When I was a young boy, my dad took me hunting often, and I was always at his side. I loved going with him so much, I would never miss a hunt.

This view from my treestand shows the lower pond I created. Shot distance is 25 yards. I cut a trench to drain water from a natural spring down into this pond.

Then, at age 12, I became very ill the night before Dad and I were to leave for a deer hunt. I could not let my mom know because she would not let me go. Refusing to admit defeat, I sneaked quietly into the bathroom several times during the night and vomited.

Mom could not know.

The next morning, she found me passed out on the bathroom floor. Immediately she took me to the doctor, and the doctor rushed me to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. My appendix was in the process of rupturing. I was very angry. This was the first hunt I had ever missed. That was a terrible blow.

The determination I had as a young boy has not faded. In fact, it may only have grown as I have entered my adult life. I am very passionate about hunting and the outdoors. Time in the woods with my bow stirs feelings and energy that cannot be duplicated anywhere else. As an adult, I still refuse to miss a hunt. My determination has only grown.

Perhaps that's what influenced my approach to elk hunting. For many years I harbored the goal of taking a bull elk with my bow. However, I wanted to do it my way. I did not want to call-in a bull with noisy calls. Rather, I wanted to be quiet and stealthy. I wanted the elk to be unaware of my presence. I wanted to be invisible. I wanted to be close.

That goal gave birth to my pursuit of finding the perfect ambush point, and I hiked the wildest places in my home state of Utah to find such a spot. Finally, four years ago, a friend and I were out hiking when we stumbled across a natural spring on a steep hillside.

It was far from any roads, and only someone as crazy and determined as me would commit to such a spot. But in analyzing the situation, I decided this was perfect. The area held elk, and the spot was remote. Now I just had to set it up to get a close shot.

To enhance the spring, my friend and I dug a small reservoir where the water was coming out of the sidehill. This would hold a small amount of water and regulate the flow. Then we walked down to a flat spot about 40 yards below the reservoir and dug a large hole.

This would become the primary wallow. We finished the project by digging a shallow trench from the upper reservoir to the wallow hole to create a pond.

A couple of days later I hiked back in to check on the project. The pond was already full, but to improve it I dammed the downhill side with mud and branches. The reservoir by the spring was actually holding more water than I had anticipated, so water was plentiful.