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Spent most of yesterday in the Gila in the area I drew. Most of the unit that we drove through was within 2 or 3 miles of a road. Kids got o shoot my father's Ruger 10-22. It is one of the first 2000 made. He gave it to me last year, and it didn't shoot so $600 worth of parts later and it shoots well. Not going to hire an outfitter as you guys had suggested. Saw two shooter antelope on private land, 2 turkeys I have GPS coordinates on and if there is any season left and I can get a tag I am going to go murder one of them next weekend. | ||
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Nothing can be like being turned lose with a rifle, elk tag, and 4 million acres to play in. | |||
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The area that I drew in is 479 square miles which is 306,000 acres, and it has tons of roads. I am pretty excited about it. The whole Gila and connecting other national forest in SE Arizona and SW New Mexico is about 4.5 million acres. With multiple wilderness areas spread through 4 national forest. Only 90 tags during my hunt. I figure 4 or 5 won't hunt at all, and a few won't hunt until the weekend. So hopefully it will be a good hunt. I'll be there the whole hunt until I tag out. It took me 3 hours to get into the unit from my house (with about 8 pee stops for the kids). Lots of time to figure it out. | |||
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Good luck, Seth. Nice that you could get out in the woods with the kids! There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t. – John Green, author | |||
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Thank you Bill, What a wonderful place. There isn't much water in that unit. Not much grass either. | |||
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Did you see anything on your scouting trip? | |||
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I found some elk poop in a creek bed that was probably about 2 or 3 weeks old. Most shocking was the complete lack of water up there. We have more water in the Chihuahuan desert than they do on the mountain. Everything here is green. There are very few places with more than a couple inches of grass and most of it is brown. They need a lot of moisture. | |||
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There is an episode of meat eater where they hunt elk in the gila. Pretty interesting landscape, with some big elk if you will work at it. | |||
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I started hunting the Gila in 1978 and did so for another 20 years or so. Haven't been back since but think of it often. I've hunted turkey, elk, mule/Coues deer and antelope in and around the area, making entry from the Arizona border on the west, from Chloride and Winston to the east. Also north from Silver City and Mimbres. It's a beautiful area, with varying topography and isolated mini-ecosystems. Lot's more water there than it first looks, just more widespread and in smaller quantities. One of Ted Turner's largest ranches, The Ladder, borders the area. In one of its pastures bordering the National Forest, the ranch maintained a large apple orchard, fed by a couple of underground springs. I seem to recall a string of elk hunters crossing over the line one day and filling their panniers with fresh, naturally grown apples. Rumor has it they were pretty good apples. The famous old time lion and bear hunter Ben Lilly lived and hunted the area for decades, dying in Silver City. The area remains a great place for lions and bears today. Don't know about how the deer and elk have survived over the years. When I first started you could buy tags for both the national forest and wilderness areas over the counter. We'd always shoot average to pretty fair mule deer and small to average elk. Always saw lots of game. We had some really, really cool campsites, high up under the rim rocks that you needed horses or mules to access. But once you got there it was well worth the trouble. It's a great place, for sure. Just might have to check it out once more before my times up. 114-R10David | |||
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The Meateater episode is Season 4 Episode 15. He passes a nice 6 and misses another one on the last day. | |||
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My unit isn't what you would call a trophy Gila unit. The early season is good, but I am going to shoot the first bull I see if I see one. The problem is that I am on the last hunt of the season, so 200 other hunters have come through there. | |||
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A good friends of mines son drew in 16B I believe on a October 1 rifle draw. He is in the military up near Albq. I know he is excited! | |||
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First rifle in 16B was 38% success last year. Should be a good unit. I am in 2nd rifle in 16C, kind of a 10-15% success unit, but I am just excited to be hunting. 16B has way more wilderness area, he needs to be really careful if he is backpacking alone, it is a long ways in and out of that unit. | |||
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In the mid 1950s I had a ranch just North of El Paso, tx. and all our elk hunting was in the Gila Nat. Forest..Lots of elk and big bulls back then..It was an open hunt as I recall..Most hunters in SW Texas hunted the Gila out of Silver City as those were the closes elk hunts to be had..beautiful country.. Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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Ray what side of the mountains did you live on? Most of everything south of Las Cruces from the College to Anthony is pecans, not sure who owns it. Then it turns to a few dairies then opens back up again until Texas Mile 8 where the strip malls and new developments start. It is developed from mile 8 almost fully to El Paso on the West side. The east side of the mountains the population of NE El Paso dies out about 4 or 5 miles north of Fort Bliss main post. There are a few ranches in the Anthony gap. I have not used OnX maps to figure out how big they are. The expansion of White Sands Missile Range, and Fort Bliss' McGregor Range probably ate up whatever was out there. Some BLM remains, but a lot of it is hard to get to because of the military ranges. | |||
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With only 90 other hunters in the area hunting during your hunt, it is less likely that there are camps set up where you might have thought about hunting. Are you going to be able to go off the roads and scout some country within reasonable "pack Out" distance to the road? The wonders of what google earth allows us to do from the comfort of our keyboard! | |||
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OnX maps is my primary scouting tool, as it shows who owns the land by name, and what is federal lands versus private. | |||
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Sorry yes, we are planning a couple of scouting trips. | |||
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Sorry I skipped some details apparently. 200 hunters before you but they may well jus redistribute animals and there still has to be preferable habitat and only 90 of you in the area. Good luck, wish you a great time scouting as well as hunting! Don't limit your challenges . . . Challenge your limits | |||
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Yep, there are two rifle hunts, and a couple of bow hunts. A couple of friends have been skunked there before. A couple of outfitters I talked to said it was a slam dunk. Perhaps somewhere in the middle. | |||
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BWW, I’ve hunted elk in Southwest NM a fair bit, units 16A, 15 & 13, probably 6-8 different hunts. Bow, muzzleloader and rifle. Here is the single best piece of advice I can offer... Get there early, 3-5 days before it opens, and scout your butt off just prior to opening day. New Mexico seasons are typically short, so days spent locating elk just before it opens can be extremely helpful. You’re gonna love the Gila, it’s some of my favorite elk country of anywhere. | |||
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I lived in El Paso, Texas from 1952 till 1982 , and hunted the Gila every year up till 1983 when you could buy over the counter. Took a lot of deer, elk and black bear over those years. Haven't hunted New Mexico since they started the draw. I really miss hunting New Mexico. The Gila is one of my favorite places to hunt. Good luck with your hunt guys, I envy you! ………………………………………………………………………..  MacD37....Mac >>>===(x)===> MacD37, ...and DUGABOY1 DRSS Charter member "If I die today, I've had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"~ME 1982 Hands of Old Elmer Keith  | |||
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