Elk Hunting in Texas

[Ranch Dog]

For many, many years, since the early '70s, I have been following the elk that now represent the native population of Cerus elaphus in Texas. Not escapees from a high fence, but the animals that where released in the '50s in the Glass and Guadalupe Mountains in the Trans Pecos. I've been following them from back when permits where issued to landowners, through them being classified as exotics (a BS political move in that the public paid to have them reintroduced) to the animals now occupying five mountain ranges and extending down the various drainages for 75 miles in all directions. These are our native elk.

As of late, I mule deer hunt a huge ranch in the Del Norte and Glass mountains and have been patiently been waiting my turn to hunt the elk. Because they are being properly managed and selectively harvest mature bulls, the wait has been long. That changed this year when an outfitter arranged a hunt for me on another large ranch to the east of the Glass mountains that wanted to harvest two bulls out of its herd. The property met my requirements; low fenced, the animals must never have been introduced other than to be logically traced to one of the five herds that TPWD recognizes as reintroduced to Texas.

I spent the last week working the vast stretches of canyons with a guide that has forty years of experience working elk in New Mexico and Texas and a PhD background in elk studies. I selected this fellow as a guide because of his background in that I want this hunt to be "elk school". Because of my guide's commitments for the opening week of antelope season, we scheduled the hunt for this past week.

Cow calling our first afternoon brought a raghorn out of creek bed from about 1/2 mile away. He hung up at about 200 yards and my guide talked to him and brought him to 20-yards! This was my first encounter with an elk and "proofed" my choice of guide.

That was a great start but the week was slow. The day time heat was over 100° and we had a huge stretch of country to explore. I'm not sure how many miles we trekked or how many feet week ascended and descended but the week provided no other success. On Thursday evening, the other hunter and guide found a number of elk including at least one shooter bull but elected to pursue them on the next hunt. The landowner has been most gracious in allowing us to purse our elk to harvest.

A hunting trip in the Trans-Pecos is always a win in my book and in a few weeks we will pick up where we left off. Encounters with rattlesnakes, auodads, and near misses with lions and bears makes each trip an adventure.



On top of Texas! Working the headers and drainages east of the Glass Mountains. My Cabela's Open Country camo is perfect for the Trans Pecos. I'm carrying my favorite rifle, my Marlin 444T.





One evening while working a header, I saw three aoudad rams come out of drainage about a mile downstream of us. They walked right up the header and passed 35-yards behind us. They popped up at 69-yards and it would have been a perfect shot if we had been interested in a ram. They were about 25", 29", and 32"! Very nice with a very limited number on the ranch.

I will pick it up in a couple of weeks, got work to do on my place before hunting season opens.

[gamekeeper]

A hunting trip in the Trans-Pecos is always a win in my book and in a few weeks we will pick up where we left off. Encounters with rattlesnakes, auodads, and near misses with lions and bears makes each trip an adventure.

Good report, it indeed sounds like an adventure!

[TedH]

Looks like some neat country. Wouldn't hardly seem like elk hunting to me with 100 degree temps though!

[RKrodle]

Great write up Ranch Dog, looks like a good time. What bullet are using in your 444?

[KirkD]

Nice looking country, but sure not the kind I'm used to seeing Elk in .... northern forests mixed with meadows in central Canada. I didn't know Elk lived so far south. I learn something new every day.

[Ranch Dog]

Great write up Ranch Dog, looks like a good time. What bullet are using in your 444?

I'm using a 265-grain cast bullet of my design, a TLC432-265-RF. It is pushed with 46.0-grains of H4198 for 2370 FPS. Actually, the bullet is my avatar.

[Ranch Dog]

Nice looking country, but sure not the kind I'm used to seeing Elk in .... northern forests mixed with meadows in central Canada. I didn't know Elk lived so far south. I learn something new every day.

What is interesting is that these mountain ranges have what you would consider elk country. Country above 7,000 msl pinion pines and oaks but they are not up there. They stay in the cedar and whitebrush thickets on the valley floors.

I have a friend with 90K acres about 100 miles due south of where I'm hunting. His place is in Mexico and he has elk, bear, etc. As far as I'm aware, the mountains of extreme Northern Mexico has always had elk but I'm not sure how far south they will be found.

[Ranch Dog]

You guys are pretty smart so may be one of you could tell me what this is. The mesa tops are very flat so when you get up on one you can work all points of the compass with just a little movement. You can see thousands of acres. I was sitting on some rocks while we where calling and I noticed a flat rock near me that was covering a hole. The hole was barely visable.



Being like a cat I slid over and examined it further. It was a pretty hefty slice of rock but my guide and I managed to roll it from over the hole.



The cavity was teardrop shaped with the bottom belled out larger that a basketball. Nothing in it. Neither of us have a clue what it would have been used for. The country is rich in Indian artifacts from across North America's history and the same with Spanish and American explorers to now. This has been used for something but I'm not sure what. This is a very prominent lookout.



I placed a current dollar bill with a 444 Marlin cartridge on top and made the most of it. A perch for an afternoon of hunting. This a very private ranch and it will not be messed with or rediscovered for a very long time. My guide marked it with a small ribbon of survey tape.

[TedH]

What an interesting find. Hopefully some one will be able to shed some light on it's previous use.

[O.S.O.K.]

Could have been used for cooking.

But how would they heat the food you ask?

Hot rocks from a fire I sez.

Awsome pics and a great adventure - thanks for sharing!

[HATCHETTJACK]

prolly a place to put food and water for the illegal mexicans coming thru.... you say it is prominent, so would be easy to find... just a guess

[Ranch Dog]

We considered the cooking as it could be some kind of oven. I'm not sure how you would heat it other than building the fire directly on top of it. May be it was an oven for heat treating weapons!

My guide is a plant and elk Phd and he spends a lot of time at Big Bend NP. He is going to talk with a primative people guy and see what he suggests.

[Ranch Dog]

prolly a place to put food and water for the illegal mexicans coming thru.... you say it is prominent, so would be easy to find... just a guess

If it was found on the valley floor it could be used as such but they would not have taken the time to build the cache. This is a huge area for crossings but the illegals do not climb the mesas. It requires too much energy, there is no water on top and there is no cover. We see illegals and we are stopped by Border Patrol helicopters. We actually hoped the later would happen but it didn't as they would not hesitated a bit to fill us in on the elk they've seen during their people hunting. It would have saved us a lot of time and miles.

[FWiedner]

Perhaps it is a naturally formed cistern or tinaja and the rock was placed on top of it by some previous discoverer to prevent evaporation or pollution.

Water holes are few and far between out yonder.

May not have been used in a while