During the spring of 1992, we finally made the big decision to book a rifle elk hunt in New Mexico. As is obvious by waiting until spring to book it, we KNEW NOTHING about what we were doing. Janice’s father had been elk hunting several times, although never harvesting a bull. We invited him to go with us, and we set out to find an outfitter. Years earlier he had hunted with Dick Ray out of Chama, New Mexico. We got Dick on the telephone and chatted about available hunts. All of his private land hunts were booked, but he could get us on a public land hunt. Private, Public…here in Texas there is VERY little public land…and we didn’t understand the difference!

Anyway, we booked the hunt and began to get very excited. We had visions of being horseback in gorgeous mountain country, heading back to camp with the rack of a MONSTER Bull strapped to our pack horse! We practiced shooting our rifles all the way out to 200 yards! I was shooting my trusty Remington .30- ’06 model 721, and Janice was shooting her Remington .270 model 725. We bought new Pentax binoculars, and all kinds of survival gear for our day packs (compass, lighters, space blankets, etc.) Remember, we had never hunted away from our East Texas ranch, where we sat in a stand and waited for a deer to happen by!

Departure time finally arrived. We loaded up the 1992 Ford F-250 and set out for Chama, stopping over in Lubbock for the night. I was so excited, thinking about that MONSTER bull elk I was going to harvest the first morning!

We arrived at camp, which was a nice A-frame house. We met our guide, Mike Ray (Dick’s son). We were informed that there was not enough room for all of the hunters in camp; Janice and I were put in a room at the local motel! This was our first clue that we were not quite sure of what we were getting into!

The first morning, we got up at 3:00am for breakfast at the “camp” at 4:00, then our TWO HOUR ride to the BLM land that we were hunting on. Once in the “hunting area”, all we did was drive along on a very rocky, unimproved off-road trail at 2 miles per hour, with our heads hitting the ceiling 4 or 5 times per minute. We didn’t see any kind of animal remotely looking like an elk…but it would have been tough to see anyway. After all, we spent most of our time seeing stars after bumping our heads while we were “hunting” elk! So much for harvesting that wall-hanger during the first morning! We had SO MUCH TO LEARN.

After an entire day of bouncing around, we made it back to “camp” for dinner, and got to admire the nice bull that 1 of the other hunters had harvested after being in a stand on private land for 20 minutes…..geez , maybe there IS a difference between public and private land hunts!

We talked with Dick about our experiences that morning, and how it was not quite what we imagined. Dick was kind enough and patient enough to explain the difference between private and public hunting. He was also willing to hunt with us anyway we wanted. I explained my vision of being horseback and such, and to Dick’s credit, he was willing to help out! The next day, we hauled horses for the 2 hour trip from camp to the BLM land, and instead of bumping around in the truck, we rode around very noisily on the horses, again not seeing anything looking like an elk! However, it is always nice to view the high country through the ears of a horse!

Being very disappointed at the reality of the hunt we had purchased and what we had envisioned (not Dick’s fault, just inexperience on our part!), we took the next day off. We drove up to Wolf Creek Pass, climbed up Treasure Mountain, and thought of ourselves as Tell Sackett in the Louis L’Amour book about that area. It was a nice day, and gave us some perspective on the fact that we had had no idea what to expect on the way to New Mexico!

That night, we decided to start asking a little bit about how to hunt elk, etc. We discovered that riding around “looking” for them was not going to get us in the game. The next morning, we used the horses to get us into the area, then spent most of the day on foot, and actually found some elk sign. However, Janice and I were in no shape for a strenuous hike at altitude; we were dead by the time we made it back for dinner. That night, after complaining about the hunt, and not having 100’s of bulls come walking up to us, so we could take our pick of harvest, Dick made a comment to us that we still repeat today! “Elk are where you find them, and you better be willing to go there!” We made a note right then and there: we would be in shape for the mountains if we ever decided to pursue this again!

The last day of the hunt, we awoke with a much improved outlook on elk hunting, and went into the day’s hunt with a renewed determination. Janice and Mike actually got on 2 bulls. The bulls were feeding together and were well over 500 yards. Mike and Janice moved in closer, getting within about 400 yards. Then the wind changed. The bulls became very nervous about “something” in the direction of Mike and Janice. Mike elected for Janice to try the shot, off-hand, directly into the setting sun. He coached her on the holdover, as we had done NO SHOOTING past 200 yards. He also used his hat to shield the setting sun from her 3.5 x 9 Leupold. The bull was standing, facing directly away, looking back over his shoulder...not exactly your prime target. Janice fired. The bull didn't act like he was hit, and left the area quickly. Janice was unable to get off a second shot. She and Mike spent the remaining time searching for sign of a hit and tracking the elk….to no avail. We learned another very valuable lesson…..Practice at longer distances than 200 yards, get a little more firepower than a .270, and most importantly, don’t take a shot you are not confident of being able to make!!

Our first elk hunt was over….and we left Chama with a much different idea of what it took to harvest one of these magnificent animals. The outfitter didn't do anything wrong. In fact, they did their best to try and rectify our inflated expectations! We both discovered that "It ain’t like huntin’ deer in East Texas, nor is it just an easy horse ride in beautiful country…Elk Hunting is HARD WORK!"