BY DAVID MEYER, TOM SISSOM & DARIN COLLINS

For the last two decades, my friends and I have hunted the White Mountain Apache Reservation for Boone and Crockett bull elk. Our largest elk to date was shot by my good friend, Roland Eghelbah, in 1985 with the assistance of another friend, John Caid, and I. Roland?s typical bull scored a net 368 4/8. Roland, John and I have wanted to hunt at the X-One Ranch in David Meyer?s monster Arizona Bull just looks big from any angle with very strong tine length from front to back Arizona for many years now. The X-One Ranch is managed by Darin Collins and his associate, Thomas Sissom. Each year, Darin has said to me, ?You need to come hunt with us on our ranch.? The year of 2008 was chosen as the year to hunt at X- One. As the 2008 hunting season began, the thought of elk hunting once again began to dominate my thoughts. John, Roland and I heard from Darin by email almost every week. He had seen some signifi cant bulls. One bull, which had been named Three Fingers because of his unique antler confi guration, had us particularly intrigued. As we continued our contact with Darin over the next few months, I also discussed with him the option of hunting this bull with a crossbow. A severe tumor surgery a few years ago had restricted my draw ability. A crossbow would still allow me to hunt and have a chance at an exceptional bull. As our hunt grew closer, we received a call from Darin that he had once again seen a monster bull that they had been following and photographing for the past four years. Within a day, Darin had sent over some amazing footage in anticipation of our hunt. My thoughts of the hunt became even more intense. Before my hunt began, I went down to the X-One Ranch in northwestern Arizona for a weeklong scouting trip with my friend, Tory Brock. Upon entering the property for the fi rst time, I realized that it was perhaps one of the largest hunting ranches in Arizona. The ranch covered over 160,000 acres. Tory and I spent the evening with Tom and Darin as they updated us on the history of the X-One Ranch. Tom also showed us some video that he had recently taken of a 6x6 bull that appeared to be in the 380 to 390-point range. As our week of scouting progressed, our excitement continued to heighten when we were able to see even more than one bull of great quality. One of these bulls February/March 61

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