NM unit 34 archery.

[jaredmartin]

Well I know I struck gold, but I am gonna need some assistance and pick someone’s brain to be able to properly capitalize on this opportunity.

[Snakebadger]

Elk or mule deer?


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[jaredmartin]

Elk. I am diving too deep too quick. Gonna pace myself. There was lots of info fast online. I just need a starting point on a map. But that is one thing nobody wants to give.
I am gonna back country camp and put on miles daily, I just need to no where to park the truck and start from.

[Paycheck]

Good luck to you.

[Army of Dad]

I’ve never hunted that unit so I can’t really give advice on where to look other than the info you’re likely to find. I will say you’ll need to judge the conditions (weather, land/water, and hunting competition) you find when you arrive.

Driving around the unit for a day may well help you see enough to eliminate a bunch of the area.


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[Aggiehunter08]

If you don’t have time to scout hire an outfitter.

[JTCowpoke]

Elk. I am diving too deep too quick. Gonna pace myself. There was lots of info fast online. I just need a starting point on a map. But that is one thing nobody wants to give.
I am gonna back country camp and put on miles daily, I just need to no where to park the truck and start from.

It will be tough for you to find any specific information online. I have used an outfitter for unit 36 and my outfitter hunts in unit 34 also. I put in every year with him for units 36 and 34. It may be will worth it to hire one of his guides for a day or two just to get you started on the right track. My outfitters name is Steve Brugman and his website is southwesthunts.com. I believe he is a sponsor on here. Anyway I have no affiliation with him financially, I have only hired him as an outfitter a few times and has always been 100% upfront and honest.

[Mex. Bowhunter]

On a tag like that I would invest the time to make a scouting trip as close to season as you can or hire a outfitter. Make a early trip is huge if possible. Allows you to cancel out areas you dont want to hunt and helps you zero in on areas to scout even better using google earth between the scouting trip and your hunt. That way from day one you are in the field hunting once you get there. Besides the scouting benifiets it seriously helps you to prep physically for your hunt also. That's what I have done the last 2 years I've drawn and was on elk from day one each hunt. Congrats on the tag and good luck on your hunt.

[tex8569]

Ive hunted deer there in September and saw tons of elk. My biggest advice is get onx or some type of mapping software. A lot of forest and county roads have cattle gates and its important to know which gates you can drive through and which ones would be trespassing. Other than that, its like all other elk hunting, find good feed and water and then look for elk. Its a reasonably accessible unit so the benefit of the outfitter would just zeroing in on a location.

[BassMaster13]

Congrats on your luck, that's a PRIMO tag.

1st season or 2nd season?


I'd fly to El Paso (SW is cheap), rent a truck and spend a weekend scouting in the later part of August. It's only an 1 hr drive from the airport to the unit.

My opinion is hire a guide and try and kill the largest bull of your life.

[diamond10x]

Most important thing... give yourself plenty of time to hunt and be successful. You have 15 days of season DO NOT cut it short.

Biggest reason most are unsuccessful bow hunting elk is they don’t give themselves enough time for an opportunity. 5 days of hunting a 15 day season when you’re from out of state is starting out stacking the odds against yourself even more than they already are.

[Tom]

I have hunted 34. There are good roads and all over the unit and during the week you will struggle to find another elk hunter. Many mule deer hunters on the weekends though. I would not get too carried away about getting way up in the woods. I rented a house airbnb on the East side of Cloudcroft and was hunting within 10 minutes of the neighborhood. IF you cannot elk call well start today and get good. Get to where you can cow call with diaphram. I will look at a map and see if I can get you some areas to start, but for the most part you will drive the back roads and call every 500 yards or so. If you hear them bail and and see if you can get close. along the state highways there is private land with pasture. The elk will be in the fields all night and right after sun up will head up high. Being in the middle of this is a good place to be.

[Johnny44]

Do like 85% of the other non-know-how-to-hunters do, just stay on the hiking trails.

The wife and I are usually hiking somewheres in NM on opening day of elk archery season, we wear orange because like I told her “they cannot hunt for crapola but they can shoot”. Its a dang comedy show. I drew my pistol on two different hunters last year that suddenly rolled out from behind a tree on the trail.

If you don’t spend as much time out there with the elk all year like we do, I think a guide would make your experience much more worthwhile.

That 15% that does score pretty good from my conversations or helping them with something after the kill, usually had inside help or put in the time. Lots of old fellas that just have to sit down and rest too.

It seems they are usually rutting pretty good about then and noisy 24/7 and the bulls really do move from cover to cover up high if your area has altitude. We have sat and watched thousands of them during that time of year.

I don’t hunt them because I’m lazy and rather look at a good view, drink, and do the ole lady at 10,000 feet.

If you don’t want to hire a guide but your area has a golf course...hunt there !

Goodluck !

[robie]

Biggest reason most are unsuccessful bow hunting elk is they don’t give themselves enough time for an opportunity. 5 days of hunting a 15 day season when you’re from out of state is starting out stacking the odds against yourself even more than they already are.

Great advice. I drew a 16E rifle tag a few years ago. Went up a week early to scout. 2 of us killed 2 bulls on a 30% success hunt. 2 weeks of vacation wasn't easy to get but its the main reason we were successful.

Your hunt is a ~40% success rate hunt. So even though some great bulls come out of there less than half the people actually kill. If you DIY and haven't hunted a lot of elk you will want to be shooting almost any bull and be excited to do it.

If you hire a guide that knows the unit and the bulls in it really well I bet he would still tell you to shoot anything 310+. If you've killed a pile of elk and are willing to eat your tag and can pass on a 310" bull then you might have a chance at a stud.

Huntinfool has this as a 300-330" hunt. Not trying to kill your excitement just a little realism of the hunt.

Archery elk hunting is very hard even for those guys that do it year after year.

[STGS]

I own a ranch that borders the LNF in unit 34 near Weed. The elk herd in our area has gotten larger over the past 7-10 years. That being said, the quality and number of mature bulls has not necessarily done the same. I think the transition from COER and non-COER to the new primary/secondary classification for private land owners has impacted quality. I think more bulls and younger bulls are getting killed.

Now, don't get me wrong. There are still a ton of elk in 34 along with some truly great bulls. Considering elevation, temperatures, overall elk population, quality of bulls and ease of access..... Unit 34 is hard to beat.

Congrats on a great tag and best of luck.