Just got back Early! From a very successful elk hunt in NM. Here’s the story……..
My buddy Jon and I set out on the 19 hr drive last Friday the 13th! to New Mexico to hunt bulls for a planned six days of hunting. We stayed in Flagstaff, AZ on Friday night and made the rest of the drive Saturday, arriving at where we would park the truck on Saturday night. Since the season didn’t open till Monday we made camp at the truck for the night with the intent of getting a good night rest then waking up in the AM and shooting some arrows to insure we were still on the spot.
After some shooting we packed our gear and made the 3 mile hike into the area we had scouted on GE. Around the 2 mile mark we stopped at a good spot to glass and immediately started glassing up elk! Two small bulls right away then some cows and a couple more bulls off in the distance. From here we picked out the ridge we would set up camp on and headed that way. With camp set up and several elk sightings opening day was looking pretty good!
Day one
Right at first light I spot two bulls feeding not 200yds behind our camp. I motion for Jon to come over as I was going to set up my Montana decoy and set up to call the bulls over. Just as I was getting the decoy ready the elk start to look down hill and are appearing very nervous. A few seconds later and they were busting up the mountain into the aspens and just a few moments after that comes along two hunters hiking up from the bottom totally oblivious as to the elk they had just spooked! Frustrated we moved back over to our glassing spot and after not long pick up a couple groups of elk with a few bulls worth chasing. Both of our morning attempts failed with the wind making it hard to keep it in our faces.
As the evening came we hiked about halfway back up the ridge our camp was on to get a good vantage point again. About an hour into glassing I pick up about 6 cows and a bull in the same area we spotted them in the morning. Jon tells me to “go get him!” I grab my bow, head lamp and calls and I’m off. Once again the wind was wrong so I had to swing really wide to avoid being winded. Because of the extra time of going wide when I finally got to where I had seen them last they were gone! For a second I thought they had winded me when I heard a bugle from below me and about a quarter mile to my right. I started making my way towards the bull as he began to bugle back and forth with another bull that seemed to be another quarter mile beyond him. Starting to move quickly I bumped a few cows that were straggling behind. With only about 30 minutes left of shooting light I knew I had to get aggressive or it wasn’t going to happen tonight. I started moving in quick on the bull till I spotted another group of cows and a bull above me and to the right; this bull was also bugling with the bull I was going after so it gave his position away very well. I was now inside of 100yds of the bull but still hadn’t spotted him yet. After a few more steps I caught the tan color of elk hide off to my left. Three cows with my bull behind them, I could tell they were going to feed into a small shooting lane I had and ranged the aspen right behind it at 65 yards. When the bull began to feed forward I came to full draw just as he stepped into my lane with my 60 pin on his lungs I gave the release a squeeze and the arrow was on its way. At the sound of my bow the bull spun to his right and actually made a perfect quartering away shot out of my original broadside shot. About an hour later I found him piled up about 100 yards from the shot.
Day two
I spent the day packing boned out meat back to the truck and Jon met up with me to make a trip as well. His day was slow with not much action. I made it back to camp late and told Jon that one of the game bags had ripped and blow fly larva was getting on the meat. I told him I would hike back to the truck in the morning and make a trip back to town to drop the meat off at the butcher.
Day three
I make the hike back to the truck as Jon heads off for another day of chasing bulls. Because of the condition of the roads and how far it is, it takes me till 5 pm to pull back into the area we had been parking the truck. As I get out of the truck to take a leak Jon comes out of the woods with a big smile on his face! “You smoked one didn’t you!” I said. “Yep first thing in the morning”. Jon had spotted a bull with a cow and managed to cow call him off of his one cow for a 25 yard shot. Unfortunately Jon didn’t have his camera on him so we have no field photos of his bull
Jon had already made one big meat load so we headed back to camp and packed the rest of the meat the following morning.
Day four
Had us in town dropping off his meat and sipping margaritas at a local Mexican restaurant!
They barely ever go as planned but it sure is nice when they do
My buddy Jon and I set out on the 19 hr drive last Friday the 13th! to New Mexico to hunt bulls for a planned six days of hunting. We stayed in Flagstaff, AZ on Friday night and made the rest of the drive Saturday, arriving at where we would park the truck on Saturday night. Since the season didn’t open till Monday we made camp at the truck for the night with the intent of getting a good night rest then waking up in the AM and shooting some arrows to insure we were still on the spot.
After some shooting we packed our gear and made the 3 mile hike into the area we had scouted on GE. Around the 2 mile mark we stopped at a good spot to glass and immediately started glassing up elk! Two small bulls right away then some cows and a couple more bulls off in the distance. From here we picked out the ridge we would set up camp on and headed that way. With camp set up and several elk sightings opening day was looking pretty good!
Day one
Right at first light I spot two bulls feeding not 200yds behind our camp. I motion for Jon to come over as I was going to set up my Montana decoy and set up to call the bulls over. Just as I was getting the decoy ready the elk start to look down hill and are appearing very nervous. A few seconds later and they were busting up the mountain into the aspens and just a few moments after that comes along two hunters hiking up from the bottom totally oblivious as to the elk they had just spooked! Frustrated we moved back over to our glassing spot and after not long pick up a couple groups of elk with a few bulls worth chasing. Both of our morning attempts failed with the wind making it hard to keep it in our faces.
As the evening came we hiked about halfway back up the ridge our camp was on to get a good vantage point again. About an hour into glassing I pick up about 6 cows and a bull in the same area we spotted them in the morning. Jon tells me to “go get him!” I grab my bow, head lamp and calls and I’m off. Once again the wind was wrong so I had to swing really wide to avoid being winded. Because of the extra time of going wide when I finally got to where I had seen them last they were gone! For a second I thought they had winded me when I heard a bugle from below me and about a quarter mile to my right. I started making my way towards the bull as he began to bugle back and forth with another bull that seemed to be another quarter mile beyond him. Starting to move quickly I bumped a few cows that were straggling behind. With only about 30 minutes left of shooting light I knew I had to get aggressive or it wasn’t going to happen tonight. I started moving in quick on the bull till I spotted another group of cows and a bull above me and to the right; this bull was also bugling with the bull I was going after so it gave his position away very well. I was now inside of 100yds of the bull but still hadn’t spotted him yet. After a few more steps I caught the tan color of elk hide off to my left. Three cows with my bull behind them, I could tell they were going to feed into a small shooting lane I had and ranged the aspen right behind it at 65 yards. When the bull began to feed forward I came to full draw just as he stepped into my lane with my 60 pin on his lungs I gave the release a squeeze and the arrow was on its way. At the sound of my bow the bull spun to his right and actually made a perfect quartering away shot out of my original broadside shot. About an hour later I found him piled up about 100 yards from the shot.
Day two
I spent the day packing boned out meat back to the truck and Jon met up with me to make a trip as well. His day was slow with not much action. I made it back to camp late and told Jon that one of the game bags had ripped and blow fly larva was getting on the meat. I told him I would hike back to the truck in the morning and make a trip back to town to drop the meat off at the butcher.
Day three
I make the hike back to the truck as Jon heads off for another day of chasing bulls. Because of the condition of the roads and how far it is, it takes me till 5 pm to pull back into the area we had been parking the truck. As I get out of the truck to take a leak Jon comes out of the woods with a big smile on his face! “You smoked one didn’t you!” I said. “Yep first thing in the morning”. Jon had spotted a bull with a cow and managed to cow call him off of his one cow for a 25 yard shot. Unfortunately Jon didn’t have his camera on him so we have no field photos of his bull
Jon had already made one big meat load so we headed back to camp and packed the rest of the meat the following morning. Day four
Had us in town dropping off his meat and sipping margaritas at a local Mexican restaurant!
They barely ever go as planned but it sure is nice when they do
