The Elk Hunt

An older man, who has spent his life and has decades of experience up on the mountain and in the outdoors, goes on a hunting trip.

He must go where he believes he has to be, his place in the world. He's a mountain man, and this is the only place he feels he belongs. The only place he feels at peace. He is there because he wants to be. But this is not just another hunting trip; it's a journey back to his own sense of being. Perhaps his final one.

In defiance and regardless of the risks, he must go to the mountain, because he is called to be there. It's simply who he is. Ignoring the warnings from his loved ones, he sets off alone. They didn't understand. How could they? No matter. He knew he'd be back to them soon and that he'd be fine.

As much as he is called to the mountain, with its serene calm, it also holds unseen dangers. He knows these risks very well and has faced them many times before. Yet, this time, there was an undercurrent of something different, a hint of warning that he was quick to disregard with the stubbornness of a man who had always lived by his own rules. Immersed in a place he has always considered sacred; the strain of the journey takes its toll, and the risks set in differently than they ever have before.

The mountain, which had given him so much life, now seems prepared to take it away. As the mountain and its elements turn against him, he does all he can to make it back to his family alive. He knows, in the deepest part of his being, that this might be the end. He knows his family would mourn. But he also knows they would understand, eventually. To him, this is where he had always been meant to end his journey.