BC Ranch in the middle of Vermejo Park, New Mexico, offers high success on mature bull elk

The 9,000-acre BC ranch offers some of the finest elk hunting in the nation, despite the ranch's relatively small size. That's because the property is ideally situated in justly famous Vermejo Park, northern New Mexico. Vermejo Park is composed of more than 600,000 acres of private land with no public access except for that 100,000-acre portion known as Valle Vidal, where hunters are allowed to draw only one tag in a lifetime. We book a hunt in Valle Vidal, but New Mexico does not give preference points to unsuccessful applicants, so you could apply for the rest of your life and never get a chance to hunt there.

BC Ranch, however, gets landowner vouchers, so you can book right now for this fall. Because of the extremely limited number of bulls harvested each year in this region, you'll be amazed at the hunting quality. Not only are the numbers of elk hard to beat, but the average age of bulls is excellent, so you normally can be quite selective on this hunt, passing over lesser bulls to get a memorable wall hanger.

Bulls in this area grow impressive racks. There are no high fences, but bull-to-cow ratios are high in this entire region, and bulls get old enough to reach maximum antler size. You have a legitimate chance of taking a bull in the 320 to 350 category, and there are a few bigger animals.

One of the most impressive elk racks we have ever seen were shed by a bull in this area. That nontypical rack had nine or 10 points on each antler and carried its mass way out on the main beams, and each point was extremely heavy.

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