Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting New mexcio 2015

The woman's mom moved to Albuqueque a few years ago, thinking of combining a visit with an elk hunt. I have been DIYing colorado and Oregon with some decent results the last decade. Any suggestions for perhaps a landowner permit/drop camp? Not looking for trophy area (due to expense), more a moderately priced bull tag or perhaps a cow tag. I am up for and prefer difficult backcountry hunts, but may bring older bro and buddy who are less so. Finally got a pretty nice 6x6 DIY in 2013 after lotsa raghorns and cows, happy to get back to my usual meat hunting (although I will always look for big bulls). I gotta admit that 2012s yearling ate better than the big bull, but I have learned a bunch about braising and slow cooking...

I have zero experience with landowner tags, I just moved to NM this past fall. But I am fairly certain the only way to draw a either sex tag is Archery only. I haven't studied the new regs completely, but everything I have seen is only New Mexico Residents and youths get to put in for Antlerless elk tags with firearms.

As for landowner tags, an antlerless elk tag is $347 for a "non quality" hunt and a "quality hunt" is $782. What determines quality and non quality is the GMU. GMU 13, 15, 16 and 17 are all deemed " quality". Those are in the SW corner Gila Wilderness.

Hope i didn't just tell you what you already knew.

Remember NM does not have preference points either. 84 % of all tags are reserved for Residents only. 10 % are reserved for Residents and Non Residents applying through an Outfitter. The remaining 6% are for Non Residents DIY.

Yeah, I have never tried nm, I understand all elk tags for nr are either via draw or landowner voucher...thought I'd see if anyone had advice...

You can purchase a LO authorization as either unit wide or ranch only. RO you will have to hunt the deeded ground of the ranch. UW you can hunt anywhere on the ranch, any public land within the unit and any ranches that are signed up as UW within the unit. With the new allocation of licensees, antler-less authorizations have really gone up. You can expect to pay $350 up to $750 for an antler-less authorization. Mature bull or either sex authorizations will run $2,500 up. I know of some MB authorizations in better units going for $8,500 this year. You have to buy your state lic. on top of that.

NM regs are now available on the F&G website. In a nutshell, only residents can apply for Antlerless firearm tags via the draw (aka lottery). These hunts are typically after the other seasons, ~ late November. Archery tags (application is open to all)in most units are either sex, again via the draw. Landowner tags, actually a voucher to buy a tag from F&G, will be available later this year (June if I recall). They run the full gamut of tags, including Antlerless or cow tags, and are open to residents and non-residents. Price you pay to the landowner for the voucher is market dependent. Once you pony up for this to the landowner you redeem it at F&G and pay for your license. Landowner tags come in 2 flavors: ranch only or unit wide. With ranch only you are limited to the ranch, unit wide is just as it states. Pull down a copy of the regs for details, dates to apply, hunt dates and license cost,etc.

Check the classifieds weekly in the Albuquerque Journal (in the Guns/Hunting section) after the public big game draw results have been posted. Landowners and outfitters will start advertising transferable authorizations for sale. The longer you wait, the cheaper they get--if they don't all get bought in the unit(s) that you would like to hunt.

Look at the drawing odds online. Check out the leftover tag draw in late summer--some units don't sell out of antlerless tags, especially those that permit only archery and/or muzzle loader hunts.

Some stuff to think about...

Thanks

Be sure to look into the percentage of tags that go to NRs. It's different if you use a guide vs hunt on your own.

Might as well try to draw first! Unit 9, 51, 52 are all decent units with better odds. Most tags for this unit will run $2500-$4000 plus license fee.

Good luck!