Description

In 1963 a group of skiers were caught in an avalanche, started by someone hunting in a restricted area. The ski patrol had been sent out to rescue them, and one of the patrol found the group and was helping them get to safety when another series of shots rang out, triggering another avalanche and killing all the skiers. The skiers were never found. The hunter wasn’t hurt, and he claimed his prize, a record elk.

Shortly afterwards, the people of the area began reporting seeing a red elk of massive proportions with a record rack of antlers in the mountains. No one ever got a good shot at him, for he always seems to vanish into the swirling snows blowing all around him. The hunters start coming to search for him and see him from a distance but he always leads them around the mountain. Whenever they get close enough for a shot, he disappeared into the swirling snows. He always seemed to be leading them out of danger, as their shots trigger snow slides where they were, and none of them were ever hurt.

For years afterward, people have been seeing a red jacketed skier pushing them out of the runs just before there is a snow slide or avalanche where they would have been. No one knows who he is, but all of the witnesses say he was suddenly there waving them off or crowding them out of the way, and then disappearing in front of their eyes when the snow clears up. Some will even say they saw a stand of fir trees right through him as he faded from their sight. It isn’t long before the legend grows that he is the ghost of the killed ski patrolman who tried to save the lost skiers years ago. In 1999, a group of hunters come to kill the fabled red Elk. They are brought in by the lure of a special hunt for that legendary Red Elk. It is an expensive hunt, and they have all paid a great fee to be part of this adventure. It is often said the criminal returns to the scene of his crime, and this hunt is no exception.

The very same hunter has returned to claim his greatest trophy, and as before he doesn’t play by the rules. He intends to get that animal, no matter what it may cost anyone else, as he considers it his destiny and his right. But on this mountain, sometimes it is difficult to tell who is hunting whom. The hunter has a debt to pay, and it is time to settle his account.