milligan Brand outfitters NM

[rld346]

Nice! I'm in NM now, Farmington...my hunt starts tomorrow in Unit 2C. Really excited as it's my first Bull Elk hunt. I'd feel lucky to get one as nice as yours.
Just curious, what was the range and what rifle and bullet were you using?

 

[grnorthcutt]

Nice! I'm in NM now, Farmington...my hunt starts tomorrow in Unit 2C. Really excited as it's my first Bull Elk hunt. I'd feel lucky to get one as nice as yours.
Just curious, what was the range and what rifle and bullet were you using?

Thank you! I feel lucky and blessed no doubt! I was using a browning x bolt hells canyon in 300 wsm. Bullet selection was a 180 grain nosler accubond. Final shooting distance was 224 yards. 1 shot and he stood still. While I was shooting the second shot he was falling.

 

[grnorthcutt]

Here's a video on my brother in law and me hunting with Milligan brand if interested

 

[Korhil78]

Cool video. Nice job guys.

 

[Malvo]

For those that are leaving comments about the quality of the bulls, have you ever hunted Unit 4 before? It is not the Gila, and a 300 inch bull is an excellent bull. There is also a comment about only hunting a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening. This is the way you should be hunting elk. They are bedded the rest of the day. If you go and spook them out of their beds there is a good chance that they can leave the ranch that you are on. Not sure where that person has hunted elk that are up and about mid morning or mid afternoon. The gene pool is not for trophy quality. Yes there are some that will go above 300, but they are usually on the migration hunts in December. If you are looking into killing a 350 bull (landower tag) in the GIla you will be paying probably double what you will be paying in the Chama area. Ray is a good outfitter he is honest and will answer your questions if presented.

 

[dogz]

There is also a comment about only hunting a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening. This is the way you should be hunting elk. They are bedded the rest of the day. If you go and spook them out of their beds there is a good chance that they can leave the ranch that you are on.


Excellent points, a ranch that I used to guide on here in Mt we had the same situation. The clients that got this had really good hunts. Hunting isn't always about going "gung ho"..............

 

[Malvo]

Yup. I am an outfitter (fishing) and whenever I go on a guided hunt I let the outfitter tell me what to do. No matter how much "experience" that I have. They live in the area and know how to hunt them. The customer should ask the outfitter any questions that they have concerns about. No matter how simple they may be. That way when you get to camp there are not any surprises. If **** is not the way that he described, then you have some recourse.

 

[ElkHunter1776]

Let me start this off by saying I don't normally write reviews but this one is warranted. To be very clear, Ray is an arrogant guy who only cares about getting your money and making sure his higher end clientele are taken care of, where us average/new guys get the short end of the stick. Next, let's talk tipping, (and I have all the original documents, contracts, etc. saved). We looked at the tipping guidelines emailed to us beforehand and it said in writing that "Tips generally run $500-$1000 from a hunter to his guide. Also, the chef averages $125 per client. Our Camp jack is often tipped $25." I went on a 2x1 rifle Elk hunt and my buddy and I each left $600 in tip to the guide, $150 to the chef and $25 to the camp jack. We are not millionaires but thought we received good service so we tipped accordingly, per the guidelines we were sent. As we were leaving, we got a text from Ray saying "YOU AND (MY FRIEND) ARE NO LONGER ALLOWED TO COME BACK AND HUNT WITH US. DO NOT CALL US AND DO NOT TEXT US. YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE ANYMORE." Are you kidding me?! That text was sent to me on our drive home across the country without any context or any reason why. Who the hell does that?! My friend and I were perfectly good clients, did nothing wrong, did not act crazy or drunk, said nothing offensive, stuck to the rules and followed all orders so what the heck did we do to deserve that type of treatment?! Did we not tip enough based on Ray's guidelines?! Do yourself a favor and avoid this man and his company at all costs. He is not worth your trouble, hard earned money, or time. Now to the review, in case you are still interested…

My friend and I were on a 2x1 guided rifle elk hunt and were told we had over 10,000+ acres or more of high-country land to hunt on. Sounds great right? Well, every single morning we went to the same exact spot and saw nothing and maybe heard a bugle or two very far out. Our morning hunt (with the walk included) lasted for about 3 hours, then we came back to the camp, took a nap/had a snack, and went back out in the late afternoon for another 3 hours. Then we came back, ate dinner, and had some drinks. My buddy and I were ready to hunt all day considering we spent almost $9,000 each to make this trip happen and all we got was 4-6 hours a day with A LOT of downtime. Now don't get me wrong, the wilderness was very nice and the chef was excellent but the guides were basically drunk all day and night, drinking beers and slugging crown royal in between hunts and late night. The bunk cabins we stayed in were nothing special and the limited number of elk we saw were mostly spikes and young 3x3 or 4x4. We ended up getting a young 4x4 bull and a 3x4 on the 4th day because we wanted meat. Ironically enough, I got my bull on my own in between hunts during "down time" because I wanted to hunt more so the guide said "Go in that direction" which I did, I sat for an hour and got my shot. After experiencing this hunt and doing my own research on other guide services for the future I would rate Milligan Brand 1 star out of 5 at best, and 1 star just because we liked the chef. Avoid this company and go with someone else!

 

[lilharcher]

Yikes! For the price and average size bull, you can do so much better elsewhere with a bit of homework and reference checking. $9k for a 200" average 3x4 or 4x4" is rough…….really rough. I know hunts continue to increase in cost, but that remains on the upper end for that size/quality.

 

[Laelkhunter]

ElkHunter1776, I tried to PM you, but you don't have enough posts. Did you hunt in the Chama area with Milligan or know the name of the Ranch?

 

[ElkHunter1776]

ElkHunter1776, I tried to PM you, but you don't have enough posts. Did you hunt in the Chama area with Milligan or know the name of the Ranch?

Yes I hunted in Chama, New Mexico with Milligan Brand. I don't know the exact name of the ranch (I want to say JEP Ranch, but not entirely sure). But if you want to look up their camp using google maps + GPS coordinates copy and paste this into the search bar of google maps 36.7944194, -106.4235167

 

[Laelkhunter]

Thanks, I will.

 

[Laelkhunter]

I'm doing something wrong. When you left Chama, did you drive West on 64 for about 10 miles and hunt the Ranch on your right? And if so, was it before or after the left turn going to Dulce?

 

[ElkHunter1776]

I'm doing something wrong. When you left Chama, did you drive West on 64 for about 10 miles and hunt the Ranch on your right? And if so, was it before or after the left turn going to Dulce?

No, I stayed overnight in the elk horn lodge then left in the AM and met the Milligan team nearby, then hunted in the high country/mountain of Chama on the East side of 64, about 15 miles in. Took about an hour or so to get to camp driving through the backwood dirt roads. Sounds to me like you were hunting near Quinlan ranch.