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Dalke goes on an elk hunt

Dalke heads back to the ranch to stalk an elk/deer hybrid in the latest episode of Extreme Huntress.

Nikita Dalke was back out on the hunt during the latest episode of Extreme Huntress as she was given the task of harvesting an elk/sika deer hybrid.

Disclaimer: spoilers are ahead. The episode can be viewed online at www.extremehuntress.com.

The episode begins with Dalke out on the 777 Ranch in Hondo, Texas, where she is partnered up with fellow Huntress competitor Erika Bergmark.

The objective was the elk/deer hybrid animal that wasn't a part of the ranch's management plan, therefore it was available for harvest.

Dalke, Bergmark, the judges and film—a group that totalled five people—headed out to conduct the hunt early in the morning. The crew headed to the correct enclosure by jeep before disembarking on foot to search for the hybrid.

It didn't take too long for Dalke to find what she was looking for.

After all, considering her extensive local experience, elk hunting is a familiar experience for her.

"It was fairly quick, the area they were in was quite large and I wanted to check down in the bottom where the water was," Dalke said. "Then after I checked that and there was no sign of them there, I thought, 'Well, basically, I'm going to be hunting elk, because he's with the elk.'

"So I figured I'd go up to the highest ground and hopefully they'd be there, and that's where they were."

The group went up to high ground and made a stalk, getting within 50 yards of a herd of elk, however, the wind picked up and swirled, which spooked the elk herd and they took off.

After consulting with the group, Dalke decided to head back down to lower terrain and circle around to get to another vantage point at high ground.

Once everyone got back to high ground, Dalke spotted the herd again.

However, the group had split apart, with Dalke up front while others were lagging behind.

"The second time we came up, things were going really good, but there was a group of five of us," Dalke said. "Two of the people in the group had fallen back, so I think it might have made the elk nervous and the other group might have spooked them off.

"They [elk] were coming in really good and all of the sudden they stopped and they were looking at something—they weren't looking at me—but they were looking at something off to my right and that's where the other two people were."

After making the group, the herd took off.

Despite being so close to getting a good shot, there wasn't a window or a lane that opened up to the hybrid animal.

Further on in the episode, Kasi Geraci went on a hunt for a four-horned Jacob sheep, but she was unable to find her animal, which is missing a horn.

Amanda Caldwell also got a hunt in for a barasingha, a swamp deer native to India, but she was also unable to make the harvest.

In addition to the hunting outings, Bergmark and Margaret Botha were subjected to anti-hunting abuse and had to respond to explicit accusations about their sport.

After every episode airs, viewers can head to www.extremehuntress.com to lend their support for each of the six competitors. To vote for Dalke, head to the website and click on the vote tab to submit a vote by email.

 



Trevor Crawley

About the Author: Trevor Crawley

Trevor Crawley has been a reporter with the Cranbrook Townsman and Black Press in various roles since 2011.
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