Red Sparky

I feel for you all. It is pretty sad but what is sadder is when it happens during big game season. Five times in the past 20 years I have had deer hunts ruined by hunters driving quads off road hunting. The thing I don't understand is the FS closed good two track roads to my CJ-5 but left them open to quads? Go figure that one out. Follow the tread lightly and respect the land is my philosophy. I use the roads to get to where I am going and then boots from there on. Would not mind using mules again to pack into the wilderness but can't afford it now.

Deer with rifles is going to suck eggs to draw. The only place I can give you advice on to draw is unit 24 over by Silver City. I know completely other end of the state from you and don't know if you want to go that far. If you draw it I will PM you where I use to hunt and give you some tips where I found and killed deer but make sure you put in for mule deer. That unit is split into mule deer/whitetail choice and all the years I hunted it I saw four whitetails and they were does.

Oryx, elk, buffalo, antelope, deer. That is my top five.

What are you applying for and which weapon choice? You know unit 34-36 is very popular and hard to draw for elk. Any unit that has decent elk populations is very hard to draw. There are units that don't have much draw pressure, so good chance to draw but very few elk in remote herds so you have to know where the elk are for success. I put in for these units so I can go elk hunting but success rates are low. Living where I do I can go any direction within four hours drive to be elk hunting. You may want to look north for elk as there are some good units with a good chance to draw. Antelope you are in the right part of the state anywhere from far NE all the way down to Roswell. Barbary sheep or aoudad you can't beat the SE part of the state. As for deer I usually put in for unit 13 ML to guarantee a tag but this year I am putting in for Unit 23, non-Burro Mountains, to hunt Coues whitetails with my bow. There are good units in the central part of the state and over east to hunt deer but I usually stay west of I-25 for deer. So hopefully with 3 days you can look at the complete draw report to see your chances to draw the area you want to.

The non-resident application fee that won't be refunded is $13. You can choose to have the hunting license and stamp fees that you have to purchase to apply for the draw refunded if not successful. Then for every species you apply for and don't get you will lose $13. So for Couestracker who put in for deer, elk, and oryx if he does not draw anything he will get all but $39 back. If he changes all three applications, if they have been paid for, will lose that $39 and another $39 if not drawn for any hunt. Seems to me last year I could edit my hunt choices before the draw free of charge. So good luck on the draw and I am still waiting to see the results for AZ. Wonder if we will have our results before them.

I eat enough chili out hunting I don't need it. First you say it, then you do it.

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.