New Mexico/ Humphries/Rio Chama Wildlife Area
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nmelktrout
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LAST EDITED ON Feb-08-09 AT 10:30AM (MST)[p]MM'er JoeSikora and I both were fortunate enough to have drawn 2 of the 10 early rifle elk tags and hunted the Sargent Humphries WMA this past year. I've been on several elk hunts in this WMA over the past few years. It's a great hunt with terrible draw odds and unique opportunity to hunt good bulls in the rut with a rifle. This past year was a tough tough year in terms of finding bigger bulls. This is not a giant bull unit but a quality hunt with good odds of taking a 300 class bull. This is pretty much what you can expect from the unit as the days of finding numerous big bulls on the unit are pretty much history. Too many Landowner tags given in the area and a couple of harsh winters seem to have taken their toll in the area.
Here's my opening morning bull which is pretty representative of the area:
Here is Joe's last day, last minute bull he took after passing on several bigger bulls during the hunt:
Feel free to pm either joesikora or myself for more info.
-Cody
p.s. the Rio Chama WMA has some decent elk on but is not nearly as quality as the Sargent Humphries. After a bit of pressure the elk seem to push off the unit as it is a small unit.
Here's my opening morning bull which is pretty representative of the area:
Here is Joe's last day, last minute bull he took after passing on several bigger bulls during the hunt:
Feel free to pm either joesikora or myself for more info.
-Cody
p.s. the Rio Chama WMA has some decent elk on but is not nearly as quality as the Sargent Humphries. After a bit of pressure the elk seem to push off the unit as it is a small unit.
sageadvice
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nmelktrout, Well Done! Both you guys did well but i was impressed with your matter of fact reply. Nice!!
Joey
Joey
The Sargent WMA is completely seperate of the Humphries/Rio Chama WMAs. If you draw the Sargent you only hunt that WMA. The Humphries/Rio Chama WMAs are lumped together if you draw the tag you can hunt both. The Humphries is 10 miles to the west of Chama just off hwy 64. The Sargent is almost right in the town of Chama as you head towards Colo. and the Rio Chama is 14 miles south of town.
nmelktrout
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What Amiehunt said is correct. And, the reason the Humphries/Rio Chama WMA's are easier to draw is because of the quality of the hunts. There can be some nice bulls in the Humphries/Rio Chama WMA's but on these hunts the elk tend to be pushed off and around much easier than on the Sargent. Regardless, fun hunts if and when you can draw them. Private land elk hunts around these WMAs have hammered the quantity of mature bulls in the region as the general surrounding unit is all private and heavily outfitted.
From my understanding the NM Game and Fish sell permits to allow peple to sight-see in the WMA's In the past that was not allowed, from my understanding. I did not see anyone sight-seeing but the hunt in the Humphries last year was 0 rating from the past years of a 10 plus. Residents of Chama said since they started allowing this there have been lots of sight-seeing going on. So yes, they can be push off the Humphries WMA's easy!!
