Last minute whim I decided to join my buddy Jack on his backpack coues hunt. He had drawn a New Mexico tag, talked with mudhen, who connected him with a rancher for local info. Jack had different folks lined up to go but one thing after another and he was faced with going solo, so I went.

5 1/2 hours of driving, the last bit nasty stuff. We park in arizona, pack into NM, looking into old mex on the south.

It was warm in the 90s, mosquitoes eating us up even with spray, knee high grass after 8 inches of rain in september. Classic coues country and beautiful.

We set up camp on a large flat where we could glass multiple areas.

Breaking the binos out, pretty soon Jack say's, there's a lion, no two... I swing over and there's three. Probably a mother and two adult cubs, they were all the same size.

We never did glass a deer in that basin, which shocked me in such perfect habitat. But with a record amount of grass, water in pockets everywhere and the lions, the deer didn't need to be in there.

We decided to move up higher above the lions and glass a higher basin, we finally bumped one deer in a saddle but it went over so fast we couldn't ID if it was a buck.

Found a cave up close to the lions, looked like illegals may have used it a time or two, we weren't killed by the cartel, buzzed by an army green hilo twice, no markings, we donated to the local mosquito blood bank, sweated gallons of water and were chitty deer hunters.

But got to explore new country, test my leg that gave me such trouble this summer and had a great time.

Kent

Looking back from camp to where were hiked in.

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lions were up high by the white bluff

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Looking back to where we camped on the flats...

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The cave was at the base of that bluff in the trees and Old Mex in the background.

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