Red Sparky

I was going to change me second choice for elk but found out the only way to do it is to delete my application and re-apply. That means I can kiss $7.00 goodbye since my application has been paid for. So be sure of when you want to hunt or it will cost you $7.00 and that is for everybody if you attached to your buddies license. I guess I will just stick to what I put in for.

Our draw ends next week and we will have results here before you all do.

I would, but I've already fixed my draw units to hopefully get this unit to hunt in. Otherwise I might, haha. Too many people put in for that unit. Let's see what happens with 160,000 people putting in for 60,000 tags for the whole state. Where I use to go it was 50/50 then became popular and chances went to less than 10%. Deer is almost a guarantee but elk is getting ridiculous.

First year elk hunting when I was 13 my dad and I were climbing a game trail about 5 am. Pitch black, no moon in the dark tall pine forest. We were walking by flashlight and about every three steps we were getting dive bombed by an owl. This happened for about 200 yards. I am guessing we were close to a nest but no telling. Sure scared the crap out of me when it first happened then got annoying after the first three or four dive bombs.

Tell me where you found them before 5:00 March 18th so I can change my draw units. Not really as they are great sheds but I have my unit so will do my own searching.

ARTICLE 3. POWERS AND DUTIES 17-231. General powers and duties of the com- mission A. The commission shall: 1. Make rules and establish services it deems neces- sary to carry out the provisions and purposes of this title. 2. Establish broad policies and long-range programs for the management, preservation and harvest of wild- life. 3. Establish hunting, trapping and fishing rules and prescribe the manner and methods which may be used in taking wildlife. I am not a lawyer but this came out of the laws of AZ and it goes to #9 I just copied the first three.. NM has the same laws as it would take forever to get anything through our legislature.

Just so you all can jump me on this one I am for it. Here there is a lot of public land landlocked by private land, completely surrounded where no access is granted. Even checkerboard land you could be cited for trespassing as the fence can be construed as private land, so you can't cross corner to corner. The landowners use all that public land to increase the size of the ranch for "their" land owner tag hunters or charge trespass fees. Just like Couse79 stated who will be effected. Now my question is how are the G&F going to enforce it? Patrols by air? There was a big parcel of public land down by Cook's Peak that was road landlocked. The state tried for years to negotiate with the landowner to pay for access on the road through the private land to no avail. The gate was locked and was going to stay that way. The state spent many $$$ to build a road on public land to bypass the private land. As soon as the road was complete the lock came off the private land. Wow Amazing. Once access could not be restricted it did not matter to the landowner. One place I use to hunt in the Gila NF off the San Augustine Plains the FS road went through private land for about 300 yards. This was at a section mark where two fences met at a 90 degree angle to each other, 3/4 was public and 1/4 was private. The landowner tried to restrict access to millions of acres of forest land by locking the two gates where the FR crossed his land. Somehow or another two gates and a road were put in bypassing the 300 yards of private land. So from my perspective if it is public land then all need access or nobody gets access. I think this is what they are trying to address but it is vague right now.

I agree with you. My take is if there are 5 cams do I really want to hunt there? There might be a better spot that is harder to get to and keeps more human traffic out. There are no guarantees however. Cams don't bother me but gives a good idea who is looking at the area. Just because there is a cam does not mean it is a hunters. Maybe it belongs to wildlife viewers, LE, pot growers, big foot hunters, biologist researchers, aliens from space? Who knows except the person who put it out what it is being used for. So why do we assume every cam, blind, or stand belongs to a hunter? I do not have a problem finding natural stands. If you build them right they are hard to find. I think the altercations come in from short hunt times, limited tags, and other factors I am not thinking about. People want to claim the best spots for themselves. That is why you need a plan B-- plan whatever. If you can't talk to the other hunters how do you know when they will be in there? There are more hunts in the units for different species than just one. Archery deer and elk run together here. There use to be three hunts now two, then you have muzzle loader deer and elk, elk early october deer late, then rifle in the same order in November. I counted 9 deer hunts and 6 elk hunts not counting bear and cougar in my unit here in NM. Maybe all those blinds, stands, and cams belong to nobody on your hunt. So it is first come first serve whether stands are in place or not. Not all the time. You can be the bigger person or the AH or both at the same time. One time here I was at a waterhole I wanted to sit at sundown. I did not have a blind set up and there was no other blind set up. I usually get to spots early to allow the woods to settle in plenty of time. I had been there about an hour when somebody else shows up. They seem rather pissed I am there and they tell me they are hunting there. We could have fought it out, I was legally right as I was there first but I was the bigger person and moved. The reason I moved is I knew where the elk would be coming from. It was upwind down a small canyon from the west rather than from the east as this "hunter" thought. I said he could have the tank I was going up the little canyon about 500 yards, this is the road into this tank so he laughed and said have at it. You guessed it, 500-600 yards up wind of the water tank I found a good blind spot off the two track into this tank. Now since I was downwind of where the elk should come from and Mr. AH was downwind of me I took off all my base layers and shorts and socks I had been sweating in, turned everything inside out and hung up on trees. I got dressed again and sat down with the smoke pole. 30 minutes before legal shooting light ended the day I shot a nice 5x5 feeding down the canyon to the water tank. He was still upwind of me as I suspected he might be. It sure was a nice feeling to wave at AH going by when his hunting buddy picked him up after dark. I later found out he had seen nothing all the time he was at the tank. Imagine that. So we can have these arguments or act reasonably. I prefer to meet others and work with them as we all should be working together.

+1 with singleshot.

As an ethical hunter you should take your stuff out when not in use. Maybe the blind that was in the blown over tree belonged to someone who was killed in a car crash or died before they could take it out. Maybe crap happens and you can't get things out and nobody else knows where it is. I know a lot of hunters who tell people exactly where their stand is. Let the authorities know where it is and let them deal with it so you are not "stealing". If you want to keep your blind out year round then make a brush blind on the ground and freshen it up when you are using it. My pop up blind is light enough and sets up quickly enough I can take it in and out of the woods every day. Game cams have no real impact on the land if used properly. I see no problems leaving a game cam out year round. I love the people that do and don't lock them up. Maybe I am crossing an ethical line but I take the cards, copy the pics to my computer, and return the cards as I got them. I don't delete the pictures. The thing that upsets me is trash. Not blinds and game cams or a lost arrow but actual trash. Nothing like topping out on a steep ridge thinking the last person who stood here could have been a hundred years ago, then you look on the other side of a rock to find an empty beer can. Not just from hunters but anybody driving down the road throwing cans and trash out along road ways. I always take extra trash bags out and pick up more trash than I make. It gives a positive image to me and my sport. One year my oldest daughter and I were cleaning up a forest road in the middle of the day in full camo. A truck passes us and stops and backs up to find out what we were doing. I explained our clean up of the forest when we are out as it makes it much more pleasurable to hunt. When he found out we were hunters a lot more questions came out. I guess he liked our answers because he pulled out a paper and wrote on it. It was a signed access for my daughter and I and the combo to a gate to private land that has been closed to hunters for years. We didn't hunt it but made an impression that has been lost to the majority of society because the old saying is true "It takes a few bad apples to ruin the whole barrel.". The problem is we live in a throw away society now days. That is starting to come out from the suburbs to the forest. The problem is it is being directed at hunters. Not wood cutters, nor ATV's, nor birdwatchers, nor Sunday picnickers, nor campers, nor photographers, nor hikers, nor......

Nope never done it. What sort of luxuries? When I am on a backpack hunt the reason is to be minimalistic. Makes the hunt more memorable to me. What I would rather do is base at a road and then hike in 3-4 miles for a few days of hunting and then come back for luxuries. Better not to plan on something being there and then it is not. Animals, weather, or other humans can find and take what you planned on having. Let me explain a situation that happened to me over 30 years ago. I went into the Pecos between Santa Fe, NM and Las Vegas, NM when I was in high school for an overnight fishing trip. Down hill all the way to the river about 3 mile hike in which meant 3 mile hike uphill back to parking lot. There was no potable water in the parking area. I went by myself in a 1978 Jeep CJ-5, which I still have, with the top and doors off. The only thing I had in there was one gallon of water tucked up tight behind the drivers seat under a rag in a washed out milk container. No radio, nothing in glove box, nothing but that one gallon of water. I did not purify any water before I hiked out so was pretty thirsty by the time I got to the parking lot. You guessed it some dirt bag took the whole gallon. They could not just take what they needed but took the whole gallon. Was an hour drive back to any drinkable water. Different than leaving something out in the middle of nowhere but shows what can happen if some dirt bag finds your stuff.

Albuquerque got 10" and screwed up traffic on Friday morning. Down here I was on the edge of the storm as we only got about 3" so by Saturday at noon we had no snow on the ground. We did get quite a bit of rain so hopefully it will start breaking this drought. Not nearly as bad as where you are but when it goes from short sleeves to winter jackets it seems worse.

I have the Garmin Rhino 120 with Topo 2008. I like it because of the Rhino polling features. I can load any maps in the lower 48 into it and transfer all my waypoints to my computer or from my computer to the GPS unit. I tell my wife if she has to send out a search party for me make sure the S&R team has a Rhino to poll my location. I tell her the two frequencies I will be on, 9-11 if it is an emergency or the regular one. If I had to buy a new one it would be a newer Rhino that you can put landowner chips into for hunting. Then again I am thinking from the rescue point of view to make sure they get to me as fast as possible if needed.

If my muzzle loader will kill an elk then your 30/30 should be able to. Limit distance and look at a good bullet, which it seems like you are doing both. I am not the most graceful person so if I can get to within 20 yards bow hunting then you should be able to a lot easier.

I'll stop by sometime but I grew up in SF so don't go very often. My regret is I lived in Farmington for four years and never hit the San Juan.

Just hope you don't have the intersection cams to give you a ticket for running a red light. We finally got rid of those and they were the biggest pain in the arse. Do what we did and just put a ball for towing on the bumper to block some numbers and letters

P.S.-Welcome as I noticed that was your first post. I also find that animals don't care about fashion so I have hunted with high waters most of my life. High boots hide my white skin so I don't scare them too bad. I didn't grow after I turned 13 but by that time I was 6'4" and 225 pounds, 36" inseam so I have to make 34 work most of the time.

Old post from 2013 but try www.bigcamo.com. Was thinking SHE Apparel but longest inseam I could find was 35"

I don't have a problem with any comments here. I helped build one in the boot hill of NM for desert bighorn when I was down at NMSU many moons ago. The gov. builds them fast and easy. I volunteered with RMEF for on the ground projects here but need to contact someone as they have not contacted me yet. My thoughts would be very labor intensive but what if you put one on top of a hill, buried the tanks underground, had a small float controlled basin on the side hill and used flat green/brown paint to better blend in with the environment? That way really the only thing visible would be the collector about a foot off the ground. Seems like it would help prevent evaporation and freezing, not stick out like a sore thumb, and should last for years.

That is why when my girls and I go hunting we take time out in the middle of the day and pick up trash in the forest. We filled 3 trash bags las time we went. This sounds like a great program and wish idiots would not leave their trash anywhere they want.

Look for trails you might ambush them on. Here in the Gila I found a trail that went between two pine trees about three feet apart in the bottom of the canyon. Each tree had been rubbed smooth by a bear walking up and down this trail. Lots of bear tracks on trail and hair on stumps and bark. I can also tell you Yes bears do ____ in the woods. This trail went from up high in the scrub oak (food source) to water in the stream. This was during the muzzle loader deer hunts when they still had them in September. This last September during the archery elk hunt I had a bear come to water and blow out the cow elk before I got a shot. So look for ambush places as I could have easily killed the bear at the tank with my bow if I had a tag. I also could have easily set up a blind in that canyon within bow range of those two trees. I am more the spot and stalk kind but sitting can pay off if you can find a good place.

Great write up. My definition of a mentor is some one who helps teach another what they know. You seem to fit the bill, you taught what you knew and learned as you went as well. My feeling is once you quit learning, you are dead. It is a great feeling and made me remember one time I was out hunting and came across a 12 year old with a deer down looking perplexed. He told me he had to go get his Dad as he had never field dressed a deer, this was the first he had ever taken. His Dad and him had never taken a deer while they were hunting together. So I asked "Want some help? I know how to do it." I made him do the field dressing for the most part. We drug the deer out to the road as his Dad was driving by to their pick up spot. The beam on the kids face was more than worth my time as he told his Dad he did the field dressing with a little help. The next year in the same unit, within 1/4 mile of the previous year, I had a deer down. Someone was walking up and I knew it was not someone from my hunting party. Here is the same kid a year older and says " Want some help? I know how to do it." We had a good laugh but I sent him on his way to keep hunting.

See that is where you need to know the laws of your state. Here any animal killing "livestock" is fair game and can be killed by the livestock owner or manager of the land if caught in the act. As an ACO I was authorized to kill any animal attacking livestock or aggressive that we could not catch in my jurisdiction. Poisoning, bear spray, paint balls, whacking with a bat, etc. could bring animal cruelty charges against you. The electric fence will not bring charges against you as they are not "deadly" and only bring temporary discomfort to the dog, nobody can say you are antagonizing the dog. Think of having the police show up at your door with a complaint against you for hurting the neighbors"poor little fluffy". Also if you have any other renters move in you have solved any future conflicts.

Put up an electric fence on top of the wall. I have one that is good for 2 miles around my 3/4 acre, keeps my dogs in and others out. Also make a report to animal control. Document the problem as much as you can. I was an animal control officer here for 4 years and the more documentation you have the better. Before I had my electric fence up on my block wall my neighbors pit bull got in my yard. This depends on the laws of your state and I am not advocating this but I legally shot and killed it. It was on my property attacking my dog and I had documented the problem. Animal control came out and took a report and the body. It sucks an animal has to suffer due to the owners.

Cool video. I really enjoyed watching it.