Our first hunt of the year took us to New Mexico on an archery bow hunt for big bull elk!  I was really looking forward to this hunt because it was my first time ever elk hunting!  Bob and Andre from Royal Trophy Outfitters (RTO) have some of the most incredible private pieces to hunt in Unit 15.  They plant hundreds of acres of food plots (Rye Fields) specifically for the elk as well as build lots of water holes.  The first night we got to camp we were surprised by dinner where they served fresh Giant Lobster that had been flown in from New Brunswick that day!  Dinner was like nothing we had ever had before, Delicious!! We stuffed ourselves, got our gear ready and then some shuteye for the weeks hunt.  

We began our hunt sitting on a water hole way back in the forest where the first night we had 2 300”+ bulls come into the water but Pat called me off because he said it was only the first night! It took everything I had to not shoot one of those bulls, because to me they looked awesome! The next few days we had some really close encounters with great bulls that we passed on or couldn’t get a shot.  The last day finally rolled around and I was starting to panic and thought “Why did I pass on those bulls the first few days?”  We sat in a tree stand that morning to see if we could catch the elk heading back from their feeding area (Rye Fields) to the bedding areas.  We had seen a couple small bulls and cows and that was it.  At 9:30 Bob texted and said he had a bull screaming about 600 yards away from us.  We climbed down and headed across the field to the other patch of woods where Bob used his HS Bugle and Cow Calls and right away the bull answered back.  We waited a minute and bugled again at him, this time he was a lot closer when he answered back.  

We all scrambled to the nearest tree to get set up on him.  Bob began moving back away from us as he kept bugling at the bull to pull him in closer.  We watched the bull close 200 yards across the open field screaming his head off to 25 yards where I made a perfect shot behind the shoulder watching him go only 100 yards and crash!

What an awesome first elk hunt! The first night in the tree I turned to Pat and told him “I’m officially addicted to elk hunting!” and now I would have to say, “I was super spoiled on my first elk hunting trip!” We can’t wait to go back again next year.  If you’re looking for an elk outfitter to hunt with that doesn’t run a lot of hunters through camp then these are your guys!

Contact them at RTO outfitters-bob@trophyhuntingnewmexico.com