Bow hunt trophy elk in the famous Gila area of southwestern New Mexico

This hunt is in some of the finest trophy elk country anywhere. It takes place in the various subunits of Units 15 and 16 in southwestern New Mexico, an area known as the Gila. The outfitter also has expanded to some of the units near the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation, another area known for large bulls.

One reason you have a good chance of taking a big, mature bull on this hunt is that the state limits the number of hunters through a license drawing. Some of the largest elk listed in the Pope and Young Club's trophy records come from these parts of southern New Mexico.

In most of this area the outfitters does well by using four-wheel-drive vehicles to take hunters to jump-off points, where they hunt on foot. The outfitter uses horses in two units. Typically you'll take a lunch in the field, eating dinners and breakfasts at camp. You'll have the option of staying in a ranch bunkhouse or the outfitter's home. Sometimes he'll run a tent camp in some areas.

Drawing odds vary from year to year and from hunt to hunt. Usually the last bow hunt and the first rifle hunt are in higher demand, but the outfitter does about the same on big bulls on any of his hunts. Drawing odds are much better for customers who book first because the state reserves 12% of all tags for customers of outfitters.

Hunters fly into Albuquerque. The archery hunting is very good during the rut in September.

Outfitter: "Over the past 10 years our average bull has been around 300 on all of our hunts, but we have some real bombers.

"I would that 90% of our bowhunters typically opportunity at a mature six-point bull. But our area is known for producing some monsters, such as a 400-plus we got in 2005, and so we get some guys who look for 350 inch bulls or nothing, and they drop our success down."