I’ve been talking with Keith Williams at az pro elk outfitters about an archery elk hunt in New Mexico. Anyone have any insight on him? Thanks for your help.
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Looks like you had a great timeComment
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I'd go back and hunt with them in a second.
You should be able to find several tbh'ers that have hunted with Keith.Comment
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I shot this bull in 2016 with them
My brother the same trip
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I'm planning to make a hunt with him this year based on reviews of a few Tbhr's.
I spoke to him last week on the phone and all my questions were answered.
I'm looking at unit 12 for and October rifle hunt which just north of the Gila.
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We hunted right by El Morro National Monument. I believe it was Unit 12. If you stay at Ancient Way......keep your head on a swivel. You will know what I mean as soon as you get there! With a rifle, you should have success if the elk are there! It was a pretty property.Originally posted by Slick8 View PostComment
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Guess I am the odd man out on this one. My dad and Buddy I wouldnt say had a bad experience with him but dang sure was not great. Muzzleloader hunt and no shots taken. Of course a hunt is not about the kill but the experience. They shared the "10K acre" ranch with another group of 3 hunters. Those hunters were there a few days before my dad arrived. Of course they were on the elk. Unfortunately, there was only 1 group of elk on the ranch at that time. Those guys tagged out and left. Ok great now time for Kieth to join up with his other guide and help get my old man and buddy on a bull.....NOPE. Kieth spotted for the first day then left camp never to return. The guide did not want to pressure the elk too bad as again there was only 1 group of elk using the ranch. Understood. So they basically drove to high points and spotted the group and tried making a few mediocre plays on the elk but overall they had a chance to shoot one 200" type bull that was young and out of the truck driving back to camp. Again not about the kill but the hunt. So they both declined that elk. So if technically speaking that he has X% of shot opportunity then yea they both had that. Just seemed that with only 2 hunters and a bigger group coming in the following week, it was more concerning to make sure they had those elk for the big group coming in then getting a little more aggressive and getting my dad or bud an elk. Yes my dad is a little older a touble walking but my buddy is 35 and in super shape so they could have done anything to sit or stalk. $14K later and not a single decent bull in even close to shooting range. Camp was nice and food was good. But for $14K we could have had a lot of nice steak dinners!
This ranch border the Gila National Forest.Comment
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I agree they are VERY cautious about blowing elk out of their properties. The only downside of our hunt was the "huntable acreage". We were told it was 8-10,000 acres but huntable land was more like 2,500 acres. If we would of blown all the elk out of there it would be a really crappy week of hunting. We pecked around the edges of the property and only hunted hard real early and real late. I don't think they were worried about other hunters coming in but if you run all the elk out of there you are SOL. I felt like we were all chasing the same bulls. At the end of the day though, we (4 hunters) had shot opportunities at 5x5 or better bulls and that is really all you could hope for. My dad elected not to shoot at the 5x5 and our buddy shot one that only yielded a flesh wound. It isn't a property where you could chase elk from daylight till dark. Knowing that beforehand would of curtailed our expectations a bit. Keith Williams was not present at our hunt either but his stepson Justin and Keith Riley were the ones who guided us. All in all I was very pleased with Justin and Riley. The hunt could of been awful if the elk weren't there......but they were and it got us hooked on elk hunting.Comment
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I bowhunted a few years ago with his operation. Me and another hunter were put on a private ranch where we sat on water holes every afternoon. Mornings were spent trying to locate a bull with no luck. Mid day was spent at the hotel (super boring). I saw two bull elk the whole trip. One from the truck while the guide was driving me to the water hole and another at about 300 yards one morning. Guide took us to the right the elk went to the left never to be seen again. I booked the hunt after hearing good things from fellow tbhers and talking to Keith on a couple of occasions asking questions about success rate and shot opportunity. He said they were at 30% kill and 70% opportunity. I was there with 20 other hunters in his camp (hotel rooms). 2 bulls were killed and 1 shot was missed. Not quite the percentages he quoted but it was a bad week for hunting I guess. My guide also said we were not going to be too aggressive in the mornings because they had rifle hunters coming two weeks later and he didn't want to pressure the elk. WTH? I guess my dollars weren't equal to the rifle hunter's dollars. I paid $6,500 plus the NM license and the experience wasn't worth 1/4 of that. A rifle hunt could be totally different and if my guide could have got me within range of the only bull elk I saw during the hunt my feelings about the hunt might be different also. I would not book this hunt if it's your hunt of a lifetime. If you have the cash and want to roll the dice then maybe it's for you. I went on a solo public land NM hunt a couple of years before this hunt and I had a great experience camping and hiking the mountains. I didn't shoot an elk on that trip either but it cost me a fraction of the guided trip. Make sure you have a Unit Wide tag and not a Private Ranch tag. You are limited with the Private Ranch tag but the Unit Wide tag let's you hunt public and private (with permission).Comment
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Great feedback. The lack of enough elk to hunt on private property is always a concern.Comment
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This is a reason we went with an outfitter that does public land so we do not have to worry with what Kieth did to my old man which sounds similar to your story.Originally posted by Hobbs View PostComment
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In New Mexico if I had the money to spend on a guided hunt, I would spend it on a unit wide land owners tag in a good unit before I paid a guide.
I don't have the money for either, so I will keep trying the draw.Comment
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