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Message
re: Drew a NM Elk Tag - Unit 50 Sept 1-15 - Archery
Posted on 4/22/21 at 5:42 pm to KABoss02
Posted on 4/22/21 at 5:42 pm to KABoss02
I’ve always been on the volcanoes along the Rio. Water access is a big issue for you and elk. Very little other than the River. I’ve got a few spots I can show you. The roads are terrible, but I’ve never gotten a flat. Road hunters are worthless in 50, so no need to worry about it. You may bump another hunter or too, but if they are in there deep then it usually isn’t an issue of dealing with a dumbass. I can give you some great details if you have an email I can send them too. I prefer not to put them on a public forum for obvious reasons.
3
Posted on 4/22/21 at 9:26 pm to PetreauxCat
Absolutely - TDEmailKABoss02@gmail.com - Thanks a bunch.
Posted on 4/23/21 at 10:04 am to KABoss02
I doubt there is many road hunters during archery in NM, rifle in Colorado is a different story. Besides that, if you are running into road hunters you are road hunting yourself...
I’d find someone with horses or nukes (lol keeping that but obviously meant mules) and have them pack you in/ out. They are local and may have some tips for you, like where there’s water.
People like to hate on water being scarce, but IMO for an area you don’t know that’s a huge benefit. Spend your time finding water, and you will find the game when you do. I’d find a water hole and deer hunt it personally without any elk experience. Don’t have to sit it all day or whatever, but build a blind snd play the wind for when they are most likely to come in. Should be a great chance doing that with the right amount of time.
As said, would be nuts not to give yourself at least 10 days. Can always go early too and scout for a day or 2 if that works out better for your schedule and the weather.
I’d find someone with horses or nukes (lol keeping that but obviously meant mules) and have them pack you in/ out. They are local and may have some tips for you, like where there’s water.
People like to hate on water being scarce, but IMO for an area you don’t know that’s a huge benefit. Spend your time finding water, and you will find the game when you do. I’d find a water hole and deer hunt it personally without any elk experience. Don’t have to sit it all day or whatever, but build a blind snd play the wind for when they are most likely to come in. Should be a great chance doing that with the right amount of time.
As said, would be nuts not to give yourself at least 10 days. Can always go early too and scout for a day or 2 if that works out better for your schedule and the weather.
This post was edited on 4/23/21 at 10:05 am
Posted on 4/23/21 at 10:39 am to baldona
quote:
People like to hate on water being scarce, but IMO for an area you don’t know that’s a huge benefit. Spend your time finding water, and you will find the game when you do. I’d find a water hole and deer hunt it personally without any elk experience. Don’t have to sit it all day or whatever, but build a blind snd play the wind for when they are most likely to come in. Should be a great chance doing that with the right amount of time.
My game plan as of now is to pick an area to walk/glass through trying to find a spot with water and a lot of sign to do just that. Its a good size unit, so figuring out a good starting point/area is what i am working on now.
Posted on 4/23/21 at 11:27 am to KABoss02
quote:
Absolutely - TDEmailKABoss02@gmail.com - Thanks a bunch.
Sent
Posted on 7/29/25 at 1:44 pm to PetreauxCat
hey - digging through the crates and found this thread. in the same situation as OP. was just up scouting, but would love some additional advice if you're still offering andrew.collins89@gmail.com
Posted on 7/29/25 at 2:43 pm to KABoss02
Have not hunted the area of the unit and do not hunt big game but I have fished it some BUT that area is crawling with Elk and the north and south ends of it are almost all public land...mid portion has a good bit of private land for New Mexico. It is a VAST area and it is unlikely that any but the most easily accessible areas closest to the truck have been hunted much if any in the recent past....I may be completely off base on that, I think it is one of the better DIY units in New Mexico and as such may get a lot of pressure but it is pretty remote and access is hard if memory serves. It is hard up against the Colorado line at the north so it may get some pressure but it certainly doesn't get as much as units south of there.
If you are going to drive and are coming from Louisiana (I-10) and have a couple of days to shoot dove and teal I will send you some coordinates of some spots where you can melt a gun barrel shooting dove and if there is any water (I think there is a BUNCH of water this year but I may be wrong) teal will be stacked like cordwood and no one will be shooting at either dove or ducks. I imagine you will be focused on getting an Elk but if you are so inclined and have the time the dove shooting is world class in the area (SE New Mexico) and if there is any water the teal will be stacked up and dumber than a sack of hammers, even more so than teal normally are. This area is in the SE corner of the state, about as far as the GMU you were selected for as you can get BUT if you are coming from Louisiana it isn't the worst way to get to the area of the GMU or return home.
If you are going to drive and are coming from Louisiana (I-10) and have a couple of days to shoot dove and teal I will send you some coordinates of some spots where you can melt a gun barrel shooting dove and if there is any water (I think there is a BUNCH of water this year but I may be wrong) teal will be stacked like cordwood and no one will be shooting at either dove or ducks. I imagine you will be focused on getting an Elk but if you are so inclined and have the time the dove shooting is world class in the area (SE New Mexico) and if there is any water the teal will be stacked up and dumber than a sack of hammers, even more so than teal normally are. This area is in the SE corner of the state, about as far as the GMU you were selected for as you can get BUT if you are coming from Louisiana it isn't the worst way to get to the area of the GMU or return home.
Posted on 7/29/25 at 2:48 pm to PetreauxCat
I just remembered - I know a young man who USED to guide elk hunters in the area just to the SE of that GMU, I think...it may have actually been the same GMU. At any rate I will reach out to him and see if he is still in the area (he is an Arkansas duck hunter at heart and oil field hand by practice). If he is still in the area or has some info and doesn't mind me sending you his contact information I will do so. I haven't spoken to him in a couple of years but we used to hunt ducks together a lot until he got engaged and I moved from New Mexico. He is a good dude and used to be ate up with hunting and rodeoing. He met and got married to a pre-med student so he may be fat and sassy and not doing much of any of that any longer
Posted on 7/29/25 at 3:18 pm to baldona
quote:
People like to hate on water being scarce, but IMO for an area you don’t know that’s a huge benefit. Spend your time finding water, and you will find the game when you do.
This is absolutely the truth. Water in New Mexico is akin to running a train load of corn into a dove field or a next to a duck blind and dumping it out. I have decoyed ducks into truck ruts in New Mexico. I know that is going to come off as a lie and I would have never believed it but I jumped about 50 mallards off an area of truck ruts about 50 feet wide and 300 feet long one afternoon and set up in the middle of that mess the next morning with 3 dozen decoys and a lay out blind and I could have shot 100 mallards and pintails....they simply did not care if I was there.
That is a MASSIVE body of water for most of New Mexico. When people in New Mexico talk about finding water it may be a patch of johnson weed about 9 square feet wide where a spring breaks the surface a few times a week. This is one such spot I know for certain in SW New Mexico which is like a magnet to steel for mule deer and every game bird in the area...and every snake...
32.418126560490514, -103.98572798117543
in the google image of that spot the water is visible...the small tank to the east did not exist 7 years ago. There was another one just like it about 200 yards almost due south and it was always wet...the one above wasn't. One or the other was a major source of water for wildlife in the area. Seriously, it is hard to imagine how many mule deer would come to that small patch of Johnson Grass with about 9 square feet of water about 3 inches deep every afternoon. If it hasn't rained in 4 days, and it hasn't most of the time, anywhere there is any sort of grass that is still a shade of green there is water of some nature. It will stand out like a neon sign through glasses if it hasn't rained in 2 weeks. If it has rained everything will be green for a few days but the spots that have surface water...and I mean maybe a foot of it an inch deep...will be green almost year round. I don't think the area you will be hunting is quite that dry but it still holds...its drier than almost anywhere in the US.
If you look at the area around those coordinates it is hard to imagine where the hell a Mule deer would be that you couldn't see him all day every day....I have flown at low altitude over that area a bunch looking for similar places and I never saw a deer from an airplane and almost never saw one from a truck but sit close to a similar spot of an evening and be quite and mindful of the wind and it will stagger the mind how many deer there are in that "wasteland".....
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