Bryce Venable (aka Elkhunter96) downed himself a fantastic bull elk. He posted in the forum...........
"Gila Bull - I learned second season rifle hunts are tougher than you think. Having hunted late season in other states before, I thought I knew beforehand what it would be like. Word to the wise, it's way warmer in NM even towards the end of Oct. The bulls had split off from the cows and were in the darkest, nastiest place you could find. On the fifth and last morning, I finally spotted a cool shooter bull at 1,500 yards. Since I'm not a military sniper, I decided to cut the distance via hiking back to the truck, driving around and praying he would still be out. Long story short, he wasn't out. But after taking a gamble and heading from the only water hole around straight to where we had last seen him, the elk gods smiled upon us. 50 yard shot through the trees and one bullet later from my .338, I had my trophy."