Matt Hughes

When my friend Matt Hughes called and asked if he could Elk hunt with me this year, I was as excited about the hunt as Matt was.  Matt is a World Champion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter and Welterweight Champion of the World, so this meant we were going to hunt hard and high.  My ranch in New Mexico has very diverse terrain which allows for our clients to hunt the rolling hills or the steep rugged mountains, depending on their physical abilities.

On opening morning as Matt and I were hiking up the mountain Matt told me his goal is to harvest a Non-Typical Bull.  “Score means nothing to me, the crazier looking the antlers, the better”.  Once we arrived at the first glassing point we began to glass and within an hour we had already seen over 70 elk.  We were just about to move up when I spotted a bedded Bull at 300 yards away.  “There’s your goofy Bull” I told Matt.  Once Matt took a look at the Bull he was sure that was the Bull he came for.  We had already harvested Bigger Bulls, but Matt felt like a Non-Typical is just as unique as a higher scoring Bull.  Matt laid out and prepared for the shot while I got set up with a scope to view the impact.  Matt squeezed the trigger and the Bull rolled over dead in about three seconds.  With the help of a couple of my guides we packed out the Bull and returned to the lodge at 11:00AM opening day!

Because I had other hunters in camp, Matt asked if he could hang around and help any way he could, so he stayed and continued hunting with me and two other hunters, both of which harvested Bulls in the next two days.  Matt is coming back next fall for an Elk and Deer hunt which will be filmed for his TV show.