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unit 49 New Mexico

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unit 49 New Mexico

Postby Scott69 » 04 18, 2018 •  [Post 1]

I finally drew a NM elk tag for early rifle hunt in unit 49.Has anyone here hunted the unit that you could give me an idea of what to expect.Curious as to what elevation the elk prefer in the unit,hunting pressure and trophy quality.Is it a shoot any bull type unit or can you be a little picky.Plan is to get there at least 2 days before season opens,probably 3 days
Thanks for any help
Scott69
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Re: unit 49 New Mexico

Postby Trophyhill » 04 18, 2018 •  [Post 2]

Congrats on the tag Scott! 49 is a unit that flys under the radar but has some great bulls. Not sure about rifle seasons but you're going to hunt some beautiful country. I did a job at the Taos Ski Valley back in 05, and let me tell ya, it starts getting cold up there in mid October. My men were installing windows off a Snorkle lift and had to come in about every 45 minutes to warm up. Of course this was at 11,000' +
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Re: unit 49 New Mexico

Postby Scott69 » 04 18, 2018 •  [Post 3]

thanks.I heard area around ski area is pretty good for elk there.Is that where you were seeing them?Plan to get there 2-3 days early for scouting.My season dates are Oct 6-10th.I imagine the bulls should still be fairly vocal which will help alot
Scott69
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Re: unit 49 New Mexico

Postby Trophyhill » 04 18, 2018 •  [Post 4]

Scott69 wrote:thanks.I heard area around ski area is pretty good for elk there.Is that where you were seeing them?Plan to get there 2-3 days early for scouting.My season dates are Oct 6-10th.I imagine the bulls should still be fairly vocal which will help alot


Lol yes actually. Along with bears almost daily scavenging the local eatery's. Some big muley's too. There were a couple sheep we'd see on a regular basis too. Love it up there!
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Re: unit 49 New Mexico

Postby Scott69 » 10 16, 2018 •  [Post 5]

Took me under an hour on opening morning to fill my tag on a 5x6 bull.I flew into NM 2 1/2 days before season for scouting.The worst forest service roads I've ever driven on by far.After 2 days of scouting I found 5 decent muley bucks but no elk.On my 2nd day though,I found very fresh sign and determined that where I should start.Didnt hear a bugle at all but the sign told me they were there.Looked over Google Earth and noticed good feed down deep in the creek bottoms so since I stayed higher the 2 scout days with nothing I figured they must drop down to the bottoms for daytime.Got to where I wanted to start my drop to the bottom at 1st light actually a little before that .Let out a weak locator bugle,nothing.I wasn't a hundred yards into my way down when I hear a chuckle very close.I let out a couple whiny cow calls and immediately 2 cows start talking to me really close.I squatted down and one cow comes to 15 yards staring a hole thru me.She realizes something isn't right and turns and trots back to the other cow I can't see but can hear calling.I haven't heard the bull again but know he's close.I figure the cow took him straight away from me but she wasn't spooked bad.Decide to run back up hill and then try and move across to get ahead of them.I get to the upper meadow and 80 yards away is the bull with 2 cows.We see each other at same time,but as they looked at each other to figure out what to do,I put a bullet in his heart.They drop over a small rise and I watched the 2 cows head downhill but no bull.As I walked up the rise I see he's down maybe 15-20 yards from impact.I had my first elk sighting and a dead bull.As I was quartering him up 2 more bulls started going off where I had first heard him.They carried on for awhile trying to take over the cows I assume.I wanted to go take a look at them,but I had work to do and was happy with my bull and didn't want to ruin that by seeing some giant.
Got down to Santa Fe later that afternoon and found a really cool horse ranch to stay at while bull got butchered.NM has a lot more to offer then I realize.I went sightseeing at Tent Rocks,Bandelier monument and of course the Valles Caldera.Now that's a tag I want after seeing the bulls in there.Some of the nicest people in the country in NM too.They all liked the bull head on top of my rental.It wouldn't fit inside the 4 runner,lol.Well everyone liked it besides the rental car place
Scott69
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Re: unit 49 New Mexico

Postby jmward244 » 08 17, 2022 •  [Post 6]

Scott69 wrote:Took me under an hour on opening morning to fill my tag on a 5x6 bull.I flew into NM 2 1/2 days before season for scouting.The worst forest service roads I've ever driven on by far.After 2 days of scouting I found 5 decent muley bucks but no elk.On my 2nd day though,I found very fresh sign and determined that where I should start.Didnt hear a bugle at all but the sign told me they were there.Looked over Google Earth and noticed good feed down deep in the creek bottoms so since I stayed higher the 2 scout days with nothing I figured they must drop down to the bottoms for daytime.Got to where I wanted to start my drop to the bottom at 1st light actually a little before that .Let out a weak locator bugle,nothing.I wasn't a hundred yards into my way down when I hear a chuckle very close.I let out a couple whiny cow calls and immediately 2 cows start talking to me really close.I squatted down and one cow comes to 15 yards staring a hole thru me.She realizes something isn't right and turns and trots back to the other cow I can't see but can hear calling.I haven't heard the bull again but know he's close.I figure the cow took him straight away from me but she wasn't spooked bad.Decide to run back up hill and then try and move across to get ahead of them.I get to the upper meadow and 80 yards away is the bull with 2 cows.We see each other at same time,but as they looked at each other to figure out what to do,I put a bullet in his heart.They drop over a small rise and I watched the 2 cows head downhill but no bull.As I walked up the rise I see he's down maybe 15-20 yards from impact.I had my first elk sighting and a dead bull.As I was quartering him up 2 more bulls started going off where I had first heard him.They carried on for awhile trying to take over the cows I assume.I wanted to go take a look at them,but I had work to do and was happy with my bull and didn't want to ruin that by seeing some giant.
Got down to Santa Fe later that afternoon and found a really cool horse ranch to stay at while bull got butchered.NM has a lot more to offer then I realize.I went sightseeing at Tent Rocks,Bandelier monument and of course the Valles Caldera.Now that's a tag I want after seeing the bulls in there.Some of the nicest people in the country in NM too.They all liked the bull head on top of my rental.It wouldn't fit inside the 4 runner,lol.Well everyone liked it besides the rental car place



Scott. I just got this exact same tag. Would love to connect on any information you wouldn’t mind sharing. Thanks.
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