Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 2017 New Mexico Day-by-Day elk hunt

This is a rifle New Mexico elk hunt with two Leupold folks; Bruce Pettet, CEO, and his wife, Tracey. A bit of background.

In the TV world we always invite sponsors to join us on hunts so they can see how we use their products, how our audience hunts, and to spend some time learning more about where they are headed and what is on the minds of our viewers. You've seen Bruce on past episodes, along with their VP of Product Development, Tim Lesser.

To accomplish that, we have them apply for tags and hope for the best. Since most of them have few points, we usually end up looking at New Mexico, due to New Mexico not having a point system.

For Leupold, Bruce always instructs that their people go on some of our more challenging hunts, in terms of conditions and terrain. He feels it gives a better understanding of how we use their products. I agree. That is how we have settled on this unit you see us hunting with them in New Mexico. Of all the units I have hunted in New Mexico, this one is the most physical.
Bruce and Tracey did not draw, so we acquired unit-wide vouchers that allowed them to hunt the public land, in this case, a Wilderness Area. I know use of vouchers is controversial to some, so that is why I put it out there from the start. It is a reality of the situation in New Mexico and it is also a reality of trying to include guests who did not draw.

That said, we were all going to meet in New Mexico the day before season. That original plan changed a bit. We wrapped up our Arizona elk hunt a few days early, so Marcus (cameraman) and I were able to take advantage of those days and get to New Mexico a few days early to scout and see if things were any different than when we filmed in this unit the last two seasons. Arrangements were made that Bruce and Tracey would pick up Tyler, our other camera guy, saving us the trip to ABQ and allowing us more scouting time and building more footage for background of the hunt.

A couple days before the hunt Bruce called to tell me that business demanded he leave after three days of hunting. Not what he wanted, but "duty calls." Add that to the fact that he wanted Tracey to shoot first, the odds of him getting a chance just got pretty slim.

Here is a video that combines Days 1 & 2. It is Marcus and I scouting the Wilderness Area.

Day 3, last day of scouting and time to get serious about finding these post-rut bulls. We found them, but in a place that I had vowed I would never again return to. Tyler had hitched a ride with Bruce and Tracey, allowing us to meet up that afternoon and draft a plan for the next day. Fingers crossed that the bulls would stay put and we could relocate them.

Day 4 - First day of hunting.

Things have gotten really crowded where we hunt. Visited with some of the other hunters and they said something to the jist of, "Yeah, saw it on your show and this looked a lot like the area you were hunting, so this is where we came." Oh well, teach me.

The three hours to climb out of that hole, in the dark, along some rather sketchy trails, through new reproduction was the most miserable three hours of the season, by a long margin. Not gonna lie, I was sniveling a good part of the way.

Between the holidays, things are a little slow with work. Waiting on next episode. Tick tock...

Boo!!! Don't support government corruption!

Have you also used TA vouchers on your NM Antelope hunts?

In our ten years of filming, we have twice used vouchers for antelope hunts in NM. We always tell folks when that is the case.

Thank you for your honesty.

It pains me to boycott this show as I really enjoy them.

Good stuff. Just seeing that terrain made my back, legs, and lungs scream. I look forward to the next installment.

Probably some rather colorful language used too.

Next please.

Day 5 - Second day of hunting.

Following the hike from the night before, we were a bit worn down. The wind was whipping and the wind direction sucked for the area we had chosen for the morning hunt. Add to that, the amount of hunting pressure, warm temps, and the knowledge that Bruce's work duties made tomorrow the last day, we had some decisions to make. Do we fight some tough conditions today and keep hiking, or do we rest up and give it the best possible effort tomorrow when conditions were supposed to improve with cooler temps and lower winds?

Answer was pretty easy, for me. And hopefully that decision would pay off.

Day 6 - Probably the most exciting elk stalk we've ever filmed. Congrats to Tracey.






Thanks for watching.

What NM unit (or wilderness area) were you hunting?

Great finish to a great hunt. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Vouchers are a legal way to get a tag. Why would you boycott that?

Thanks Randy;


Waiting for the next day.

Can you block out scenery frames and not mention towns next time.

Great videos.

I hunt NM as well. I’m not understanding what you mean by “vouchers”? I utilize landowner tags because, being out of state, I’d almost never get drawn. As I understand it, virtually all of the public lands are closed to non-residents anyway.

Vouchers (authorizations) are LO tags.

The bolded is absolutely not true.

Love the day by day hunts. Much more of the whole story included now.
Thank you

[align:left][/align]I didn’t believe it either until I was told to check the book. Sure, I can put in for the Valle Vidal (once in a lifetime draw, 2% NR) or a few other areas. But National Forests? Nope. I wanted to try the Colin Niblett NF and a few others....zero NR tags issued. After searching the book, I couldn’t find any elk hunts in national Forests. There may be some, but I sure didn’t see it. Neither did my buds who put in for every state’s draw on a yearly basis.