New Mexico Archery Elk - New ground, same game.

[Big Fin]

After a couple days home to finalize a few tax returns and make sure Mrs. Fin has not changed her mind about marriage, I am now in Denver Int'l Airport, on my way to an archery elk hunt in New Mexico.

I have never hunted this unit. Have driven past and hunted antelope in the low country. Almost fell over when the draw results came out and I drew my first choice. I really expected my third choice, as I always make my last choice one of the easy draws.

Been getting some good info from Hunt Talkers who have hunted here before. And, will be making calls to a couple other Hunt Talkers in hopes that I can get even more info.

It is rough country. Good news is that we have a new moon next week, and the rut should be reaching its peak. Lots of moisture down there the last couple weeks, so focusing on water might be a waste of time.

I know we have good coverage in most places and I am going to be near a full blown charging system for our cameras, so I should be able to keep the updates coming more regularly than last hunt.

Get to ABQ around noon, then ice, groceries, gas, and a meal later, I will be staking my tent to the ground and hoping to get out for an evening scout. Season opens Monday morning, so I have a ton of work to do to check out the many places that Hunt Talkers have told me about.

My map looks like a kindergarten coloring book from top to bottom, left to right. I guess that means the elk are scattered throughout the unit. And hopefully means even a hack like me might find one. Will be nice to have big chunks of public to chase them on and be aggressive, compared to the passive and tactical approach required in the MT hunt last week.

Hope all of you are getting out and hearing the sounds of September. I think Julie Andrews was secretly an elk hunter when she sang, "The hills are alive with the sound of music." Love the September Serenade.

 

[awapiti]

Good luck Randy! I am looking forward to the daily updates and the play by plays. I hope it as good as the last one...but less demanding.

 

[Oak]

You're going to have a great hunt. Good luck!

 

[BiggWimm]

Awesome! More story time! Love it. Good luck Randy!

 

[Big luke1981]

Good luck Randy, looking forward to hearing all about it!!

 

[Intothewindoutdoors]

Good Luck!! Look forward to hearing about your hunt!

 

[kansasdad]

I find it harder to concentrate at work when you are able to post word and pic's. Don't..., stop..., don't.., stop.., please don't stop!!

 

[Phantom]

Best of luck on this hunt as well. Looking forward to checking in on the updates.

 

[2pointslayr]

good luck fin

 

[hardscrabble]

Best of luck Fin!

 

[stillkickin]

Tear em up Randy, you are back on a roll again so make it happen!

 

[Big Fin]

Finally got here and now am somewhat organized. Tomorrow is the one scouting day I have. Will probably use the first day of season to scout, also, then make a plan to get one on the ground over the next five days of season.

Man, do I have a lot of junk with me. But, I had to haul enough stuff down to the SW states to do the two archery antelope hunts, this archery elk hunt, and an AZ rifle elk hunt in a couple weeks. Been leaving my rig and trailer down here and flying home, rather than burning up the asphalt on drives home. Hard to imagine there is anything left at my house, given the pile of junk in my truck and trailer.

Will give you the updates of the morning scout. More of a process of elimination than it is a plan to find Mr. Big on the first morning.

 

[rutdog]

Go get em randy!! Can't wait to follow along on another hunt..

 

[DavidKeenan]

Finally got here and now am somewhat organized. Tomorrow is the one scouting day I have. Will probably use the first day of season to scout, also, then make a plan to get one on the ground over the next five days of season.

Man, do I have a lot of junk with me. But, I had to haul enough stuff down to the SW states to do the two archery antelope hunts, this archery elk hunt, and an AZ rifle elk hunt in a couple weeks. Been leaving my rig and trailer down here and flying home, rather than burning up the asphalt on drives home. Hard to imagine there is anything left at my house, given the pile of junk in my truck and trailer.

Will give you the updates of the morning scout. More of a process of elimination than it is a plan to find Mr. Big on the first morning.

Ill bet that is the reason some have a bus to haul their stuff in. Oh yea you don't need make up, so the pickup will do. lol:hump:

Good luck and I bet you can't beat your record. lol Have a great time.

 

[Classic35]

Good luck Fin

I'm getting ready to head bak to Big Sky Country! Then off to Wy.

 

[MN Public Hunter]

I honestly don't think you can top last years footage, but good luck !

 

[Bucnutz.wis]

Good Luck Randy - hope you find the one your looking for....

 

[cadman59501]

Good Luck Randy, I know you'll run the tread off you boots finding the right bull.

 

[streamer]

Good luck would love to draw a NM tag some day.

 

[Big Fin]

The day started very good, but went down hill from there. Within a half hour, I spotted a really cool bull. Plenty big, but not super huge. At his 4th, the main beam splits and he has two huge tines on the part that would normally be the 4th. And, he has a very nice 5th and 6th on that beam. Total points on his driver's side beam is 9. Regular 6 on the other side.

Saw a total of ten bulls today. Three of them being decent 6 points.

Season opens in the morning, but when I tell you the next fiasco, you will see what it really doesn't matter that it opens in ten hours. Here is where it started going downhill.

This season we have tried to add in some new camera guys. Troy and Loren have done great, as always, and are doing some episodes this year. But, being guys with families, the travel schedule is hard to accommodate a normal family life. So, we have a new guy lined up for this hunt.

I get a call at 5pm tonight. He quit. He isn't even here, and he quit. Come again? I confirmed he was not going to be here. Affirmative.

I call the production company in a panic. They ask me if I heard him correctly. Yup, made sure of that before calling. They are scrambling to get a camera guy here as soon as possible, which will be tomorrow night at the soonest, but in most practicality, sometime on Tuesday.

Some would say, just go hunt by yourself and forget the cameras. Parts of me agree. But, when you have almost $2,000 tied up in a public land filming permit, another $775 in tags, a couple thousand in travel, motels, meals, etc., you need to get something out of that. And, it is not like we have a lot of spare tags to use for the replacement hunt which would still have all these same costs and the difficulty of fitting it into an already crammed schedule.

So, it looks like I have at least one, probably two, more days to scout. It is only a six day hunt, so we are going to he hard pressed to find any bulls for encounters, let alone kill one on film. Would ask, "What next?" but don't want to know the answer to that question.

Nothing is ever easy in any business. Producing public land hunting TV is no exception.