20 miles west of Los Alamos, New Mexico is the National Wildlife Preserve at Valles Caldera. In the fall the gates are opened to allow for some elk hunts for those who get lucky enough to get drawn. But really it is open year round for those who make appointments.
Actually my hunt started in February of 2004 in Reno, Nevada at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation�s Elk Camp. It was there that I met up with Martin and Mick, 2 of the preserve�s management team. They convinced my to buy a ticket for the chance to hunt on the preserve, Unit 6B, and that I should have a excellent chance to be able to hunt on the preserve and get drawn for the Mobility Impaired Cow Elk Hunt. If I win the right to hunt on the preserve I will be forwarded a hunt application to enter the New Mexico Big Game Lottery. Around the middle of march I received the application from VCNP and entered into the N M Game & Fish�s Big Game lottery. In the later part of July the draw results were published and I won a Cow Elk tag for the handicapped hunt. I then scheduled a tour of Valles Caldera so that I could get a idea of the lay of the land for my up coming hunt. On that tour we saw a unbelievable number of Elk. The preserve claims to have a resident herd of about 7600 Elk. One herd was well over a thousand and right then I decided that the hardest part of the November hunt would be only to shoot one animal out of the herd. As the tour continued, more herds were spotted some as large as 500 - 600 and others as small as 10 or more. There was definitely no shortage of Elk. The terrain varied from huge meadows of 100+ acres, swamp like areas, headwaters for a couple different rivers and rugged mountain slopes.
The week before the hunt I was up on the Kaibab plateau in AZ. when a storm moved and dropped about 8 inches of snow on us at about 8200 feet. I knew the preserve is right around 8500 climbing to 11,500 and our campsite was near 8400 feet. And that snow storm was headed towards the preserve so I was wondering if I could even get on the preserve let alone hunt. Well my frets were unfounded and had some clear beautiful weather in fact it didn�t even freeze. We left a couple days before the hunt to set up camp and make it to a required pre-hunt orientation. At that meeting we were told the rules of the preserve, what roads were closed because the bird watchers saw a couple Eagle nests, what time the gates would open and close, not to block the roads and to be extremely careful not to fire into a herd. With the size of the herds it would be possible for the bullet to pass through one or more, dropping 2 or 3 with one shot. Plus they warned us that if we shot a elk and it ran on to the Indian Reservation just to wave Bye - Bye because those Indians would be waiting to bust us for illegal entry, not having a permit to be on the Res., possession of a firearm, not having a permit to hunt on the Res., poaching and any other offense they could dream up. At the orientation the other 19 shooters and me drew to see what hunt unit we would be in on opening day. I drew unit 10 and the faces of the preserve�s assistants dropped and they started telling me where herds of Elk were spotted that morning. But soon I would learn why they acquired such dismal looks. After the meeting we were allowed to enter the preserve to look over the unit we drew. I imagine it would have been a choice unit for someone who could walk because the terrain was steep & rugged and the elevation ran from 8550 to over 10,000 feet in 3 1/2 miles. Plus it didn�t have much in the way of meadow lands and the unit was cut in half by the bird watcher�s closed road. Then I understood those dreary looks I got at the orientation. I timed how long it would take to get to my unit. It would take a hour from the Security gate to my unit, only if we hurried. I looked the unit over a figured that because of the terrain it would probably be best if I were to set up a ground blind on the hillside over looking the only open ground and that also had a creek, Rito Indios, running through it. I timed it again from the Security gate to our camp site at Jemez Falls Campground and it took 15 minutes. As we entered the campground we spooked up a huge 6 point Mule Deer that was running with a impressive 4 pointed Mule Deer. That 4 pointer had some massive beams and had a good 30 inch spread between the tips of his tine�s. Later that night my buddies from the Mobility Impaired NM Antelope hunt joined our camp and they also came across those same bucks that we did earlier.
At a quarter after 5 the next morning we were headed to the Preserve and as we were leaving the campground we came across those same bucks that we saw the day before. Which I interrupted as a good omen along with spotting Venus with Jupiter just above and to it�s right. We also saw several Elk standing just off the dirt road. As we drew nearer to my hunt unit we were just starting to be able to distinguish colors but we still had a couple miles to go to get to my hunt unit. In the neighboring hunt unit we started to spot Elk, the first herd was of about 50. We traveled on a short way and came on another herd about 300 yards off the road of around 40 Elk. Most were cows but some yearling bulls were with them. Then 50 yards off the road we came on a pair of cows, as we slowed down the started running. By the time we made it to my unit legal shooting light was well on us. But I did as planned and took up a ground blind. A couple hours passed and I could see a few herds moving in the meadows that weren�t in my legal shooting unit. As we traveled up the road paralleling the Rito Indios, we went a short way and we spotted a Rag Horn Bull about a 100 yards ahead of us. We went about a half mile further we came on a herd of a dozen cow elk but they heard us coming and broke into a full sprint. We looked for a shootable cow for the rest of the day but all we saw were Eagles, Coyotes and another couple hundred of elk that were not in the right unit plus the sun had set and NM law says shooting hours are from 1/2 hour before sunrise to sunset. Not 5 minutes after sunset and the game wardens are very strict about enforcing it. Night had fully settled by the time I made it back to the Security gate. There I told Mick about the spotting of the Eagles as was asked of us at the orientation class the day before. He also asked if we saw any Elk and if we could have gotten a shot off. I told him we saw plenty but they were in the wrong unit, Mick then said I could hunt in the neighboring unit where I saw the majority of the Elk. As we headed back to camp, feeling good about my chance to fill my tag, we came on a herd of 20 Elk standing in the road. As we pulled into the camp ground we spotted those same two Mule Deer bucks that we�ve seen earlier.
The next morning we got on the road earlier than the day before. I got checked
in at the security gate and was on my way to the hunt units. Before we could
start making out colors we were in the treeline overlooking a huge meadow but it
still wasn�t light enough to shoot by. As the morning lightened up we could make
out numerous herds and by the time legal shooting light was on us, we were
traveling the road that dissected that meadow. The first herd we came on was
over a 1/2 mile away but looked to have about 50 Elk in it. The second herd was
even larger it had at least 75 in it. That herd was 300+ yards away and when the
Elk saw us broke into a trot. We had to slow down to almost a stop to make it
through a washed out spot in the road and when we did those Elk took off in a
sprint. We went a little further down the road and came upon another herd. They
were a long way off and looked like Pepper flakes to the naked eye, but through
our binoculars we counted 45. As we went a little further down the road we
came on a small herd of 12 - 15. They were a couple hundred yards off the road
and when they spotted us they started to walk off. It just so happened that there was a small hill between the road and them Elk so when they disappeared
behind the hillock we raced to the opposite face and set up for when the herd
reappeared. When the Elk cleared the hillock they must have forgot about us
because they went to grazing and more than doubled the distance between us. I
lined up on a yearling cow and squeezed the trigger. When the noise from the
rifle�s discharge subsided I heard the �thwack� of the bullet hitting the cow. But she didn�t raise her head just kept on grazing. I lined up for a second shot a squeezed the trigger just as she started to run off with the rest of the herd. She ran a couple hundred yards then she started to lag behind. Then her head sagged down and a second later all four feet were pointing up. It ended up that I made a good, clean, lucky shot. She was quartering away at 425 yards entering through the liver, puncturing the lungs and exited the heart. After we got her field dressed and loaded into the back of the truck we started back towards the security gate. Along the way we came on a flock of Ravens feeding, we also spotted a couple Coyotes also attracted to the dead carcass. As we neared the main road leading to the security gate we spotted a couple flocks of Turkeys plus a couple of real ole� longbeards. As we neared the no shoot zone we started to spot more Elk herds. When we were well inside that zone we came across one huge herd of cows, plus a few Raghorns & Spike bulls mixed in, there must have been at least 120 Elk in that herd. Then just beyond that herd was another herd but this one was all bulls and we counted 60 before we lost count. Most were 5 or 6 pointers but at least one was a 7 pointer. At the gate we had my cow Elk inspected for CWD and checked out. Heading back to camp we skinned and butchered my cow completing another great and successful hunt.
This is Valles Caldera in Aug. Pictures taken off Hwy.4
Looking North
