Read Parts 2 and 3 for more of Ron’s adventure.
We’ve just finished a wonderful dinner served up by the gracious kitchen staff here at Quinlan Ranch, in Chama, New Mexico. This was the perfect ending to a day spent watching hundreds of elk as they migrate through the ranch from the mountains of southern Colorado to winter feeding grounds far to the south.
We left South Carolina the day after Thanksgiving with hearts and stomachs full and headed West for my first elk hunt. My hunting partner, Bob Matthews, is an old hand at this and assured me we’d have a grand adventure. It sure was getting off to a good start.
Quinlan Ranch, sitting just west of Chama, New Mexico, is 17,000 acres of pure hunters’ paradise. With a high-fence enclosure of around 2,000 acres, they’re home to some magnificent bull elk. The elk population increases dramatically each winter as the elk head for warmer climates and easier feeding.
We came for the elk, but they also offer hunts for mule deer and black bear.
Matt Berry, the Ranch manager, and his guide staff know the ranch well and work hard together to ensure each hunter has the experience of a lifetime. Mine has just begun . . .