CHICORA — For Bruce Campbell, the $10 fee for an elk hunting application proved to be money well spent.

The 50-year-old Chicora resident was one of 40 names drawn for a November elk hunting license. There were nearly 18,000 applicants.

"I feel like I've won the lottery or something," he said.

Campbell is one of 14 hunters to receive an antlerless elk hunting license for areas 1,2,3 and 10. Those areas cover parts of Elk and Cameron counties.

Elk season runs Nov. 6 to 11. Campbell said he will be able to hunt for the first three days of the season.

"That's all the time I'll have, but that's OK,"he said. "There's about an 80 percent success rate, and I'm planning on being part of that.

"I'll start out early in the morning and stay out there all day, if that's what it takes."

Campbell has been a hunter for nearly 40 years. He bags a deer almost annually and has hunted bear and turkey as well. He bagged a 200-pound black bear in 1993 that's mounted in his basement.

He has a contingent of friends and relatives heading north with him for the elk hunt, though he is the only one allowed to hunt the animal. No one is permitted to drive the elk into the open for him.

"The rule is that you're allowed to have people with you to help drag the elk once you get it,"Campbell said. "They aren't allowed to do much else to help you."

Campbell has been applying for an elk license for the past five years. Once a hunter's name is selected, he or she pays another $25 for the license.

Campbell has no problem laying out the extra cash.

"I've never had an opportunity to hunt elk before," he said. "This is pretty rare."

Once an elk license applicant's name is drawn, he can't apply for the next five years.

According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the Pennsylvania elk herd was fewer than 300 15 years ago. It stood at 566 in 2000 and was nearly 700 last year.

Male elk weigh between 600 and 1,000 pounds while female elk weigh between 500 and 600 pounds. Elk can run 30 mph for short stretches and can trot for miles.

The strong, muscular animals have jumping and swimming abilities as well. Their life expectancy is 20 years.

Campbell has been employed at AKSteel for the past eight years. His father still hunts occasionally and his son, Brandon, will be among those accompanying him on this trip.

"As soon as I told him I got the license, he said I better take him with me,"Campbell said.

While Campbell has never gone on any big-game hunts, he remains hopeful of doing so.

"Maybe sometime in the next few years," he said. "Maybe this will be the start of that."