Public Land Elk or Pronghorn Hunting in New Mexico?
 

I'm starting to plan for next years hunts and it isn't looking very promising on getting drawn for a non-resident tag in Wyoming again so I'm thinking of branching out and trying New Mexico next year. I'm less than 100 miles from the border here and it makes sense to start figuring it out if there are some decent public land opportunities there.

I'm not really looking for a super hard to draw area that has a bunch of record book bulls or anything, just a place were I could go and expect a 50% chance of seeing a decent bull with a week or so of hard hunting.

I'm hoping to figure it out and try it on a DIY basis.

If anyone has any tips on the drawing process or some general areas you could direct me in I would very much appreciate it. I have a little place here in Texas that I could trade some hog hunting or something like that for some good information. You can reply here or send me a PM if you are interested. If you just want to give me some free information without coming to Texas to hog hunt that would work too! :D

Thanks, Nathan

RE: Public Land Elk or Pronghorn Hunting in New Mexico?
 

Have you tried going to the NM F&G web site and looking at the draw process? I'll send you the link shortly. I'll try to get some info from some of the guys I work with about where to go elk hunting. Pronghorn shouldn't be too much of a problem, the best way to go about that is to contact a private rancher and see what they have. I was looking at a ranch just southeast of Portales that was offering female tags for $300 archery or gun depending on when you want to hunt. I was given a map of 2 areas for elk by a guy that used to guide in NM, AZ, CO, TX and OK but I haven't even had a chance to hunt them yet. Hell I can't even put in for anyhunts, i'm either deployed when it's time to apply or i'm deployed during hunting seasons.....i'll see what I can find out for you though. Are there a lot of hogs around Lubbock? I haven't heard anybody talking about that area. I have permission to hunt an area just south of Melrose but haven't seen jack out there yet...not even a track. I've also been told the best way to hunt the hogs around this area is to use dogs....but nobody is willing to run them for a hunter, only for themselves. Sucks because i'm getting ready to go over to Iraq for a year and really want to do some kind of hunting before I go....I guess i'll go fling some arrows at prairie dogs and jack rabbits...HA! let me go find the web site for you.

Mac

RE: Public Land Elk or Pronghorn Hunting in New Mexico?
 

Here's the website. Good luck figuring out the rules though....check some of the other posts and you'll understand why I say that. I'll post the info the guys give me later this week....Oh yea, if you have access toa Clovis/PortalesThrifty Nickle that is where I found the ad for the pronghorns...it's a start for next year.

www.wildlife.state.nm.us/

RE: Public Land Elk or Pronghorn Hunting in New Mexico?
 

Thanks for the information. I've been the the New Mexico Wildlife Department's site and even have a few areas zero'd in on for elk hunting with large amounts of public land in them. I'm hoping for some input on specific places to go within those areas, but I'm probably not going to get that. I would be willing to trade for some hog hunting for the right information though.

RE: Public Land Elk or Pronghorn Hunting in New Mexico?
 

Some of the specific units I am looking at are areas 34 and 36 for elk, but 44, 45 and 49 look promising as well.

For pronghorn, units 31 and 33 have a lot of BLM land that looks promising as well.

Units 29 and 30 look like possiblities for pronghorn and also maybe Mule deer.

The most difficult thing I have is taking a unit on the map and then finding the license number that corresponds to that unit. There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to the license numbers and no chart showing how they match up.

RE: Public Land Elk or Pronghorn Hunting in New Mexico?
 

Okay, I'm finally getting it figured out.

Still looks like Units 34 and 36 on first choice elk but drawing odds are pretty bad. Under 10% for a non-resident without a guide on the rifle tags.Units 44/45, 49 and 53 have better drawing odds and decent harvest success numbers (from 14% - 33% depending on unit and season). Some of the late seasons have close to 50% drawing odds but the harvest chances appear to go down after they get a little pressure on them.

I know the Gila units (16A - 16D) have the monsters but the drawing odds are almost beyond hope there for non-residents without a guide. On 16A there were 541 first choice applicants last year fighting over what turned out to be 2 tags!

I had no idea the antelope drawing odds were so bad. Last year it was about 10% for one tag I was interested in and 20% for the other.

Deer actually has pretty good drawing odds but not sure what kind of deer are out there. Looking at Units 29 - 33 and they have over an 80% drawing odds and around a 50% harvest success but I don't know if there are any good bucks in that area or if a 20" spread 145" deer is going to be about the biggest to be expected. If so I probably won't waste my time on that.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks, Nathan

RE: Public Land Elk or Pronghorn Hunting in New Mexico?
 

I'll find out about units 29 &33 for you. I do know from riding down to Ruidoso for the bike rallies that we see a lot of deer in 33going down 70 to Roswell. The best deer i've seen along the way was a 4x4 mulie but he wasn't all THAT big. My friend said he saw a monster this past fall coming back up from Roswell....said he had about a 30" spread but couldn't tell how many points on each side...said he looked pretty tall too. It should be really good for hunting since most of it is farm land on that side of the highway. Shouldn't be too much of a problem to get permission from the farmers to hunt it either.....all you have to do is ask....definately wouldn't hurt. If there is any "BLM" land close to the road you might as well give up on that...there are probably cows roaming on it and who knows who they belong to. If there's any back behind their land you might be ok though....catch the deer coming out of the fields into any draws/coolies in the area. I'll find out tomorrow and post the information tomorrow night.

RE: Public Land Elk or Pronghorn Hunting in New Mexico?
 

In Montana you canhunt BLM land regardless of whether it is being actively grazed or not. You don't even need permission as long as there is public access via a road or other public lands. That's why I was looking at these areas was because they had so much public land available.

Does New Mexico have some oddball rules on public land use or something?

RE: Public Land Elk or Pronghorn Hunting in New Mexico?
 

Did you say hunt hogs for advice? I'm on that like a fat kid on cookie!:DI put in up around Elida and Kenna one year and got a tag and took a buck speed goat.The ranch had public land on it and the hired hand took us out scouting and even showed us where the mulies hungout on public land in case we wanted to come back later to hunt them.Look at the country near Hobbs and down to Jal,there's alot of goats there.Every year I think of putting in for New Mexico I forget or a unforseen bill shows up![:@]The southeast corner maybe a overlooked area to consider though.