WHO: Kiowa Hunting Services
Outfitter/Honcho: Tim Barraclough
Guide: Garydale Gruebelnik

WHAT: 3 day Cow Elk hunt

WHEN: Dec 31, 2011 - Jan 2, 2012

WHERE: Raton, New Mexico (Vermejo Park Ranch)

Saw a report about this hunt on AR last year and decided to give it a go. The price seemed quite reasonable and the licenses easily obtainable. The late date of the hunt worked well into my schedule as well. After some emails with Tim Barraclough my hunting partner Dave Mailloux and I sent in our deposits.

I give Kiowa Hunting Services/Tim Barraclough high marks for good communications right from the git-go. Everything dealing with emails, phone calls, paperwork, and mail were all in a timely manner. All pertainent info was provided yet at the same time Tim isn't one to sugarcoat stuff or do the yappy 'Outfitter Happy Talk' stuff.

This hunt consists of loading up very early in the morning in the guides 4WD pick-up, driving out to the large (very large!)privately owned ranch southwest of Raton, and efficiently tipping over a cow elk. Meals and accomadations are not included so we stayed in a motel in town. The usual drill is to hunt the morning, take a lunch break during midday, then go back out in the afternoon. Repeat if necessary the next day.

Raton has at least a dozen decent motels to choose from. We found an older-but-clean family owned place on the north end of town called the Budget Host. The owner likes hunters and cut us a really good deal on a clean two-room suite. It had lots of hot water and each room a color t.v. Probably wouldn't take the boss's secretary there but for us hunters it was great!

Our guide was Garydale Gruebelnik. He's a lean, hard working ranch kid in his Senior year of college. While home over the Holidays he works as a guide. He's very good at it as he knew the area very well and put us onto elk several times.

First morning found us up in the moutains before day light. With shooting light we quickly got into a group of 30 elk as they crossed a ranch road and made for the timber. The problem is the cows tend to stay bunched up and telling them apart is a problem. Bulls are easy to keep focused on as they stand out but cows are harder to keep seperated and one must be very careful not to put holes in more than one. So we passed on this group as we just couldn't single one out quickly before they got into the timber.

About a half hour later we happened upon a group of ten and Dave singled one out. He double-lunged it at about 100 yards and it went about 50 yards before piling up. Dave used a Remington 700 in 308 with 165 grain Nosler Partitions.



We saw a few more elk that morning but they were at considerable distance and heading into thick timber. We took Dave's elk in for mandatory checking at a check-point location then took a break in anticipation for an afternoon run at them.

When we went up that first afternoon it only took us about an hour to get into a big herd of ~75 elk. A large cow made the mistake of distancing herself from others and gave me a shooting window between some trees at a range of about 100 yards. I dropped her right there by busting through both shoulders with a 35 Whelen and a 250 grain Speer Grand Slam.



While it had snowed heavily the week before we got there we enjoyed sunny weather in the high 40's. There was no drama and everything was properly organized. Saw lots of elk. The trick was to get out of the truck, quickly establish a shooting position, and then try to single out a target before they disappeared into the timber.

This is a meat hunt and we had a positive experience with the local meat processing outfit that Kiowa works with (Cummings Processing). They were nice people and their services reasonably priced.

I'd do this hunt again. We got our money's worth, had a good guide, and everything was as described.

Nice report Matt. I have never hunted with this outfit but I have heard nothing but good about their late season cow hunts. Did you get a chance to drop by the Whittington Center while you were out there? Cow elk has to be one of the best tasting venison there is.

Yes, went by the Whittington Center and was very much impressed. All the Staff we encountered there was very nice.

The elk venison is indeed proving to be very good.

Good God man! Don't you know you can't kill a 400lb+ animal with a 308 win a 165 grn bullet a 2650 fps...

thank god it wasn,t a 400 gr bullet out of a 45-70 !!!

Dave (my hunting partner) doesn't know any better. He just set up for a proper shot at the proper time, whacked it where it was suppose to be whacked, elk went down shortly thereafter. The Nosler Partition did what they do; opened up, did sufficient damage, then continued to penetrate all the way through. I suppose the 308 was projecting it at about the same speed at 100 yards that a 300 _______ Mag would be doing at ~225 yards.

I was using a custom 35 Whelen new-to-me, bought from AR Classifieds, and based on a FN action.

Matt you cant use COMMON SENSE THINKING when dealing with ballistics, what if it would have bounsed off an put your eye out !!!

Oh boy, elk steaks and sausage. Well done!

I can only echo Matt's positive report.

Last Wednesday I successfully completed my 10th. hunt with Kiowa when a nice fat cow elk fell to my .338 Win Mag. Nine of the hunts were for cow elk and one was for a bull.

Tim Barraclaugh is a straight-up guy as are his guides. Great people. I never had a bad experience of any kind dealing with Kiowa.

Some may scoff at the idea of a "truck hunt." It might not be the sort of 'wilderness experience' that comes to mind when thinking one thinks of elk hunting but it's no picnic either. The elk know what's going on and they don't stand around. You have only a few seconds to get your shot off.

Don't get the idea that this hunt is some kind of a free-for-all. Tim is an ex-conservation officer, and he and his guides follow the law to the letter. This is a "get 'er done and get out" hunt, run with near-military precision.

The scenery is beautiful and terrain is easier for those of us who are not young and fit. There are lots of big bull elk to look at but they're definitely beyond my price range.

I hunted the NRA Whittington Center on a cow elk hunt in Feb 2012 which is right next door to the Vermeyo and in fact my guide said he also guides on Turner's Vermeyo Ranch. We stayed in the Best Western in Raton and had a wonderful hunt. All things I heard about the Vermeyo were positive and the NRA Whittington Center is also a wonderful place to hunt and shoot.