GMU 52 in Northern New Mexico borders Colorado to the North and is made up of primarily the Carson National Forest, which includes the Cruces Basin Wilderness as well as the San Antonio Mountain.  New Mexico unit 52 boasts large public land access as well as access points throughout the entire unit.

You’ll see terrain variations from open prairies to dense aspen canyons.  Game density in GMU 52 is good and quality of bulls is typically in the 280-310” range, with something in the 320”+ considered a trophy.   Early season archery hunts can be warm and pre season scouting can be extremely helpful as you’ll want to have water sources found as bulls will be frequently looking for water in early season.  As the rut picks ups bulls will be rounding up cows and locating bulls with bugles can be an extremely fun and effective way to hunt.

We have New Mexico Elk Vouchers Available

Bypass the New Mexico draw and enjoy chasing bulls during the rut.

New Mexico Unit 52 Size and Land Ownership

• Overall unit size: 421 square miles
• US Forest Service: 318 square miles
• BLM: 59 square miles
• State: 11 square miles
• USFS Wilderness: 30 square miles
• Other Gov’t Owned: 0
• Private Land: 8%

Unit Boundary Description

New Mexico’s Unit 52 begins at the intersection of US 64 and the east boundary of the Tierra Amarilla Grant and running north along the eastern boundary of the grant to the Colorado-New Mexico state line, then east along the state line to its intersection with US 285, then south along US 285 to its junction with US 64 at Tres Piedras, then west along US 64 to its intersection with the east boundary of the Tierra Amarilla grant.