Fr. Mark Hanifan, a Catholic priest at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Lovelock, made his way into the Nevada Record Book after harvesting a deer in November.
Hanifan, a lifelong Nevadan and hunter, was born in 1968 in Reno and raised in Gardnerville. He graduated from UNR in 1998 with a BS in Civil Engineering.
He worked as an engineer in training for two years before entering the seminary in 2000 (St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, Calif). He was an ordained a priest in 2007 for the Catholic Diocese of Reno.
Here is the unfolding as Hanifan recalls.
Saturday, Nov. 4: Hunting partner Andy leaves early for an area south of Ely
Sunday. Nov. 5: Andy spots two bulls, nothing big yet.
Monday, Nov. 6: Andy spots two more bulls in the morning, one being the one I end up shooting and he films it from a long way away through a spotting scope. I arrive that night about 11 p.m.
Tues Nov 7: We get up at 4 a.m. and begin the hunt. We hike into the wilderness area about a mile to look for the nice elk Andy spotted the day before. We spot my elk but it is too late in the evening to get close to it.
Wednesday, Nov 8: We get up at 4 a.m. again and try another area hoping to find a good elk that is not so deep in the wilderness area. It would require so much work to get it out. But, no dice. We did not find any elk.
The weather is too warm and the elk are high up the mountain in the wilderness area. We decide if we are going to have any luck, we are going to have to go deep into the wilderness area.
Thursday, Nov. 9: We get up at 3 a.m. and hike two miles in. We spotted the elk we wanted to try and get. We watched it from from a location about 600 yards away. I decided I needed to get closer and so moved the overwatch spot.
The elk was bedded down in thick brush so we got up on a high rock outcropping overlooking the area.
We waited four hours at that spot staring at the thick brush hoping the elk would get up.
We worried that maybe it snuck out without us noticing. I had ranged all around the area while we waited and hoped for it to emerge.
It was going to be a 350-yard shot if he came out. Andy finally spots it in the brush. Both Andy and I were shaking from the cold and from the excitement.
About an hour later it finally emerged from the brush and turned broadside. Andy was trying to get me to wait on the shot for him to get his camera on the spotting scope.
No way I was going to pass on the shot. I had the shot and took it. The elk just stood there like nothing happened and I was shocked and thought maybe I missed. I put in another shot hoping for better results.
Again, it just stood there, now I am freaking out thinking maybe I knocked the scope out of position and was missing. Suddenly the elk toppled over. Yahooooo! Elk down. We got down to the elk about 4 p.m.
We took the pictures of the elk being down. We then quartered the elk (stripped off the two front quarters and the two back quarters). We de-boned the two front quarters and put one in each of our back packs.
We took out the two backstraps and added one to each backpack. We had about 60 pounds of meat in each of our packs. We then put the to back quarters up in the trees and left the carcass with the horns on it for the next day. We hiked out. Exhausted, we got back to camp about 11 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 10: We drive into Ely to get some trekking poles for me, Andy already had some. We lighten our packs as much as we can. We hike back in. We get to the elk about 3 p.m. We bone out the remaining back two quarters and saw off the horns from the carcass.
(Note to self, get a bone saw, using a hack saw takes forever to cut off elk horns). We put one hind quarter in each pack.
They weigh about 60-70 pounds each. I get the honor, as the shooter and tag holder, of also having to pack the horns (about 40 pounds) on my backpack.
My pack weighs about 100 pounds now. When I put the pack on, I can't believe how stinking heavy it feels. I can't believe I have to hike out with it.
Take it slow is the motto and pray we don't get hurt in the process. The terrain out is terrible, no trail and lots of brush and downed trees in our path. With the help of the grace of God, adrenaline, and a steeled will we make it out, bruised, scraped and wobbling terribly from exhaustion.
We get back to camp about 8 p.m., sore from head to toe but elated. We grabbed a tape measure and rough scored the animal at about 335 points, enough to make it into the Nevada Record Book (minimum 325). The elk would later be officially scored for entry into the Nevada Record Book and it scored 342 7/8). We celebrate with a game of Texas Holdem and a glass of fine whiskey.
Saturday, Nov. 11: We pack up and head home, proud of our successful elk hunt.
