Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting New Mexico Unit 51 Elk Hunt 1st season

Well it appears I got lucky and drew an elk tag in this unit. I haven't been able to hunt in years due to a deployment in 2005 and started working overseas in Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel since.
Came home last year and went back to school and I'm taking a break this fall.

My plan is to head out 3 weeks prior to the season opener, acclimate, and see if I can find some animals, but looking at the unit- the place is HUGE. Any ideas as to where to start?

I had an outfitter give me a general idea, but was wondering if any of the forum members have any ideas on the unit they would care to divulge.

I have killed elk before- a couple good bulls in AZ and another bull in CO and a couple cow elk in UT and AZ, and I do understand what it's going to take to get one out by myself.

Have all the gear I could ever want, and will camp out in some bit of comfort, with a Kifaru type 5 man tipi and a wood stove, eat real food, and just enjoy my time in some beautiful country.

Thank you for your help!

PM sent.

First rifle I assume?

If so, the roads will be getting pounded pretty hard by bear hunters. Dogs are legal for bear starting 9/25. That usually stirs things up for a while. Get off the roads and there is much less to deal with.

The Canjilon Lakes area has been closed for a while due to dead timber, so should have seen less traffic/more animals. They are opening it back up next week, which will change that dynamic. Not sure which way it will go.

51 has high classic elk country on the north-central part of the unit, but don't overlook the pinon-juniper to the south if you like that sort of thing. They are in there too.

Thank you for the reply. Headed out 2 weeks before the season to camp, scout, kill some time. 1st camp was/is planned for the Canjilon lakes. Killed a bull years ago in Arizona about 20 yards away in the junipers so I definitely won't overlook the southern area.

I'll be there the entire second archery season! I might be able to help you out in a general direction.

There is a guy that usually runs a herd of sheep up there. He is often just east of Mogote Ridge (a few miles east of the lakes). There is lots of activity with the sheep, so if you know where he is you know where the elk aren't.

Sound advise gents, thank you.

update on this post.

Went in 2 weeks early before the hunt on a DIY to camp, sightsee and scout. Started out on the south end of the unit and saw some sign, and heard a couple bulls in the evening that put a smile on my face.
Never could find them so I started looking around on the north side up near hwy 64. Saw some sign there, but no bulls out in the openings or in the blowdowns where I thought they might be. I watched for a couple days the ends of the canyons where I thought they would come out into, until it got too dark to shoot.

Went east and checked canyons and tanks and was not real happy with what I was seeing.

Before I left on the trip,I was thinking long shots and had my 308 set up with a drop cam from Kenton on my nightforce 2.5-10x32 and a 165gr bullet at 2740 fps. As it was, my shot was taken at 139 yards and on 4x. My backup rifle was a 270 winchester pre 64 featherweight in a mcmillan hunters edge stock and a nightforce 2.5-10x32 with an IHR reticle and exposed turrets. In the 308 I was using a trophy bonded 165 bullet from federal and a 130 grain federal fusion in my 270. Both rifles were zeroed at 200 yards and were sub MOA performers.

In the middle of the week I had found a spot to test both of them to see where they were hitting in relation to my drop tables. 2 targets were selected, one at 310 yards and another at 519 yards. I made the appropriate scope ajustments and did 2- 3 shot groups at range, and used my pack as my rest. Both rifles were perfect, I couldn’t have asked for better equipment or loads.

Anyway, I ended back up where I started, checking out tanks as I backpacked around, 6-9 miles worth of humping daily. Really got this old flatlander back into shape and I was having as blast.

The night before the opener, a hunter showed up where I was planning on hunting in the morning and blew his call for 45 minutes. I guess he scared the heck out the 3 bulls I had seen earler in the week,, as I never heard them call that night or the next 3 nights before I left to head home.

Opening morning comes and I set up on an escape route- didn’t see any thing so after 3 hours of daylight I start moving where I thought the bulls might be holed up. I did manage to jump one out but couldn't get a shot.

I moved to check a couple tanks that were holding water from about 300 yards out from where they would head to in the evening, and after I found a place to overwatch, I saw cows bust out of the cedars and head away from me. I didn’t think it was me as the wind was blowing 20-30 miles an hour, and into my face. I did a bit of investigating and found someone had parked a 4 wheeler about 200 yards from a tank that was being visited after dark. I went back to a spot to see if I could intercept them IF they came back and no dice for the next couple hours. About 6 PM I heard a bull call near another tank, (it was dry),and decided to see if I could get to him before dark. I took off jogging/running through the cedar and juniper bushes that had been cut down. I made the 3/4 mile strait line distance in about 15 minutes through all that mess. Catching my breath I was easing through the blowdowns and cut trees there were 2 cows in the open. As I looked past them, I saw a bull. The cows took off and I shot the bull offhand as he was still standing still. He hit the ground and I jacked another cartridge into my rifle thinking I would give him another one when he stood up. He didn’t and I got to thinking “did I miss”??... SH*T..!

I’m looking around for a blood trail, and happened to look a bit further up the hill and there he was. I was so thankful he never moved and I didn’t miss. What a great feeling. The bullet hit behind his shoulder and went through the lungs.

4 hours later and I had him quartered, bagged and in my camp after retrieving my truck and a coleman lantern. I did notice one thing, it appeared he had broken his neck as he fell, as there was a lot of trauma at the base of his skull and my thought was he had hit his jaw/head on a log when he dropped.

I sure appreciate the PM’s as to where to hunt and what to expect. They were a big help.

Best regards,
Rgrx





Had Some great meals when I had time to cook, and saw a lot of new scenery.









[img]http://i.imgur.com/i6VlERc.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/vq7natc.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/2csNXLe.jpg[/img]

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congrats! That's one heck of a bull!

Nice.

Congrats.

Well done. Congrats and thanks for posting.

Good work. Unit 51 can be tough partly because it is so big. I like the dark antlers on your bull, nice.

way cool!!

Thank you gentlemen for the kind comments. It was a great adventure. Public land can be a bisch to hunt, what with competition from others and just a general lack of resource draws for the animals. What I was told was to expect the elk to head towards private property once the seasons gets started. It happens, and good luck if you can get permission to access, much less be allowed to drive through to another part of the forest that we all own, (supposedly). I found one road completely blocked and the land owner supposedly had received LO tags. It was my understanding that if you received tags you had to allow access. Not a resident, so I don't know for sure.
Anyways, that's my only gripe about the whole hunt- access. Other than that, it was great and I hope to draw a tag again next year if at all possible, somewhere in the west.
Some interesting points I found out reading the NMDFG proclamation was don't bring wood from out of state, and trying to find out what a legal bull is, was not easy.

Well Done very Well Done

Congrats !