Location: New Mexico
Species: Elk
Every year the Sportsmen Portal and Wired Outdoors team is proud to raise all the money needed to send two kids suffering from life threatening illnesses on their “Hunt Of A Lifetime”. This past year we were assigned Matthew Ciarlone of Downingtown, PA.
Photo of Matthew Ciarlone who lost his battle to leukemia earlier this year. His father Michael carried this photo everywhere he went.
Matthew Ciarlone, suffering from Leukemia, lost his battle before he had a chance to live his dream of a Midwest Elk hunt. Obviously in circumstances like this, the Hunt Of A Lifetime organization has no choice but to move on to the next child waiting to go on their hunt.
Typical Terrain
Like all the kids we raise money for, I find myself getting emotionally attached to the children as well as their families. When I received the call from Matthew’s father, Michael, that he had passed away, my heart was broken. Being a father myself, I can’t imagine what Matthew’s family was going through. For me, it was impossible to just move on and I knew that I had to do something, and I knew immediately what I wanted to do.
Our Camp
Like I mentioned before, Matthew’s dream was a midwest elk hunt so I knew that I wanted to offer Matthew’s father the opportunity to live out Matthew’s dream and harvest an elk in remembrance of Matthew. I wasn’t going to be able to pull this off without some help. So after a visit with one of the most well established elk hunting operations in the world, United States Outfitters at the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show, they didn’t hesitate and said, “Lets make this happen!”
New Mexico Sunrise
United States Outfitters runs a first class operation. Coming from Pennsylvania we flew into the Albuquerque Airport where we rented a car for the hour car ride from the airport to the camp. Now United States Outfitters runs numerous camps in New Mexico, Arizona and more. All our arrangements were taken care of and everything came off without a hitch.
Michael and Matthew's Elk
Once arriving in camp we were given an orientation and all the licensing was taken care of. On the hunts we did a lot of hiking, glassing and calling. Our guide Brian Dam was great. During our 5 day hunt he put us on 3 really good bulls, but due to one thing or the other, just couldn't pull it off. Usually due to not being able to get into position quick enough or bad wind.
On the last day of our hunt we took a nice 5x5 but not near the caliber of elk we had opportunities at earlier in the week. Every member in camp had tagged out, harvesting some very nice bulls. I can't say enough about the entire operation at United States Outfitters. If you are looking for a top notch, high success rate with great bulls, United States Outfitters is the place to go.
I would also like to thank United States Outfitters for stepping up and making this hunt happen for this family. I know this hunt will mean more the Ciarlone's than you will ever know. You will also be able to see this hunt on our tv show, Wired Outdoors.
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