BDB
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2002
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Well, I got back yesterday from my first elk trip to NM. We hunted hard for 4.5 days, well only 4 days for me. I got a nice old cow on the last evening (I was leaving after the morning hunt on the last day).
Opening day saw tons of sign but all 2-3 days old. The herds had moved out of our area with after the first cow hunt the week before ours. We searched high and low for them and were going to bail on our area for the third day to higher country since we had no snow. During the night after the second day we got 2" of snow and then another 3" on Monday and decided to wait and see if they would come back down. Sure enough, they did, took a day and half though.
My buddies had shown me where they migrate through from the Bandalier National Monument land down to the low country and we were trying to intercept them on the way through. Most of the guys were working this burn ridge that was fairly open. I was hoping the elk would move down in the heavy cover and then hang until dark to cross the more open areas. I headed about 3-400 yards back into cover and found a spot with about a 60-70 yard open run (5 yards wide) in front of me and a broken view of about 60 yards to my left. I setup a little ground blind and a chair and waited. Right at 4:10 (sunset 4:46) I saw legs and 3 elk popped out of the thick timber at the end of the run. I had the scope on the base of the neck of the lead cow and was going to nail her if she came closer that 30 yards. Problem was they were coming right at me and they were lined up. Right at 40 yards out she made a left turn back into the thicker cover. This gave me the broadside, well almost, and got her out of the line of the other two. No time to waste, one more step and she was out of my shooting lane and gone. BAM. She bolted 40 yards and piled up. A couple of kicks and it was all over and I had my first elk on the ground.
She was a big old girl that fish and game estimated at 8 years. She was an adult cow when the radio collar was put on 3 years ago, but 8 was a guess based on teeth. I was pretty excited but dark was coming on fast so I radioed my buddy who started working towards me. The pics below were taken by me with the auto timer and some didn't turn out too well, but I was rushing with so much work to do and the sun dropping fast.
All in all an amazing trip and I felt very luck to be the only one of the 4 of us in camp to connect. Tough hunt with lots of climbing mountains and dropping into valleys, but an amazing experience. I think I am hooked !!!!!
Here are some pics from the trip.
Steve
Here are two shots of me and the cow. Sorry for the tongue hanging out, I didn't notice on the first picture and the second was after I moved her from behind the tree where she fell so I could start dressing her. DAMN they are hard to move by yourself. Thank god for the snow and the radio collar !!!
Loaded in my truck. Luckily she fell 100 yards up hill from a 4*4 road that I could get my truck to and 4 of us managed to drag her down hill in the snow to the truck. There was a nice hill that I backed the truck up to and dropped to the tailgate level with her in so we could do all the work at camp instead of in the woods. It was 14 degrees 2 hours after sunset !!!!!
Just a pic of the snow falling at camp.
Opening day saw tons of sign but all 2-3 days old. The herds had moved out of our area with after the first cow hunt the week before ours. We searched high and low for them and were going to bail on our area for the third day to higher country since we had no snow. During the night after the second day we got 2" of snow and then another 3" on Monday and decided to wait and see if they would come back down. Sure enough, they did, took a day and half though.
My buddies had shown me where they migrate through from the Bandalier National Monument land down to the low country and we were trying to intercept them on the way through. Most of the guys were working this burn ridge that was fairly open. I was hoping the elk would move down in the heavy cover and then hang until dark to cross the more open areas. I headed about 3-400 yards back into cover and found a spot with about a 60-70 yard open run (5 yards wide) in front of me and a broken view of about 60 yards to my left. I setup a little ground blind and a chair and waited. Right at 4:10 (sunset 4:46) I saw legs and 3 elk popped out of the thick timber at the end of the run. I had the scope on the base of the neck of the lead cow and was going to nail her if she came closer that 30 yards. Problem was they were coming right at me and they were lined up. Right at 40 yards out she made a left turn back into the thicker cover. This gave me the broadside, well almost, and got her out of the line of the other two. No time to waste, one more step and she was out of my shooting lane and gone. BAM. She bolted 40 yards and piled up. A couple of kicks and it was all over and I had my first elk on the ground.
She was a big old girl that fish and game estimated at 8 years. She was an adult cow when the radio collar was put on 3 years ago, but 8 was a guess based on teeth. I was pretty excited but dark was coming on fast so I radioed my buddy who started working towards me. The pics below were taken by me with the auto timer and some didn't turn out too well, but I was rushing with so much work to do and the sun dropping fast.
All in all an amazing trip and I felt very luck to be the only one of the 4 of us in camp to connect. Tough hunt with lots of climbing mountains and dropping into valleys, but an amazing experience. I think I am hooked !!!!!
Here are some pics from the trip.
Steve
Here are two shots of me and the cow. Sorry for the tongue hanging out, I didn't notice on the first picture and the second was after I moved her from behind the tree where she fell so I could start dressing her. DAMN they are hard to move by yourself. Thank god for the snow and the radio collar !!!
Loaded in my truck. Luckily she fell 100 yards up hill from a 4*4 road that I could get my truck to and 4 of us managed to drag her down hill in the snow to the truck. There was a nice hill that I backed the truck up to and dropped to the tailgate level with her in so we could do all the work at camp instead of in the woods. It was 14 degrees 2 hours after sunset !!!!!
Just a pic of the snow falling at camp.
