Pennsylvania has one of the finest opportunities in the country to hunt for a world-class elk.

In fact Pennsylvania will be offering hunters three different chances to hunt for elk in the commonwealth.

The Saturday drawing for one of 108 Pennsylvania elk licenses issued by a lottery will be taking place by the time you read this column.

The drawing will be held at 2 p.m. for the traditional opportunity at the $10 application fee entry.

I see that I also have been trying for this license for ten years and actually have ten chances at getting picked for one of the 108 elk hunting licenses.

Just in case I want to try for one more opportunity I have a backup plan, the PA Elk Conservation Raffle or the Elk license Auction.

This weekend chances for the Elk Raffle will be sold at the Pennsylvania Great Outdoors Elk Expo held on Saturday and Sunday in Benezette.

The chances are $25 or 6 for $100 with the sales to close at noon on Sunday. The raffle drawing will take place on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Elk Country Visitor Center.

The winner does not need to attend the drawing to win.

The Keystone Elk Country Alliance (KECA), in partnership with the Pennsylvania Game Commission are conducting the raffle, which is authorized by a newly passed state law-House Bill 2169 authored by state Rep.

Matt Gabler, R-Clearfield & Elk counties.

The raffle is known as the PA Elk Conservation Raffle and the conservation license can be used from Sept. 1 to Nov. 8.

The winner of the Pennsylvania Elk Conservation Raffle will be permitted to hunt elk in all elk management units open to elk hunting.

There is also extra bonus items being offered free to the winner of the raffle, these include; a six day fully guided hunt donated by Elk County Outfitters, a fully donated shoulder mount of your trophy offered by Cessna’s Taxidermy of DuBois, and your hunt can be filmed by the camera crew of TomBob Outdoors, Friends in Wild Places Adventures Series to be aired on national TV.

TomBob Outdoors operates out of Ridgway, Pa.

The regular drawing of the elk license lottery winners will follow the Raffle winner at the Elk Expo at 2 p.m.

Of the 108 licenses to be allocated, 27 are for antlered elk, or bulls.

In 2013, 86 elk licenses were allocated, 26 of them for bulls.

Speaking of bull I thought I would tell you about one of my efforts to hunt for bull elk in my younger days.

I was with my brother Jim and we were on our way out to Colorado for a mid season rifle hunt on a private ranch.

The ranch allowed several hunters to hunt its’ vast acreage for mule deer and elk.

Both bull elk and cow elk licenses were available and we decided that a bull elk was much more appealing to us at that time.

Little did we know that we would see plenty of cow elk during our trip but bulls would be hard to come by?

It was in the middle of the week and we hadn’t seen even one bull elk to harvest or to even talk about when we happened to be talking to a local hunter who clued us Flat-Landers in on the ways of the elk.

They came out of the black timber at night and headed back up into the hills at dawn.

We would have to intercept them between the grassy meadows and on their way to the top.

We picked a likely trail that funneled between a lake and two steep humps of butte; this was where we would try to make our hunt a success.

The next morning found us nestled in the hillside waiting for signs of elk heading our way.

All I could see at the crack of dawn was some tumbleweed rolling along. My brother laughed at my comment and said, “When did you ever see tumbleweed rolling in a straight line toward a pass?”

Sure enough it was about 20 elk on a fast pace heading back up the mountain.

We had guessed right and the group would pass right by us along the small lake shore.

They finally appeared and I was anxious and ready to take a crack at my first bull elk.

We glassed them carefully and kept counting cows as they filed by us.

Finally the next to the last elk was a legal bull, not a world class bull, but a legal bull nevertheless. My brother yelled to me take him, I took aim with my .270 and fired behind the shoulder with no apparent effect.

I fired once again and then a third time as he spun around and separated from the herd.

He finally fell to my efforts and we approached the bull, he was my trophy bull and no hunter could be any prouder of an effort.

It took a great deal of work to dress out and prepare this elk for his return to Pennsylvania to be shared with many others as a culinary treat from the wilds of Colorado. Maybe one of us will get a chance to share a world class trophy from the wilds of Pennsylvania this year.

Only time and luck will tell us if this weekend if we will have that opportunity, until we meet again… good hunting!