LopeHunter
Well-known member
I usually have a bit of anxious tossing, turning and dreaming as Result Day nears for a hunt application draw. Each Results Day for me is a miniature Birthday or Holiday event. I do not draw many tags. I tend to now only apply for hunts near the rut or which offer an older age class of critter or there are only a handful of tags. The odds are often under 5% though when apply to enough of those tags then can draw one somewhere from time to time. Hope springs eternal until see a results screen full of “Unsuccessful” labels. I see several dozen Unsuccessful results each year.
April 17 was when New Mexico posted results. I drew my 3rd choice though was still a heck of a choice as was a muzzleloader bull elk tag for early October. Odds were around 1 in 40 as a non-resident not applying in the Guided Draw.
I decided a few years ago to go on fewer hunts and to never again pack out a moose or elk solo. Once I determined my older brothers were not available then I sought out a guide for this hunt. I spoke with over a dozen prior hunters by calling and emailing the names on the lists provided by Epic and Huntin' Fool. I heard the same outfitter's name mentioned positively a few times so I called him up and arranged for a guide.
A month later the Nevada results were released and lo and behold I drew a muzzleloader bull elk hunt there, too. Time to get in better shape.
I worked up the same exact load for my two identical Thompson Omegas .50 calibers. One of the Omegas has a scope while the other uses iron sights. I would use the scoped muzzleloader in NM.
The next three months flew by while I focused on the NV hunt. NV was a memorable hunt and as notched that tag I realized was less than one month to go until the NM hunt. The little finger on my left hand was a casualty of the NV hunt so sported a splint through the rest of September.
Drawing the NM tag with a five-day season was a bit bittersweet. My 40th high school reunion was scheduled for Homecoming football weekend which happened to also be the first night of the NM hunt. If I went to the reunion then I would lose the first two of days. Since the rut is winding down during this hunt I figured the earlier you hunt the tag then the better. About 50 bulls would be harvested with the 104 tags and my hunch was most of those would fall on opening day.
I grew up in a small, rural town and our class reunions combine four consecutive classes so is more like a family get together every five years than a stuffy brag-a-thon. We now are losing a classmate about every three months and that pace is gradually increasing. You never know when might be your last chance to see a buddy. I almost missed the prior reunion when a CO mountain goat hunt took a while to fill that tag.
I opted to not go to the reunion. I am on the planning committee and emcee the event so I swore one of the other members to secrecy and he agreed to emcee as well as announce that afternoon to the committee that I would not be attending. He did a wonderful job and sent me lots of pictures of classmates that attended.
I gathered up my gear in Phoenix and tossed the gear and a big cooler into a rental truck for the drive over to NM the day before the season began. Google Maps suggested the shorter route though a LOT of winding, undivided roads where were not many services. Was amazingly scenic. I made a note to route home through Flagstaff which would be mostly interstates after the first hour.
Some of the scenic stuff on the drive.
Leaving Phoenix
Gaining elevation
Sage flats in NM
Ancient lava flows
My Geology 101 classes were a long time ago though think the red seam is sand from the erosion of the then Alps-like Appalachian Mountains that became sand which flowed west after the first Rocky Mountains had eroded away. Or not.
April 17 was when New Mexico posted results. I drew my 3rd choice though was still a heck of a choice as was a muzzleloader bull elk tag for early October. Odds were around 1 in 40 as a non-resident not applying in the Guided Draw.
I decided a few years ago to go on fewer hunts and to never again pack out a moose or elk solo. Once I determined my older brothers were not available then I sought out a guide for this hunt. I spoke with over a dozen prior hunters by calling and emailing the names on the lists provided by Epic and Huntin' Fool. I heard the same outfitter's name mentioned positively a few times so I called him up and arranged for a guide.
A month later the Nevada results were released and lo and behold I drew a muzzleloader bull elk hunt there, too. Time to get in better shape.
I worked up the same exact load for my two identical Thompson Omegas .50 calibers. One of the Omegas has a scope while the other uses iron sights. I would use the scoped muzzleloader in NM.
The next three months flew by while I focused on the NV hunt. NV was a memorable hunt and as notched that tag I realized was less than one month to go until the NM hunt. The little finger on my left hand was a casualty of the NV hunt so sported a splint through the rest of September.
Drawing the NM tag with a five-day season was a bit bittersweet. My 40th high school reunion was scheduled for Homecoming football weekend which happened to also be the first night of the NM hunt. If I went to the reunion then I would lose the first two of days. Since the rut is winding down during this hunt I figured the earlier you hunt the tag then the better. About 50 bulls would be harvested with the 104 tags and my hunch was most of those would fall on opening day.
I grew up in a small, rural town and our class reunions combine four consecutive classes so is more like a family get together every five years than a stuffy brag-a-thon. We now are losing a classmate about every three months and that pace is gradually increasing. You never know when might be your last chance to see a buddy. I almost missed the prior reunion when a CO mountain goat hunt took a while to fill that tag.
I opted to not go to the reunion. I am on the planning committee and emcee the event so I swore one of the other members to secrecy and he agreed to emcee as well as announce that afternoon to the committee that I would not be attending. He did a wonderful job and sent me lots of pictures of classmates that attended.
I gathered up my gear in Phoenix and tossed the gear and a big cooler into a rental truck for the drive over to NM the day before the season began. Google Maps suggested the shorter route though a LOT of winding, undivided roads where were not many services. Was amazingly scenic. I made a note to route home through Flagstaff which would be mostly interstates after the first hour.
Some of the scenic stuff on the drive.
Leaving Phoenix
Gaining elevation
Sage flats in NM
Ancient lava flows
My Geology 101 classes were a long time ago though think the red seam is sand from the erosion of the then Alps-like Appalachian Mountains that became sand which flowed west after the first Rocky Mountains had eroded away. Or not.
Last edited:
