FishN4Eyes
Well-known member
Before I get flamed and in the interest of full disclosure, this was not an "On Your Own Adventure". It was a guided hunt, burn me at the stake!
FWIW, I rarely go on guided hunts (two, brown bear in Alaska and sheep in Alaska for obvious reasons, I had to) but did on this occasion for a couple of reasons.
One, it was a once-in-a-lifetime tag that I had very limited time to hunt and NO time to scout. Two, I just couldn't afford to take the time off just coming of Montana's hunting season and having to spend two days driving down and back for an extra four days off.
I thought this was a unique hunt though, and thought some may want to read it as it's very possible to do it on your own if you have the time.
With all that out of the way, I hired Shannon Owen of SO Hunts out of Soccoro to help me out. He provided all the transportation and had a couple guys to help spot and pack out, Jordan Christensen and Jimmy Stout. All very good, fun-loving guys who were great to hang out with for a few days.
My Dad and I flew down to Albuquerque the day before the hunt and traveled to Deming to meet up with Shannon.
It had been unseasonably cool with snow just prior to arriving and we arose on Day 1 to a whopping 9 degrees. So much for heading south to hunt in the sun!
We traveled over to the base of the Florida Mountains well before daylight and got set up to glass the west face of the Florida's. As the sun finally warmed us up a bit we began to see several small groups of ibex. After looking at several groups we located one that had a decent billy and one smaller billy.
Shannon said he appeared to be a great billy and recommended we give it a shot. Jordan, Jimmy and I began our ascent up toward the group of ibex and my Dad and Shannon stayed on the Swaro spotters, keeping an eye on the ibex with the thought they would be able to hand-signal us in to them when we got in the right area.
The Florida's are pretty dang rough and nasty mountains as you can see by these pictures and the going was fairly difficult but a real hoot to climb around and navigate, I was thoroughly enjoying it.
As we got to where the ibex had been, they were no where to be found. We looked back down to Shannon and my Dad and they motioned that the ibex had moved farther to the north so we began traversing some pretty sketchy country to take a look into the next big canyon.
As we sneaked up to the edge and peaked over we could see the ibex on the far ridge. I dropped down and got into a prone shooting position as we frantically searched for the big billy as the nannies began to get nervous. Just as we spotted the billy they began to move.
We had to make a quick call on whether he was good enough and get a quick range. It was obvious he had a good curl on the end so Jordan gave me a range of 310 yards and I took the shot when the billy paused broadside. One shot through the shoulder exiting the neck with the Winchester Extreme Weather rifle .300 WSM and he was down.
We kept an eye on him for a few minutes then the high fiving insured. It took us about an hour to traverse a pretty nasty hillside and get our hands on him.
We had a major picture session, caped him out and packed him off the hill. It was bittersweet as the hunt was over quickly but I subscribe to the "if you'd shoot him on the last day, shoot him on the first day" club.
Incidentally, we ran into another ibex hunter who had been on the mountain for 19 days straight (five days scouting and 14 hunting) and hadn't connected yet.
Many thanks to Shannon Owen, who is a really great guy and funny as hell, Jordan, Jimmy and most importantly, my Dad.
My Dad has been with me on most hunts I've done and he always keeps me level-headed and makes me enjoy the hunt for what it is, a chance to spend some time away from work and enjoy each other's company. Thanks to the best hunting partner a guy could ask for!
Here are the pictures of the ibex and the guys who made it possible.
My apologies if anyone is offended by the posting of a guided hunt, I think I can hold my own with most anyone in regard to hunting abilities but it was the best option I had available in my limited time and Shannon Owen did a great job and I'd highly recommend him for any species in NM.
Sorry for the long-winded post, gents.
FWIW, I rarely go on guided hunts (two, brown bear in Alaska and sheep in Alaska for obvious reasons, I had to) but did on this occasion for a couple of reasons.
One, it was a once-in-a-lifetime tag that I had very limited time to hunt and NO time to scout. Two, I just couldn't afford to take the time off just coming of Montana's hunting season and having to spend two days driving down and back for an extra four days off.
I thought this was a unique hunt though, and thought some may want to read it as it's very possible to do it on your own if you have the time.
With all that out of the way, I hired Shannon Owen of SO Hunts out of Soccoro to help me out. He provided all the transportation and had a couple guys to help spot and pack out, Jordan Christensen and Jimmy Stout. All very good, fun-loving guys who were great to hang out with for a few days.
My Dad and I flew down to Albuquerque the day before the hunt and traveled to Deming to meet up with Shannon.
It had been unseasonably cool with snow just prior to arriving and we arose on Day 1 to a whopping 9 degrees. So much for heading south to hunt in the sun!
We traveled over to the base of the Florida Mountains well before daylight and got set up to glass the west face of the Florida's. As the sun finally warmed us up a bit we began to see several small groups of ibex. After looking at several groups we located one that had a decent billy and one smaller billy.
Shannon said he appeared to be a great billy and recommended we give it a shot. Jordan, Jimmy and I began our ascent up toward the group of ibex and my Dad and Shannon stayed on the Swaro spotters, keeping an eye on the ibex with the thought they would be able to hand-signal us in to them when we got in the right area.
The Florida's are pretty dang rough and nasty mountains as you can see by these pictures and the going was fairly difficult but a real hoot to climb around and navigate, I was thoroughly enjoying it.
As we got to where the ibex had been, they were no where to be found. We looked back down to Shannon and my Dad and they motioned that the ibex had moved farther to the north so we began traversing some pretty sketchy country to take a look into the next big canyon.
As we sneaked up to the edge and peaked over we could see the ibex on the far ridge. I dropped down and got into a prone shooting position as we frantically searched for the big billy as the nannies began to get nervous. Just as we spotted the billy they began to move.
We had to make a quick call on whether he was good enough and get a quick range. It was obvious he had a good curl on the end so Jordan gave me a range of 310 yards and I took the shot when the billy paused broadside. One shot through the shoulder exiting the neck with the Winchester Extreme Weather rifle .300 WSM and he was down.
We kept an eye on him for a few minutes then the high fiving insured. It took us about an hour to traverse a pretty nasty hillside and get our hands on him.
We had a major picture session, caped him out and packed him off the hill. It was bittersweet as the hunt was over quickly but I subscribe to the "if you'd shoot him on the last day, shoot him on the first day" club.
Incidentally, we ran into another ibex hunter who had been on the mountain for 19 days straight (five days scouting and 14 hunting) and hadn't connected yet.
Many thanks to Shannon Owen, who is a really great guy and funny as hell, Jordan, Jimmy and most importantly, my Dad.
My Dad has been with me on most hunts I've done and he always keeps me level-headed and makes me enjoy the hunt for what it is, a chance to spend some time away from work and enjoy each other's company. Thanks to the best hunting partner a guy could ask for!
Here are the pictures of the ibex and the guys who made it possible.
My apologies if anyone is offended by the posting of a guided hunt, I think I can hold my own with most anyone in regard to hunting abilities but it was the best option I had available in my limited time and Shannon Owen did a great job and I'd highly recommend him for any species in NM.
Sorry for the long-winded post, gents.
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