Hannah Cicioni hikes miles into the Rocky Mountain high country to hunt elk with nothing but her bow and what she carries in the pack on her back.
She hunts solo on these elk hunting adventures in Utah or Colorado during late summer. Being alone in the wilderness and relying on her own skills and abilities is the way she likes it.
Hunt Arkansas elk
Arkansas residents who have a hunting license may apply for the limited permit elk hunt held each fall in the Buffalo River area. The Arkansas Game & Fish Commission awards 26 permits for the public-land portion of the hunt.
Only Arkansans may apply and the permits are free. The application period is in May. Permits are awarded by random drawing in June at the Buffalo River Elk Festival in Jasper. Information: www.agfc.com
— Staff report
"These elk are massive, majestic creatures. You're taking one of God's creatures and hunting it in the purest of ways in the rawest of elements," Cicioni said.
The hunter makes a bare-bones camp wherever darkness finds her. Sleep sometimes comes with the sound of bugling elk in the distance.
This is the third summer Cicioni, 27, of Rogers will make the trek to Ashley National Forest in northeast Utah on a solo bowhunt for elk. She may add Colorado to her itinerary. That's where she killed her first elk last season, a fine 6-by-6 bull, meaning six tines on one side of the antlers and six on the other.
The elk fell after a 48-yard shot from Cicioni's compound bow, a shot she'll never forget. "It wasn't until I felt that elk's antlers in my hands that it set in and I started shaking," she said.
Then the work started. Hunting alone, she didn't have any help packing out the meat. That chore took several trips that covered a lot of miles at 10,000 feet altitude.
This trip, she'll be happy with a bull elk, cow elk or no elk at all.
"I love it for the experience, the stories, the memories," said Cicioni, who owns a home remodeling business. "It doesn't matter if I pack out a 6-by-6 bull or just myself. It's still a successful trip."
Cicioni has always loved the outdoors and hunting. She got the archery bug during her senior year at the University of Arkansas. Soon after, she decided to embark on an archery elk hunt, and do it by herself.
"I wanted the challenge and going alone added to the challenge. I wanted to do something that not many other people do, especially females," she said.
She didn't kill an elk on her first trip, but the hunter learned so much about the ways of elk and how to navigate the wilderness terrain. All of Cicioni's elk hunts are on public land.
These solo bowhunts take lots of preparation. At home, Cicioni loads her backpack with 50 pounds of rice sacks the heads out for some trail running to get in shape. She shoots dozens of arrows a day so she'll be ready to make a clean kill.
There are maps to study. Cicioni talks with wildlife officers and other experts in the areas she plans to hunt. "You have to prepare. Otherwise you could die," she said. "The weather can change in an instant. There are bears, mountain lions and dangerous cliffs."
Elk aren't her only game. Cicioni also bowhunts deer, bear, wild hogs and more. "I've hunted geese with a bow," she said.
The adventure has its rewards in the field and when she returns home. Sheer joy for Cicioni is sharing the delicious, nutritious meat with family and friends. She donates 80 percent of the wild game she gets and figures that amounted to 1,400 plates of food last year.
She gives talks about her adventures to groups, including students in the Rogers High School outdoor education class. Teacher Jeff Belk remembers when Cicioni was one of her students. He isn't surprised she took to hunting in a big way.
"She certainly has the gift," Belk said. "When she started in my class she was into it from day one."
The wilderness adventure and being close to big game has Cicioni thinking she'll be a hunter for life.
"Knowing how intense that feeling is, I'll probably never leave it," she said.
Sports on 08/13/2015