Has anyone hunted Elephant mountain for archery? are there water holes or guzzlers for water to hunt over? thanks in advance.

I have not hunted there but I map scouted it for a quail hunt last year. The maps show alot of guzzlers, so if its allowed there'd be those to hunt over. Good luck in your applications.

thanks

I have not hunted there but hunt just north of there in Pecos County. If the mule deer there are like the ones on our lease...they do not go to water that often. They are not like a whitetail as far as daily water needs. We used to run trail cams on water till we learned it was a waste of time. Does and younger bucks will got to water once everyday to every 2 days. Older and mature bucks only seem to got water every 3-5 days. When we did see deer(does and younger bucks) at water, they would feed/move in from one direction and then move out a different direction. We also seem to find our mature bucks and groups of does about 3/4 to 1 mile from a water source. The few bucks we caught on the cams were there right before daylight or at or after dark in the evening. When I sit and glass, I can occasionally see a water trough in the distance and every once in a while can see deer move in for water. These are at random times during the daytime, just nothing consistent enough to set a pattern on. I have watched deer get up to feed in the late afternoon and move towards a water trough, getting there after sundown. Those desert mule deer seem to have adapted to less water needs and get a lot of their daily water requirements from the vegetation they eat daily. Not saying a hunt at that WMA would be the same but just what I have experience on our lease over the last 13 yrs.

I think most guzzlers are up on top of the mountain where the sheep are and that is off limits to hunt. My son hunted there for youth hunt in 2013 and only water in my area was a tank with only a small puddle for water. It rained and snowed when we were there so took water out of equation. It was super terrible weather but he did score on a 3 X 3 that was bedded and hunkered down from wind and rain.

Interesting... I hunted at Black Gap back in 2007 and we scouted and located bucks and tried to stalk.. so hard with a bow.. I put a pop up on a a guzzler they had and killed a nice mature 8 and saw a couple others that were legal. even shot a javelina over a ground pond they had at the time. Do you think its the area near Elephant mountain that they do not prefer the guzzlers. I always said if I go back to Black Gap im sitting over water the entire time. There I felt like I actually wasted time scouting and moving about in the compartment.

I was drawn for the MD archery hunt last year and it was an awesome hunt. Neither myself or my partner ended up with a buck but we both took a javalina, had an encounter with a huge mulie within our first 30 minutes after orientation and had multiple stalks on other deer that just didn't work out. We were actually given the compartment where the sheep are but couldn't go more than 2/3 up the mountain. There were guzzlers in this particular compartment but due to the weather we did not hunt them. 6 hunters started out and due to the sleet, rain, wind and ice that blew in there were only 2 of us left after day 1. The game was plentiful, scenery was beautiful and it was a tough hunt but very well worth it. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I hunted the javelina hunt last year.

There are guzzlers, or tanks and the beef cattle have some kind of "licking wheel" for minerals. I don't think wildlife uses it. It is sticky and sweet tasting (was curious so I put my finger in it and tried it).

I didn't get one, it started raining the night of the first day and rained the next 3 days. Was unproductive, but I ate a lot of pizza at Pizza Hut in Alpine.

That licking wheel for minerals is supposed to make the cattle crave less palatable food, in their case dead grass, maybe in your case it made you craze Pizza Hut! Ha, Pizza Hut is great though.

The biologist that worked there both got killed in a helicopter crash this summer.

Sad and Tough deal.

https://abc13.com/helicopter-crash-...ldlife-employees-3-workers-dead/6362674/

Slo-One: while you were there, did you see any quail? I have driven by but never actually scouted it out.

I saw zero quail in December 2019.

Actually other than mule deer does and bighorns I saw no wildlife.

Hunted on a ranch just north of Elephant Mountain and there are plenty of mule deer in the area and some good ones. We could see Elephant Mountain from anywhere we hunted on this particular ranch. We saw javelinas and elk and even saw a few whitetail deer also. Place I was on fed protein year round and had feed pens big enough to hold a herd of elephants. Place also had a picture of a big black bear laying under a feeder raking protein out off the tubes into its mouth and they had killed a mountain lion a couple of days before I got there, so the area holds lots of wildlife. Auodad sheep were also present on this ranch.We drove around and had no trouble killing a deer. Of course we were hunting with rifles, so it was much easier than with bows. I have killed mule deer with bows also and the best luck I have had was in the mornings try to find a buck that was close to bedding down and then stalk that area. In the evenings find deer and try to get in front of them and let them come to you.

We jumped a couple coveys down low whenever we changed our MD tactics. At the check in station there were probably a dozen wings on the day that i arrived which was 2 days before the hunt.

I've noticed a lot of the wings are dove.

Think that was Black Gap where the crash was.

Well i havent looks like i wont be hunting this year either. Unless i get the rifle hunt[ fingers crossed. i have 8 pts for archery, was hoping for elephant or matador. So nope. best to luck to ya 'll in draws. Btw are they cubeing points this yesr??