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Those are good bucks for Eastern NM. I grew up out there and have hunted the sand since just after it opened to deer hunting in the 80s and most will look long and hard to find two bucks better than those in your pictures. Hunting those NM sandhill deer is where my screen name and passion for big mule deer comes from.
If I may ask, Did they come off public or private land?
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OP
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Private. I dont think we would have had as good as luck as we did on public. Is there much public in that area? I went to school in Portales for a semester, but never got to hunt much.
Toby Joe
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NM has a lot of public land, but quite a bit of private land in the sandhills around Portales.
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Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 60,143 Likes: 11
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
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Those are GREAT deer. Congratulations!
I am also a mule deer hunter who has done it here and there, from Old Mexico to Canada. Even more interesting to me than the antlers (which are always interesting!) is where the deer grow really big bodies. I have killed huge-bodied bucks (300+ pounds live weight} in the mountains of Montana and up in Alberta, but not that far south. Very interesting....
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
John Steinbeck
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I was born and raised in NM, I know there is alot of public, but I didnt know there was much public land in the sandhills in the units around Kenna.
Mule Deer--We didnt weigh these deer, but like you, I have hunted all over Western New Mexico and Colorado, and I have yet to see deer with body sizes like are in the sandy country of the Western Panhandle of Texas and Eastern New Mexico. They are also starting to kill some smoker whitetails in New Mexico. A few years ago, I bowhunted on some friends farms around Ft. Sumner, NM. After seeing some of the whitetail bucks that I was seeing, I started chasing them, instead of the mulies.
Toby Joe
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Congratulations - nice buck.
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Were you near or on the Best's place?
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No, we were not on Bests Ranch.
Toby Joe
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Campfire Outfitter
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toby,
damn nice bucks.
those bucks gwen and i whacked down there with you had a ton of fat on them as well.
FJB
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Toby Joe,
More public in areas farther south of Portales. To my knowledge, Kenna is primarily private. When I lived in SENM, I had a lot of friends that hunted around Kenna and always did well.
Mule Deer,
Having hunted NM sandhill deer for 20 plus years, I would guess a fairly big deer would go about 250 field dressed there. I was with a friend who shot an average 4x4 last year (about 23" inside spread), and if memory serves, it went 190 field dressed, which was heavy enough by the end of a two-mile drag.
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I've hunted in senm for 25 years. I've always hunted on public land in units 33 and 31.A few years ago i drew out in 32 and quickly realized theres a ton of private land in unit 32.We saw some really nice deer but all on private land.How does one go about contacting these land ownetrs around Kenna.
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Congrats on the bucks! When I was a young man, there were very few mule deer bucks out in the sand hills, which also happens to be the worlds largest oak forest. (Yeah! Really!) That started changing around 1970 thanks to the efforts of Ladd Gordon the last non political professional to head the NMDGF. Now there are lots of good Deer out there.
A couple of thing though! Keep your dumb a$$ of the pump jacks. The walking beam of a pump jack is a very dangerous place to be for a number of reasons including automatic starts to poisonous gas. That is also true of getting up on the oil tanks. The decks on the tanks may be severely corroded, and if you fall through, you cannot swim in oil, you cannot breathe the fumes, and it is potentially very explosive. The equipment is not yours! STAY OFF and LIVE.
I like to hunt any of the caprock country and there are lots of good high points to glass from, but out near Elida or Ft. Sumner I usually set up the spotting scope on the roof of the pickup. It really is great hunting.
My biggest fear is when I die my wife will sell my guns for what I told her they cost....
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Wow. Great buck. Never killed a deer over 200 lbs. That would be a rush. Working in Gaines Co., TX now and wish I had been smart enough to locate a place to hunt mule deer there when the county opened a season.
Thanks,
stumpy
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Campfire Ranger
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Wow. Great buck. Never killed a deer over 200 lbs. That would be a rush. Working in Gaines Co., TX now and wish I had been smart enough to locate a place to hunt mule deer there when the county opened a season.
Thanks,
stumpy Heard the hunting was tougher in Gaines this year....full moon, hot, etc. Any truth to that?
It is irrelevant what you think. What matters is the TRUTH.
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Wow. Great buck. Never killed a deer over 200 lbs. That would be a rush. Working in Gaines Co., TX now and wish I had been smart enough to locate a place to hunt mule deer there when the county opened a season.
Thanks,
stumpy Heard the hunting was tougher in Gaines this year....full moon, hot, etc. Any truth to that? Don't forget the education that these bucks have received and the cream of the crop being skimmed off the top. It's almost a shame that Gaines was opened
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Campfire Ranger
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Right on Drum. I know the game wardens hated to see it. As you know, the giant buck culling will, and has slowed way down already.
It is irrelevant what you think. What matters is the TRUTH.
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Congrats on the bucks! When I was a young man, there were very few mule deer bucks out in the sand hills, which also happens to be the worlds largest oak forest. (Yeah! Really!) That started changing around 1970 thanks to the efforts of Ladd Gordon the last non political professional to head the NMDGF. Now there are lots of good Deer out there.
A couple of thing though! Keep your dumb a$$ of the pump jacks. The walking beam of a pump jack is a very dangerous place to be for a number of reasons including automatic starts to poisonous gas. That is also true of getting up on the oil tanks. The decks on the tanks may be severely corroded, and if you fall through, you cannot swim in oil, you cannot breathe the fumes, and it is potentially very explosive. The equipment is not yours! STAY OFF and LIVE.
I like to hunt any of the caprock country and there are lots of good high points to glass from, but out near Elida or Ft. Sumner I usually set up the spotting scope on the roof of the pickup. It really is great hunting.
I dont take to kindly to being called a Dumb AZZ. For your information, the pump that I found this buck off of, was non working, and had not been working for several years. In fact, the actual pump jack that I crawled up on, was not even in the ground. It was just setting there, with nothing going in the ground. If you dont know what is going on, mind your own damn business. I have lived and hunted around oil fields most of my life, and know better then to do what you are accusing me of doing, and damn sure know better then to do any shooting off of the oil tanks. Wow, another internet wizard, that knows everything. Toby Joe
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Campfire Ranger
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I loved chasing sand hill deer in Unit 31 last year...
If I didn't have some biiig deer spotted and known for the upcoming year west of the sand I'd hunt the sand again...
Thanks for the pics...
- Greg
Success is found at the intersection of planning, hard work, and stubbornness.
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Toby Joe,
Those bucks are massive. Congrats on a couple of very fine Mulies.
CLB
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