Larry Ball's Utah bull scored 408 gross Boone and Crockett points and 401 net. It missed the Utah state typical record by just 1 1/2 inches. Photo courtesy of Doyle Moss, Mossback Guides & Outfitters.

Larry Ball endured more than his share of Viagra jokes and black balloons for his 50th birthday, but he was able to take it all in stride thanks to an early and thoughtful gift from his wife, Angie.

Long before Ball took the field in the fall of 2004 with a vaunted Boulder Mountain limited-entry bull elk tag, his wife and Doyle Moss, one of the most recognized big-game guides in Utah, were planning his adventure.

"She knew what I really wanted. She also knew that I wouldn't go with anyone but Doyle," said Ball.

Ball had hunted twice with Moss and after a successful mule deer trip on the Paunsaugunt Unit in 2003, he mentioned to his wife how much he enjoyed hunting with Moss.

Angie Ball listened and set in motion her plan. Little did she know her gift would end up near the top of Utah's big-game records. Knowing her husband had taken several large mule deer bucks, Angie decided it was time for her husband to chase his first Rocky Mountain elk.

She called MossBack Guides and Outfitters in December 2003 and explained to owner Doyle Moss that she wanted to surprise Larry with a Utah elk hunt for a quality bull.

Moss and Larry Ball first met during a Nevada deer hunt in 2000. Ball called Moss in 2003, wondering if the guide knew how to get a deer permit on the famous Paunsaugunt Unit in southern Utah. Ball's good friend Phil Bassetti had drawn a non-resident tag on the limited-entry unit, and Ball wanted to join him.

Moss knew how to get a permit and helped Ball nail a buck that sported a 32-inch spread. The hunt was all that Ball could talk about. Nobody really knows whether he was dropping hints to his wife for an upcoming birthday present, but he ended up getting his wish to hunt with Moss again.

Moss pondered the request, considered the price range Angie was shooting for and told her he would try to find something in the $10,000 range when the state's conservation permits came up for auction.

The Utah of Division of Wildlife Resources' conservation permit program, which provides hunting tags to the highest bidders, has raised millions of dollars, which are in turn used for habitat improvements and land acquisitions to help big game down the road.

Moss found his opportunity at one of the banquets in which the permits are sold when the Boulder Mountain permit did not draw as much attention as it had in the past.

"The Boulder happened to come in at a really good price and I purchased it for them," Moss said. "The way I understood it, every other check they got went toward this hunt. It's pretty cool that a wife would go to such lengths to help her husband get a hunting permit."

Angie Ball could not wait for her husband's birthday (Dec. 31) to give him the tag, but she had wanted to surprise him as close to the hunt as possible. Her cover was busted when it came time to pay for the tag.

"I had no idea she had done it until she started asking me for money. She had never asked me for a dollar since we got married. I knew something was up," Larry Ball said.

DON'T YOU DARE SHOOT
But a tag in hand does not mean a rack on the wall.

Ball would soon learn that the tag just gave him the right to hunt a bull elk on the Boulder. Angie had done her part, now it was up to Moss to find an animal worthy of the price tag.

"We probably saw 30 bulls the first day, and I wanted to shoot any one of them," Ball said. "Doyle gave me that look of his, the one that says, 'Don't you dare shoot,' about 20 times. They were all nice, but that look worked every time."

Ball arrived in south-central Utah a few days early hoping to acclimate his body to the elevation and maybe scout a few bulls.

"I got there a couple of days early. Doyle was hunting with someone else. I was driving around and I never saw an elk until I went out with those guys," he said.