Iceman- That's what I mean when I say that NM Game and Fish doesn't do a very good job of letting hunters know the oportunities available. If you go to their (NMDGF) website, they actually have maps available of the antelope ranches for hunters to aquire maps of the ranches that they've been assigned to for their antelope hunts. There are a lot of differences in the elk system and the antelope system, but it shouldn't be that far of a stretch for the department to make similar maps available to the public of E-plus (Unit Wide elk) ranches on their website. I understand that the Game and Fish are trying to get electronic maps built for UW elk ranches, but I've heard that for more than a couple of years, so who knows.
Right now, it takes some leg work to find these places. Most people that use the E-plus list are simply interested in aquiring the landowner tags that are given to the landowner, but I guess one could also call the landowners and ask them about their ranches, and where they are at. Very many of these landowners that sell their tags have one provision, that the hunters use them anywhere BUT their property. Often times the landowner sells his tags to an outfitter who hunts the ranch and public land. I wouldn't expect a landowner to be too entirely cooperative in ENCOURAGING hunters to come and hunt their property, but if they are signed up UW unit wide they or their outfitter cannot keep you from hunting there, and if they try in any way to keep you from it, call the Game Warden right away and let them know.
Some units have better private land oportunities than others. Many of the larger ranches sign up RO- (Ranch Only), meaning their tags are only valid on the deeded acres of the ranch, and they keep public hunters out. Just glancing at the list- GMU 15 and 34 are two of the major elk units that come to mind as units I'd really try to use this information while I was scouting pre-season. I've hunted GMU15 and hunted BLM and Private ranches in the perifery of the US Forest and was into some gigantic bulls with few other hunters to hassle me or the bulls. NM requires landowners to include their name and contact information in order for a "No Tresspassing" sign to be concidered legal, and it's usually not that hard to find the name of the ranch or the owner of a ranch. For those guys who put the time in pre-season to scout, if they had the list of landowners and a good BLM map that outlines well the private land versus the USFS or BLM or State land, opportunites can be found.
As for me, I think the more hunters distribute themselves throughout the unit, the better hunting experience we all will have. Plus the reason these landowner's tags are valid for the whole unit is because of the trade off the public hunters are supposed to get get back in the hundreds of thousands of acres that are opened up to them to hunt. I just think we public hunters ought to be utilizing what is supposed to be our end of the bargain.
I hope this helps someone.. I may re-post this thread under a different title so more folks can see it.