Jan 24, 2026 5 min read

It has often been stated that it’s better to be lucky than good. Doug Willis it would seem is both.

It has also been claimed that nice guys finish last and today’s column should dispel that old myth.

Doug Willis has always been a good guy since I have known him, which has been quite a long time, dating back to our high school football days in the 1980s. He is a great dad, husband and grandfather, an exceptional sportsman and an even better human being/all-around good guy. For this reason alone, I was ecstatic to learn that Doug had won the lottery for the elk hunt of a lifetime. The drawing was sponsored by the Keystone Elk Country Alliance. The 2025 elk tag drawing was conducted at The Elk Expo on July 26 in Bennezette. The winning ticket, one of approximately 19,000 entries, included an all-expenses bull elk hunt with lodging, guides, handling/processing, video documentation of the hunt and rack scoring plus taxidermy. Way to go Doug and congratulations.

Doug and his elk team (brother Bob Willis and cousin Paul Burkett), all from the Rices Landing vicinity, were on standby as per Larry Guenot’s instructions. Larry is the owner and operator of Trophy Rack Lodge in Karthaus. Willis assembled his guys upon receiving a phone call at 9:30 a.m. and his cadre was in camp, ready to hunt by 3:30 p.m. The call from Guenot communicated that Larry had been doing some advance scouting and located a good bull. He was confident if they could make camp by evening, there was a good chance of relocating the bull. Hunting on public lands, especiallly state game lands, guarantees no degree of success but harnessing the talents and expertise of a skilled local guide certainly takes some of the guesswork out of the mix.

By late afternoon, Guenot and one of his guides, Dean Carper, cameraman Ben Gnan, the Willis brothers and Burkett were within sight of the big bull. The elk was spotted on a pipeline right of way at better than 400 yards, originally, but the group closed distance by the time Doug readied for the shot. Using his cousin Paul’s borrowed .300 Win mag, Willis almost whispered, “I set up on the tripod but couldn’t achieve a steady rest.” The giant wapiti stood broadside as Willis looked on from 338 yards. “It was then that I realized one leg of the tripod was not open.” “I spread the tripod and immediately was rock solid,” Willis recalled.

Willis settled in for a quartering-to shot as the animal had changed positions. Following Larry’s directions and Ben’s all clear signal, Doug noted that the animal lunged forward at the impact of the bullet, a good sign in the tracking business. The bull moved off into the adjacent brush before a second shot could be made and the group prepared for the followup. After working the wind in their favor, the group was able to locate Doug’s bull and he anchored his elk with a second shot after stalking to just inside 100 yards.

In true Doug Willis fashion the celebration was low key and he seemed to enjoy most, the sharing of the experience with his brother and cousin. Later that night while talking with his grandchildren on a phone call, the experience hit home for Willis. “My emotions finally got the best of me as I was sharing the story with my grandkids,” he said. “I held it together until that evening for as long as I could. I sort of fell apart with my family gathered around (on a video conference call).”

In the end, Doug would harvest one of the largest bulls in Pennsylvania’s 2025 elk season: a 412 4/8-inch specimen that would be the envy of nearly any trophy room.

Willis’ skill comes as no surprise. Doug has been there before. He drew a bull elk. According to his personal count, he has harvested a buck and a gobbler every year since turning 19 years old. At 61, that adds up to 42 buck and gobbler pairings. Four times over the years, Doug has scored the triple trophy, which is a bear, deer and turkey gobbler in the same season. Pennsylvania black bear hunting is in the Willis family blood, as well, with father Jim harvesting a pair of PA bruins and Bob and Doug each taking four bears. Now that’s a career upon which to hang one’s hat.

“Doug is an excellent hunter,” Guenot said in recounting the hunt. “You won’t find a much better guy than Doug.”

Willis shared this sentiment regarding the experience: “I feel really lucky to have been given this opportunity. The K.E.C.A tag is one of the most sought-after prizes in Pennsylvania elk hunting, maybe nationally, possibly in the world. What an experience.”

The best part of this story is that it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. As for luck, if I’m going to pick one guy to purchase my lottery ticket for me, then it would have to be Doug Willis.

To watch Doug’s hunt on video, courtesy of TomBob Outdoors, visit https://youtu.be/9kpclA7eGmo

Dave Bates writes a weekly outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter. He can be reached at alphaomegashootingsolutions@gmail.com