Off tomorrow for NM

[BDB]

Just finished packing for my cow elk hunt in New Mexico with some buds. I work til 4pm tomorrow then head to the airport. Hopefully I'll be paying for extra baggage on the way home

I went 2 years ago for my first hunt with the same group and shot my first cow elk. It is a tough public land hunt but it's a great time. I got the only one 2 years ago and the 4 of them got skunked last year even though shots were fired.

Anywho, good luck to all those hunting in the next week and hopefully I'll post up a smiling pic of me and my second wonderfully tasty 400 pound chuck-o-dinner

 

[Jagermeister]

BDB, I will follow next week for a muzzleloader cow elk hunt with a buddy in NM. I keep my fingers crossed for you! How do you get the meat home? I figure having it processed and then shipped by the butcher?

Take care, George

 

[BDB]

If I get one I'll be processing it and packaging it myself. Good luck to you on your hunt. Hopefully both of us have meat in the freezer at the end of it !!

 

[Jagermeister]

We got stuck with a default area that my pal has never hunted before. So we'll have a harder time than anticipated. Due to other commitments we also won't start until the second day of the season. We are confident though that if we find the elk, we'll nail one! My gear is packed and the muzzleloader is dead on at 100 yards. Pray for snow, so the animals come down a bit!

How do you get the quarters home if you process it yourself?

Is yours a rifle tag? I think with only a 150 yard range life is harder than when you take your .300 mag. In any case good luck to you!

George

 

[Widux]

Good Luck guys- Must be grea thunting ELk this late in season--i hunted NM once- drew a tag on the laguna res- great hunt passed everything up as i had already scored a bull elk earlier in MT--saw lots of medium bulls 4x5-5x5 and one fair 6x6- but was waiting for snow on Mt taylor to drive them big boys down- didn't happen.

 

[BDB]

I'll completely debone and cut and wrap the meat while in camp unless I shoot it the last day in which case I will cool and debone into large chunks to get home. Last time I brought back quarters but I was driving instead of flying to it was much easier!

 

[wmidbrook]

Good luck~! I hope you nail another one this year.

 

[Franklin3]

I know your back cuz I read your other post.
Lets have the story..................................................
Pics........................................................................

 

[BDB]

The hunt can best be described as cold and barren!!!!

And I mean cold! Monday AM was -9F when we hopped in the truck to get to the hunting spots. Everything was frozen solid, even in the trailers. Pop and beer cans exploding, water jugs turned into solid blocks. It was a blast!

But, the elk hunting was a complete bust and I came home two days early. There are
two safe places for them to hang out while under pressure. Bandalier National Monument and a HUGE (100 sq mile - 10*10) track of private land that the NM gov just bought called the Baca. The elk were not down low enough yet due to no snow. They were all sitting in the safe areas.

We covered lots of ground looknig for sign and it was all a week old or older. Oh well, a fun time was had but it was damn cold !!

That's hunting for ya!

 

[BDB]

Oh yeah, about the pics. Even though the scenery and country was awesome, I didn't take any pics. I tried to take one pic of the thermometer but my camera was frozen and wouldn't turn on!

 

[Speckmisser]

At least you got out there, Steve. Congragts on that. But -9 shouldn't be a big deal to you canucks. That's t-shirt weather!

 

[bighorn67]

Well Steve.....................all I can say is.........$#%^&%$#@$%$^%&%$#$#!

That ought to cover it. I'm hoping to have better luck next week in Utah. I postponed once because the outfitter said the elk hadn't moved down yet. We'll hope they do soon.

Dave

 

[Jimmy Jones]

Good luck with the cow hunt. I'm from Missouri and I've always wanted to do a trophy elk hunt. I know NM has some great elk, can anyone give me any advice on what to do to get in a hunt in NM. I know they have a ton of lottery hunts there, but I have no idea where the best area's are. I figure if it's a lottery, I might as well go for the best hunt that offers the best opportunity for a trophy elk.

Obviously I'm talking about next season, but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

JJ

 

[jlostrander]

Search this site for some info on that.

I think some info. is there. The NM game and fish is the best source and it will take some time for you to go over that info.

Good luck.

Logan

PS> I have noticed that elk hunting is almost (always) hunting, if you know what I mean. I have spent money on a tag. Got to the place I was going to find tracks all over the snow, but barely got a glimpse of the actual animals on that hunt. Just as this tread explains, it is by no means a for sure thing on an elk hunt for wild game on public land for sure.

 

[wmidbrook]

Well, maybe next year BDB~! Did I ever mention that a hot bowl of tag soup saved my life once in -5 degree weather?

 

[Jagermeister]

More tag soup on my trip too. Weather was warm - too warm. We didn't even see a single elk nore fresh sign. We were all over the unit and all the high elevations that were accessible. A lot of the places were elk country with tons of OLD sign. We concluded that they must have moved into the wilderness area. A no go without horses.

After talking to some folks it turns out that fish and game had a RIFLE hunt in the same unit the week before the muzzleloader hunt. As far as I am concerned, they screwed us out of our money. At least have the muzzleloader hunt first, before letting the rifle guys have it? The elk were probably scared into the next county from last week's rifle hunt already.

Next year we won't settle for an arbitrary unit and make sure there isn't another hunt shortly before ours! My advice to everyone else is to do the same. I will write a letter to game and fish and mention my concerns.

George

PS: We saw 3 legal muly bucks, one of them a huge 4x4. They could have all been had within muzzleloader distance from the raods. Sigh ... we may try this unit for deer, but then we'll probably only see elk!