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Show 2 oe EET Ihe Salt Lake Tribune D0 Milford hunter beats the odds, gets trophyelk OUTDOORS ‘Thursday, December 18, 2003 “All the people I had talked to who hadbeenin that country had neverseenthat elk. Where did he come from? Maybeit wasthat higherforce again.” Members of Don Wiliden's family gather around the trophy elk he killed in the Beaver Mountains. After recuperating from feukemla, Willden beat 50-to-1 odds to become one of 12 Utahns to be issued a hunting permit for the area. RYAN WILLDEN @ Continued from D1 no immune system at that point, so | had to live in Salt Lake for 11 months so I could be close to the hospital.” During his recovery, Willden received nourishment through an intravenous tube for 59 long days. The taste of elk steak cer tainly helped erase the memories was big and started to do some measuring. The 7-point antlers measured an impressive 57/4 inches across. “We were trying to keeptrack of the numbers with sticks on the ground,” Willden said. “We added themup and it came to 415 and somebody said we must have screwed up somewhere.” They may have been wrong, by not by much. The bull officially ended up scoring more than 418 gross points. After a 60day drying the antlers’ net total was 406% enough for a new state record. bpretty@sltrib.com of eating from a tube, Slowly, Willden regained his began and strength to think about doing things he gave up during his career as a teacher, principal and assistant superin tendant in the Beaver School District “I! had only been able to hunt elk once before. My occupation never let me hunt as much as | would have liked to, It was just too busy of a time in the school year.” So Willden began entering his name in a drawing to hunt the limited entry Beaver elk unit In Willden was Southern Utah. back in shape and ready when a letter from the Division of Wildlife Resources arrived last May informing him he was one of 12 residents Utah successful to drawa tag, out of the 843 who put in for the hunt | guess| beat the oddsagain,” Willden said lo help with the hunt, Will den’s wife, seven children, their pouses and 10 grandchildren presented him with a newrifle on Father’s Day. Not long after that, he started scouting the unit, hopingto finda big bull. Every weekend and holiday, Willden and his sons, Ryan and Travis, were in the hills. Willden says it was the time spent scout ing with his sons and other fam ily members that he will cherish for the rest of his life “J have a whole different per spective on life. | don’t care about the bull. These kind of things bring families together,” Willden said. More than 20 family mem bers joined him on the mountain the day he killed the trophy. “I spent more time with my two Go-getters, boys than I had ever. That was time I wasn't sure | quality would ever have.” The Willdens identified sev eral quality bulls during their frequent scouting trips and even named two of them: “Cheater” and “Whale Tail.” Willden had spent hours on the range sight ing in his rifle at different dis tances and felt he had an inti mate knowledge of the area and the animals he would be hunting. That changed when the sea son opened With his family secured at meet your frequent various points on the mountain and keeping in touch with radi os, Willden was confident he would come homewith a trophy rack before the hunt ended The family spotted several large bulls on opening morning, but they had agreed beforehand that Willden would not pull the trigger on just anybull The agreement wastested the first day when Willden raised his rifle on a big bull emerging fron a thicket flyer program. “! had the safety off and was ready to shoot, but my son told Will me he wasn’t big enough,” den said. “J had a hard time let ting that one go.” Patience paid off the next morning when the hunters were greeted with bugling bull elk They quickly identified a large away. They stud bull 330 yards animal the ied might it thought and be at Every United paid mile you fly, regardless of booking class, counts toward elite status. | first “Whale Tail,” but couldn't confirm it at that distance Willden wasn't about to wait for the bull to disappear. a total Flying on United is one of the fastest ways to achieveelite status. You'll earn at least one mile towardelite status for every He fired too. paid mile flown. In 2004, class of service bonus miles and class of service bonus segments count toward elite status, of six shots and the bull was on the ground. Upon closer inspection, the Willdens realized it was a bull they had neverseen “That was unbelievable. Ihe #1-ranked frequentflyer program for eight years running! the 2004 Mileage Plus programoffers even more benefits and faster rewards. Fly earlyin the new year and load up your account with a huge amount of bonus miles. To register for All the people J had talked to who had been in that country the Early Bird Bonuscall 1-800-447-6772 and enter code 853 orvisit united.com/offer/mpd883 today. had never seen that elk,” Ryan Will den said. “Where did he come from? Maybe it was that higher force again.’ The Wilidens knew the ®@ UNITED Mileage Plus: bull An even bigger bull elk @ New state record? There is another possible contender for Utah's record bull elk. Tooele County resident Jeff Didericksen killed a bull elk in December 2002 thatnet scored 412 0/8 points. Didericksen would ownthe Utah state record, but he has yet to send his official measurements to the Boone & Crockett offices Airways and most Star Allianceflights. Miles accrued, awards issued and bonus offer are subject to the rules of the ‘As woted by the readersof Business Traveler magazine. 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