mudingbuck
PMA Member
I already posted this post in my original post (lottery winner), but I want to make sure everyone has a chance to see this so they don't draw a tag of a lifetime and get dooped like we did.
All American Outfitters and Guide Service is the name of the company. You ever get a chance to hunt with this guy. PASS ON THAT!
After 4 short years of trying to get an elk tag for one of the best units in the world, we finally drew a New Mexico 16A elk tag. To say I was excited would be an understatement. I trained like no other for this hunt. Losing 30 pounds and was in the best shape of my life.We drove 20 hours to our guides and saw all kinds of elk just as we were getting in the area. We meet our guide Brandon and he showed us where we were staying and was telling us all the right things. Everything else went down hill from there. He told us we would be sitting on watering holes and wallows. Thats how you hunt them this time of year he says. I thought to myself I didn't train to sit in a blind, but if that up my odds of sticking a giant Gila bull I'll do anything. We drove the trailer with the quads out to an area that was on our unit and close to where we would be hunting, that was an hour away on a pretty crappy gravel road. From there we went back to the bunk house and prepped for the next day. 3 AM we get up and finished loading and getting ready. 4 AM we left the bunk house and drove that hour to our quads. We didn't know if we were even going the right way because Brandon pulled out of the drive and was gone. Anyways we made it out there and then drove the quads 45 minutes to the spot where Brandon was going to have Adam sit. The sun was just coming up when we got there, perfect! Other then the fact that there was already another hunter in the area. Brandon had Adam hunt it anyways. Then we went to my spot, a wallow, and just as I was getting to the blind i heard a bull bugling!!! As soon as I settled into the double bull he shut up! I didn't see anything until last light and that was a young 260 class bull at 70 yards. The night before Brandon was saying don't shoot that little 300 class bulls wait for the 350/400 class. So I didn't even try, not that I really had a shot because I only saw him for a few seconds. Dark came, Brandon met me at my quad and we picked Adam up and then made the 35 min quad ride back to the truck. We finally got back to the bunk house just before 11 PM. Ate dinner and went to bed.
We did that for the next 7 days. About every other day I saw elk, but never had a shot at any bulls and never saw anything bigger then that 260 6x6 I saw on the first day. I had so much more luck then Adam. He never saw anything, after 3 days we convinced Brandon to take Adam and go after the elk. They did that for an hour and still never heard or seen anything. Walking back to the quads they bumped a couple of elk that were about 200 yards away. Brandon tells him, "Well at least you didn't get skunked." Then put him back in the same blind where he didn't see anything. The next day we finally talked him to moving Adam. I was in a spot that I felt could get it done so I wasn't to worried about moving. We both rather be chasing them. Adams brakes went out on his quad the 2nd day and the third day he got a flat as they took off, Brandon didn't come back and find him for an hour and a half. After Brandon moved Adam all he saw were other hunters.
We never shot anything and Adam never saw anything. If you would have told us we would go to the Gila and never get a shot at a bull I would have have thought you were crazy. We feel that Brandon went out to the water hole and the wallow the day before we got there and pooped up a couple of double bulls in the middle of no where and never brushed them in or anything. He said the elk don't mind them. We both brushed them in, but still didn't feel to confident.
On top of all that we had hub on the trailer seize up on the way home. Mydon't give a poop attitude decided to bolt the tire back on and drive it slowly to town, where we found a little shop, the owner stopped what he was doing and help us get the old hub off. Then we found a farm store that had trailer parts. Took a couple trips, but we found the right parts. Then ole boy helped put it back together. Then after 4 hours of helping us only wanted 70 bucks. We gave him more than double and he barely took it!
168 hrs since September 1, In that time I spent 97 hours in the blind, 28 hours driving, 24.5 hours sleeping, and 14 hours of shower and prepping for the next day. That only left 4.5 hours to eat dinner and get to know our guide.
Long story short, we got dooped by a junk @$$ guide. Semi guided at best. If you ever get the chance to hunt the Gila don't waste your time with Brandon Gaudelli owner of All American Outfitters and Guide Service.
Heres a few pix of my week.
All American Outfitters and Guide Service is the name of the company. You ever get a chance to hunt with this guy. PASS ON THAT!
After 4 short years of trying to get an elk tag for one of the best units in the world, we finally drew a New Mexico 16A elk tag. To say I was excited would be an understatement. I trained like no other for this hunt. Losing 30 pounds and was in the best shape of my life.We drove 20 hours to our guides and saw all kinds of elk just as we were getting in the area. We meet our guide Brandon and he showed us where we were staying and was telling us all the right things. Everything else went down hill from there. He told us we would be sitting on watering holes and wallows. Thats how you hunt them this time of year he says. I thought to myself I didn't train to sit in a blind, but if that up my odds of sticking a giant Gila bull I'll do anything. We drove the trailer with the quads out to an area that was on our unit and close to where we would be hunting, that was an hour away on a pretty crappy gravel road. From there we went back to the bunk house and prepped for the next day. 3 AM we get up and finished loading and getting ready. 4 AM we left the bunk house and drove that hour to our quads. We didn't know if we were even going the right way because Brandon pulled out of the drive and was gone. Anyways we made it out there and then drove the quads 45 minutes to the spot where Brandon was going to have Adam sit. The sun was just coming up when we got there, perfect! Other then the fact that there was already another hunter in the area. Brandon had Adam hunt it anyways. Then we went to my spot, a wallow, and just as I was getting to the blind i heard a bull bugling!!! As soon as I settled into the double bull he shut up! I didn't see anything until last light and that was a young 260 class bull at 70 yards. The night before Brandon was saying don't shoot that little 300 class bulls wait for the 350/400 class. So I didn't even try, not that I really had a shot because I only saw him for a few seconds. Dark came, Brandon met me at my quad and we picked Adam up and then made the 35 min quad ride back to the truck. We finally got back to the bunk house just before 11 PM. Ate dinner and went to bed.
We did that for the next 7 days. About every other day I saw elk, but never had a shot at any bulls and never saw anything bigger then that 260 6x6 I saw on the first day. I had so much more luck then Adam. He never saw anything, after 3 days we convinced Brandon to take Adam and go after the elk. They did that for an hour and still never heard or seen anything. Walking back to the quads they bumped a couple of elk that were about 200 yards away. Brandon tells him, "Well at least you didn't get skunked." Then put him back in the same blind where he didn't see anything. The next day we finally talked him to moving Adam. I was in a spot that I felt could get it done so I wasn't to worried about moving. We both rather be chasing them. Adams brakes went out on his quad the 2nd day and the third day he got a flat as they took off, Brandon didn't come back and find him for an hour and a half. After Brandon moved Adam all he saw were other hunters.
We never shot anything and Adam never saw anything. If you would have told us we would go to the Gila and never get a shot at a bull I would have have thought you were crazy. We feel that Brandon went out to the water hole and the wallow the day before we got there and pooped up a couple of double bulls in the middle of no where and never brushed them in or anything. He said the elk don't mind them. We both brushed them in, but still didn't feel to confident.
On top of all that we had hub on the trailer seize up on the way home. Mydon't give a poop attitude decided to bolt the tire back on and drive it slowly to town, where we found a little shop, the owner stopped what he was doing and help us get the old hub off. Then we found a farm store that had trailer parts. Took a couple trips, but we found the right parts. Then ole boy helped put it back together. Then after 4 hours of helping us only wanted 70 bucks. We gave him more than double and he barely took it!
168 hrs since September 1, In that time I spent 97 hours in the blind, 28 hours driving, 24.5 hours sleeping, and 14 hours of shower and prepping for the next day. That only left 4.5 hours to eat dinner and get to know our guide.
Long story short, we got dooped by a junk @$$ guide. Semi guided at best. If you ever get the chance to hunt the Gila don't waste your time with Brandon Gaudelli owner of All American Outfitters and Guide Service.
Heres a few pix of my week.
