January 01, 2013 by Andy Salgado
December 2012 Elk Hunts and Season Review
Happy New Years everyone! The 2013-2014 regulations are posted on the New Mexico Game and Fish website. Now it’s official. The new deadline to apply for New Mexico big Game hunts is March 20th. The only reason I can think of for this change other than being inconsiderate to outfitters that are doing sports shows all the way through March, is Game and Fish must need to make more money. It’s bad enough they charge some of the highest license fees in the country now they need to hold our money a few extra weeks to gain the interest. You would think with the kind of money they make off of sportsmen and outfitters they could at least train their game wardens how to treat the sportsmen in the field, especially since we are paying their wages. Let’s move forward to more positive things before I say something I probably should, but better not.
H&A Outfitters, Inc. completed another successful year of New Mexico elk hunting in 2012. Our last bull elk hunt was Dec. 15 thru the 19th and once again it was 100% shooting opportunity. 8 hunters took home 7 mature bulls and 2 of the hunters who chose to purchase mountain lion tags on a no-kill no-pay basis, harvested 3 mature lions, one possibly will be the new state record. The head measures green 15 13/16. The state record is 15 9/16 and has not been beat in the past 17 years. Either way the skull will be one of the top two largest ever harvested in New Mexico. I guess I got lucky! It was an awesome 4 ½ days of New Mexico hunting!
The total count of bull elk hunters H&A Outfitters, Inc. guided this past season was 32. We managed to harvest 28 mature bulls and ran a 98% shooting opportunity. This all took place on New Mexico’s public lands. Historically throughout the years we have averaged over an 80% shooting opportunity. This is all possible only because we apply our hunters for the best hunts in the State of New Mexico. Our application service is a one of a kind service. Don’t hesitate to take advantage of it! Now it’s time to start are mountain lion hunts. Stay tuned. Tell next time, Adios Andy.
Posted in:
Elk Hunting
