5th Prize
Weatherby Soft Side Gun Cases (10 awarded)
John Hay, Massachusetts
“I am completely consumed by my absolute desire to hunt Whitetails. I have been addicted to hunting this unbelievable and absolutly wonderful animal sence I was 12 with the taking of my first deer in the river bottoms of the Wabash River in my home state of Indiana. I still remember it today as if it were yesterday.
My dream hunt would be, without a doudt, to hunt out west in Montana. This state has forever been a place I have always wanted to go to and see as well as hunt. I am a Federal Correction Officer and work at the Federal Prison located in Fort Devens, Massachusetts. I have a difficult job working with the most difficult peaple in the world, and hunting is one of only two things that rejuvinates me and gets me through the rest of the year. The other and most important is my wife and kids. Living in Indiana hunting was great and the deer, large healthy animals, were everywhere. However deer hunting in Massachusetts is at best very poor. The cost of going home for deer season is a strain on my familiy in both time away from them and cost of fuel driving 20 hours to go back home to hunt. Even though it is a burden, my wife understands that deer hunting is part of my life that I cannot live without. It’s like a spiritual rebirth.
My life has been spent sacrificing and protecting others. I am a Marine Veteran from the Gulf War and while serving in the Marines, I went through four years of service not being able to go home and hunt. And now with the cost of traveling, I’m starting to feel the budget crunch and the reality of not be able to go home in the coming years to hunt and visit my family in Indiana.
With that being said, I want to tell you who I would take on my dream hunt. It is my family. My wife, twin sons and my little girl. I would want them to be with me on this once in a lifetime hunting opportunity. The best thing about taking my family is that my wife has always wanted to go to Montana as bad as I have and the kids get a once in a lifetime opportunity to see what America used to be. A open, free, wild America without all the urban sprawl. I know that this dream hunt is probably more than you folks at Weatherby want to provide for a man and his family due to the cost of sending a family to Montana but it is the absolute heartfelt truth.
The rifle of choice would be the Vanguard SUB-MOA Stainless. I’m not saying this because it is your contest, I’m speaking the truth. Even though I personaly can’t purchase a Vanguard at this time, it has always been the only large caliber bolt gun I ever wanted. I have held many of them in firearms store and the Vanguard absolutely beats the others out there in craftmanship and feel. A rifle must be of the finest quality and just as important feel right in the shooter’s hands. The Vanguard SUB-MOA Stainless does this for me without question! The caliber I would use is the .30-06 Springfield! I absolutely have always wanted a .30-06. I think that it is the greatest single rifle caliber ever made. To have that caliber matched with the feel and the quality of a Vanguard SUB-MOA Stainless rifle would be the greatest firearm I will ever own if you folks would be so kind to honor me with such a wonderful firearm. So with the greatest respect and admiration I want to thank you, Weatherby, for the opportunity to tell you about my dream hunt.”