Matthew Bell, who will celebrate his 14th birthday Saturday, bagged his first elk on Sept. 14 while bow hunting in Wyoming during a family vacation to Yellowstone National Park with his parents, Bob and Michele Bell. 

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” said his father, a local insurance agent and avid hunter. “It was a big, mature bull, probably 650 pounds. We had called him in with a cow call, and Matthew just made a great shot on him from about 22 yards.” 

The Bells spent a little more than a week in Wyoming. Bob Bell said he and his son were able to sneak in some hunting, but were primarily there to take in the sights of Yellowstone and the surrounding mountainous areas.

The two were actually scouting for potential hunting spots on public land in the Wind River Range, south of Yellowstone in the Shoshone National Forest, when they called in the bull elk.

“It was about 2 in the afternoon, and we had pulled off the road just to take a look around and I said, ‘Why don’t you bring your bow just in case?’” Bob Bell recalled. “My wife was waiting on us in the truck, reading a book.”

The elk was discovered about 1,000 yards away from where Matthew released his shot. Bob Bell said his family brought plenty of elk backstrap and tenderloins back to Vicksburg and also gave away some of the meat in Wyoming.

Matthew is in the 8th grade at St. Aloysius High School, and is now gearing up for the bow hunting deer season, which opens locally on Wednesday.

“He’s all excited about deer season. He’s been practicing a good bit, and is looking to get his first deer with his bow,” said Bob Bell. “It was a great trip — kind of a birthday trip for him — and he definitely made the most of it.”