In the heart of Placitas, overlooking Highway 165, the Elk Ridge Ranch offers visitors a unique opportunity to get up close with elk and bison.
Founded by Dale and Sue Spencer in 2022, Elk Ridge Ranch spans 7 acres and invites visitors to feed and pet elk and bison, savor fresh fruit from the trees and even receive an “elk kiss.” The ranch features a pond to swim in and an RV camping area.
“It’s a labor of love and I enjoy doing it,” Dale Spencer, owner of Elk Ridge Ranch, said. “The animals are a blast to hang out with.”
The ranch features a 250,000-gallon pond, complete with a jumping platform, stairs and a waterfall.
According to Dale, the ranch currently has 11 elk and nine bison, along with two dogs and five cats. Three elk calves were born in June and three bison calves were born in May.
For Dale, the ranch represents his first experience raising elk and bison, though he spent a decade raising white-tailed deer on a 10-acre property in Oklahoma with his ex-wife. While there, he raised deer and collected their urine to sell to hunters.
“I was making pretty good money on the side selling deer pee, that fizzled out when chronic wasting disease happened,” he said.
Sue’s dietary restrictions were key in the couple’s decision to raise elk. According to Dale, Sue could not eat red meat and a friend gave them some elk steak and they discovered she could eat it.
“That was truly the driving factor because you can’t always get an elk hunt, but when you raise them yourselves, you can always have an elk,” he said.
The ranch offers processed meat for sale. Every March, they process two bison and two elk, with meat becoming available for purchase around Memorial Day. At the end of the tour, guests have the option to purchase U.S. Department of Agriculture-graded processed elk and bison meat.
To raise the elk, the Spencers obtained a class-A park permit, while no permit was required for the bison. As Dale jokingly put it, “They’re just fluffy cows, is all they are.”
The adult elk came from one of two New Mexican elk ranches — one in Moriarty and the other in McGaffey.
The ranch’s tours, lasting about an hour and a half, offer an immersive experience with both bison and elk. Visitors have the opportunity to enter the pens, where they can feed, pet, and interact closely with the animals. Additionally, guests can pick fresh fruit from the trees and vines on the ranch.
“You can put an apple in your mouth and they’ll eat it from your mouth. We call it getting an elk kiss. The bison, we don’t do that, because I wouldn’t want that slimy tongue around my face,” Spencer said.
Tours of the ranch are free, but the ranch welcomes donations to help cover the $30,000 annual cost of animal feed.
The ranch is listed on Hipcamp, a platform similar to Airbnb, where private landowners can offer camping experiences.
Visiting the RanchTo take a tour, contact Elk Ridge Ranch at 505-977-9191 or 505-867-2310. Visit elkridgeranchnm.com for more information.