ESPN Hunting

ANIMAL: American (or Rocky Mountain) Elk

WHEN: September 21, 2003.

WHERE: Unit 9 in Arizona's Kaibab Plateau

METHOD: Watching water holes, bugling, and spot and stalk.

MEASURMENT, SCORE: 344 inches. P&Y minimum is 260 for a typical and 335 for a non-typical.

OUTFITTER: Self guided with friends Corky Richardson, Dick Tone, Brian Hamm and Gary Cooper.

SPECIAL CHALLENGES, DANGERS: At one point during the hunt, a bull elk came to within 8 feet of Martin, but it wasn't the one he wanted to pierce. He had many choices over his 11 days in one of the best places to hunt Rocky Mountain elk in the world.

"There were so many bugling elk, I could hardly sleep at night," he said. "It was the best elk-hunting experience of my life."

He also had several friends to help him scout. Fellow P&Y scorer Corkey Richardson of Phoenix and Olympic archery coach Dick Tone, among others, came along to help Martin get the most out of his coveted tag.

They saw at least six 6x6s every day.

Martin finally picked a winner and let an arrow fly.

It missed high. He figured his sight might have gotten bumped, so he checked his 20-yard pins and hit paper fine.

Later, he found a second shooter, stalked it, and that arrow also went high.

He checked his bow again and found that the 20-yard pin was true, but the longer-distance pins were all out of whack. He adjusted them and headed out with new confidence.

Martin passed over a lot of 350-class bulls. One was the big bull that stood a mere 8 feet from the bow hunter.

Then Martin saw a monster hat rack and knew he found his quarry.

They called the elk in, and he came head on.

Martin felt good about the straight-on shot and put an arrow through the chest and out the back of the elk. It dropped after running 100 yards. It measured 344 inches.