elk season 2012

[billc]

With most of the elk hunting over for the year would be safe to say not a great year.Not many reports of elk killed or even seen as compared to years past.The achery season was terrible from all I talked with.So thinking next year could be great with all the extra bulls not taken this year.Wonder if they may issue more tags next year or let the herd grow.

 

[jamaro]

I have been thinking about this and I have talked to several biologist that work for the Dept... Not only for Elk but for antelope we maybe looking at a few rough years... WITH Antelope the fawn recruitment was almost zero and the Elk fawn recruitment was also very low... and we are not even sure if the elk or antelope had a meaningful breeding season... Reports are that the rut was almost non-existent... SOOO... We might have a surplus of adults next year but we might be missing an age class of breeding adults in a few years...

This will really test to see if the Dept is Proactive or Reactive in it's tag allocation...

Jason
www.TheNewMexicoSportsman.com

 

[Bullbreath]

The LAST thing this state needs is a harder culling of bulls. Valle Vidal, Sacs and Gila are getting worse and worse for constitent quality even before this year.

 

[nmelktrout]

LAST EDITED ON Nov-04-11 AT 07:46PM (MST)[p]Amen to that Bullbreath. The Gila and many other storied elk regions in the state are a far cry from what they have been in years past and this drought is not helping. Unfortunately we are predicted to remain on the same drought cycle through the next year which bodes horribly for the SW region of the state (the Gila).

The quality of elk hunting was horrible in the Gila this year and next year looks to be much the same. I've never hunted so hard for such small bulls and we were elated to kill the bulls we found.

edit:

Oh yeah, forgot to mention.

Our deer herds are in horrible shape and shrinking every year.

Oryx hunts are a far cry from the glory years of the past and the Stallion Range hunts are a gong show of spooky broken-horned and immature animals.

Mismanaged and drought cycling ourselves to death...



www.streamflies.com

 

[kykiller]

This was my third year in a row that i hunted that first muzzy season in unit 15.The horn growth was terrible this year,usually a 280 to 300 inch 6x6 was common as dirty water up there but this year it seemed like a small 5x5 was your typical bull that you saw in the gila.I busted my @ss to get a 6x5 that would go around 300' while my two buddies shot 5x5's.There were still plenty of elk out there but finding anything worth shooting was very disapointing compaired to other years.I hope it was just the bad drought that had these bulls downsized and maybe next year we'll have a wet spring and things will be back to semi-normal but i hope the gila dosn't turn into raghorn central or i will be looking elsewhere to spend my money.

 

[WapitiBob]

>With most of the elk hunting
>over for the year would
>be safe to say not
>a great year.Not many reports
>of elk killed or even
>seen as compared to years
>past.The achery season was terrible
>from all I talked with.So
>thinking next year could be
>great with all the extra
>bulls not taken this year.Wonder
>if they may issue more
>tags next year or let
>the herd grow.

I would disagree. I never went to a location that didn't have bulls bugling, regardless of time of day. Saw more bulls than any of the previous 4 years.

 

[nmelktrout]

You were definitely one of the rare and lucky few if you were into screaming bulls every day. We found them in secluded pockets during archery season but there are many an outfitter and hunter who had the worst archery camps they can remember. I glassed and hunted around 300 different bulls this past summer and fall in the Gila and only saw 5 bulls that would easily clear 300, the largest being a 360" class bull. F&G also checked only a handful of bulls near or over 300" in the Gila. Hands down the worst year for quality and quantity for everyone I've talked to or hunted with this year. Plenty of bulls if you hunted hard and got lucky, but very very few of decent Gila size.

www.streamflies.com

 

[WapitiBob]

I'm not complaining that's for sure.

 

[ELKMAN]

The management in this state is horrid!

I am suprised G and F has not destroyed unit 34 yet. There are only a couple units left in this state, that are not destroyed. Unit, 9, 6, and 15 have been destroyed.

Unit 34 and the 16's are about it to get a monster 5x5 anymore.

The deer management is even worse. I spent 5 days in unit 13 with 4 other hunters on the muzzle hunt. Each of us, saw a total of one deer a piece. A couple of them were very good bucks

Now they have 3 rifle deer hunts with 400 on each hunt.

I guess, that I will stick to ducks!

 

[sportsman01]

Honestly, Deer hunting in this state needs to be closed for the next 5-10 yrs to let the herds recover. There are a few units that may not need it, but the entire state would benefit tremedously. Especially the southern half.

Oryx Hunting has dimished significantly in the 6 yrs I've worked at WSMR. Smaller animals, harder to find, and lot's of broken horns. My opinion, off range tags need to be eliminated, and all on-range tags should be cut in half if not by 75% to let the herds recover and the brownies grow and mature a bit. The High ranking officials at WSMR will never let that happen as they see these magnificent animals as pests rather than fantanstic trophies and game animals. Sadly I don't think Game and Squish has much say so in Oryx numbers due to the whole "govt property" deal.

Elk hunting has been steady in the Gila with regards to numbers. But horn growth does seem to be decreasing. I'm not sure if that's due to high success, wounded animals, overhunting, too many outfitters/land owners or all of the above. I think we could afford (for antler/number's sake) to cut out a hunt or two in all units statewide.

It would sure suck for all of us hunters who love to hunt and draw tags, but the reality is...especially with deer, that they are on a serious, serious decline. I mean 2 hunts with 1,200 tags each in unit 34...a bow hunt with 800 tags...hard to believe????? For managements sake, we need to let them recover. Throw in the worst drought in years...and another dry year headed this way..things may get really bad. I sure hope the new commissioner has a clue and points our game management in a new direction. It sure could use it.

There is no intent to offend anyone here....Just my $.2