Anyone hunt the Mescalero?

[Wheels]

Curious if anyone on here has ever hunted the reservation? Think it looks like a good time, could play some golf during the day when the elk are bedded..
Not sure how many years out they are booked or size of the bulls there, but it is in a good spot.

 

[MJB]

Tagged

 

[BJP]

Me and my buddy hunted it 4 years ago passed a 372 first 15 minutes that was killed later that morning biggest bull of the week, incredible hunting for 320 to 350 bulls with a chance at something bigger, nearly impossible to get a trophy tag unless somebody has to dropped out.

 

[Mojave]

It is 50 miles from my house. Last time I asked last year they were $15,000 for a bull hunt.

I hunted in 34 for deer last year. Saw some bulls on the other side of the fence in the rez. 34 is known to be a good unit. The rez is probably better based on their management. 34 gets a ton of people harassing everyone in there. I'd prefer to hunt the rez.

 

[Wheels]

Me and my buddy hunted it 4 years ago passed a 372 first 15 minutes that was killed later that morning biggest bull of the week, incredible hunting for 320 to 350 bulls with a chance at something bigger, nearly impossible to get a trophy tag unless somebody has to dropped out.

I’m assuming you had a trophy tag? Did you guys shoot anything?

 

[BJP]

Yea we had 1 trophy tag and 1 management tag shot a 330 on last day with trophy tag and a 325 8x5 with management,

 

[BJP]

They didn't do the trophy tags last year , only management for herd improvement 14500 for 2 management bulls.

 

[Brooks]

I heard they shut down the trophy bull hunting for2 or 3 years to let the trophy bulls get some age and size. There will be some big bulls on the Rez again when they open it back up !

 

[Wheels]

Interesting. Their website is pretty vague but it shows their bull elk package hunt at $14,500. I have not contacted them to see what that entails.
Just thinking out loud about maybe doing this as my last elk hunt. Still have a few good years left and a couple hunts planned in WY and AZ, but will be out of the points game after that.

 

[BJP]

Talked to our guide there he won't know till March if there gonna do trophy or management for this year, outta be good the first year they start back with trophy tags but nearly impossible to get one.

 

[trophyhill]

One of the owners of this site has and killed a bigun! There’s a video of that somewhere. There’s so many elk in the national forest that elk and deer have taken up residence in town. I shoulda took a few pics when I left work today. Driving from the Casino to Cloudcroft at 2am thru the rez a year or 2 ago revealed to me just how many elk and wild horses are on the Mescalero Apache land

 

[Goathill]

One day,LOL

 

[Slick8]

I've never hunted there but visited the place when scouting unit 36 for elk two years ago in mid-sept.

They rifle hunt in Sept which is an obvious game changer. If they're truly letting the trophies rest a few years that's a good thing. I looked at their recent kills which was a mix of management and trophies and didn't see much over 330 class bulls. In reality, I don't know the true historical trophy numbers of that place but 330s are a darn good animal for the region.

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[TTT]

Looks like they also have cow and management bull hunts on the reservation. How does the process work there, regarding getting a guide? I imagine that like many reservations, guides have to be tribal members.

 

[Slick8]

Guides are tribal members.

Call the number listed on the website and prepare to wait for some time for a response or answer.

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[Fatcamp]

It is 50 miles from my house. Last time I asked last year they were $15,000 for a bull hunt.

I hunted in 34 for deer last year. Saw some bulls on the other side of the fence in the rez. 34 is known to be a good unit. The rez is probably better based on their management. 34 gets a ton of people harassing everyone in there. I'd prefer to hunt the rez.

Care to expand on this?

 

[TTT]

Guides are tribal members.

Call the number listed on the website and prepare to wait for some time for a response or answer.

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Called & waited, and waited….
Not ever being there before, I would be happy to go on a management bull hunt the first year, rather thsn committing a lot of money for a bigger bull.
I had heard, from 3rd hand sources, that successfully drawn hunters are assigned guides. Is this really the case?

 

[Red Letters]

I use to hunt a ranch that borders the reservation, the elk went back and forth between the two properties. The quality of animals is outstanding, the ranch I hunted killed bruisers every year, expecting to see something mid 300’s-400 wasn’t out of line. I haven’t been in years so the news about them canceling trophy hunts is odd to me.

 

[Mojave]

Care to expand on this?

Ruidoso and Cloudcroft are the primary location for the bigger population centers in west Texas to go to the mountains. Because unlike the Gila there are boutiques, diners, BBQ places, shopping and other tourist junk. So thousands of idiots in jeep jamborees and UTV groups come to the Lincoln National Forest for recreation.

Even the most remote jeep trail will have a parade of idiots during elk season driving straight through it. The Lincoln in Unit 34 is covered in jeep trails, some of them are open (because the Texas people campaign for them to be open) some of them are closed.

I can not tell you the number of times I have hiked into a closed area to find a 600 yard long train of idiots in Jeeps or UTVs.

New Mexico, so far from Heaven so close to Texas.

 

[Slick8]

Called & waited, and waited….
Not ever being there before, I would be happy to go on a management bull hunt the first year, rather thsn committing a lot of money for a bigger bull.
I had heard, from 3rd hand sources, that successfully drawn hunters are assigned guides. Is this really the case?

Not sure how the system works. I've only poked around a couple of times while up there for other hunts. It's hard to get much info from them or find anyone in charge.

I agree the management hunt would be a great introduction to the place and they actually kill some nice bulls. If I were to do that, I'd get a hotel or airbb in Ruidoso as it's much cheaper than staying on the res.

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