I went on an elk hunt last December in New Mexico and was quite dissappointed. The Ranch was 30,000 acres "in prime elk country". Three of us hunted for the full five days. The problem we had was there were no bulls on this property. We saw maybe 500 cows and maybe 10 bulls. By bulls I mean, 5 spikes, three 4 x 4's, maybe two others, that's it!
Our guides chalked it up to "that's real hunting", no guarantees, no high fence! While I understand that, I have a hard time with the advertising of the ranch. They said 100% chance at a "good" 5 x 5 and 50% chance at a 6 x 6 scoring 300.
Since then I have checked their website and have discovered they now advertise the ranch will be managed for cows only for the next couple of years in order to raise the bull:cow ratio. As it turns out, we were the first "bull" hunters on that ranch - that was the first year for them to hunt that ranch. Seems like we were part of the learning curve for what the ranch had to offer. The three of us feel "used" and feel we were victims of false advertising. The outfitter gets great reviews for previous elkhunts, the problem is they were all at other ranches that apparently had bulls.
Does this sound "reasonable" to people who have been on other elk hunts or are we right to feel "used"? :?
P.S. It was $3900 for five days of good exercise!
