The risk of remaining patient is worth the reward. My 2024 Montana bull had a Pope and Young gross score of 403 inches. A bull elk was screaming its head off barely 20 yards in front of me, but the junipers were too thick to see hide or hair. Ear-splitting bugles were punctuated by cracking brush and thudding hooves. My heart was thudding too. This was the thrill I live for each fall. I held the Bear Alaskan XT compound bow in a white-knuckle grip.