New Mexico or Colorado?

[moonie]

I live in Louisiana, and I plan on going elk hunting this year, I've hunted in colorado before but no luck yet, This year the group I normally go with wants to cut down on the driving time and Hunt NM. Is there any benifits to this state over co? Would you go along with them or try to convince them to go back to co? We only hunted Co. twice so its not that we are that acustomed to the areas that we picked(Got picked for). Please help. I just want to get out and have a fighting chance at seeing, or getting an elk , I have yet to kill one and man I'm getting desperate.
Thanks you and God Bless and Great luck to All.
Jnoel

 

[Big Tex]

I always try to draw a good to very good tag in NM, since its a straight lottery system and then use OTC CO as a back-up archery plan.  With some research and hard work CO has an array of solid OTC opportunties, which I tend to prefer over the easy to draw NM units...Plus of you look in the southern half of the state, your probably not driving any further than you would be for the Western NM units.  Just my $.02.

 

[COLOelkman]

I'm from CO and would love to hunt NM as they have some very good trophy units but they are extremely hard to draw.  The odds are horrible and they recently reduced non-resident quotas so it may be ever harder to draw a good NM area.  I plan to look at the odds from last year to see how bad they are as it's getting fairly expensive to apply in NM if you can't build points and have horrible odds.  CO has a lot of good OTC units where you can often find elk but it still requires some research and often some experience.  It also depends on what type of hunt you are looking for and what weapon you will be using.  If you're a bow hunter you have tons of areas to hunt in CO.  For me personally I try to avoid the rifle OTC hunts since it's a free for all and I've usually found it overcrowded unless you are willing and able to hike way back in.

 

[Mark Z]

Check out the land owner tags in NM. Some are reasonable in cost and the number of hunters are limited. Been there three times and loved every outing.

 

[wapiti_will]

If you put in some research time or get some tips from locals, Colorado can be a pretty reliable option.  I've gone 5 out of 6 for Colorado rifle hunts.