2020 New Mexico Elk

[huntandfly]

I have never done a write up of a hunt before, so bear with with me.

I was sitting in my dorm overseas this spring when I got a text from my uncle that New Mexico’s draw results were out. I went on to check and found that my dad and I had drawn our first ever premium elk hunt tag and would be going on our first archery elk hunt after years of applying. I spent the next couple of months doing a lot of research and e-scouting and dreaming of hunting bugling bulls. I got back home and starting hitting the target practice pretty hard, staying after it in the gym, and trying to perfect my calling. I took 2 weeks off of work for the first time to ensure that I could hunt the whole season. Finally mid-September rolled around and we started south on the long trip to NM. My grandpa and uncle brought their brand new truck and 5th wheel to help out on our hunt, but it never made it down to NM (a whole entire other story involving 3 separate trips to dealerships across the west and a breakdown in the middle of the road).

 

[huntandfly]

With the truck and trailer stuck at a dealership in Southern Colorado, we found a way to get my dads truck down to where we were at, and managed to continue down to NM, rolling into camp 2 days later than we anticipated, but luckily still prior to opening morning. A family friend who lives close to the unit offered his trailer for us to use which was an absolute lifesaver.

Days 1-2: opening morning was relatively slow, with a couple of distant bugles, one of which belonging to a smaller 6 point that we glimpsed at about 100 yards. We hunted around water, and found that some folks were driving their quads past the road closed signs into areas we thought would be hike-in only. On the second day we stumbled into a bull that bugled just out of sight but never showed his face for us to see what he was. We were told by the other guys camped near us that so far, the rut was considerably slower than what they had seen in years past.

 

[huntandfly]

Day 3: we opted to go deeper into an area we had heard bugles the day prior. We glassed up a group of 5-6 elk including a couple of bulls and starting across the canyon to get above them and set up. We closed in on the bugling herd bull, and set up to start cow calling about 100 yards above and in front of him. He immediately started up the hill, screaming the whole way. Dad came to full draw and as the bull came around the corner, he got a 40 yard broadside shot.

The most critical lesson we learned on this trip came from this experience: you have to stop a walking elk at range before shooting. Dad’s shot hit perfect vertically, but about 10 inches back. I attempted to get another arrow in the bull when he stopped at 60, but it deflected off a branch just 10 yards in front of him.

 

[huntandfly]

Day 3: we knew the shot was not optimal, so we gave the bull a full 24 hours since there would be no weather to prevent tracking. We went back to the shot location, and found exactly 0 blood. We tried following tracks as far as we could, but we were quickly reduced to gridding, which the 3 of us did for about 5 hours, covering both the canyon we were in and the one directly adjacent. Sadly we were never able to recover the bull, which got my dad pretty down for a while. We went back to camp and opted to just go for an evening scout rather than hunt

 

[huntandfly]

Days 4-5: we moved to a new area on day 4, and when in to check out some water I had marked on my maps during scouting. We dropped off a lookout about 3/4 of a mile and started hearing a ton of elk working around the water. We snuck down to the edge and saw 5-6 cows splashing in the water hole, with 2 bulls going at it just out of sight on the side hill. We tried everything to call in one of those bulls but they would not leave the hot cow only 80 yards in front of us. As they slowly worked off, we snuck down the canyon bottom to a wooded point in a meadow and started calling. There were at least 3 herd bulls screaming at each other in that canyon, on all sides of us, including a 320 type 6 point 200 yards across the bottom that we watched for quite a while. After 10 minutes, a really nice 5x6 comes out of the timber across the meadow and walks right at my dad, stopping 40 yards away head on. He couldn’t see a cow (note to self, try a cow decoy next time) so he worked off a bit and then came back in and stopped 50 yards broadside. My dad was not comfortable with either of the shots especially after the day prior so he let him walk. We stayed there until dark and snuck out to the symphony of bugles

Day 5 we started back closer to camp and chased bugles all morning, never getting anything to commit. I did find a nice set of sheds though

 

[huntandfly]

Day 6: we started on the ridges above our camp again, and chased bugling bulls right away. About a mile in, my dad and Uncle split from me and went after a bull in the next canyon while I headed up the ridge after a big 5 point we saw going up there. I snuck over the top of the ridge and froze as I saw the bull broadside, which I then ranged at 60 yards. I wanted to get closer, and as I snuck forward 2 more steps the cow standing 5 yards to his right that I hadn’t seen busted me (classic) and they took off down a huge ridge away from me. That’s where the train hit the tracks. As they rolled down the hill, the herd kicked up 2 more herds each with a herd bull and picked up steam, exploding into a non-stop screaming match. For 15 minutes I had to almost run down the ridge to keep up with them, just trying to get into the middle of it. Finally they slowed down almost a mile later, and I was able to close back down to about 200 yards

 

[huntandfly]

Day 6 continued: I could hear 2 herd bulls running each other ragged across the draw, but I also heard what sounded like a satellite on the outskirts. I threw out a couple of cow calls and I saw that satellite cross through the bottom of the draw headed my way. I set up and called a few more times and that bull worked his way into 50, bugling the whole way, and then turned and started walking away when he didn’t see what he liked. I picked up and ran to the top of the ridge I had come from, back into the timber about 100 yards from him, and cow called 1 more time. He came to me on a string and bugled at me at 35 yards. He then stepped into my opening at 30 and I stopped him, and double lunged him. He took 3 steps into another opening, I nocked another arrow and shot again, passing through the near shoulder and shattering the off shoulder. The bull went 20 yards and piled up in front of me. I had just killed my first archery elk!!

 

[huntandfly]

I worked the bull up completely that morning, and had all the bones out meat hanging in the shade within about 2.5 hours. I had to hike out to a different part of the road, so I strapped the head on and started out. I made a mistake not packing enough water that day (I’m used to hunting areas with tons of available water) so when I made it to the road I was pretty badly dehydrated. Luckily when I got to road, a guide and his client drove by and offered me some water and a lift back to camp. We spent that afternoon packing the elk back to the nearest road (only about a mile from the kill site).

 

[huntandfly]

Days 7-9: we focused on the area around the water where we had had so many bulls bugling around us on day 3. By this time, this area had been hunted by a couple others and there were far fewer ek hanging around. However, there was a large 5x6 that seemed to take the same route to water every evening we were there. On the 9th day, we set up to intercept him and sure enough, his cows popped out 40 yards in front of us. As the bull started to walk out, we felt the wind hit our necks as the thermals finally decided to switch at the worst possible moment. The bull didn’t present a good enough shot before our scent made it up there, and the cows busted out taking him with them.

Day 10: we had enough of the lower country and headed up into the higher elevation. We were on screaming bulls all day, but in the same style as the rest of the hunt, none of them were ever interested in closing the distance closer than 60 yards. We got on 3 different herds but never got any shot opportunities (except for a 5 point that walked by at 40 yards while my dad was focused on the bull bugling in front of him). On our way out that evening, we almost had a shot at a smaller bull right off the road just prior to daylight.

 

[huntandfly]

All in all, we had an amazing experience on our first real archery elk hunt, and learned more than I thought was even possible. Thank you to those couple of folks on this website who gave us some general leads via PM. Here’s hoping 2021 gives us the chance to go do this again!

 

[jvanhoy]

Awesome recap of the hunt. Congrats on a beautiful bull.

 

[Four22]

Congrats! Nice write up!!!

 

[cahunter805]

Congrats!! Great write up and nice bull!

 

[skyfire]

Really appreciate the write up. Good encouragement and hope for the future.

 

[CUElk]

Congrats. Thanks for sharing

 

[F250]

Thank you for sharing a great experience.

 

[Elkhunter24]

Congrats!

 

[Talk2elk]

Congratulations on your bull, fun story to read.

 

[SaskHunter]

Good write up and congrats on the hunt!

 

[MarvB]

Good job! Always great to see someone reporting back after given a tip or two...