 |
|
| Phone: Rich LaRocco 801-451-6755 Text me at 801-709-9280 |
|
| Antelope Bison Black bear Brown bear Caribou Elk Exotics Grizzly Moose Mt. goat Mt. lion Mule deer Sheep Turkey Whitetail deer |
Africa Archery Blackpowder Other species Fishing Contact us |
| Note: To talk with any hunt provider, join Hunts.Net free of charge. All information on this site and our literature is provided under the condition that the customer accepts our terms. | |
|
|
|
Hunt elk in New Mexico without drawing a tag
Hunts.Net Customer Paul Martinez of Utah took this 6x6 on opening day, using a landowner permit to bypass the drawing.
New Mexico offers elk hunting permits in an annual computer drawing, but if you're unable to get a tag, we often can find a landowner permit for you. We can often get you a better deal if you'll commit before the tag drawings.
The last two times I hunted elk in New Mexico were on landowner permits in different units in the northwestern part of the state. I spotted Paul Martinez's bull on opening morning (see photo above) the first year. The next time Travis Bodily and I hunted together. Travis missed a 5x5, and I had to pass on a good 6x6 when he jumped a fence, leaving the unit, just before shooting hours began. Travis and I spent a few nights in an outfitter's camp. He had eight clients, and they killed a 6x7, a 6x6, a 4x4 and missed a 5x5 and hit and lost a big 7x7 in the central part of the range. That outfitter charges about $4,500 for a guided hunt and will supply a landowner voucher at no extra charge if you don't draw a tag. Travis and Rich thought he had good guides and an excellent cook. One of the guides called in seven bulls in the first three days. Whether you want to go guided or unguided, you can choose among a rifle hunt in mid-October, an early October muzzleloader hunt or a September archery hunt. The permits were obtained from an "open ranch," meaning you can hunt on any other open ranch or public land in the unit. The open ranches typically are not very good for hunting, so plan to hunt the public land. There were 250 mature bull/antlerless tags and an additional 100 cow elk tags for this unit. The unit is gigantic and you couldn't possibly hunt one-tenth of it in a week. We highly recommend purchasing a scouting packet if you decide to try this hunt. A local hunter who has spent 26 years in the unit, traveling through it almost every day, prepares the scouting packet.
Landowner permits vary in cost from about $1,500 to about $4,500, depending on the quality of the unit where they're valid. Some areas provide good hunting for small and medium size bulls, while some areas are well known for sometimes producing Boone and Crockett class bulls. Archery and blackpowder permits are typically a bit cheaper. Sometimes outfitters we know have leftover landowner permits that they have bought for customers who end up drawing a tag in the state permit lottery. We've had as many as four vouchers for one of the best units in the state, and those will typically sell for $4,000 to $4,650.
| Closed vs. open ranch In New Mexico a rancher who gets landowner permits has two choices: 1) He can elect to close his ranch to the public, but then his landowner permits are valid only on his own private property, or 2) He can open his ranch to public hunters, and in return his landowner permits are valid in the entire unit. In the latter case the rancher has decided to open the ranch because the hunting on public land is as good as or better than the hunting on the private land. Often an open ranch has no elk on it during the season, so the landowner permits would be worthless unless hunters holding them were allowed to hunt on public land in the unit, where the elk spend time during the season. This hunt is a public-land hunt on non-ranch-only landowner permits. You will not have any exclusive private land to hunt. |
||
| Landowner permits in New Mexico are actually vouchers that allow the holder to buy a state elk tag, so you don't have to draw a tag in a computer lottery. In some areas the state tag is $486; others $756. Click here for the latest prices. | ||
Please print any page on hunts.net and pass it along to a friend.