Photos from my deer hunt

[feclnogn]

Got back in last night from my hunt. My dad had an extra tag that he could not sale (hes an outfitter here in New Mexico) so he let me have it. The ranch we were hunting in 30 miles west of Roswell and has just an amazing amount of deer on it. Here are a few photos, I will add more when I have some time, So hope you enjoy them.

This is the country we hunt, this is looking down from a ridge. Basically grass, cactus, yucca and an occasional juniper tree.

More of the scenery

I was doing some walking with my dad and these 4 fawns were bedded in the grass. They got up when we got close and they watched us for about 3 minutes or so, they eventually grew tired of us and hopped away. Many of the does we see will have twins, we saw one doe that had three fawns with her, I dont know if they were all hers but it was still a cool site to see.

A nice group of Barbaries. We spotted these guys at about a mile and worked around a ridge to get closer to them. We got to 265 yards where we took the photos and some videos. There are two really nice rams in the group with one being exceptional.

This is a blown up photo of the nice ram. If you have never hunted Barbary Sheep they are some of the most skittish animals going.

Walking back to my truck on evening I got this photo of the moon rising.

3 bucks, I passed on these as I was looking for something bigger. I saw about 50 deer this size and had 10 or so within 200 yards.

So thats it for now, more to come.....................

 

[Ithaca 37]

Hurry up! I can't wait to see the rest! Those are some great pictures!

 

[csutton7]

yea don't do this to us--great pics---chris

 

[Idaho Ron]

Why don't you hunt the sheep? Ron

 

[AZ402]

Very nice looking country, thanks for the pics........

 

[stilllearning]

nice bunch of pics

 

[IdahoBugler]

Sweet pics post before tomorrow morning or moose nuts and I are going to miss it.

 

[noharleyyet]

Thanks fec.

 

[carbonarcher]

Thanks for the pics, thats a great looking Barbary Ram, I have heard they are very skittish, and would love to hunt them someday. Is the Barbary hunt a feasible DIY hunt, or does a guy need private access lined up?

 

[ALL PLAY]

Sweet!!!

Looks like the carizozo area..

Nice pics. Keep them coming!!
hump

 

[feclnogn]

Here are some more pics of the hunt for ya guys,

I was coming out of a gate by a windmill that I usually park at and saw some deer standing up on a ridgeline so I started looking with the binos at them (they were smaller 4 points) and when I but the binos down I had this doe, a yearling and a fawn standing about 20 yards away looking at me. So I took their pic and moved on down the road.

On Monday the rancher told us he had seen some nice bucks just north of his ranch house so dad and I went in the direction he pointed out to us. The area around the house is gentle rolling hills with a wash running down each one. The wind was blowing pretty hard from the north/east and every hill we went over has deer staning on the southern slopes. We went about 3 miles and saw about 250 deer. We saw about 8 to 10 nice 4X4's but they were not the size we were looking for so we moved on. This pic and the one below are some of the deer standing on the hills.

More deer from the walk with my dad.

This is a smaller 4 point we came across bedded down by some cactus. See if you can find him......I will blow up the pic some so you can get a better view of him. Once again not what we were looking for.

Some more barbaries on a small cliff, these were ewes and some kids although one of them might have been a smaller ram.

I see you looking at me looking at you.

Another group of barbaries, these saw me at about 800 yards or so and started moving out. There was a really nice ram in this bunch as well I would guess maybe 28 or 29 inches. I came across this same group a few days later and they cost me a stalk on a really nice buck, more on that later though.

A smaller buck on a ridge as the sun was going down.

So thats it for this group of photos. To answer a few questions we do hunt the sheep. A few years ago you could hunt sheep at the same time as deer and you used to be able to kill two sheep. Our wonderful game department a few years ago decided they wanted to knock the barbaries down on public land and that is why you had a long season with a limit of two. Now the season is during February and you can kill one sheep.

As far as doing it your self hunting for the barbaries its basically impossible. Most of the land that the sheep are left on is all private and controlled access. I think I saw about 150 sheep over 4 days of hunting. A few years ago I was hunting them and saw 0 sheep and my first hunt I saw only one and he is on my wall now. He is a small ram 17 inches but he is still nice looking. There are more sheep in the last two years for some reason or maybe we just did not have luck go our way when we first started. We were talking to a trapper who works for the ranch to the west of this one and he said they think they have around 600 on their ranch. Barbaries often have twins and they can have them twice a year so you can see how the numbers can grow.

I am going to go to a friends for beer and tacos and the next time I post I will have some more good photos for ya and maybe some kill pics for you as well. I will also tell you of my adventures or misadventures chasing some really huge bucks. Stay tuned.............

 

[Moosie]

At lkeast Fecal Head doesn't draw out stories like I do

 

[Big Sky]

Hey Poophead, when you gonna tell us the rest of the story and toss up a few more photos?

 

[1_pointer]

Sweet pics! My pard BOY killed a 30+ inch Barbary outside of the park while he was going to school in Soccorro (sp?). He killed a nice ibex and oryx as well down there...

 

[feclnogn]

Hey Poophead, when you gonna tell us the rest of the story and toss up a few more photos?

Will get some more up this weekend, I have had a virus on my computer that took two days to kill and now I have a virus in me and am just plain tired. Stay tuned for the story of my great adventure and the HUGE deer that was only 325 yards away...........

 

[Kyhunter42]

Those are some great pics.

 

[Hiker]

Good story so far. Nice photos too, Thanks.