Backcountry Bowhunter Earns a Public Land Elk Hunt for the Ages

If you’ve been counting down the days until Montana’s archery elk season opens, Born and Raised Outdoors just dropped the fuel you needed. The channel wrapped up its annual Elk Week series with what might be the most compelling viewer-submitted hunt they’ve ever put on screen — a backcountry public land bowhunt that checks every box serious elk hunters care about: miles of hard country, no guarantees, and the kind of outcome that reminds you why you do this in the first place.

The Elk Week concept is simple and brilliant: Born and Raised picks one hunter’s real-world elk story and builds it out for the world to see. No outfitter, no guide, no high-fence operation — just a hunter who went deep into public land with a bow and figured it out. That premise hits different for Montana hunters who know exactly what that grind looks like. Whether you’re drawing a tag in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, hiking into the Beartooths, or glassing a roadless chunk of the Kootenai National Forest, you understand the weight of going in on foot and the pressure of making a shot count when there’s no easy way to get an animal out. Montana’s general archery elk season typically opens in early September, giving bowhunters a crack at bulls still in bachelor groups before the rut scrambles everything — and that early window rewards hunters who put in the scouting miles long before opening day.

What makes public land bowhunting in the backcountry so unforgiving — and so worth watching — is the margin for error. You’re packing your own meat, often multiple miles, in country where weather can change in an hour and a bugling bull can vanish into the timber just as fast. Montana’s 23 million-plus acres of public land give hunters genuine opportunity, but that opportunity doesn’t come easy. Elk pressure has increased across the West, and the animals that survive into September on public ground are educated. Videos like this one matter because they show what a successful hunt actually requires — not just the shot, but every decision that led to it.

Whether you’re a seasoned elk hunter dialing in your early-season strategy or an archery newcomer trying to understand what backcountry pursuit really demands, this is worth an hour of your time. Pull it up, take notes, and get your boots ready. September doesn’t wait.