Wheelchair group goes on televised hunt in Elko

ELKO -- The experiences of two hunters in wheelchairs snagging antelope bucks on Newmont Mining Corp.'s TS Ranch in Boulder Valley aired the Tuesday before Christmas on the television show "Blue Collar Adventures."

"It will be great press for Elko," said the segment's host, former Lamoille resident Jay Presti, who was on the hunt.

"I speak of Elko quite a bit and talk about Dunphy and the TS Ranch," the 1991 Elko High School grad said of the 28-minute segment on the Versus network.

"The main emphasis is on the two hunters and what mining gives back to the environment," Presti said.

Josh Loftis and Bill Cotter, of Reno, shot their antelope in the portion of the TS Ranch where water pumped from Newmont's underground mine and Barrick Gold Corp.'s Goldstrike Mine irrigates crops and creates wildlife habitat.

"Newmont generally doesn't let anyone hunt in that area," Presti said.

The TS Ranch worked with the Nevada Outdoorsmen in Wheelchairs organization to organize the hunt held in August.

"Newmont and the TS Ranch were very excited to be able to partner with the Nevada Outdoorsmen in Wheelchairs. The partnerships that were developed during the hunt on the TS Ranch are immense," Newmont spokesman Matt Murray said.

"We were proud to be able to donate the antelope tags for these individuals that otherwise may never get the opportunity to be part of the great American outdoors," Murray said, adding that the hunters filled their tags.

The TS Ranch's irrigated alfalfa fields attract hundreds of antelope around the irrigation pivots, so the ranch receives landowner-damage compensation tags for hunting antelope, Murray said.

Loftis was born with spina bifida and has been in a wheelchair his whole life.

Murray said Loftis had hunted before, but the hunt on the TS Ranch was his first in many years.

Cotter was paralyzed from the chest down after a car accident.

"This was Bill's first time ever in the field," Murray said.

Nevada Outdoorsmen in Wheelchairs founder Rob McMillan was on hand for the event, along with people from the Nevada Department of Wildlife, Nevada Bighorns Unlimited, Newmont and friends and family of the hunters, as well as Presti.

Chad Bliss, a member of the Nevada Outdoorsmen in Wheelchairs board and the Eureka County Wildlife Advisory Board, contacted Dan Gralian, manager of Newmont's Nevada Land and Livestock, including the TS Ranch, about the hunting tags in early spring.

The ball rolled from there, Murray said.

Gralian took the hunting group on a tour the following day to explain the relationship between the mining operations and the TS Ranch. They also visited Newmont's TS coal-fired power plant on the ranch.

The Nevada Outdoorsmen in Wheelchairs presented Gralian with an award for his help with the project.

Presti said this was his third season producing "Blue Collar Adventures," which is shot at locations worldwide. He lives in Stephenville, Texas.

Presti is classified as an expert outdoorsman.

He grew up riding horses and hunting and fishing at the base of the Ruby Mountains. He became a collegiate rodeo athlete, and still hunts and fishes.