New Mexico: Land of Huge Elk (True Fact)
Elk
Contributors to this thread:
Now theres gonna be a dip in productivity.... bring it!
Remove the spines before biting into a prickly pear!! Also, this was a new experience for us and after a couple days on the mountain with minimal fruit, these are awesome!
Been wondering how you did Scoot. Can't wait to read it.
Since Scoot broke the news perhaps I'll chime in and derail his adventure with my abbreviated bear story...
I had hunted the area in past years and with no elk tag for me this year I figured helping Scoot & Jon a little was a good excuse to tramp around with a bear tag in my pocket. Until this year I had never focused on getting a bear, but almost always had a tag "just in case" when hunting deer or elk. For a variety of reasons I've never even had a shot at a bear in past years.
Honestly I had not seriously expected to even see a bear, so my plan was to either "divide and conquer": me look for bears in one area and keep an eye out for elk for the boys while Scoot & Jon hunted elk elsewhere; or tag along with them to glass, call, or whatever else I could do to help in hopes of stumbling across a bear while we were together.
I had the pleasure of sharing camp with Scoot, son Ryan, & Jon in WY antelope hunting last fall, albeit it was brief (we all tagged out pretty quickly). So I was looking forward to hanging out with them a little more in my home state.
False Fact or Fake News? :-) Looking forward to the rest of the story Scoot!
Dang these guys ain’t hunters! They’re fishermen! Sport fishermen no less! Setting the hook and then lettin’ the drag run just for fun:-)
Lots of food
Lots of food
Winter, spring and even into summer was fairly dry in NM. Our snowpack last winter was dismal. But we did get better than average monsoons so well before the hunt everything was lush and green.
Love these bowsite stories, thanks for bringing us along.
Dang that's a big Muskie.
Hook, Line, & Sinker...................haha
Scoot- Keep it flowing! I am wondering about you though. It is one thing to have those conversations in your head. Conversing about them definitely is the "next level". You might be getting into TBM territory! LOL!
Glad the monsoons got you wet over there. Our area in 15 was drier than a popcorn fart and I came home with tag soup. Rut was really delayed and the last night I was there on the 24th the bulls finally really came alive. Anyway, please continue...
I made one scouting trip/bear hunting foray to Scoot's area, although I hunted/looked for bears in other parts of the state too.
On that first trip I began gearing up for the day only to realize I had left my bow at home – doh! I had my backup pistol decided to make the most of it. Honestly I felt the odds of finding a bear were slim; however, a few hours later I panned my Vortex binos across the head of a valley and spotted a bear rambling down an open slope! I hastened to close the distance, but lost sight of him during my approach. I guessed him to be within 200-yards below my location, which felt like a “safe” direction to try and call him within range.
I found a place with a commanding view next to some bushes that provided camouflage cover, chambered a round and began wailing on a mouth-blown predator call (electronic calls are not legal to use for bears in New Mexico).
I alternated calling for 5-15 seconds and listening for 30-seconds to a minute for around 10 minutes, at which point the bear suddenly appeared to my right just 10-yards away! I immediately recognized it to be a juvenile: small head, big ears, lankly legs and skinny body. I evaluated my desire to shoot him. With my bow I would have been thrilled to take any bear, but I wasn’t fired up (no pun intended) to shoot this one with a firearm. As I debated whether I wanted to shoot the small bear my 30-second window of opportunity closed when he let out a loud “woof” and bounded back the way he had come. I had absolutely no regrets and was elated to have actually called one in! I didn’t see any more bears on that trip, but counted it a resounding success as it was my first time calling one in.
Good blood trail gave me confidence the bear was dead
Good blood trail gave me confidence the bear was dead
I returned to Scoot's area the day before elk season with plans to try to find some elk to compare notes with Scoot & Jon to help them have a gameplan for opening day.
I crossed paths with them midday as I Baja raced down the forest road toward the area I planned to scope out. Scoot & Jon were pulling up stakes and shifting locations because they hadn't seen much elk sign.
I continued on my way after making plans to meet up with them that evening.
I hiked a big loop through an area I'd hunted several years ago, but only found old elk sign. I curved my way back towards my truck with intentions of meeting Scoot & Jon before dark. I dropped some elevation to follow a drainage and look for bear/elk sign and was suprised to see acorns on the ground - a good sign for bears!
Soon I found a few fresh bear pies loaded witn acorn shells, so I selected a good spot and called for about 20 minutes with no results.
I continued hiking for another 30 minutes and heard a noise. I froze to scan the area and spotted a bear slinking into some brush! I immediately nocked an arrow and began squalling on my call.
After a minute or two the bear moved from behind the bushes and began to circle my position, trying to catch my scent and assess the sounds of a delectable dying animal.
I carefully angled toward his line of travel and our paths slowly converged. Whenever he appeared to lose interest I gave a soft squeal to regain his attention. We both traveled about fifty-yards with the bear partially obscured by trees and brush. Finally I spotted an opening that would allow a clear shot and ranged the distance to be 40-yards.
I drew my bow as the bruin stepped clear I gave a brief squeal with my mouth. He froze and stared intently toward me in a perfect broadside position. I settled my sight pin on his vitals and gently squeezed off my release. My arrow flew true and disappeared into his side! He let out a low huff, spun away and stumbled over a deadfall of logs deposited by past floods.
A copious amount of blood on the gray logs gave me confidence of a lethal hit; however, bowhunting a large predator made me think twice before taking up the blood trail!
I waited about fifteen minutes and ascended the side of the narrow canyon to scan from a safer location. I couldn’t see the bear but verified he wasn’t lying in wait behind the pile of logs to ambush me, so retraced my steps to the shot location and chambered a round in my pistol before following the blood trail.
I found my boar dead as a stone perhaps 50-60 yards down the blood trail.
He appeared to grow before my eyes as I approached. The bruin was a lot bigger than I had realized. His paws were huge and his head enormous. I obviously couldn’t weigh him, but I have a coworker that weighs 250-pounds and this beast was every bit as big and then some.
His teeth were worn and chipped: definitely an old bear. Often New Mexico bears have nearly bald summer hides, but the hide was thick and dark with reddish highlights. This huge boar was everything I could have hoped for in a trophy class bear – what a blessing!
I felt a little guilty knowing I'd be spending all night and most of the next day packing out the meat and hide, having planned to be helping Scoot & Jon, but I knew they'd be happy for my success.
No idea on the skull size yet, but I've since measured the hide to be 6'-6" nose to tail, so he's plenty big for me! I have NOTHING against other methods of bear hunting, but it was certainly satisfying to get one on my own without dogs or bait.
I have to thank our own Bowsiter Paul@thefort Navarre for inspiring me to call a bear with his "famous" bear calling story & photo that's been shared on Bowsite many times.
Awesome bear hunt, Smarba! Still haven’t closed the deal in Colorado after about 30 tags!
smarba's Link
Sorry to sidetrack this thread Scoot!
I like to write hunting stories to share too, but have never posted one play by play on the Bowsite. For those who may be interesed you can read my longer-version at this link.
Scott, go getem partner!
ElkNut/Paul
I messaged Scoot & Jon - "I'll be fine, get after it opening morning and kill a bull!" I had about a 2 mile pack and decided to make 3 reasonable loads rather than 2 huge ones, so I packed one load of meat that night, reached my truck around midnight, and retrieved the other load of meat and hide in 2 more trips on opening day of Scoot & Jon's elk season.
Still regret not catching up with you that night and helping with the pack out....I guess the only excuse I have is we were so caught up in chasing elk we lost our brains a bit!
Still regret not catching up with you that night and helping with the pack out....I guess the only excuse I have is we were so caught up in chasing elk we lost our brains a bit!
Congratulations on a great bear.
Congrats on the bear Carl, he's a dandy!
I thought one of the things you discovered is that there is less oxygen here ;o)
This is just what I needed. Always love your stories. Can’t wait. Now carry on!! Hunt
Pretty flowers. Would be prettier with an elk standing in them!
At least be prettier without 2 ugly mugs standing in them...
Scoot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bring it brother. I'm chopping on the bit.
So far, so good! Keep it coming. Awesome bear too! Kevin
Dang nice bear!!
Good reading right here Scoot--------->
Good luck, Robb
Scoot I have a break here at work lets get this going! lol
Another great story in the works. Keep it coming guys.
Patients is a virtue! Still checking in on you guys. Love the bear at the table:-)
Um.... it’s lunchtime Scoot... ready for the next chapter!
Chapter... we are barely passed the second page. ;)
Scoot, I hope you understand how much this delay is impacting the productivity of the American worker. GDP has been down .5% since you started this thread! :)
X2 Brosky. Come on man, im sneaking a peek at this thread every hour! LOL
Yep I ain’t doin’ $h1t until I hear.... The rest of the story.
That’s the kind of stuff that has you giggling about all the fun you’re having back at camp at the end of the day!
Plenty of action and and plenty of sign:-)
Now go kill a couple!
Damn good read, keep it come'n.
Keep the"magic technique" to yourself my friend;). Good stuff! Thanks for posting
Hard to believe Scoot got an arrow off!
Not sure but looks like they are spending an awful lot of time snoozing in the shade! How in the world you gonna kill an elk if your snoozing all day?
They must be using that top secret snoring elk call;-)
Things are looking up! Can’t wait for the follow up and retrieval...
This is ridiculous, tighten up dammit
Last year, Will commented on someone helping him with the cow calls. I almost pm'ed him for inside info. I didn't because I've never talked to him privately. I didn't know if it was appropriate to do so. Now, I'm kicking myself for not. :^)
Scoot, pics needed man!
Will, don’t share your secret with anybody from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and especially WV! Feel free to PM a fellow northern Coloradan though! =D
No, No, No!!!!!!!! Ucsdryder. Especially Minnesota and Wisconsin. I dang near saw as many of their plates in Colorado this year as I did residents.
All good Scott. Glad I could help. Now get on with the story!
Wv, no joke. I see more Texas, MN, and Wi plates (combined) than I do colorado. I’m not sure why so many hunters come from those 3 states but it’s pretty amazing.
Someone is having too much fun!
At our expense!
I’m tellin’ you guys, ‘ol Scoot already let the cat out of the bag with his previous pictures showing off the “magic technique”! Heck, looks like those boys had it down to a science;-). Probably gonna market it with a book “Snoozing Your Way To Elk”!
Honestly, the world’s greatest naps are definitely when out hunting elk. I sleep better on the rocks, sticks and pine cones than I ever do in a bed.
Can’t wait till the next installment...
Treeline, don’t forget the effing flies and black ants. I swear they wait for me to fall asleep and then buzz my face and crawl all over me. After 3 hours of falling asleep a couple hundred times for 1 second, I get so angry I spend an hour or 2 with the mission of killing every bug I can. I’m getting mad sitting here thinking about them. Flies were terrible this year!
I keep waiting for Scoot to mention the chiggers after his nap, the Gila is starting to get a pretty strong population of them!!
Stopping a hunt recap story with "dropped the string at 7 yards" has to be in violation of the story telling rules.
Just morally wrong to leave us hanging.
He must have shot a spike..............
Great shot! Gonna be yummy! Congratulations on getting a trophy freezer filler!
Now y’all need one more! Go get em!
Good deal scoot. The Minnesota contingent is a Bowsite force to be reckoned with! lol
Crown and backstraps....fit for a king! Well done Scoot!
P.S. Kia says it's not the size of the bull that matters it's the size of the hunt!
Good deal, congrats on your bull sir!
ElkNut/Paul
Congratulations. Kia is right and this is turning out to be a "king size" hunt for sure.
Nice unicorn, Scoot! Congrats, any elk is a Trophy in my book, and I love the freaks!
Congrats Scoot. Great story...
Must be something to this magic call and one horn bulls:) . Nice work and he will eat so good enjoy. Come on Jon!! Hunt
Hunt it must be a unicorn call! Love this story keep it coming!
Scoot called me to report that he'd killed a small bull. He sounded a little "apologetic" on the phone and I quickly steered him back to reality. The internet, even this forum, is filled with guys thumping their chests about killing big bulls. We all read things like "the bull 'only' scored 300" and stuff like that. It's easy to get sucked into comparing antler size.
Success rates for archery generally bounce around 10%. That's for ANY elk, cow, bull, spike, raghorn (I cringe at that term - it's a freakin' legal bull!) and monsters. That means 90% of us eat tag soup. Getting anywhere in that 10% means you're elite.
I firmly believe the circumstances and hunt conditions help determine the quality of the trophy. A P&Y bull on day 1 five minutes into the hunt may only be so-so. A spike bull after 14 days of hard hunting is a real memory. IMO a clean kill on a unicorn bull at single-digit yards is infinitely more of a trophy than a 340 bull wounded at 100 yards, lost, and the only antlers recovered days later with the meat gone to the coyotes and ravens.
I'm DANG PROUD of Scoot! And I can't fault him in the least. You get the drop on an elk at spitting distance it's tough to justify passing on the shot. When I choose to drop the string on any animal, it's a trophy to me. None of us should care one bit if it's a trophy to anybody else.
Congrats Scoot! I wish you would have gotten the drop on one a couple days earlier so I could have helped you pack it out. I might have passed on the whiskey though...yuck! LOL
Still a pack job and one tag to fill boys!
Come on, guys! I have faith in you Minnesota boys beating those odds twice in one hunt! Come on Jon!
That “magic technique” has potential - give ‘er hell boys!
Sounds like a fun hunt! Congrats!
But that has to be most MINIMAL 'guided' hunt ever. I thought NM required at least 2 days of guiding to eligible for the 'Guide Pool'?
Congrats on the bull!!! Great hunt and trip report. I enjoy all these stories regardless of the outcome. Thanks for taking the time to post.
Very true smarba. Grats Scoot.
Looks like you killed a great big pile of meat, congrats!!
That last video is great, that's a heck of a mule buck, cool to see the elk chase him off!
Congrats Scoot. Cool bull
I assume the photo of Jon was taken BEFORE he sacrificed his removable quiver full of arrows to the Gila? Or were you not going to mention that mishap?
Rangefinder? Bowhanger? Do tell...
That photo was well after I donated my quiver! I sto...rrowed Scott's quiver after he tagged out. But funny he wouldn't let me carry his rangefinder for very long......
smarba (Carl) is one of the best med I have ever met in my life. He is also one heck of a hunter. He makes me fell like a retarted drunk monkey compared to him when hunting.
I hunted 15 ML years ago. Never saw huge bulls BUT the antlers I saw in several trucks were UNREAL.
Nice pics!
Congrats and thanks for posting.
Dang, Gunnar it sounds like we are still missing something here... come on, spill the beans!
So the story on the quiver, etc....The day I sat the wallow with Carl we had about 2.5 miles to go after dark so I loaded my bow on my pack. I must have caught the arrows on a limb cause when I got back to camp I no longer owned an alpine soft lock quiver or arrows....it was a scramble the next morning to get my next group of arrows set up. Scoot graciously allowed me 2 spots in his quiver for the next couple days.
Then a couple days later while we were chasing elk I looked down to realize that somewhere in the chase my rangefinder had come unclipped from it's harness and was laying on the mountain....somewhere.. (S4 evo) I was never happy with that system of attaching my rangefinder. Searched for it for awhile but no luck.
The bow hanger, now that one really made me mad. I borrowed my $3 dollar screw in bow hanger to Scoot and he lost it, no idea where....and he didn't even buy me a new one.
Sorry to hear about your bow hanger, Gunnar. That's unfortunate. You just can't trust some friends with your nice things. Amazing he returned with the InReach :)
Really enjoying every moment of this one. Thanks for taking the time and congratulations on being one of the fortunate few to pack elk meat! Looking forward to the rest of the story.
Great job guys! Thx for putting together such a great story for us.
Congrats Gents! Yawl can get it done out west. I will toast to your success w/ a smooth Rye Whiskey, but unlike you, will thoroughly enjoy it.
Congratulations guys, way to get it done! Great write up and thanks for sharing!!
Really enjoyed it boys! Well done
Thanks Scoot. I feel like I’ve hunted New Mexico now! Great write up.
Great job fellas, looked like an awesome hunt, thanks for sharing!
Well done! Love the title now that the story is complete. Lol!
Doin' the bull dance, feelin the flow... workin it.. workin it..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F55olo6F94
Congrats fellas!
WOW, what a great story!!! Congratulations to both of you and to Carl!
Excellent story guys! I read a lot of the stories on this site and you guys have it nailed down...it is NOT about the size of the bull. It is ALWAYS about the hunt itself and the things that you get to experience with your buddies. GOD is awesome and allows us opportunities like this!!
What a great adventure and story, guys! This proves once again that the size of the hunt isn't measured by the size of the antlers. Thanks so much for sharing!
Well done fellas! Enjoyed the pictures immensely! Next year it's going to be my turn to finally pull a NM tag! Enjoy those backstraps!
Great job, Jon and Scott! Congratulations!
Carl, congrats on your bear too!
Congratulations guys... super trip. Thanks for taking us along.
Thanks for taking the time to write this! I love to see the pictures to go along with the story. Congrats again on a great hunt! I bet Ryan isn't complaining about a freezer full of elk burgers.
Excellent recap of a great hunt! Congrats to both of you not only on the elk but what matters even more, and that is the whole experience!
Great story. Thanks for sharing
Hey 4beards don't let Scoot completely fool you.....I do enjoy a nice smooth whiskey, however a double shot of hot Crown when it is 85 degrees out and you are dehydrated is not my idea of a nice smooth whiskey!! This post has made me thirsty, might be time to head home for the day for some moonshine.......
Awesome story! Congrats to both gunnar and Scoot on a great trip and great elk!
Congrats to the both of you, I am glad you guys had a great hunt in NM, you all couldn't have had a better host than Carl!!
Hey Scoot I just realized you left out the final chapter of the story. I received cryptic text messages that after they finally got rid of me they both killed bulls.
Scoot eventually reached cell service as they began the long haul home. He filled me in with the majority of the story he posted here. It was well after dark and they had a LOOONNNGGGG drive ahead of them. I asked what their plans were for stopping for the night and Scoot replied that they hadn't really thought it through.
I told them at their rate of travel the'd probably hit ABQ sometime before midnight and we'd have a spare bedroom that was bigger than their tent and a hot shower waiting for them. "Um honey, these you know those bowhunters I was with earlier this week? Well they could use a shower and a place to crash so they're coming by the house late tonight after being in the woods for 10 days..." LOL
They arrived ahead of schedule and it was my pleasure to put them up, feed them breakfast burritos the next morning, admire their well-earned trophies and wish them safe travels. These two are top-notch guys and fun to be around.
Hopefully they'll get another chance at a NM bull soon.
Hey, Carl... umm, I'll be going through Albuquerque soon.... can I bum some of those breakfast burritos? :)
I gotta warn you Carl, Embry is like a stray dog. If you feed him the next thing you know he'll be going through your garbage cans! :-)
Great story guys. Jon, next time when you're doing "the gabe" keep your dang eyes open!
Congrats to you as well gunnar!
Scoot said, "I silently completely agreed with him." That's priceless brother.
Smarba seems like my kind of people.
This was a great story guys. It illustrates why we do it and, the friendships we make along the way, while we are doing it. Just great stuff men.
Congrats, looks like one awesome trip!
Now that was an elk hunt! Great job guys! All the way around!
I finally got a chance to finish viewing/reading you hunt re cap Scott.
Thanks for sharing
Congrats
Good luck, Robb
Enjoyed your post very much. The photos and comments were very entertaining.
great job guys! thanks for sharing.
Awesome story! Great job!
Awesome story and thanks for sharing.
Good memories and some good eats, congrats guys and thanks for sharing.
Awesome story and thanks for sharing.
Congratulations! What a great adventure!!