Where should I focus my efforts?

[JasCald02]

Hey everyone, it’s been a while since I have posted but I figured that this was the best place to come for a bit of advice.

 

I will be bow hunting in Northern New Mexico this Sep and am trying to decide about which area of the unit to focus my efforts – backpack into the wilderness or hunt the general national forest from a truck camp. I am pretty familiar with the area (16 years of camping and I hunted deer there last year) and have seen a lot of elk sign both in the wilderness and the general national forest area. I will be making three separate trips throughout the duration of the hunt, so I guess I could do a little of both but don’t want to waste time.

 

The long and short of it is this: I have never killed an anmial; and between this bow hunt for Elk and my rifle hunt for Coues (NM unit 23…woo hoo ) my 2007 goal is to put an animal on the ground. (Even though I still love the pursuit and experience of being out there)

 

I have two more scouting trips lined up before Sep 1st. Should I focus on scouting / glassing the wilderness? Should I buy and set up a trail camera on a secluded wallow I ran into (not in the wilderness)? Any advice for a 5th year novice?

 

Thanks for the help guys!