Often the private land hunt prices here in NM come down as the season gets closer and the landowners have unsold tags. Of course, they will not be the most sought-after dates, but you can still get some good late season rifle hunts for around $5K instead of the $7K to $8K range.

Now we are thinking of a bow hunt, what would be the best time for a elk bow hunt so we can take advantage of the excitement of the elk rut?

On our ranch in Northern NM the best archery hunt is the last 9-10 days of the bow season, so around Sept 12-22 or so. We called in a huge bull on labor day weekend last year and they were only just getting going. I'd expect you would want to hunt just a bit earlier in the Gila area, which warms up sooner.