Vincent Gay

I just wanted to thank you for the opportunity to hunt the 20 mile these last several years. I guess the third time was the charm.
I’ve been into elk and come close to pulling the trigger on bulls on each hunt. On the first hunt I had an ivory tipped, dark chocolate antlered 6x6, a really nice bull, stop behind a tree at 75 yards. I just needed one more step, but the wind swirled and I was busted. The second hunt had me looking at another nice bull through the scope when his cows came up the hill ahead of him and walked right into my setup, busting me. This week I had a bull walk up behind within about 6 yards and busted me. There have been numerous other encounters and each one of them memorable.
The evening I shot this bull, I was moving spots and headed back to the mouth of Scotchmans to glass one-way hill. I came across the saddle, looked down the draw and saw 2 shooter bulls and a spike. Initially, they were at 353 yards, a little farther than I was comfortable shooting. I managed to quickly close the distance to about 300 yards and set up. I wanted the larger bull, but he stepped into some brush before offering me a shot. I ended up shooting the 5x5 at 294 yards using some reloads I made for a .325 WSM which was given to me by my father after he won it in a RMEF raffle. I couldn’t be more proud of this bull. After 3 unsuccessful hunts both in New Mexico and the 20 mile, a lot of hard work and a little luck, I was extremely relieved to have finally harvested a bull.

Thank you again for offering these hunts for us “average” hunters who like to get out there and do it ourselves. I learned a lot about elk, had a lot of fun and have a ton of memories