Hi everyone - I'm one seriously lucky non-resident this year. I drew two tags in New Mexico after 5 years of nothing; unit 13 early archery elk (and) unit 21, 24 archery antelope. Very excited to say the least! I submitted a separate post for the antelope so this one is for the elk. I've heard the whole unit has elk but really trying to narrow my focus. I'm not interested in hunting where everyone else is going to be hunting since I've heard it can be somewhat of a zoo in certain areas of the unit. I'm also willing to hike and avoid the road hunters. Curious if anyone knows how the rut is shaping up in this unit during those first two weeks of September and if there is plenty of water (or) if I'll be competing with other hunters sitting water holes? Any information on the unit, particularly this season, would be much appreciated. I've never been in the area and I won't have any time to scout before the season opens. I'll only have a week so considering the second week of the season and since I'm coming from Reno, would love to narrow it down a little. Thanks in advance! I know I speak for everyone in my situation that doesn't have a ton of time to give to hunts but lives for it that the guys on this forum are a godsend!!!
New Mexico Unit 13 Early Archery Elk
- Thread starter AK2NV
- Start date
wallace
New member
good for you
Closing the loop on this hunt and hopefully providing some insight on the early archery tag in unit 13 for future hunters. There really isn't a lot out there on this hunt so thought my experience could be helpful. We hunted the second week, Sept 6th-14th.
I didn't fill my tag but I did send an arrow at a great bull (330"-340") that was chasing cows headed to water at sundown. We way-laid him as he followed his cows travelling a well warn path. The cows seemed irritated he was chasing them. Typical pre-rut action. I was full draw for over a minute with the bull at 20 yards behind a tree screaming at us. Had to draw down. Re-drew my bow for another 15 seconds still shaking like a leaf. Brother's range finder wasn't working so had to guess, 50(ish) yards, let it fly, and just missed low. Ranged the location later on and estimated correctly (51 yards) but my wimpy arms and having the shakes obviously affected my shot. Extremely bummed but we did have a couple incredible experiences the last few days of the hunt. One bull over 370" gave us the slip twice. He was always in the same area but the hunting pressure was starting to get to him and he was cautious and silent. Very weary bulls during this season and they were almost completely nocturnal. The full moon did not help at all.
5 out of the 7 days we hunted we heard and saw nothing. It was abnormally hot and there was a full moon which resulted in very little (if any) rut action during the daytime. We put on 50-55 miles on the boots. The last night we chased a bull pushing his cows and he led us on top of a mesa right at dark and we were surrounded by 4 screaming bulls. None of them were willing to commit to coming in though. They yelled but only to establish space. If my brother was able to bugle I think I could have snuck in but unfortunately I had to do the talking and the bulls didn't want to encroach on our location so it made closing the distance very difficult. We enjoyed about an hour of the most intense bugling and tree thrashing we have ever experienced in our life. We played with these elk for the fun of it as darkness fell and headed back to the truck with an unfilled tag and a smile on our faces. I will never forget that experience.
This is a very tough hunt if you are hunting the El Malpais area. Thick P&J and ponderosa and this season is classic pre-rut behavior during these dates. There were a lot of full water tanks which was helpful but they were mostly being used at night. A good strategy I recommend is to focus on the highest elevations in the unit, tops of mesas, with 2-3 water sources within a mile or two and look for these areas with significant rub lines. These areas seemed to have the best cover (brush, trees, lay downs, and shade during the day) and held the most elk and they were generally bedded on the North facing slopes in thick cover. Finding them was very difficult so one suggestion I have is to get into the unit very early (3-4am) and locate bulls with bugles. Find a concentration and soft cow call to draw them in at first or last light. Bugle only if you have one fired up. Use a buddy who can bugle and stay back 100-200 yards and sneak in with the wind in your favor. This would be my best suggestion for success on this hunt. The traditional methods of (1) sitting water and (2) calling them in wasn't as productive in this area. We could get close, but not close enough to seal the deal. Another strategy suggestion would be to waylay a bull you know is heading to a specific area. If you can predict where they are headed, this will work. But the biggest factor that kicked our ass daily on this hunt was WIND. We blew 2-3 stalks because of wind and it almost always swirled all day long. This mesa country has extremely unpredictable wind and if you have it in your favor, make a move immediately because it will change, guaranteed. The El Malpais was not the greatest area for spot-n-stalk. Again, this info is mostly related to the Northern part of unit 13. We did not hunt any of the areas near Pie Town, Datil, or Magdalena.
Considering all factors I suggest putting in for the second archery hunt in this unit. The dates are just a little early for this area IMO. We heard from other NM hunters passing through town that the high elevations were going crazy. The El Malpais behaves like low elevation elk hunting areas.
Here are a few pictures for SnG's - happy to provide any additional insight. Good luck hunting unit 13!
I didn't fill my tag but I did send an arrow at a great bull (330"-340") that was chasing cows headed to water at sundown. We way-laid him as he followed his cows travelling a well warn path. The cows seemed irritated he was chasing them. Typical pre-rut action. I was full draw for over a minute with the bull at 20 yards behind a tree screaming at us. Had to draw down. Re-drew my bow for another 15 seconds still shaking like a leaf. Brother's range finder wasn't working so had to guess, 50(ish) yards, let it fly, and just missed low. Ranged the location later on and estimated correctly (51 yards) but my wimpy arms and having the shakes obviously affected my shot. Extremely bummed but we did have a couple incredible experiences the last few days of the hunt. One bull over 370" gave us the slip twice. He was always in the same area but the hunting pressure was starting to get to him and he was cautious and silent. Very weary bulls during this season and they were almost completely nocturnal. The full moon did not help at all.
5 out of the 7 days we hunted we heard and saw nothing. It was abnormally hot and there was a full moon which resulted in very little (if any) rut action during the daytime. We put on 50-55 miles on the boots. The last night we chased a bull pushing his cows and he led us on top of a mesa right at dark and we were surrounded by 4 screaming bulls. None of them were willing to commit to coming in though. They yelled but only to establish space. If my brother was able to bugle I think I could have snuck in but unfortunately I had to do the talking and the bulls didn't want to encroach on our location so it made closing the distance very difficult. We enjoyed about an hour of the most intense bugling and tree thrashing we have ever experienced in our life. We played with these elk for the fun of it as darkness fell and headed back to the truck with an unfilled tag and a smile on our faces. I will never forget that experience.
This is a very tough hunt if you are hunting the El Malpais area. Thick P&J and ponderosa and this season is classic pre-rut behavior during these dates. There were a lot of full water tanks which was helpful but they were mostly being used at night. A good strategy I recommend is to focus on the highest elevations in the unit, tops of mesas, with 2-3 water sources within a mile or two and look for these areas with significant rub lines. These areas seemed to have the best cover (brush, trees, lay downs, and shade during the day) and held the most elk and they were generally bedded on the North facing slopes in thick cover. Finding them was very difficult so one suggestion I have is to get into the unit very early (3-4am) and locate bulls with bugles. Find a concentration and soft cow call to draw them in at first or last light. Bugle only if you have one fired up. Use a buddy who can bugle and stay back 100-200 yards and sneak in with the wind in your favor. This would be my best suggestion for success on this hunt. The traditional methods of (1) sitting water and (2) calling them in wasn't as productive in this area. We could get close, but not close enough to seal the deal. Another strategy suggestion would be to waylay a bull you know is heading to a specific area. If you can predict where they are headed, this will work. But the biggest factor that kicked our ass daily on this hunt was WIND. We blew 2-3 stalks because of wind and it almost always swirled all day long. This mesa country has extremely unpredictable wind and if you have it in your favor, make a move immediately because it will change, guaranteed. The El Malpais was not the greatest area for spot-n-stalk. Again, this info is mostly related to the Northern part of unit 13. We did not hunt any of the areas near Pie Town, Datil, or Magdalena.
Considering all factors I suggest putting in for the second archery hunt in this unit. The dates are just a little early for this area IMO. We heard from other NM hunters passing through town that the high elevations were going crazy. The El Malpais behaves like low elevation elk hunting areas.
Here are a few pictures for SnG's - happy to provide any additional insight. Good luck hunting unit 13!
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KayakMacGyver
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2018
- Messages
- 338
Good on you man for posting an update to your inquiry. Hope it comes back to you in the future. Sounds like some good memories and a fun hunt!
rustednuts
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2018
- Messages
- 763
Thanks for replying to your original post!
Thanks KayakMacGyver! It was definitely an awesome experience and worth every second we were out there despite not filling my tag. Would do it again in a heartbeat!
prhunter
Well-known member
I'm sure it was a great experience. Thanks for sharing!
Gila
Well-known member
You got a shot at an Elk....good going. Great write up, thanks for sharing. That hunt was exceptionally tough this year because it has been very hot and a waxing moon to boot. A couple of cows showed up for water at 2:00 am last week. The weather changed yesterday big time cool down and cloudy. Within a week the bulls should be going nuts for you guys. I hope so anyway.
PeteTheBeat
Member
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2018
- Messages
- 77
Great write up! I've been following closely. You didn't run across any big deer by chance did you?
Great write up.
13 is tough at times. The Malpais can be very tough. Lots of elk move into Acoma.
Got a deluge in late Aug. (full tanks & green) then a heat wave & little rain for start of Sept.
You did better than most I would say.
...but to tease, a possible new state bow bull was arrowed about 50 mi SW of where you were...............in an unknown unit....lol
13 is tough at times. The Malpais can be very tough. Lots of elk move into Acoma.
Got a deluge in late Aug. (full tanks & green) then a heat wave & little rain for start of Sept.
You did better than most I would say.
...but to tease, a possible new state bow bull was arrowed about 50 mi SW of where you were...............in an unknown unit....lol
Thanks Gila! Yes, it was definitely tough with the heat and the moon. Talked to a local guy from Grants out listening for bugles late at night with amplification ear muffs on and he said the same thing. Unfortunately, I had to head back home on the 14th so was unable to finish out the season to the last day. I know if I had a couple more days I could have put one in the dirt. We found a concentration of bulls the last couple days and could tell things were starting to change. Oh well, that's hunting, especially archery hunting. Hope to draw again soon.
Thanks! We did run across some great deer. I can send you some locations. PM me, happy to help!
I am fairly confident we worked harder than most at least. We gave it everything we had for 7 days. If true, good for the guy that arrowed the giant. I am now well aware of the potential New Mexico has for producing very large specimens.
CWeeks
Member
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2010
- Messages
- 79
Had a similar experience when I hunted same tag few years ago, little more bugling action than you had, but tough hunt, we were 1 for 3(I passed 5pt day 4), interesting different hunt than my usual though.
Sounds like it is hit or miss in the El Malpais year-to-year. I would definitely hunt that unit again since I received a good education in 7 days. But I agree, it was much different of a hunt than what I am used to here in Nevada.
I am sure you did too.
Most are spot & stalkers from trucks,on a handfull of roads. The big boy was guided hunt too,so there is that...lol
Love the Malpais country. One of 2 sheds I have is from a Malpais bull I hunted for 5 years ago, unsuccessfully. Have not drawn it since. He got bigger.....
It rained steady Sat.& Sun. & has cooled down a bunch here. This morning heard bugles again.
No problem! Good luck. He is in there, in a hole away from the roads.
Just missed it, darn!
