Hunt of a life time

[Cowpoke]

New Mexico opened a new area to elk hunting. The elk in this GMU have never been hunted before. One hunt for 5 days (12 Oct.) any legal (rifle) with 10 tags either sex given out. I drew one of those tags. Obviously there are bulls up there that are dying of old age. I live in this GMU and the wilderness national forest area is a 5 minute drive from my home. Scouting time is not an issue as I am retired. I also plan to bear, turkey hunt this area which is rather new to me. This is my first elk hunt. I think my chances to harvest a trophy bull are good. There may be plenty of elk on public land in this unit however, I can't find any management data on these elk herds. I will be by myself on a DIYer. I have a side-by-side on a trailer. I want to make the best of it. I am looking for a 320 or better which I think may be possible if I get it all together. Any and all suggestions given are appreciated. I am using onX hunt. I don't want to make this GMU public for obvious reasons. Thanks in advance all replies.

 

[gdt]

Congrats on the tag. If you are hunting post rut, it may be a bit challenging. I would look into info on Elk 101. Cory Jacobson has a lot of information that can help the DIYer.

 

[dustin ray]

congrats on the tag what unit is it

 

[BIGCIM]

congrats on the draw

 

[Cowpoke]

GMU 14

Thanks...I was going to keep it under wraps but it is GMU 14. When thinking about it, I realized that two of the tags were given to non-residents and I would like the folks here on this forum to know about the opportunity. Last year a game warden told me to keep an eye out for a rifle hunt on GMU 14. It was listed as a one liner at the top of a page in the booklet for draw hunts for this year. Wasn't mentioned anywhere else. I missed it at first glance. Obviously the websites that calculate draw odds and success rates for the previous year had no mention of the hunt. So I think there wasn't as many apps for this first year as there could have been. I will say that I think unit 17 (archery) is way under-rated but is still rather hard to draw. Everyone wants to hunt 15 or the 16s but when you think about how many trophy bulls are pulled out of those units and how many bulls taken out of 17 it all makes sense.

It is difficult enough for residents here to draw a decent tag. I drew my 2nd choice. The 3rd choice was an archery tag on one of the WMAs which is residents only but still like buying a lotto ticket. With no preference points given out the odds can never be in your favor. You can get OTC tags with a private land authorization as of this year, but the landowners sell those tags to outfitters. Roughly 2 grand for a cow, 5-7 for a bull and 8-14k for a trophy bull. New Mexico has 95k plus elk. Not as many as Colorado but still of respectable numbers. New Mexico is known for quality hunts. I fathom to guess that the state wants to keep it that way but they could give out more tags than they do. If I didn't get drawn, I was prepared to get a Colorado OTC early archery for one of the southern units which is just several hours drive for me.

 

[Cowpoke]

Thank you. Actually we have a slightly later start to the rut down here in the Southwest and South Central. I think the first full moon this year is around the 15th of September. I am hoping that the cows are still a squatin' in the middle of October. Might be the second round though. The first week of Oct (rifle) up North by the border with Colorado gets really good success overall. Bowhunters want to be in the Gila the 2nd to the 4th week of September.

 

[dustin ray]

After many years of disappointment trying to get a NM elk tag this year was was no deferent but i did draw a late season ( Jan ) archery deer tag in 13 it should be fun.
good luck on your hunt and i look foward on seeing your success on your hunt

 

[Cowpoke]

Thank you...that deer hunt sounds like a good time. GMU 13 has turned out some state records. I didn't get drawn for deer. I'm new to NM only my second season here so I am still learning my way around the draw system. And to think I used to take bowhuntung deer for granted in SD. I had a few acres of woods in CRP on my ranch up there. Here the deer are as thick as fleas on a coondog and I can't stick 'em.