The large bull raged once more, and my fingers tightened on the inventory of my rifle. I glanced round at Vernon Scott, seated a number of toes away. He nodded his head towards the tangle of oak brush in entrance of us, indicating that the bull would are available from that route
Seconds later one other shrieking bugle pierced the morning air. The decision had misplaced all its musical high quality and was now the wail of some primeval beast. We might hear the bull raking his antlers as he loosed his fury on oak saplings.
I slipped off the security of my Mannequin 70 Winchester .270 and turned the facility ring on my scope right down to 2X. The bull could be not more than 50 yards away when he got here into view. I used to be sure that he could be transferring, possibly coming straight for us in an insane rush to fight. I needed all the sector of view my scope might supply. My coronary heart pounded.
Then limbs snapped to our proper simply out of view.
“He’s circling into the wind,” Vernon whispered. “He’ll quickly get our scent except you get him on in. Make one other name in your bugle.”
I lifted the decision to my lips and tried to sound like an elk aching for a combat. Immediately the bull bellowed an enraged reply. He was shut now, and I used to be wanting wildly for a goal, however I nonetheless couldn’t spot him. One other limb broke farther to the appropriate.
“We’ve had it,” Vernon muttered. “We’ve misplaced him.”
The final sound we heard was virtually straight downwind of our place. We held our positions for half an hour whereas I made extra challenges on my name. However our bull elk had vanished.
Illustration by Bob Cassell / Out of doors Life
I’m 40 and the Midsouth area editor for OUTDOOR LIFE. The expertise described above occurred on an elk hunt I made final September.
For less than the second time on this century the Mescalero Apache Indians have been granting permits to hunt elk on their south-central New Mexico reservation, which accommodates over 460,000 acres of high quality recreation nation. Elevations differ from 5,500 toes to over 12,000 toes on Sierra Blanca peak.
Native recreation consists of mule deer, whitetails, black bears, antelope, and wild turkeys, although solely tribal members are permitted to hunt antelope and turkey. All searching on the reservation is by tribal allow, and the prices of permits differ.
Throughout 1966 and 1967 the tribe launched 162 Rocky Mountain elk on reservation lands. Totally protected by the tribal Conservation Division, these animals multiplied quickly within the near-perfect habitat.
A hunt was held throughout the fall of 1973, and numerous trophy bulls have been taken. Further elk wanted to be harvested, so a second season, this time for each bulls and cows, was scheduled for September 28 to October 13, 1974. The season coincided with the height of the rut, and bulls needed to be five-pointers or higher to be authorized.
The payment for a bull allow was set at $800. Cow permits have been $500. The New Mexico nonresident elk license prices $75.50. Since hunters might stay for the whole season these charges in contrast favorably with the price of elk hunts in most Western states in the present day.
Rental horses can be found from the Indians or close by livery stables for $10 to $15 a day. The Hunt Supervisor ought to be notified prematurely if horses are desired so the inventory could be reserved. There are not any set information charges; the hunter and his information talk about and agree on the charges, which depend upon what companies you would like your information to supply. The charges ought to be determined upon earlier than the primary day’s hunt.
At first I discovered solely two cows. I eased up on one knee, after which I noticed him 125 yards away. He stood enormous and sumptuous, with sweeping mahogany antlers, darkish matted mane, and creamy brown disguise. He carried six factors on both sides.
For noncampers quite a few cafes and in lodges in close by Ruidoso supply rooms for hire at a mean of $12 per day. The Ciengita Resort is one other possibility-if it’s accomplished in time for the 1975 searching season. There are business flights into Roswell and Alamogordo day by day. Rental autos can be found in Roswell for $10 a day and 12¢ per mile. The city is about 75 miles from the reservation. Details about hunts on the reservation — together with these for mule deer, whitetails, and black bears — is on the market from Vernon Scott, Hunt Supervisor, Mescalero Tribe, Mescalero, NM 88340.
By early August my plans have been agency. Vernon Scott mentioned that he would information me and that I might pitch my tent on the reservation a number of miles above Ruidoso.
I’ve all the time loved sports activities wherein calls can be utilized. I’ve had years of expertise calling geese, turkeys, and predators in my residence state of Mississippi, however I’d by no means hunted elk throughout the rut, when they are often bugled into rifle vary. I used to be anxious to attempt calling elk.
After a lot deliberation I ordered a rubber-tube elk bugle and an tutorial report, and earlier than my departure I practiced each spare minute. As is my customized earlier than making any high-country hunt, I beefed up my calisthenics and day by day jogging classes. By mid-September I used to be hitting six miles each afternoon.
My four-wheel-drive was loaded to the roof with tenting gear after I arrived in New Mexico two days earlier than the opening day of elk season. This allowed me ample time to make camp and scout a few of the territory. I met Vernon Scott at tribal headquarters within the city of Mescalero.
Vernon is a Mescalero Apache in his early 30’s who is aware of the tribal mountains as intimately as did his forefathers. He served with an infantry outfit in Vietnam. He and his spouse Bernadine have two youngsters. Bernadine is the great-granddaughter of Victorio, the Chiricahua Apache warrior and chieftain.
Vernon and I picked up the final of my groceries and bounced our manner the financial institution of the Rio Ruidoso. It was an excellent fall day, and we quickly had my tent up. Vernon and a wrangler from Tally Barn in Tularosa would trailer our horses into camp the subsequent morning.
We made a swing by a few of the reservation. About 2,000 Apaches stay right here. The Mescaleros obtain no annuities from the federal authorities. They’re a proud and industrious folks and have intensive cattle and timber operations. Additionally they personal Sierra Blanca Ski Resort, largest snowboarding advanced within the Southwest. Their present venture is the Cienegita Vacationer Resort Advanced, now beneath development.
I returned to my camp at sundown. By the point the celebrities have been. winking I had a potato baking within the fireplace and a steak scorching within the skillet. After supper I walked· away from camp to flee the roar of the river and listened for elk bugling within the moonlit hills above my camp, however all I heard was the mournful howl of a coyote. I used to be up and had the espresso going when Vernon and Mrs. Jeanette Tally of Tally Barn bounced into camp with three horses in tow. We shook palms after which unloaded the horses right into a small catch pen close to camp. Vernon was busy arranging for different hunters arriving that day, however earlier than he left he prompt numerous areas I’d try as I rambled about. One among these spots was Cienegita Canyon.
“I’ll see you within the morning,” he added. “Early.”
It was virtually darkish when the rocky path up Cienegita Canyon performed out and my 4WD lurched to a cease. I stuffed my elk bugle into my jacket and walked a number of hundred yards up a facet canyon. As I stood getting my breath I heard the bizarre, calliope name of a rutting bull elk half a mile away. I waited a number of minutes after which made a name on my bugle. Seconds later got here a response — eerie notes floating off a excessive ridge and down the black canyon to the place I stood. A ripple of pleasure went down my backbone. The bull’s name gave the impression to be the very essence of the wilderness.
Again at camp I fed the inventory and cooked supper. After consuming I checked over my rifle and different gear, then turned in early. The subsequent morning was opening day.
The moon was nonetheless shining after I rolled out and fired up the lantern. A light-weight frost rimed my tent. I used to be frying eggs when Vernon and Jeanette pulled into camp. They only nodded as they walked by the lantern mild carrying saddles and bridles to the corral. Later I instructed Vernon in regards to the bull I’d heard up Cienegita.
“Some good bulls there,” he replied. “However in the present day we’ll journey towards Sierra Blanca. I do know a excessive basin that ought to produce a bull for us.”
Out of doors Li
After breakfast we mounted up and rode a darkish path up the mountains. It was starting to get mild once we topped out on an oak-covered bench. Miles beneath us, a number of lights nonetheless twinkled in Ruidoso. Vernon reined up and stepped down.
“We’ll depart the horses right here and go the final quarter-mile on foot.”
It was mild sufficient to shoot once we reached the comb rim. We eased up fastidiously and started glassing the basin beneath. A mule-deer doe and her twin yearlings browsed 200 yards down the slope. On the far hillside Vernon noticed three wild horses, the primary of many we have been to see.
“Two bulls have been on this basin per week in the past,” Vernon mentioned.
We continued glassing, however the one I’m framed by large rack of my bull different animals we situated have been coyotes. They have been howling and gave the impression to be enjoying a recreation of chase.
“The outdated folks imagine,” Vernon defined, “that when coyotes howl at daybreak will probably be a poor searching day.”
We watched the basin till after dawn, however no elk appeared, so we continued our climb towards stark Sierra Blanca. As we rode alongside I noticed antler-scarred bushes, contemporary droppings, and loads of tracks. After a few miles we tied the horses and started glassing the hills.
These mountains are part of the Sacramento Vary. Rocky, knifelike ridges jut out above timbered hills and canyons. Right here and there open mountain meadows present golden in opposition to the black timber. The high-country aspens have been aflame with coloration. This was a few of the most stunning elk nation I’d ever hunted.
Vernon took a seat atop a pinnacle of rock and started utilizing his 7×35 Leitz binoculars. I pulled out my elk bugle and made a name right into a deep canyon to the south. The notes had scarcely stopped when a bull answered from dense pines far beneath. Then one other bull bugled someplace to the east.
My information smiled however continued glassing the distant hills. That first bull should have answered me a dozen occasions, however he refused to come back a step nearer. Lastly he hushed, and I couldn’t provoke one other reply. Then Vernon mentioned softly, “Hey, you wish to see two bulls battling it out?”
By my glasses I watched as two bulls on a distant hillside sparred for management of a small herd of cows. After a number of minutes of fight the smaller bull broke and ran. The victor prolonged his neck and proclaimed himself king of the mountain, however his calls have been swallowed up by the space between us. It was an exciting sight.
“That’s the elk we would like,” Vernon mentioned because the bull adopted the· final of his harem into the bushes.
We mounted up and climbed. above the timberline, crossing beneath the summit of Sierra Blanca, then turning south on a journey that took the remainder of the day.
The solar was low once we tied our horses within the cowl of an oak thicket. Quietly we moved up, and I took a seat overlooking a meadow inside 200 yards of the place we’d seen the bull early that morning. I saved my vigil till the crosshairs of my scope pale, however our bull didn’t present. It was a tricky journey off that mountain at the hours of darkness, and we needed to choose our manner alongside as we adopted the headwaters of the Ruidoso downward. The moon ultimately rose above the edges and lit the path to camp. It was after 11 p.m. once we swung down and unsaddled the horses.
Vernon mentioned that he would return for breakfast at 4:15. He needed to hunt an space referred to as Carrizo. It was a broad sweep of nation containing little water, and he was certain elk could be looking close to a specific waterhole.
It was in Carrizo the subsequent morning that I virtually referred to as up the bull I discussed in the beginning. After the bull spooked, Vernon and I hunted on foot by timbered ridges for the remainder of the morning. At one level we walked into the midst of a small herd that had bedded down. Elk exploded on all sides, however I noticed no horns.
About midafternoon we constructed a blind 200 yards from a waterhole surrounded by contemporary signal. Thirty minutes earlier than darkish a small- band of untamed horses got here to drink, however no elk got here.
On our journey again to camp Vernon mentioned, “Tomorrow we hunt Cienegita Spring.”
He defined that this space was simply south of the place we’d seen the bulls preventing on opening day. I reminded him of the bull I’d heard bugle in Cienegita Canyon.
“Jeanette can trailer the horses to the foot of the mountain,” my information mentioned. “From there it’s solely a thirty-minute journey to that massive bull’s stomping floor. If he doesn’t present, we’ll hunt southward. There’s miles of excellent nation in Cienegita, and we might discover a bull wherever.”
Subsequent morning we saddled up by lantern mild, loaded the horses into the trailer, and pulled out for Cienegita. By the point we had unloaded and ridden a mile north, a brand new day was dawning.
“We’re late,” Vernon whispered. “It’ll be daylight once we attain the meadow.”
Dawn caught us as we topped out and paused to let the horses blow. Vernon dismounted and glassed the nation to the west. A second later he dropped his reins.
“What’s it?” I requested.
“I feel I see some elk throughout the canyon,” he whispered. “It’s nonetheless not mild sufficient to make sure.”
I started to check the distant meadow with my 8X Bushnell glasses, and regularly the herd of a dozen or extra took form. They have been over a mile away.
“The one nearest that black rock is a bull,” Vernon mentioned ultimately. “I can’t say how good. They’ll most likely feed into that timber to the left.”
“Let’s take a more in-depth look,” I mentioned. “It may very well be the herd bull we noticed preventing.”
I slipped my rifle from its scabbard, and whereas Jeanette held our horses Vernon and I labored our manner off the mountain and throughout the canyon to the west. We moved by oak and aspen, fastidiously avoiding open areas. We stopped once we neared the meadow the place we’d seen the bull.
“I’ll wait right here,” Vernon mentioned. “There’s not sufficient cowl up there to cover us each.”
I shucked my down jacket, digicam, and binoculars. I needed nothing to intervene with a attainable shot. I moved up 50 yards in a low crouch. Then the duvet performed out, so I crawled the final 10 yards by knee-high brush.
At first I discovered solely two cows. I eased up on one knee, after which I noticed him 125 yards away. He stood enormous and sumptuous, with sweeping mahogany antlers, darkish matted mane, and creamy brown disguise. He carried six factors on both sides. No image has ever captured the picture of an awesome elk within the wild.
As I appeared, he took a number of steps ahead and scanned the meadow. I must shoot off-hand. I flipped off the security and planted the crosshairs as firmly as I might maintain on the purpose of his shoulder. The rifle bucked, however the bull didn’t go down. As he began to maneuver out I hammered him once more, and this time he dropped.
Bull elk are superior creatures, and it’s a profound expertise to bag one. Each pictures had linked, the primary bullet hanging to the entrance of the shoulder however lacking bone and vitals. The second 150-groin Sierra boattail hit him simply behind the shoulders and lodged beneath the disguise on the off facet. He was onerous within the rut and rank with the odor of musk and urine. One forehead tine had been freshly damaged, maybe in fight with the opposite bull we’d seen.
Jeanette introduced the horses over from the far hillside, the place she had watched the motion by her binoculars. We took some photos, after which Vernon and I field-dressed my elk.
In late afternoon we lastly delivered the bull to an area processing plant, the place the meat was transformed into almost 500 kilos of steaks, chops, and floor meat. All these packages have been frozen for the journey residence.
The drive residence took two days, however the meat-which I’d packed into cheap foam-plastic containers together with small items of dry ice-was nonetheless frozen. Quickly my bull’s head will grace a wall of my den.
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It’s reported that a minimum of one bull taken throughout final yr’s hunt will qualify for the Boone and Crockett Membership’s report ebook. I’m satisfied {that a} sizable variety of bulls among the many Mescalero herd carry record-book racks.
There have been 100 permits supplied final fall. Solely 28 have been bought. Due to prudent and progressive recreation administration on tribal lands, the Mescalero elk herd continues to broaden quickly. Extra permits ought to be accessible every year, giving increasingly more hunters the chance to stalk a bull in a few of the most stunning nation within the West.
This story, “Elk of the Mescalero,” first appeared within the August 1975 concern of Out of doors Life.
