Chase
Member
Took a while to get around to posting, but wanted to share my 2020 mule deer success in NM. Several HT members shared information that really helped me get started on this hunt and I've messaged or texted with them since the hunt - what a great community.
Drove 8.5 hours out on a Thursday at the beginning of October, with the hunt set to open on Saturday. Arrived with just enough daylight to set up my travel trailer and get dinner made before my cousin arrived from Rio Rancho, NM to tag along with me. He's a head football coach, so hunting season is usually pretty tough for him. Because of Covid shutting down NM high school sports, he and I got to hunt together several times this fall - making the best out of it.
There's a great campground on BLM just off the main highway on the south side of the unit. It made a great home base to head out from each day.
We spent all day Friday scouting, mostly from the truck. Saw lots of elk, but only a couple of doe mule deer crossing the highway at noon! As several on HT had warned me, even though the unit appears to have many access points, most of them pass through private at some point and are almost all gated and locked at those points. I ended up popping a tire late in the afternoon Friday on some extremely rocky Forest Service roads so our evening glassing was blown. Thankfully I had the right equipment with me to change it and we were ready for the next day. If I draw this unit again at some point, a side-by-side would be a must just to save truck wear and tear and be able to access more of the trailheads.
Picture doesn't really do justice to how rough those roads were in places.
Anyway, the main conclusion from scouting was that sign in the mountains was sparse and everything was dry, so we decided to start out low and close to the river.
Spent the first morning glassing private land by the river hoping to catch deer moving back on public up in the foothills - no luck. Walked around the area during mid-morning and found some deer and elk sign, but not enough to be excited about our prospects in this spot. We decided to go somewhere else for the afternoon and hope for something with more sign.
We drove about 45 minutes west from our morning spot to start looking for an evening hunt. There was a road that went to some higher elevation water holes that I wanted to try. Unfortunately, only a few miles in on the Forest Service road, it became clear we weren't going any further without a lift kit or a side by side, and walking wasn't a realistic option considering the distances involved. As we were turning around, we passed back by a dry water hole a couple hundred yards away from the broken windmill that once fed it. Something made me turn off the road and drive towards the windmill, and as we rounded a juniper there was a group of deer watering at a small trough 150 yards away at 2:00 in the afternoon. Turns out the windmill had been converted to a solar panel pump and now only filled two small troughs. The deer left but there were at least two small, legal bucks in the group. I was bummed thinking I had missed my chance.
We decided to walk a couple small ridges in the direction the deer went, and although we never spotted the deer, we found plenty of sign and food to make us think we needed to stay in the area.
We went back to the water trough about 4:00 and sat until dark. It was one of the best sits on water I've ever had. We saw everything you could ask for, except a legal buck. A flock of tom turkeys, 2 groups of deer (only spikes with them and gotta have a fork to be legal), and a herd of 17 elk came in and stayed for 30 minutes! The herd had 2 spikes, 4 smaller bulls, and a good solid 6x6 who waited until the very end to come in. Two of the smaller bulls sparred for 10 minutes. It was an awesome evening.
A couple of spikes and one of the smaller bulls as they first came in.
Drove 8.5 hours out on a Thursday at the beginning of October, with the hunt set to open on Saturday. Arrived with just enough daylight to set up my travel trailer and get dinner made before my cousin arrived from Rio Rancho, NM to tag along with me. He's a head football coach, so hunting season is usually pretty tough for him. Because of Covid shutting down NM high school sports, he and I got to hunt together several times this fall - making the best out of it.
There's a great campground on BLM just off the main highway on the south side of the unit. It made a great home base to head out from each day.
We spent all day Friday scouting, mostly from the truck. Saw lots of elk, but only a couple of doe mule deer crossing the highway at noon! As several on HT had warned me, even though the unit appears to have many access points, most of them pass through private at some point and are almost all gated and locked at those points. I ended up popping a tire late in the afternoon Friday on some extremely rocky Forest Service roads so our evening glassing was blown. Thankfully I had the right equipment with me to change it and we were ready for the next day. If I draw this unit again at some point, a side-by-side would be a must just to save truck wear and tear and be able to access more of the trailheads.
Picture doesn't really do justice to how rough those roads were in places.
Anyway, the main conclusion from scouting was that sign in the mountains was sparse and everything was dry, so we decided to start out low and close to the river.
Spent the first morning glassing private land by the river hoping to catch deer moving back on public up in the foothills - no luck. Walked around the area during mid-morning and found some deer and elk sign, but not enough to be excited about our prospects in this spot. We decided to go somewhere else for the afternoon and hope for something with more sign.
We drove about 45 minutes west from our morning spot to start looking for an evening hunt. There was a road that went to some higher elevation water holes that I wanted to try. Unfortunately, only a few miles in on the Forest Service road, it became clear we weren't going any further without a lift kit or a side by side, and walking wasn't a realistic option considering the distances involved. As we were turning around, we passed back by a dry water hole a couple hundred yards away from the broken windmill that once fed it. Something made me turn off the road and drive towards the windmill, and as we rounded a juniper there was a group of deer watering at a small trough 150 yards away at 2:00 in the afternoon. Turns out the windmill had been converted to a solar panel pump and now only filled two small troughs. The deer left but there were at least two small, legal bucks in the group. I was bummed thinking I had missed my chance.
We decided to walk a couple small ridges in the direction the deer went, and although we never spotted the deer, we found plenty of sign and food to make us think we needed to stay in the area.
We went back to the water trough about 4:00 and sat until dark. It was one of the best sits on water I've ever had. We saw everything you could ask for, except a legal buck. A flock of tom turkeys, 2 groups of deer (only spikes with them and gotta have a fork to be legal), and a herd of 17 elk came in and stayed for 30 minutes! The herd had 2 spikes, 4 smaller bulls, and a good solid 6x6 who waited until the very end to come in. Two of the smaller bulls sparred for 10 minutes. It was an awesome evening.
A couple of spikes and one of the smaller bulls as they first came in.
