lonne Report post Posted October 25, 2014 Hunting down there is amazing. Beautiful country for sure. If it is you hunting down there, and you cross south of the border, and cross back, is anyone watching? The more risk you take crossing south and back north, or the more distance you put into crossing, of course you will encounter trouble. (I haven't done and I definitely don't recommend, just mentioning to highlight the comment about there being "no border"). But the official checkpoints cannot cover that wide range of country. There is some interesting stuff going on. Lance, we appreciate what you do and be careful down there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lucafu1 Report post Posted October 25, 2014 i check out every back pack i come across, im looking to retire ASAP =) back a few years ago during a pig hunt it rained real good on a saturday night. that next morning we came across a man carrying his wife looking for help. the coyotes left them behind. she was dying of hypothermia. there wasnt much we could do. called BP and flagged down a ranger. helicopter came in and took her to an ambulance waiting on arivaca road. we found out later she died. i felt bad for the guy, he didnt know what to do. later an agent finally came and took him away. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Str8Shot Report post Posted October 25, 2014 Hunting down there is amazing. Beautiful country for sure. If it is you hunting down there, and you cross south of the border, and cross back, is anyone watching? The more risk you take crossing south and back north, or the more distance you put into crossing, of course you will encounter trouble. (I haven't done and I definitely don't recommend, just mentioning to highlight the comment about there being "no border"). But the official checkpoints cannot cover that wide range of country. There is some interesting stuff going on. Lance, we appreciate what you do and be careful down there. There is barbed wire in some of the rough areas in the mountains down there clearly marked interantional border .... I make it a point to piss over onto the other side ... he last time down a BP copter came overhead as I was watering the desert across the fence .... becuase there are also sensorsout there that have them showing up in the damndest places when we are hiking out and they say they just needed to make sure we were hunters ... Never an issue even when hunting with my Mexican frend Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
joe hunter Report post Posted October 25, 2014 I don't have any boarder stories... I always thought I would get arrested if I bothered any illegals coming across. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sam Report post Posted October 25, 2014 34B - Four or five different hunts - saw groups of illegals on three of the hunts. One group of 10 behind my camp when I was alone, 5 males and 5 females being led by 2 coyotes w/ weapons. I watched them until dark. They went up over a saddle and the next day I went to check it out and found a full camp w/ a shelter, water, food. Other times groups were moving through the mountains. 36A - At least 5 hunts - saw illegals twice. But, I will have to say this is by far the dirtiest unit I have hunted. Trash and clothes in almost every wash. The most interesting find were some caves that were used by illegals. There were ocotillo branches piled up at each entrance. The branches were likely to hind them from choppers or maybe to keep lions out? I have had more than one hunt ruined by choppers flying low to get a better look at us. Way too much border patrol activity, but it is needed. 33 and 32 - Maybe 10 hunts - have not seen illegals yet. Very little trash. 36B - 5 or 6 hunts - have not seen illegals. But I haven't hunted this unit in over 15 years. 36C - 3 hunts - no illegals during the day. But alot of traffic at night. Voices, people walking. Never felt comfortable there. Haven't hunted there in over 15 years. 35B - Three hunts - Tons of trash and illegals. Lots of automatic gun fire. I won't go back 30A - A few hunts in the 80s - Saw illegals everytime. They were always running away from us. Lots of drop camps with tons of supplies. Way back then, we never felt threatened or thought much of it. I liked this unit, but it was a long drive. 34A - Maybe 8 hunts - A few illegals here and there on almost every hunt. Over the years we have seen alot of illegals moving around, but have never had anything stolen or any personal encounters. I have the early November hunt this year in 34A w/ my daughter and dad. Three generations of hunters! My dad is almost 80. I haven't hunted this unit in about 10 years. Boy has it changed! Seems like a lot more illegal activity. I am a bit concerned having my 16 years old daughter down there. I am still trying to figure out a somewhat safe place to camp - any suggestions??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Explorer Report post Posted October 25, 2014 Sorry to go off topic but I never understood why BP doesn't take the illegals out to the desert and make them pick up trash before deporting them? Another thing is how come they spend all that money on coyotes when they could put it towards getting their legal citizenship... 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Antmo23 Report post Posted October 25, 2014 Sorry to go off topic but I never understood why BP doesn't take the illegals out to the desert and make them pick up trash before deporting them? Another thing is how come they spend all that money on coyotes when they could put it towards getting their legal citizenship... I've always wondered that myself. Cuff a dozen of them together, give them 2 big trash bags each, all the water they need, and don't start to process them until the 2 bags are full of their trash. I know that might seem harsh, but they're illegals, they should be punished for trespassing. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
muledeerarea33? Report post Posted October 25, 2014 It's not harsh at all!! Have you seen the prisoners cleaning up the road ways? Not sure if its cheaper to do that before they're sent back but I assume it costs extra if the make them clean up. Bathrooms, water lunch etc. since its left to rot now it'd cost to clean. And they pay the coyotes because its 10% the cost of coming legally and it's probably a 90% success rate of making it. Sad but true. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
firstcoueswas80 Report post Posted October 26, 2014 It's against their rights. ACLU would have a field day! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coach Report post Posted October 26, 2014 I hunted the Whetstones about 10 years ago with a buddy from work who grew up in Tucson and had hunted there his whole life. On the way in, BP had 3 or 4 guys in cuffs along the road. We set up camp an the next morning saw smoke where we had driven in. We found out later it was a fire intentionally started near the guy's ranch that had turned in the ones we saw being arrested. Later in the hunt we glassed up several strings of illegals and spent most of our time coordinating BP. The ones we spotted were glad to be found as they were out of water and desperately in need of help. Not how I like to spend my time out hunting, so I haven't been back since. It was nice country though. I've done some backpack hunts close to the border in some areas that are known for smuggling and had a lot of BP presence - the old "smuggler's route" area. Never saw an illegal while in that area but didn't get much sleep either. It's kind of weird when you are out there alone miles from the closest road but smuggling trails around you. Especially when some coati are rustling around your camp in the middle of the night. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
5nRamirez Report post Posted October 26, 2014 While scouting in 36b with my 3 year old son and my 21 year old girlfriend came across an illegal on the side of the road asking for help I told him whitch way the main road was and gave him a bottle of water.. But when I proceeded to drive by he tryed hopping in the back of my pickup with all my rifles n ammo I had to literally crash my truck into a dirt bank that's when he flew out and went running that's when I unloaded my whole clip of my sidearm in the general direction... And when I informed Bp at the checkpoint what happend they pulled me over and I had to wait for a dog to clear my vehicle... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stanley Report post Posted October 26, 2014 "that's when I unloaded my whole clip of my sidearm in the general direction......" 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
5nRamirez Report post Posted October 27, 2014 "that's when I unloaded my whole clip of my sidearm in the general direction......" I was 20 years old at the time with my 3 year old son. And an illegal jumps into the back of your pickup where their are semi auto weapons and loaded magazines within reach your just gonna stop and say hey bud you should get out, he's lucky I didn't shoot right threw my back window.. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
idgaf Report post Posted October 27, 2014 I have seen hundreds maybe thousands of illegals and all types of them. From the time I was ten or twelve hunting jack rabbits/rattlesnakes solo in the desert and seeing 20 go to our local waterhole to Saturday seeing a single one crossing a desert flat in 36a. Recently, traffic has IMO slowed to a trickle of what it was. Obama has done a GREAT job at slowing traffic, when you screw up the economy as bad as he has, its better for them to stay home. For some reason the area I was hunting in 36a had nearly zero traffic. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stanley Report post Posted October 27, 2014 "that's when I unloaded my whole clip of my sidearm in the general direction......" I was 20 years old at the time with my 3 year old son. And an illegal jumps into the back of your pickup where their are semi auto weapons and loaded magazines within reach your just gonna stop and say hey bud you should get out, he's lucky I didn't shoot right threw my back window.. Umm..... Did I say that I'm "just gonna stop and say hey bud you should get out.....". I didn't say that and I don't think I would say that. I also don't think that I would unload my whole clip of my sidearm in the general direction that someone was running though. Just seemed a little crazy to me that you would unload your sidearm at someone who was running (unless he was running towards you, which you didn't say.....). I was obviously not there so I of course can't really say. I was only going off of what you wrote, which sounded a little unsafe and strange. Not sure what you being 20 has to do with it, but OK. I'm sincerely glad that you and your family are OK. Either way, sorry if you took offense to the face that I posted. S. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
