My hunting partner and I start our 4-day elk hunt tomorrow morning dark and early. We got drawn for cow tags on the Mescalero Indian Reservation las February. The Mescalero's manage an elk herd of between 4000 and 5000 elk. Today was prep day - got our permits, checked our rifles' zero, found dry ice in Ruidoso, and met our guide. With a short hunt and not knowing anything about the area, we decided to go with a guide at least for this first time.

Its beautiful country up here in the mountains. We should be hunting around 8,000' MSL. This afternoon and this evening we did some scouting on our own. Heard a bull elk buggling near us so tried to locate him - no luck. Saw turkeys galor - well over 50+. Then we found a nice lush valley with numberous cattle grazing. As we frove, saw 15 mule deer (does), a group of 6 cow elk, a young 3x4 bull, and a nice 5x5 bulls. The deer watched us with curiousity from about 75 yards away. The elk wasted no time getting into the brush then watching us from there. Boy are they big.

This is my first elk hunt. Tomorrow should be interesting.

Oh SlimJ you're commin home with a trophy, I can tell. Lots of record book elk and deer on Indian reservations in New Mexico and Arizona. I hope you bring your camera!!!!!!


good luck!
Suz

Good luck Slim!
Remember the piccies!

good luck and shoot straight, looking forward to the post hunt run down.

Go get some Slim...and make sure you document your hunt with lots and lots of pics mate. Won't believe ya unless I see them in colour.

Cheers, Vince

Good luck Slim.

Thanks for the well wishes. Up early and raring to go. Rifle is ready and up to the task. Now I have to do my part. Will post pictures but probably not until later this weekend.

Best of luck to you and for goodness sake be safe. We kinda like to have you around!

A good elk hunt is always something to look forward to. Good luck on yours and have fun.

Only shoot the ugly ones :-) GL and good times.

"Boy are they big." !!!!!!!

Good luck Slim. Love that area. Bring back some picture and memories also. Are you hunting down toward Cloudcroft, Mayhill, area? If you have time stop and see Billy the Kid museum, and Smokey the Bear museum around Lincoln.

Well, I need to start looking for some elk recipes! It was a great hunting experience. Sorry I'm so late getting back to you, my laptop died after the beginning of the trip. I feel like I have lots to tell and don't know where to start. The Mescalero Indian Reservation is big, beautiful country! Here is a picture of Sierra Blanca Peak in the Northwest corner of the 500,000 acre reservation. The elevation was 9000' where I took the picture. The peak is over 12,000'.

Here is the 300-pound cow elk I shot 20 minutes after sunrise. It was 2-3 years old, pretty much full-size but not big bodied yet. My partner got a 500-pound cow from the same herd - 6 cows and 2 bulls. Our guide was great and helped keep me aware of the situation. Even though the hunt was short, I learned a lot and its taken me several days to piece everything together. I'm thinking of doing a topic on my lessons learned. I just need some time to get my thoughts down in a logic order so I can post them and generate discussion.

My rifle is a .270 Win Tikka T3 Lite. I was shooting a Hornady 130gr GMX monolithic bullet with 55.5 grains of IMR 4350 amd muzzle velocity of 3090 fps. I was very please with the rifle's and bullet's performance.

Congrats on a fine hunt SlimJim. There's no end to the learning process on elk.