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Any Elk Tag Horror stories?

Anyone have problems with an elk landowner tag? Have you heard any horror stories?

I had bought a middle of the road LO elk tag in NM back in february since I knew I wasn’t going to draw. I have been dealing with this tag broker for almost a decade, legit guy, no problems….until this year. The broker told me in June- no problem, still early. When i hadnt heard from him mid August….I called and he was out of town returning calls Sept 1st. WHAT???? The season opens Sept 1st and I don’t have a code yet. I tried texting but no response.

He calls me on Aug 31st with the bad news, someone offered the Landowner something like $3k more for the tag so he sold it out from under me. I have a contract with the Broker, sent him the $$$$ in Feb…but he had a handshake deal with the LO.

I talked to another guy that bought a tag off of Craiglist and got scammed.

This landowner tag system is the wild west and sure seems to be getting out of hand with too many chefs in the kitchen….….just curious if there are other stories like mine out there….

That broker should be reported for his handshake, under the table business practices.

Sorry, haven't personally bought a tag, but bummer to hear. The system certainly has that potential, as there's no real accountability and has become super high demand in recent years so prices have skyrocketed.

It really is a buyer beware situation. You commit to a tag that the LO doesn’t even have yet with a broker or LO, then when big money starts being thrown around all bets are off.

I’m a small business guy and had construction jobs go sideways that I had to suck it up and take the loss. Oh well.

I’ve done handshake deals for a lot more dough than that….and I’ve sold vehicles on a handshake and been offered more in cash an hour later- no dice. I worry that a mans word and traits like integrity are disappearing in this country. Hopefully these are just rare instances of greed I mentioned.

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I have always gone straight to the landowner. Even when a broker was involved. Did two this year like that

LO tags are the biggest load of BS in New Mexico. I still wish LO's could only sell them as Ranch Only, or just eliminate them period. Big money maker for LO's down there.

Someone pinged Me on another forum. He was sold bogus hunt codes. When he tried to report it to the sheriff in the county the sheriff would not take the report because they were no such codes and no such ranch in that county. The “broker” was from a guy who knew a guy… so sketchy from the outset.

I’ve heard of cases where these hunt codes were sold as many as three or four times.

I bought a few over a decade ago. I always bought directly from the landowner. I never had an issue or really ever heard of any issues. The way I figured was the landowners pretty motivated not to screw around and risk not getting tags in the future. I would think the broker has significantly less motivation to make sure things go smoothly because they have much less consequences. Sorry to hear about that!

I can see how the broker had an issue that they couldn't control. What he could control was letting you know a lot sooner I'm sure he has sent something was wrong he could have simply kept you in the loop and should have.

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