DIY New Mexico Elk Hunt
I was fortunate and drew a SW New Mexico elk tag this year. The cool thing about this tag was I’d actually drawn this exact same tag before. Last year I killed a great bull in this unit and this definitely gave me a leg up in the scouting process. With that said I didn’t take anything for granted. I still did all my escouting and made a plan. I arrived the Tuesday before the season opened allowing for 3.5 days of scouting. The scouting allowed me to X off some areas as much as it did to show me where the elk were. Tuesday night and Wednesday morning didn’t produce anything. Back during the rainy season sw NM received a lot of rain, but not really much since so it was super important to key in on water. I found elk Wednesday night and 2 different herds of elk on Thursday morning in the same area where I killed my bull last year. The elk were in that area because there are 4 water holes within 2.5 miles (as the crow flies). On Friday night I found another huge herd of elk with atleast 1 herd bull. I was feeling confident.
The night before the opener I just knew I was going to kill a bull opening day. I was doing everything I could to keep myself from getting cocky but it was hard. I have a saying “Never bet against the animal”. I kept telling myself that, but it was hard because I was on the elk. Opening morning came and I was greeted with an unpleasant surprise. Someone beat me to my spot. Saying I was unhappy is an understatement. It was my own fault. I should have gotten up earlier. Saturday sucked! I saw a grand total of ZERO elk and on top of that the guy that beat me to my glassing location was just walking around up there with his super bright regular flashlight. I would not be beat to my spot the next day.
Sunday saw me arriving to my glassing spot 2+ hours before sunrise. I snuck in quiet with a green light and sat in the darkness. As my world began to lighten I would glass and crawl over 15 feet or so to see more between the juniper trees. After about 20 minutes of this I spotted some elk on a far ridge about 1100 yards off. I could immediately tell one of the elk was a bull. Bull elk just look different even without seeing antlers. You can tell quickly. On top of that every group of cows I’d seen had herd bull with them. I took off down the hill from my glassing point and up the ridge on the other side. I belly crawled up to the edge and glassed again. “Cow, cow, cow, cow, cow, spike... BIG BULL behind the tree”. I ranged the tree at 575. I dialed my scope and waited and waited, Im sure it wasn’t that long but it sure felt like it. Finally, one of the cows moved off and the bull stepped into a 4’ gap on the top of the ridge. I squeezed off a round. The gun kicked. I scrambled to get back on target and there laid my bull on top of the ridge. I gathered my things and hiked up the ridge. Elk are huge and this one was no different. A great mature 6x6 bull. He has a couple broken tines but that’s ok. I was elated. I broke him down and packed him out. Another awesome solo diy public land hunt.
The land of enchantment was good to me. We are so blessed to be able to live in this great country.
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Originally Posted by Mars Bluff
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