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I picked up an archery unit 40 deer tag. Never hunted it before so I will need to do some scouting. There seems to be a lot of private land so I guess I'll be looking for permission to hunt on a ranch as well.

Hey Paul, When was the orientation for your hunt now that the hunts start on Friday? My wife drew cow tag and other than the authorization I haven't received anything. I've called and been tossed from person to person without getting any details. Thanks

Richard Baca with Antler Addiction Outfitters is top notch as well.

You aren't allowed to camp on the Caldera. There are nearby campgrounds between the Caldera and Jemez Springs to camp. You can scout on the Friday before your hunt starts. You have a meeting with all the hunters to go over the rules then they let you lose to do some scouting.

I agree NMPaul plus there are a lot of guys that would love the opportunity to kill a bull that scores 300-330". It was a great experience for me plus I killed a bull of a lifetime for myself.

LAST EDITED ON Apr-29-15 AT 07:09AM (MST)[p]No luck here either. I agree NMPaul, redraw! My wife drew a Caldera cow tag which will be her first hunt ever. I'm excited for her.

AYE!!!! It looks like I got skunked for the 1st time in 7 years.

Ha, you just gave everyone that thinks they drew a heart attack. If it were true G&F would never live it down. You guys would be calling for a lynch mob.

LAST EDITED ON Apr-28-15 AT 09:03PM (MST)[p]Good luck to all and I'll be dreaming of seeing all green tomorrow.

The problem with the Caldera is having the discipline to hold out for a larger elk. On my hunt I felt I did a good job of holding out. I passed just over 30 bulls on my hunt over the first 3.5 days. Most were small with 2 of the scoring in the low 300's. I saw one that scored around 340" but he...

Yeah, this is cracking me up. I agree with some folks above. They are going to make this as painful as possible and wait until tomorrow at 10am. We can thank all the folks calling in to ask if the back door was accurate instead of just taking it for what it was. A hint of what may happen.

I drew 2 years ago and never got an email. I found it on the winners list on their web page.

That link was from 2004. I don't believe they do that anymore. I've elk hunted the VC and saw turkeys but haven't been lucky enough to draw out for a turkey hunt yet.

I hunted elk on a private ranch in 5A this past year. The ranch bordered the Jicarilla and it was a brutal hunt. The elk were on the wrong side of the fence every morning. They were coming over for water around 12-1 in the night and going back over. The rancher ended up pulling the rest of...

David Kramer is still in business and has done several items for me. He is a cool guy and does great work. He is also the cheapest I've seen in Albuquerque/Rio Rancho.

Any chance we will get to know what it sold for? I really liked the idea of selling it and finding land that would result in a yearly bull tag.

The muzzleloader hunt is a tough one. Looking for resident deer in 2B was quite the challenge when I went a couple years ago. The nice thing is that there are still some good bucks in there but nothing like it was many years ago.

Yeah, we saw bigger deer throughout the rest of the first day.

Found one. Like I said, my brother should have waited on the small one.

Yeah, I don't know if I have it electronically but will scan it if I have to. Yeah, we are planning one or two scouting trips.

It depends on which hunt you got. Later the better, however I have seen some nice resident deer there early in the season. I killed a 170" buck there about 7 years ago. I got him opening morning and my brother killed a small 6pt (his 1st buck) later that morning. He should have held out...

All but 2 scenarios I had were inside 150 yards. The one I shot was at 300 yards.

Here is my bull from last year. The best advice I can give you it to be patient. I passed over 30 bulls (not exaggerating) before I killed this one. This was truly a great experience and I hope to go back some day.

Yes, it was accurate for me as well.

2A Rifle Deer tag for me. The backdoor method was correct for me.

The road sucks. It's a tough hunt but a fun one. I hunted two years ago and hit it hard. I didn't kill a bear until the 6th day.

Thanks everyone. I was very lucky he was there when we left. I killed him on the north side of 8 as well. I'd like to see a pic of the 6x6 taken last Sunday. I saw many bulls in this area and wonder if I would recognize him. The coyote situation was the same with me. We had to kick them...

I killed him in unit 8. Yeah, we saw a handfull of coyotes, a bear and a mountain lion.

I am just getting caught up on some things after getting back from my Valles Caldera rifle hunt last weekend. I will start this story from the time I found out I drew out. Months back when we found out whether we drew out for any hunts in New Mexico I found myself bummed because I saw nothing...

Great story. I have been talking to someone about that 8x8 on the VC as well. I know he wasn't taken on this last hunt so wish me luck this weekend. Its good to hear they were still bugling.

Thanks for the update. I talked to Steve tonight and it will be he and Tim this weekend for my hunt. He also said the same thing about the hunts almost being canceled. Did you see any good bulls? Its good to hear they are still screaming. That's good to hear that you didn't run into any...

I'm confused by the comments that Game and Fish would be involved. Whatever provisions they have in place aren't working. They canceled the orientation, canceled scouting on Friday and all the gates are locked except the main gate where 1 VC employee is letting hunters in.

Yeah, I'm a little excited about the open units. I have some intel on some bulls in specific units this year that I want to go after. I've also got a guy coming with me that has spent a lot of time there. I just hope the other hunters are smart about how they handle themselves and the...

Well that's going to make things interesting. The camping situation should be fun. I'm curious how it goes with letting the hunters go where they want. Please post updates if anyone finds anything out or wants to share how the weekend went.

Wow, I didn't think they were going to be affected at all. Keep us updated. My hunt is next week.

Thanks for the info jamaro.

An interesting question came up today. If there is a federal shutdown will the hunts be cancelled or postponed on the Valles Caldera? Does anyone know?

That's a nice bull!

>Roads must be in decent shape? > They were in decent shape. They had one section closed off because they were still bad. You could see where they had been fixing a lot of washed out areas.

I went to the Caldera last Saturday to participate in the Ranch Road Ramble, which allowed me to drive around the Caldera. I saw a couple bulls but it was too late in the day to see many elk. Man they were bugling like crazy though all day long. I can't wait for my hunt in a couple weeks.