Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting New Mexico Draw is Posted

Yeeeeeeeeeeha, a return to unit 36 for another shot at the 360 6X or not! Just love the Ruidoso area and with rifle in hand what is not to like about that!

No luck here...

I too was hoping to get back to unit 36 but no luck this year.

NO DICE here...

Uh, oh. As if we didn't have enough good tags in our group this year... My buddy drew 16E for the late October rifle season. Anyone draw this tag before?

No luck on elk, sheep or ibex. Rats!

No luck here on elk, antelope or bighorn sheep. I did draw a late October unit 2B tag for mulies.

Drew the first Sept. 16A bow hunt. Life is good.

Great tag! A young friend of mine took a 406 bull on that hunt about ten years ago.

I am going archery early hunt and FINALLY 2B rifle hunt! I won the lottery! Good luck guys and those who did not draw, here is to next year.

Your buddy just won the elk hunting lottery. That tag is a grand slam. That is a wilderness hunt. Very limited access. Horses are a must. Is he going with an outfitter?

16E is not wilderness, you are thinking 16B. Good luck!

Just looking over the maps, a ton of that BLM is wilderness in the Continental Divide Wilderness Study Area. No outfitter, but we might need to rent some horses if you guys have an ideas on local horse rental outfits.
99guy, have you ever hunted that unit?

Looks like I drew 51 for rifle. Will be nice to get back to NM. Its been a while.

Joseph

I'm not familiar with the whole unit but there is a ton of wilderness in 16E. I have hunted the Gila National forest wilderness area in that unit as recently as last year. PM me for details.

Randy

NO WILDERNESS IN 16E! 16B is the wilderness area. 16 E is mostly state and BLM land.

I have the maps right here, I'ts called the Continental Divide Wilderness Study area. It's BLM wilderness, and 68,000 acres around Pelona Mountain

My kid drew unit 17 youth muzzleloader early.
Oct 9-13th.
First muzz hunt on unit.
Only 3 non rez tags.
I feel good about this one....

I have never drawn 16E myself but have been on a few hunts and hunted sheds there before. The road to Luera Peak from Paddys hole has got to be one of the roughest roads I have ever been on.(Malpais) Alot of people drive to the top daily since it is state land and there is no camping. We have seen alot of elk parking above Paddys hole and walking the small drainage up towards the radio towers.

There will be alot of people around the Pelona since it has the easiest access. ( there are some roads that do not show on the forest service maps)

I have seen the most/better elk on the trail between Batton Tank and Coyote Peak. (closer to Coyote Peak) You can look across alot of that country by taking the road below cottonwood canyon to Batton.

Again I have never hunted it myself but have been on two bow hunts in the area and hunted coyotes during the winter and this is what i have seen. Hope it helps a little

That's great info, thanks a bunch

I was hunting near Pelona just last year and it was wilderness.

Better do your homework.

We drew first archery unit 15.So looking forward to Sept this year.

sidepass

That's a great hunt. Enjoy...

good on ya, muygrande! my in laws live in ruidoso so if you need a connection, just pm me.

Jeff

No luck on the elk draw for me, but I did draw 2B Mule Deer! Looks like it will be private land elk in 34 again for me!

Unit 52 Archery here, first hunt sept 1-15

will be my first time Elk hunting.


any tips/advice welcome

I drew the early bow tag(public land) in unit 17, Sep 1-10. I've hunted unit 15 before, but not 17. It's a big area, and I was wondering if someone had any suggestions on where to start the scouting process?

No Elk draw here. (Again)

Well, I'm assuming you aren't going to get out there before the season starts, so you'll have to a lot of remote scouting. First check out the land ownership maps:
http://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/recreation/hunting/unitmaps/2006/high_res/index.htm
Then call get yourself the 1:100K BLM maps for the area. Once you've found a couple of decent areas to focus on, get the 7.5 minute Quads. It will help to first understand the major terrain features people are talking about when you start asking for help from a biologist or guys online. If you don't know anything about the area, you won't be able to ask follow up questios or clarification.

Thanks for the help/suggestions. No, it's too far to do any advance on-site scouting, so the remote scouting will have to do. Thanks again.