Cody Anthony with the 6×6 elk he took down in Montana.

CLARION COUNTY, Pa. (EYT) – For as long as he can remember, Cody Anthony has been in the woods. The West Freedom native grew up tagging along behind his parents as young as six years old, learning the wilderness.

While he has harvested his share of animals across Pennsylvania, the dream was always bigger: someday, he hoped he would head West for a trophy elk hunt.

This fall, that dream came true. After applying for a limited-entry Montana elk tag for the second straight year, Anthony’s name was finally drawn. “It was just a privilege to get selected and go out there,” Anthony said.

The Challenge of Public Land

Anthony booked a flight for the second week of rifle season. Nothing about the hunt on the rugged, timber-covered Montana public lands would be easy.

“We were hunting heavy timber,” Anthony said. “The elk are not dumb animals. Once they hear the rifles go off, they go back deep into the timber. This is public land. You’ve got to go deep in there to find an elk.”

He trained hard before making the trip, knowing Western terrain punishes unprepared legs and lungs. “If I wouldn’t have trained, I don’t know how much fun that would have been,” he admitted with a laugh.

By the time Anthony arrived, the first week of rifle season had already pushed the elk farther into the mountains. He spent day after day hiking, searching for signs, and eliminating unproductive areas. By the final Saturday, he had logged over 60 miles without laying eyes on a single elk.

The Final Day and the Shot

Anthony mapped out two final ridges, choosing to push deep into the most remote spot left on his list. What was meant to be a seven-and-a-half-mile round trip quickly turned into something steeper, slicker, and harder than expected.

“It ended up being a mountainside, pretty much straight up and down,” he said.

As the snow turned to rain and fog settled thick in the hollows, Anthony and his uncle eased quietly down the slope. Anthony spotted the breakthrough: fresh elk sign.

“I told my uncle, ‘Look at all the elk rubs on these trees,’” he recalled. “I said, ‘I think this is one zone where he likes to stay because he’s hidden way down in here out of the wind.’”

Two steps later, the mountain gave him his moment. A 6×6 bull elk stepped out, offering the shot he had been waiting for all week.

“I looked, and I saw his rack,” Anthony said. “He came up over the hill, and I saw he was legal. He turned toward me, and I shot, and he just dropped in his tracks.” The bull fell about 60 yards away—a clean, quick harvest after a grueling week of effort.

The Hardest Work: The Pack-Out
Anthony had a lot of work to do getting his trophy out of the mountains of Montana.

“Once we got a couple of pictures with it, that’s when the work really started,” he said.

Anthony began caping and quartering the elk, loading their packs with as much meat as they could safely carry. The climb back out was brutal. Anthony noted that they had to climb on hands and feet up the steep mountainside, navigating downed timber, and hauling heavy packs three miles back to the truck.

The next morning, they returned in the dark to repeat the process. Two more trips were needed to retrieve the remaining meat, bringing the total pack-out distance to roughly 16 miles.

Legacy and Future Plans

After nearly a week of grinding miles and persistent uncertainty, the elk was the first Western big game animal that Cody Anthony was able to harvest.

“When you get one, it just feels like such an accomplishment,” he said. Anthony was aware of the statistics: “Not many people are successful at killing elk. If you think you’re going to do it a mile from the vehicle on public land, you’re wrong. You’ve got to be ready to put some miles in.”

For a lifelong Pennsylvania hunter, the experience was everything he imagined and more.  “It was a dream, and I finally got to do it.”

Checking the first item off his bucket list has sharpened his focus for the future.

“I want to go back out and go for a mule deer and antelope,” Anthony explained. “That’s definitely next on the bucket list.”