SODA SPRINGS, Idaho—Boykins archer Dave Stiglitz almost gave up hope of finding his trophy of lifetime — a 300 class bull elk he was sure he’d killed.

That was after five guys made an unsuccessful, 23-hour search for the animal.

Their luck changed when a stranger, who walked off the mountain in southeastern Idaho found the embattled group. He led Stiglitz to the dead elk, just 100 yards away from where the animal was hit.

“He said, ‘I just found this huge 6-point with a half an arrow sticking in it,’” Stiglitz said. “He took us to it. It was so honorable.”

The elk weighed between 1,100 and 1,200 pounds. A local meat packer said it was the largest bodied elk he’d ever seen from the area.

Stiglitz had a European mount made with the elk, which scored between 320 and 330. It hangs from the Colonel’s Coffee Club in Boykins, where local “old-timers” gather in the mornings. The club is named for Stiglitz’s dad, Robert, a retired Marine Corps colonel.

This was the ninth year for Dave Stiglitz to take his September-long trip to Soda Springs, where he hunts in the Caribou National Forest west of Yellowstone National Park. Three times he found success, taking a cow elk each time.

On Sept. 19, while hunting with Bruce Patterson of Branchville, Stiglitz heard two bulls bugling.

He saw a cow and put his camera on video mode.

“I only had three arrows and I put it (the camera) between the front two arrows and duct taped them,” the 47-year-old said.

This left him with one arrow for hunting.

Stiglitz heard rustling. The noise stopped, and then he heard more rustling.

Through an 8-inch opening in the thick trees, Stiglitz said he shot the elk from 40 yards out with the sun shining on its back.

“If I would’ve missed him, I would’ve hit a tree,” he said. “It was the best shot I ever made, and there was dark red blood (meaning vital organs were hit).”

He watched the elk walk off to the right and out of sight, presumably to die.

The search followed.

“We went through the mountains, all day long,” Stiglitz said.

They found half of his arrow next to where the elk was hit. Stiglitz assumes after hitting the elk, it jolted forward and hit the tree, thus breaking the arrow.

“We just lost the blood (trail),” Patterson said. “We all but gave up.”

That’s when the lone archer came along. He’d just seen the dead elk with a half an arrow stuck in it.

“This stranger was honest,” Stiglitz said. “It was amazing. I could not thank him enough.”