Well, our family was pretty fortunate this year when it came to elk. First, we lucked out in the New Mexico draw, pulling two bull tags and four cow tags, all in western NM. Then, when it came time to hit the hills to chase those critters, we were able to fill one of the bull tags and three of the cow tags.
October Bull Hunt
In October, my wife and mom drew rifle tags for bull elk in one of the "legendary" Gila units. They pulled the last hunt there, so the elk had been hunted pretty hard (three bow hunts, a youth rifle hunt, and the first "regular" rifle hunt preceded theirs) and were fairly hard to find. We were handicapped a little with our three kids, ages 4, 8, and 10, all of whom were in camp and with us on most hunts (grandma and grandpa took them a few times). We located a pretty decent bull on opening morning, but there were already hunters glassing him, so we backed out and went elsewhere. Over the next several days, we hunted other areas and had a couple close encounters of the stinky bull kind, but kept thinking of that bull from the first day. We decided on day 4 to see if he was still alive. That morning we saw him on a far ridge and made a play for him, to no avail. (Humans can't outrun elk.
) We also saw the herd of cows heading up to bed, so we were getting a pretty good idea of their behavior in this area.
Grandma offered to watch the kids so the wife and I could take a walk to see if we could figure out where he went. We walked... And we figured... Which set us up nicely for the evening, or so we thought. We had trailed him across a big opening and up into some heavy timber, so that evening we hiked up a finger ridge and set up close to where we thought he was bedded. About 45 minutes before dark, elk started wandering past us on the way out to feed. Of course, there was no bull. When shooting light ended, we headed out to get picked up. As we started dropping off the ridge, I saw elk coming off the next finger ridge. There were about 15 cows with the nice bull bringing up the rear. Drat! This confirmed that he was still in the area though, so we eased out and decided to return in the morning.
The next morning we split kids, grandma and grandpa took our oldest and the wife and I took the 4-yo and 8-yo. We headed out for the bull's last known location and set up overlooking two draws that we figured the elk would come down to cross the big opening. Not long after the sun came up, I spotted cow elk crossing the same opening shown above. They were too far to make a fast move towards, so we just watched and hoped the bull wasn't with them. They all crossed with no sign of the bull. Then, about 20 minutes later, we saw more cow elk rounding the cliffs near us. Mama was pretty anxious and wanted to move toward them, but I convinced her to wait until we had a confirmed sighting. When finally the bull poked his head out from behind the cliff, I knew it was on.
We had to wait a few more seconds for him to cross a fence and a road (and get well beyond it), after which he was committed to the treeline several hundred yards away. Most of the cows had already made it there, so I had a good feeling that he would follow in their tracks. We raced up a slight incline and got the wife set up in her shooting sticks. I expected the bull to cross in front of us at about 80 yards (where the cows had gone). When he did, I gave a short cow call and he skidded to a broadside stop just like he'd read the script I had playing in my head. When he did, Mama's .338 Federal barked, putting a 185 grain bullet right behind his shoulder. The bull lurched forward, quickly gaining momentum as he headed to the relative safety of the trees. Mama wanted none of this, and stood quickly while working the action. She put two more shots down-range, ending the bull's escape (and life) in a big dusty pile.
I've never been so proud of her shooting as I was then.
Somewhat in shock at the whole deal, we walked slowly to the downed bull. Our son had watched from afar and started racing our way, yelling "You got him Momma, he's down, you got him!!!" We admired the bull for a few minutes, marveling at his wildness and feeling a bit saddened at his death. That all passed as we began to appreciate that my wife had just killed her first bull elk and put a bunch of good meat in the freezer. (As an aside, her bull is quite a bit bigger than my only bull elk, a 5x5 in 2001.) Before we started the hard work of getting him to the truck, we took several pictures, two of which are below.
November/December Cow Hunt
My dad, youngest brother, and I drew tags for a muzzleloader cow elk hunt in another nearby unit. An old family friend also had a tag and was to hunt with us. My other brother had a tag for this unit, but for the hunt after ours, so we weren't hunting together. We've hunted this area for over a decade now, so we have a pretty good idea how the elk behave here, though the presence of recently introduced Mexican Grey Wolves does seem to be contributing to their slowing evolving habits.
By the second day of the hunt, we had a pretty good bead on what the cows were up to, and Dad and I both filled out that morning.
A couple days later, my youngest brother killed his first ever big game animal when he took this nice cow.
We were unable to fill the fourth tag
, but were pretty happy to split three elk four ways. Likewise, my middle brother left his hunt early with his tag unfilled to tend to unexpected family obligations.
Overall though, we were pretty pleased to have filled four of six NM elk tags. Combined with the oryx I killed in August, the mule deer I got in October, and the three whitetails my kids shot a few days ago, we're pretty well set for a few months.
If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me and reading the whole tale. I hope you enjoyed it and have similar family experiences to remember with your own fondness.
October Bull Hunt
In October, my wife and mom drew rifle tags for bull elk in one of the "legendary" Gila units. They pulled the last hunt there, so the elk had been hunted pretty hard (three bow hunts, a youth rifle hunt, and the first "regular" rifle hunt preceded theirs) and were fairly hard to find. We were handicapped a little with our three kids, ages 4, 8, and 10, all of whom were in camp and with us on most hunts (grandma and grandpa took them a few times). We located a pretty decent bull on opening morning, but there were already hunters glassing him, so we backed out and went elsewhere. Over the next several days, we hunted other areas and had a couple close encounters of the stinky bull kind, but kept thinking of that bull from the first day. We decided on day 4 to see if he was still alive. That morning we saw him on a far ridge and made a play for him, to no avail. (Humans can't outrun elk.
Grandma offered to watch the kids so the wife and I could take a walk to see if we could figure out where he went. We walked... And we figured... Which set us up nicely for the evening, or so we thought. We had trailed him across a big opening and up into some heavy timber, so that evening we hiked up a finger ridge and set up close to where we thought he was bedded. About 45 minutes before dark, elk started wandering past us on the way out to feed. Of course, there was no bull. When shooting light ended, we headed out to get picked up. As we started dropping off the ridge, I saw elk coming off the next finger ridge. There were about 15 cows with the nice bull bringing up the rear. Drat! This confirmed that he was still in the area though, so we eased out and decided to return in the morning.
The next morning we split kids, grandma and grandpa took our oldest and the wife and I took the 4-yo and 8-yo. We headed out for the bull's last known location and set up overlooking two draws that we figured the elk would come down to cross the big opening. Not long after the sun came up, I spotted cow elk crossing the same opening shown above. They were too far to make a fast move towards, so we just watched and hoped the bull wasn't with them. They all crossed with no sign of the bull. Then, about 20 minutes later, we saw more cow elk rounding the cliffs near us. Mama was pretty anxious and wanted to move toward them, but I convinced her to wait until we had a confirmed sighting. When finally the bull poked his head out from behind the cliff, I knew it was on.
November/December Cow Hunt
My dad, youngest brother, and I drew tags for a muzzleloader cow elk hunt in another nearby unit. An old family friend also had a tag and was to hunt with us. My other brother had a tag for this unit, but for the hunt after ours, so we weren't hunting together. We've hunted this area for over a decade now, so we have a pretty good idea how the elk behave here, though the presence of recently introduced Mexican Grey Wolves does seem to be contributing to their slowing evolving habits.
By the second day of the hunt, we had a pretty good bead on what the cows were up to, and Dad and I both filled out that morning.
A couple days later, my youngest brother killed his first ever big game animal when he took this nice cow.
We were unable to fill the fourth tag
Overall though, we were pretty pleased to have filled four of six NM elk tags. Combined with the oryx I killed in August, the mule deer I got in October, and the three whitetails my kids shot a few days ago, we're pretty well set for a few months.
If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me and reading the whole tale. I hope you enjoyed it and have similar family experiences to remember with your own fondness.
