Shortly after we were married we started our business, Crooked Horn Outfitters. I was busy designing and marketing our line of specialized hunting equipment while Danell managed all the paperwork. It has been a fun, challenging adventure for the past fifteen years and now Crooked Horn provides a successful line of hunting packs, optic cases, binocular straps and other accessories to hunters all over the nation.

Several years ago, Danell began to develop big ambition for hunting. Big ambition. Deer and game birds were still fun to hunt but she wanted something different, more challenging. A New Mexico elk hunt was her first foray into the “big time” and Danell took advantage by bagging a 300 class 6-point bull. Even that was not big enough and a couple of years later she took a free-ranging buffalo bull from a herd along the New Mexico-Mexico border.

Hunting wasn’t Danell’s only passion during this time, and she moved steadily up the ranks in her chosen discipline of the martial arts, Tae Kwon Do. When she achieved her 1st degree black belt, I took her on a trip to Maui, and arranged for her to pursue another really big trophy, the blue marlin. The results were similar to her hunts as she reeled in one of the biggest recorded that year. She did it within an hour, a marlin over 12 feet long and 550 lbs.
Early in 2004, Danell was scheduled to test for her 2nd degree black belt. As a training incentive I asked her what she would like as a reward, and I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when she replied “a moose hunt.” It had been a few years since her buffalo hunt, and even though she had taken a couple of great mule deer since then, Danell was due for another big challenge. Confident she wouldn’t fail I began looking into what might be available in guaranteed tag moose hunts. The one, which seemed to fit our needs and schedule best, was a hunt for Shiras Moose in NE Utah during the peak of the rut.

Weatheredhorn Outfitters, based out of Northern Utah has been known for many years to produce trophy elk, mule deer, moose and mountain lion for their clients. True professionals who look out for all of their hunters’ needs. I felt extremely fortunate to find an opening with them. Now came the hard part, waiting for the hunt. As she waited for the 1st of October hunt, Danell practiced at the range, becoming even more familiar with her custom .300 Win Mag built by the legendary Bill Wiseman. She hiked regularly, and even backpacked to the summit of Mt Whitney. Mt Whitney’s peak reaches 14,500 elevation so she hiked a couple of weeks before the hunt to make sure the mountains and altitude of Utah would be no problem.

Finally, we were headed up Interstate 15 on our way through Utah. The mountainsides were ablaze with striking colors sometimes resembling the embers of a late night campfire. Our friend and videographer, Tyler Johnnerson, was coming along to film the hunt, and I hoped his cameras could capture this splendor of Mother Nature. When we passed Park City, Utah, home of the most recent Winter Olympics, we had only 50 miles to go. I could tell by looking at Danell that in her mind she was already after moose.