Dear Friends,
as promised, my report about the elk hunt in west texas.
I must admit that I booked this hunt early last year without ask too many infos before (like references etc) as I had few e.mail contacts with mr. Malcom Calaway the owner of the Boot ranch, about 25 miles north from Alpine, and immediately I had trust in this men.
He told me that in his 18.000 acres ranch ther’was a population of free range elk that was never hunted in the past. So I would be the first to have the possibility to kill the animal on his property.
After many contacts during the year, with my wife Caterina, we finally reach Alpine the morning of jan 3 th, after a long trip Milan-London- Denver- Midland and a overnight in a motel there.
Malcom has a quite good accomodation in his ranch (called cabin but more confortable that many hunting lodges).




However having my wife I booked a very nice room in the historic Holland hotel in town.
http://www.thehollandhoteltexas.com/home.html

a very typical hotel, built in the 1912, that seems to come out of a John Wayne’s western movie. For the truth, the entire town of Alpine evokes the atmosphere of the golden era of the West that we have seen only in the movies.

And Malcom is no less: always with his cowboy hat, boots and Wrangler jeans, a big smile in the face and a great hart.

He reminded me "Chisum" in the beautiful movie of Andrew Mc Laglen of 1970.
But Malcom is also a real gentlemen who hostes us better than all my other hunting trips around the world. In fact, he and his family welcomed us as friends, worrying not only about the success of my hunt, but also about the comfort of my wife.

The Boot ranch is on the road 67, about 20 miles from Alpine. Is beetwen the Glass and the Davis mountains, partly flat, partly hilly, with small mountains not very rugged.
The environment is very charming, arid, almost desert, full of very interesting colored cactus, without big trees.

I was immediately surprised of the number of Mule deer I’ve seen around. I’m not an expert but I was also impressed about the quality of some bucks I’ve seen that seems huge.










Ther’are also very many javelinas, that you see many times a day.

A real page turner! Don't leave me hanging, keep 'em coming.

2 things:

more pics and i want to see the elk

you have to be careful not to fall down in texas because something (and everything has thorns or spines) will get you right in the butt.

nice work Mario
quite a safari you got there,
and great photo's

Beautiful, now WAKE UP and give us more

Very interesting.I like the landscape. Did you get your elk?
What rifle/caliber do you use?

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing.
I would second a need for more photos

Voilà the end.
About the elk, I knew this was not the best period for this animal but this was the only available for me and also I was looking for an elk in the winter coat with a long mane.
But Malcom made all possible effort to allow me to kill this trophy. He call his son Troy, a professional guide, and Dan another good guy. So I had 3 guides who helped me in the hunt. This was very important especially for spotting the animals that, because of drought and unusually hot, they moved very little and, despite the low vegetation, found refuge in the dense in the bottom of the canyons.






After a small tour of the ranch the afternoon of the Jan 3th we hunted seriously the morning of the Jan 4th. Troy spotted 3 bulls ( one vey nice) at the top of a small mountain. We walked for almost an hour for reach the place but when we got near the animals were already hidden in a canyon and we were no longer able to spot for all day.
The next day the same group of elk was spotted in another area from one of the guides. When I reached the place they were moving to another ranch and only the older bull with a very poor trophy was shootable. So I decided to let go.
The afternoon, Troy remained to check if the 3 bulls would be returned in the ranch, while Dan was placed on top of a mountain to check another area. Me, Malcom and Caterina we explored by car a different part of the property. Was late in the afternoon that Dan called us telling he spotted two bulls from his point. Driving fast we reached Troy who yet was waiting us not far from the place where the 2 elks were. Was a very flat area so was impossible to find a high point for which to shoot. So we walked very slowly up to sight the two animals at about 60 yards. I had with me the Malcom’s Ruger Hawkeye cal 375, not the best rifle for the elk but enough good for a short shot like that. With the same gun I killed a running javelina the day before so I had trust in it. When I saw the best of the two bulls I fired but I completely missed it. I shot again missing another time. Acc. I realized to have finished the bullets. Luckily the bull was runned away not far. So I’ve got the Troy’s Wheaterby 30/378 from his shoulder and I’ve shot with it finally hitting the bull. Another shot and he was down.
Was almost dark.



We got few pictures leaving the animal in place to recovered it the next day and make moro photos.








We had big party at night with excellent champenois from New Mexico. And because we were all so happy we made another dinner the evening of the following day.
The last day me and caterina we went for a visit to Fort Stockton and to the beautiful El Paisano hotel in Marfa. After lunch we drove to Midland where we had an excellent dinner at “the Wall street bar and grill”.
The last two days we were in Dallas at the “Gaylord resort” visiting the Dallas safari club convention and making some very good shopping. Another great dinner at the Friscos steak house in down town. And this is the end of the story.

Mario,

What a great story, nice ending too.

Not many hunters can say they took a free range elk in texas. Very well done!

Well done Mario. Thx for the report!

Nice bull Mario. Did you get a genuine Texas cowboy hat while you were there?

Nice trophies Mario ,i love to hunt peccaries ,but here we hunt them in driven hunts with dogs and shotguns .
The elk is a wonderfull elaphus ,congratulations.
I like the Ruger you are using ,what caliber....

congrats Mario

Congratulations Mario.

Glad you had a great hunt, and a good trip to the Great State of Texas.

Well Done.

Nice hunt. Excellent animals. Glad you had a good time in Texas.

thanks guys.
Ja, I havent bought the cowboy hat because I havent even ridden a horse in my life...
Juan, About the gun? Was a 375 ruger. A very good gun for big game with a short barrel. I never used in the past but I think is perfect for a buffalo hunt in the thick cover. I do not know how I've missed the elk ... maybe the emotion...

Bravo Mario.

Italian Cowboy.

Great hunt, Mario.. Congrats!

My wife and I are both from that area of TX and it will always be home to me.

Congratulations!

Well done. That Alpine/Marfa region of west Texas has some beautiful scenery. There are also more free ranging Elk out there than most people realize.

Ryan
I tink you have reason. Also in many places ( like the boot ranch) the elks are never hunted. So the hunt can be more easy that in many other areas

Congratulations Mario
Very nice report!

Molto benne Mario. Congratulations and your pictures capture west Texas perfectly.

Congrats Mario, nice bull!

Congrats, nice bull

Wonderful report and photos. Congratulations.

Mario, excellent story and good hunting.
Sure wished we could have met you at the show.

Mike

Don't want to be rude, but what did the hunt cost. And great pictures!

what a shame not have a meeting at the show.
Costs? 6500 $

Thank you Mario. Sounds like a deal. Great hunt!

I really enjoyed the Hunt Report, Thanks & Congrats!