Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting NM Bootheel Mule Deer ?s

Hi all,

Relatively new to hunting (started two years ago at age 37) and have been digging deep in the archives to learn as much as I can. I've learned a ton, so "thank you" to all who have built this site to what it is today.

I've got a rifle hunt in unit 26 in mid-November and was hoping to get a little info from anybody who might spend time down that way.

How has the summer rain been? Will dirt tanks be full or is it wells and windmills right now?

I've got time and money for maybe two scouting trips and I'd like to make them count. I figured I'd start looking around the Pyramids and Little Hatchets. Any other places worth scouting?

For those unfamiliar with the area, here's a good representative photo. It's classic desert basin-and-range topography.

photo credit:http://www.panoramio.com/photo/24406246


Any insights would be most appreciated to this novice hunter.

thanks,

salsola

PM sent

Dave

Summer rains have been spotty, at best. More misses than hits. The conventional wisdom down here is that "summer rains grow grass, winter rains fill (dirt) tanks". We had a fairly wet winter, but have been so dry that most of the surface water will be gone by the second rifle hunt in November, absent a Baja hurricane blowing in this fall.

I hunted the Pyramids last fall and saw some deer, but not the one that I was looking for. The Big Hatchets are hard to access and hard to hunt (rough and dry). Most of the water is up high--trick tanks put in for the desert bighorns. The few places with public access get worked over pretty good.

The good news is that I am once again seeing mule deer where I used to see them before our droughts started in the year 2000--not a lot of them, but even some are better than none. Access to the best habitat (at the south end of the unit) is difficult due to most of the public land being landlocked by private land. That's the reason that the unit is an easy draw and why there are always leftover tags for sale.

PM me before you come scouting and I will give you my phone number and we can talk.

Thank you for the information gentlemen. Mudhen, I'll be in touch in the next few weeks.