New Mexico Archery Elk: Unit 6B - Beauty & Passion

mtntop said:
I’ll be on the 2nd hunt. 😉. Don’t shoot my bull! I’m not sure one place is as good as another. Elk should be dispersed throughout.
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Ha, I'll leave him for ya, don't worry

Are you on the 2nd archery? If so, we should hook up, I plan on being there for the whole 2 weeks from Sept 1st to Sept 14th
 
Sorry for the lack of update, my leg took a good turn for the worse after pushing it too hard and a lot of my concentration had to be about dialing pack my PT and work out regimen.

Will have a big update on plans and information about the VC I've learned from the park. Also some weather thoughts with this drought.
 
I tagged along on the 2nd bowhunt last year in the Valles. The same two guys drew the 1st hunt this year (I'm guessing the odds of drawing those tags in back to back years is about 1:9,000) and my brother-in-law drew the muzzleloader hunt this year. From my limited experience last year, there are tons of elk there, but we did not see tons of huge bulls. The one guy shot a 355 bull the 4th day, which was the biggest bull we saw. The other guy shot a 300ish bull over a little spring the first night. We saw one bull that would have gone 330ish, but other than that we saw mostly 300ish bulls. Don't get me wrong, a 355 bull is a giant in my book, but there aren't 360 bulls under every juniper. It is dreadfully dry up there right now. I believe they are forecasting wetter than normal monsoon season, but let's hope it comes early...the whole state is a tinder box. I'm new to the forum, so I'm not sure I can send or receive PM's, but I'd be more than willing to discuss/send pics to the two guys who drew the archery hunts this year. You really are in for a helluva hunt.
 
Wapiti7 said:
I tagged along on the 2nd bowhunt last year in the Valles. The same two guys drew the 1st hunt this year (I'm guessing the odds of drawing those tags in back to back years is about 1:9,000) and my brother-in-law drew the muzzleloader hunt this year. From my limited experience last year, there are tons of elk there, but we did not see tons of huge bulls. The one guy shot a 355 bull the 4th day, which was the biggest bull we saw. The other guy shot a 300ish bull over a little spring the first night. We saw one bull that would have gone 330ish, but other than that we saw mostly 300ish bulls. Don't get me wrong, a 355 bull is a giant in my book, but there aren't 360 bulls under every juniper. It is dreadfully dry up there right now. I believe they are forecasting wetter than normal monsoon season, but let's hope it comes early...the whole state is a tinder box. I'm new to the forum, so I'm not sure I can send or receive PM's, but I'd be more than willing to discuss/send pics to the two guys who drew the archery hunts this year. You really are in for a helluva hunt.
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Just sent a PM, understood on the 300 bulls are everywhere and the drought is strong... going to be interesting looking and holding out for a 360+ if I can find him.
 
Marine4life said:
Congrats on an amazing tag. PM me if you want some basic info. My parents used to own a cabin on the western boundary of the Caldera and I hunted 6a a lot when I was a resident. Walked that fence many of times. I have also hunted in the Caldera 3 times but never the tag holder. My parents frequently draw cow tags in there and in 2015 my dad drew the second rifle bull tag. We got him a small bull after he missed a real nice one were very thrilled considering he was 81 at the time. The place is amazing. My first piece of advice is to get a good mountain bike and ride. They closed all but a couple of roads to vehicles but most of them are maintained and a good way to get around can be the bike. The rut will start very slow most likely but should be good by the 10th. There is a lot of nice bulls in there. I applied for the second archery hunt as first choice every year. You give me hope.


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I read you hunted 6A a lot? I happened to draw a rifle tag for mid OCT in that unit. This will be my 1st ever hunt and I will be traveling from CA. Any advise would be apreciated. PM is OK
 
Guessing his hunt was either a bust, or he didnt recover from the injury to his leg. Either one sucks. Hopefully it was a good hunt!
 
KHNC said:
Guessing his hunt was either a bust, or he didnt recover from the injury to his leg. Either one sucks. Hopefully it was a good hunt!
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Should have been an pretty good hunt regardless of scoring on a bull. I agree with you I hope it wasn't the injury that kept him from going would suck to have to eat that tag.
 
Hey guys, almost didn’t happen, a ridiculous story actually to all of this that ended really well. Putting together photos and a video still. Headed out again on a rifle hunt tomorrow for a week. I’ll finish up the recap soon with my friend. I’ll just say it’s definitely the most insane public land hunt in North America, I really hope the NPS keeps it a preserve and not a park.

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So, how was it. I hunted 6c and saw some big boys moving in and it of the valles. Shot a decent bull opening morning.


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I see I am late to this party but better late than never. First let me say congrats on two fronts. First for a great recovery and second the drawing of the tag. A few years ago a couple of friends of mine and myself found ourselves holding late season archery tags for New Mexico for Unit 6A. It just so happens my wife and I were traveling from Alabama to the Grand Canyon and spent a few days outside of Albuquerque, NM. I found myself talking to a guy from Vermont who has used a guide in that area for years and suggested that I call him up. As luck would have it the next year we were in his camp. It was amazing. We saw some big bulls and lots of elk in general. We were in elk everyday. The guide and his guys were very professional and made us feel right at home, well we didn't have sweet tea but it was close to home as it could get. ha. We saw some beautiful country and have decided to go back but this time for a rifle hunt if possible. We were going to try to go last year but some things came up to where the guys couldn't make it. We plan on putting in for the draw in 2019. The guide does have access to private land with guaranteed tags if we want to spend just a bit more. Now I know, there is nothing like a DIY elk hunt but it sure is nice to have food waiting on you when you get back after a long day of hiking and running down bulls. ha.
 
As we anxiously await SMS's story on the Valles, I figured I would post a recap of my Bro in Law's muzzle hunt no the Valles to tide us over. I tagged along on 2nd bowhunt last year and it was the funnest hunt I've been on (both killed nice mature bulls). My BIL doesn't hunt much, so I put him in for primo hunts only. His first choice had to be muzzle in Valles after my 2017 experience. Well, the lucky bastard drew it (like 2% draw odds). The same dudes that drew archery in 2017 drew again in 2018 (yeah, that's about 1:1000 odds). I couldn't tag along this year, but they passed along some intel. We hiked up the bottom of a canyon that has a pretty good tank and some wallows and listened and 4 bulls started screaming up the ridge. My buddy stayed behind and would bugle periodically and the answers helped us keep tabs on 'em. We eventually caught the last group at the top of the ridge about 90 yards ahead of us. One cow had us pegged but didn't bark or blow out. The bull just wouldn't step out from some tangled oaks and they eventually pushed across a saddle and up a little knob, converging on another group. I am not sure how we did not get a shot off over the next 15 minutes. It was an old burn, perfect to catch em in...however the sun had just crested the knob and we were looking right into it and my knucklehead BIL couldn't manage to get a good rest. A couple of the cows finally had enough of us two morons, barked and they blew out like their asses were on fire. We regrouped and made a play on another group down the ridge well to our south that didn't work out. My BIL was pretty knackered, so we headed down the ridge around 10. When we got to the bottom, we heard a scream a couple hundred yards up the ridge. If it was any other unit, I would have assumed it was a hunter who picked the wrong youtube video to watch...it sounded more like a bird scream. I could tell my BIL wanted nothing to do with climbing that ridge again, but my buddy didn't leave him much choice and started sprinting up the hill. I stayed back figuring less movement was better. BIL didn't make it far before he doubled over to catch his breath. I charged up the hill and told him to get his shit together. Meanwhile, my buddy goes up a little rise and drops to a knee and starts freaking out. Buddy grew up in the Gila and is used to seeing ginormous elk, so for him to be acting like a 6 year old means it was a good bull. I kicked BIL in the arse one more time and sprinted up to my buddy and caught glimpse of the bull just as he was topping out. Had to be one of the biggest bulls I've ever seen. The bull ended up bedding across the canyon in a thick unburned patch. We headed out with a plan for the evening. That plan didn't work out, as the elk didn't start moving until late and never made it to my BIL. Next morning, we headed out 30 minutes earlier planning on beating them up the ridge and waiting on them. Apparently, the elk got the memo too and left 45 minutes earlier. We heard the distinctive screamer and then heard them fighting ahead of us, only this time they were on the move and heading straight to bed. We started catching up once they hit the east hillside and we climbed trying to get above em. The screamer was still a ways off but another bugle was pretty close. We hit an old logging road and I thought we needed to go higher, but BIL was convinced we were above (think that decision was influenced heavily his fitness, or lack thereof). My buddy let out a lazy go to bed bugle and he immediately answered and he was close and he was below us. We eased down the logging road and 70 yards later catch a patch of tan. It's the bull and no cows, lazily feeding. Wind is perfect. Now, if it was my buddy and I we would have already climbed the top and headed towards the screamer, but this bull was more than acceptable for BIL. He dropped to a knee, waited for bull to step out and wham. No reload necessary. Good hell, that place is amazing!Elk-Rod-Valles Caldera #3.jpg
 
August 30th and 31st

Well, not sure if I'm going to get too extremely detailed into the story because it really pushes a lot into my personal life that made this hunt even more insane.

Before the hunt began I was feeling great, my body was moving in a positive direction and then it all came crashing down again, I suffered another life-threatening injury from a bike crash that put this hunt into jeopardy. At this point, I wasn't even sure if I was going to live nevertheless go on the hunt.

Fast forward to late August and I was back in the woods hunting elk OTC getting ready for New Mexico. I had some of the most physically and mentally exhausting 14 hour days but kept pushing still questioning my physical capability to do the hunt. I made a smart decision and took 7 days off before New Mexico to rest, stretch, and prepare.

We landed down in New Mexico on August 30th to get our camp settled in as orientation was the next day. When we arrived it was an hour before sunset and I've never seen a more picturesque landscape in my life, this place is absolutely stunning.

We sat down in our trucks that night and the next watching over 1,000 elk pour into the Valle Grande, anticipation was starting to build the night of the hunt, however getting close to that one bull with 500 head wasn't going to be easy. Luckily I had the early archery hunt and the big boys were keeping to themselves.

My friend outside of camp, not our trailer

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Putting in the final practice and sharpening my #1 head

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