one last evening to pattern these elk and we wanted to tag along just to see a few.

So we hopped in the truck for a quick scouting mission.

- [Scott] Oh, there must, is there a couple of them?

(crickets chirping) Oh, just one.

(upbeat music) (Scott bugling) (leaves rustling) (elk bugling in the distance) We just meet there at six and then we'll just go from there.

And Dan and I can get up in the blind up there and you guys just do what you're gonna do.

- [Bret] All right, well- - All right gentlemen.

- [Bret] Get a good night's sleep.

- I haven't slept in weeks.

(laughs) I'm serious.

(upbeat music fades) (wind blustering) - [Bret] Scott and Dan Amundson would sit in the blind this morning while Steve and I decided to hang back and do some more scouting.

(Scott bugling) - [Scott] That wasn't a very good one.

Nice.

- [Dan] So, right now, looks to be a cow coming towards us.

There's a lot of bugling going on back in the trees back there.

That's where we saw the elk last night.

And we saw a big bull in this field last night too.

And I thought this was the bull at first, but I think this is a cow.

Okay, now that I had a better look at it through the binoculars, it's definitely a bull.

- [Scott] See these two bales right in front of us?

He's just to the left on the other side of the road.

(bright music) (Scott elk calls) (bright music continues) - [Dan] Well, that was really cool.

That bull came fairly close to us.

Probably saw the two vehicles here.

Got a little nervous, started running, but he's running right at the blinds.

- [Bret] One elk hunter Scott had met this fall, Evan Bernstrom, was hunting just across the section.

- I got you.

That was a shot I saw at night.

Oh yeah.

Hello?

- [Evan] Hey, Scott.

- Hey, congratulations.

- [Evan] Thanks, man.

- Would you mind if we come take a look at it?

- [Evan] Yeah, sure.

- I think we'll just- - [Evan] yeah, I'll send you a pin of where we are.

- Yep, please.

And then I'll just have him come pick me up and we'll head over there and I just want to get my hands on one, (laughs) just getting excited.

- [Evan] (indistinct) Yep.

- All right.

Thank you.

We'll be over shortly.

(bright music) - [Bret] So how's it feel?

- Absolutely incredible.

- [Bret] Nice.

- Yep.

The greatest experience ever.

- We spooked a couple out here, but it was pitch black.

We couldn't see anything and We had to wait until it got a little lighter and then we slowly just army crawled quite a bit and- - [Bret] Awesome, ah what a hunt.

That's cool.

- It was.

That's that's what he wanted.

He wanted a hunt.

- We knew he was just to the east of us and about I don't, two, 300 yards.

And when we got to the willow, we couldn't see him anymore.

So we let a couple cull calls go and he came out of the woods and walked straight at us.

Finally shot him at over a hundred yards.

And then he came off the beans and ran into the willows, came outta the willows and was running right at us.

Shot a couple more times.

I wasn't sure if he was going down or not.

Ended up dying 17 yards from where we shot initially.

(laughs) (bright music fades) - [Bret] While a once in a lifetime harvest makes for a special hunt in itself.

This one had a much bigger meaning for Evan, who recently lost his dad.

- Only wanted one photo of this whole elk trip and was to recreate his photo of the one he took 10 years ago.

And he got his cow, and we lost him in December unexpectedly.

So this hunt was for him.

And last week we lost another good friend in town, Bruce.

He was our teacher in Taxidermist.

So this hunt, this was his bear claw, he gave our kids.

So we went out for good luck charm and brought a picture of my dad and the last picture Savannah and I took with him before.

(gentle guitar music) - [Bret] That afternoon Scott decided to leave the blind battle the rain and try to sneak in a little closer to where we saw elk last night.

- Why don't we .

.

.

I just think if we can get out of the wind on this side we can keep watch up here a little bit.

(bright music) (Scott bugling) That's the herd bull.

(indistinct whispering) He's where?

- [Bret] He's at the gate, wherever that is.

- Where's the gate?

(somber music) There's two bulls.

Oh.

And a big one, he's raking the ground.

That's him.

Steve and Dan were to my right and they were hunkered down.

I had stood up, I had had my gun on the sticks.

(somber music continues) I bugled all the way until he probably got about a hundred yards away.

But he kept looking at us and the wind was blowing real hard, so it was going to the east so he couldn't wind us.

(somber music continues) And we were pinned there, I couldn't move, nobody could move and none of us did.

When he got up to 40 yards there, even my brother said he was kind of worried about getting run over.

(elk bugling) (somber music continues) Was absolutely, I mean, just an absolute gorgeous animal.

(bright music) - [Jason] The elk in this area are world class animals.

The genetics is here, the habitat is here, and the age structures here.

So it's, it's very common to have very mature big animals, big antlers, big bodies.

(bright music continues) - [Scott] Until he finally couldn't figure out what was going on and slowly turned and kept walking.

And he'd look back and he'd raked the beans and he'd look back and move a little farther while until we are finally able to get outta there without spooking him out of there.

That was probably one of the highlights of this hunt.

If I don't get one, I'm already successful.

And at this point I couldn't ask for anything better.

The only thing I could is if I was to get a cow down.

But at this point here, just being with you guys has been something I'll carry with the rest of my life.

- [Bret] Dan and I couldn't stay the whole time.

But it wasn't long after we got home that we got the message, "Elk down".

(bright music fades)