PEAX Equipment

New Mexico Elk Unit15

Danny1788

Danny1788

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Joined
Sep 12, 2012
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41
Location
Central Coast, CA
Well my brother called me this morning and told me to check my email and i asked why? He said better get my fat A$$ to the gym we just drew a Unit 15 muzzleloader bull elk tag first period Oct 11-15th on a second choice I was blown away.

This will be my first time hunting in New Mexico and my first elk hunt ever. If anyone who has hunted this unit before and would like to share some stories with me please do. My hunt party will be my brother, my father 65 years old and Myself, just to give you an idea of hwo far we can hike and actaully be able to hual an elk out.

I know there are alot of good bulls in the Gila Forest but thats a large area to pick where to start at. We will be picking a campground to start out of and move from there if needed. I know it will be starting of the rut for the elk so they will be by water right? what type of class elk will i be seeing mostly?

Thank you in advance for anyone how helps me get this going in the right direction. Danny
 
I never hunted that area, but some close to it. I have known people that have hunted it. Water is always a good bet unless they have had lots of rain and then it is everywhere. There are world-class bulls there and you are lucky to get a permit. Do a lot of homework on Google Earth and every other source that you can find. I don't think that there is a bad area in Unit 15, unless it would be one with no cover.

Go to the area that you choose as early before the hunt as possible to make sure that there is fresh sign in the area and get after them!
 
We had ML deer tags for there 10 years ago and hunted up about 10-15 miles northeast of Apache Creek as high as we could go the last part of September. It was in the 90s every day that week and just really too hot for decent hunting. I wish I had been elk hunting because the country up there between Aragon and Quemado Lake was fantastic with a number of good water holes and I imagine it's even better now.
 
The only question that I have is what unit did you have down for your 1st choice?

My odds have that at like a 1.59% chance to draw, I didn't think there are many units out there with worse odds than that but I guess there must be a couple.

Congrats on drawing a great tag. Good luck!
 
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npaden said:
The only question that I have is what unit did you have down for your 1st choice?

My odds have that at like a 1.59% chance to draw, I didn't think there are many units out there with worse odds than that but I guess there must be a couple.

Congrats on drawing a great tag. Good luck!
Click to expand...

***Looking at the odds for NM is not really realistic because he could have had it as third choice and drawn it with no problem with the way NM looks at all three choices before they go to the next applicant. All you need is to be lucky enough to draw a low random number to be looked at before anyone else gets a shot for the tag.
 
For New Mexico I look all 3 choices combined the way I calculate my odds. i.e. for all 3 choices there were 12 tags available for unit 15 1st muzzleloader season for DIY nonresidents and there were 738 people that applied for that tag for all 3 choices. That actually comes out to 1.63% for 2013, the 1.59% must have been still from 2012. It's a pretty good way to look at odds in New Mexico.

Still curious about what his 1st choice was that it would have already been gone before a Unit 15 muzzle loader tag.

Doing the math the only non archery tags that are under 1% are 16A first rifle, 16D first rifle or a few others that are pretty close to Unit 15 between 1% and 2%.

I'm very curious to see what tag it is to see how my math works on this drawing such a good tag with the 2nd choice.

Checked again, Valle Vidal first rifle is under 1% as well.
 
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Just saw a note that there were an additional 10,000 applications this year, that's sure to throw a wrench in the odds year over year...
 
Unit 15 is awesome great unit plenty Of land to hunt drew Unit15 September 11-18! Last year drew 15 19-24 tagged out a 5x5 in 2011 I drew the first hunt no good you shouldn't have a problem filling your tag. No road hunt! There is a lot of that down there.. Wife drew 55 MB muddy tag Oct 4-8
 
My first choice was 16D first rifle, which you are correct npaden thats around 1% draw odds. So either way im still very excited about drawing unit 15 first period muzzy. The elk should be in the rut still i'm hoping.

Can anyone reccomend a good taxidermist in that area?
 
npaden said:
The only question that I have is what unit did you have down for your 1st choice?
Click to expand...

I drew the exact same tag three years ago as my second chance. That year I had one of the 16 units early rifle units as my first choice. That is a fun hunt, you are in for a treat.
 
A lot of rough roads. Get your vehicle ready for that! But a crazy awesome area. I shed hunt down there and its awesome.
 
Camped at Quemado a few years back. Very Nice! Wasn' t during hunting season. I would expect they would fill up in a hurry. Camping spot is that nice!
 
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