Thanks to their high-altitude habitats and powerful sense of smell, the wilderness elk of southern Colorado can be especially challenging quarries for big-game bowhunters. But even they are no match for the persistence of Brad Marchand.
The Bruins winger will devour articles about their feeding, sleeping and migratory patterns. He’ll plot daily predawn routes up the Rocky Mountains using topographic maps and the terrain feature on Google Earth. Once, he called a wildlife biologist and “tried to pick their brain.” Another time he drenched himself and his hunting party in elk urine spray. “It was supposed to draw them closer, but they smell you regardless,” Marchand laments.