At the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s 2007 banquet in Reno, Tod Reichert found himself in a dilemma.

Tod Reichert paid $40,000 for the New Mexico Governor’s Tag. He put the privilege to good use by tagging a new state record in Cibola National Forest. Photo courtesy of Tod Reichert.

As a strong supporter of elk hunting and improving elk habitat, he wanted the foundation to raise as much money as possible. The avid elk hunter bid on the New Mexico Governor’s Tag — but the bid price stalled at only about half the amount it had sold for in the past.

The Governor’s Tag is a special elk license that allows the holder to hunt elk in any unit of the state for the duration of all the seasons, with any legal weapon. No doubt, this is the tag to have in your pocket! Normally the tag sells for thousands of dollars, and all the money goes directly towards improving elk habitat.

Even though Reichert had won the tag for $35,000, he raised his hand again to up the bid to $40,000. With no further bidders, he became the proud owner of the New Mexico Governor’s elk tag.

Reichert had a busy fall schedule. But time to use the coveted tag was limited, which helped him decide to make his adventure a late-season hunt. To his advantage, most hunters would be back home by then, so he could expect to have the prime areas pretty much to himself.

Reichert’s first choice for an outfitter was Ross Johnson Outfitters, a firm with whom he had hunted before. After a lengthy discussion, they worked out a timetable so the hunt would start the week of Jan. 4, 2008.

Hunters appreciate the fact that guides and outfitters are their in-field consultants. They provide a means to get their hunters back into country where big elk are located, and then use their skills to make a professional evaluation and field-judge the size of the animals. These folks are the professionals, and theirs is usually the final judgment call when the hunter is to take a shot.

When Reichert arrived in southern New Mexico, his guide Carl Montoya said they would hunt in the Cibola National Forest. The area has some pretty nasty terrain, which is why some good bulls are hidden in there.

This part of the country runs either straight uphill or down. It’s covered with loose rock, sage, scrub brush and dark timber. It’s a place where a bull could live his whole life and never be seen by a human.

As the sun started to lighten, Montoya stopped the truck in a piece of New Mexico forest that looked exactly as the guide had explained it. The western sky was still dark. The air was sprinkled with snowflakes that were adding to the two inches already on the ground. When the men stepped from the truck, a very frosty 25-degree breeze greeted them.

The guide said that he knew some pockets farther into the backcountry always seemed to hold big bulls.

If you set your sights on one in the 400-inch range, you’ll have to walk a lot of these ridges. Their plan was to get back there quietly then set up and glass the country below.

They hoped the cloud cover would soon lift so that they’d have better visibility. This hunt was all about seeing a bull before the bull saw them.

The first ridge required a long climb. Reichert is 68 years old, but he hunts various mountainous areas each year, and was in good enough shape for the task.