Well, I'll avoid the suspense again on this post and just let you know up front that I struck out Antelope hunting in New Mexico.
After a few hiccups getting over there (busted water line on the travel trailer, driving into a headwind, leaving the trailer keys at Walmart, etc.) we got the trailer dropped off and drove over to do some last minute scouting on the ranch that I had been assigned to. We got there a couple hours before sunset and started driving around the ranch a little to get our bearings on everything and low and behold we actually saw some antelope! Even better was the fact that they were actually on the ranch I was assigned too! There were about 6 or 7 does and 2 bucks, one was pretty small, but one was pretty decent. They ended up going by us at about 125 yards while we sat in the truck and I got a few pictures of the bucks.
After a few hiccups getting over there (busted water line on the travel trailer, driving into a headwind, leaving the trailer keys at Walmart, etc.) we got the trailer dropped off and drove over to do some last minute scouting on the ranch that I had been assigned to. We got there a couple hours before sunset and started driving around the ranch a little to get our bearings on everything and low and behold we actually saw some antelope! Even better was the fact that they were actually on the ranch I was assigned too! There were about 6 or 7 does and 2 bucks, one was pretty small, but one was pretty decent. They ended up going by us at about 125 yards while we sat in the truck and I got a few pictures of the bucks.
The nicer buck stopped and shook his head around for a little bit a couple times while we were watching. Not sure exactly what he was doing, but the rut was starting up a little so I figured it was something related to that.
Here's the nicer buck in the front and the smaller on behind him.
Not the best picture, but you can get a decent feel for the length and width of the horns from this blurry picture. He wasn't a monster, but I would have been proud to have him on my wall if I had gotten the chance.
We watched them move off to the south and decided we should probably just leave so they aren't spooked and made out plans for the morning. Had a few more hiccups as the battery on the trailer was dead and it was out of propane, but we were optimistic that it wouldn't matter much anyway as we would hopefully be tagged out in the morning and headed home.
The first morning of the hunt arrived and everything was looking good. Nice cool morning, and right off the bat we spotted the antelope. It looked like they were going to do the exact opposite of what they had done the night before so we moved over to intercept them on their way. After about 30 minutes of waiting, we started to wonder where they were and went over to where we had last seen them. They had disappeared! How 8 or 9 antelope can just up and disappear is a mystery, but it can happen. We drove around the rest of the ranch and saw some other hunters standing on the fence line looking onto the ranch we were assigned to and asked them if they had seen anything and they said that they hadn't. Seemed like they were looking at something, but we drove around and didn't ever see what they were looking at.
We headed back to the spot that we had started out that morning and after a while we did see the small buck by himself headed our way looking lost. The rut was just starting and the night before we had watched the larger buck chasing the smaller buck off on a regular basis. The small buck was trailing the group, but evidently they had even lost him when they disappeared. I put a stalk on him and got about 150 yards away, but I just couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger on such a young animal. I ended up walking back to the truck and the small buck moved off to the north.
The ranch that I was assigned to was 4,640 acres, but most of it was sand hill country that didn't seem like the antelope would be very likely to go. After a few more hours of not seeing anything we decided to check out the sand hill country anyway. We did end up seeing a buck and 4 does but they were north of the ranch we were assigned to and moving away from us. After a couple hours of that, we went back to the area where we had started out that morning.
If it seems like there is a recurring theme here, believe me, it seemed like it in person too. There just wasn't much area for us to hunt and we could see nearly the entire place sitting in one spot, so we would park there and glass the ranch and periodically drive to the few spots we couldn't see and then return to the high spot where we could see most of the ranch and then repeat, repeat. I'm not very fond of road hunting, but it seemed pointless to walk the property when you could sit in one spot in the truck and see most of it and then you could drive to another spot and see the rest of it.
The way the state of New Mexico does it's ranch assignments, the ranches are classified as "Ranch Only", or "Unit-Wide". For the most part the larger ranches are "Ranch Only" and the smaller ranches are "Unit-Wide". The one benefit to being on a small ranch that is Unit Wide is that if you aren't seeing antelope on the first day, you can call the local game warden and he can reassign you to a ranch where there are antelope. At least that's the theory. After not seeing anything else, I called the game warden around 2:00 and asked him if I could be reassigned to a ranch that had antelope on it. He said he needed to do some checking around and he would get back with me. We decided to go ahead and stick around just in case that original group of antelope ever decided to appear again.
Probably not even 15 minutes later, I look out and they are crossing the road about 600 or 700 yards in front of us! I hesitated and wasn't sure if I should try to drive up to them or if I should get out of the truck and try to walk up on them, but they were moving pretty good and so I started the truck and started toward them. I was pretty indecisive and drove too slowly and by the time I got there they were about 300 yards away. It all happened too fast and I didn't even have my range finder out to know how far away they were for sure. The wind was blowing pretty hard and they were milling around pretty good and I never felt like I had a great shot so I decided to hold off. They didn't seem too spooked and hopefully they would just move off a little way and I could walk them down.
They ended up moving off and I started after them. The biggest concern was that they were only 1/2 mile from the ranch boundary and I was hoping they wouldn't move too fast. I got to where I could see them again and sure enough, they had crossed the fence and then stopped about 50 yards onto the neighboring ranch. I watched them for a while and then they moved off farther.
It turned out that was going to be my only real opportunity for the weekend. In retrospect it is easy to see that I should have just driven right to them as soon as they crossed the road, but I hesitated for 15 or 20 seconds that would have probably made the difference. I second guess myself less on the shot. It was blowing pretty hard and I never felt confident in the shot and I don't want to just be throwing lead at an animal and hoping that I can hit it. I want to have confidence when I pull the trigger that the animal is going to go down and stay down.
Anyway, after a while we drove the ranch again, glassed some more and then decided to go back the the trailer to grab some drinks and snacks. On the way there we spot the same group of antelope from the county road. They are about 1/2 mile north of the ranch I was assigned to. We pull up to a gate and park to see what they are going to do. They were 375 yards off and after watching us for a while, they end up moving toward us to a windmill to get a drink. We watched them for probably 15 minutes and then another hunter that was assigned to that ranch showed up and the antelope took off, but they went north instead of south back to the ranch that I was assigned to.
That the last time we saw a buck. We hunted hard from before sunrise to sunset (I was surprised to learn from the guy I was hunting with that New Mexico legal hunting only goes to sunset instead of 30 minutes after sunset like most places do) and only saw 2 does the last day that were not even on the ranch I was assigned to. I ended up putting a few miles on my boots the last day doing anything I could think of to try to scrape up an antelope sighting but it didn't happen.
Overall it was pretty depressing that I was assigned to a ranch with very few antelope and those were mainly just passing through. Generally if that is the case you can just move to a different area, but that wasn't an option so we just stuck it out. I doubt that I will be applying for another public land antelope license in New Mexico in the future. The luck seems to be more related to which ranch you get assigned instead of just drawing the tag. I'm really curious to see what the final success rate ends up.
That's it for now. Nathan
The first morning of the hunt arrived and everything was looking good. Nice cool morning, and right off the bat we spotted the antelope. It looked like they were going to do the exact opposite of what they had done the night before so we moved over to intercept them on their way. After about 30 minutes of waiting, we started to wonder where they were and went over to where we had last seen them. They had disappeared! How 8 or 9 antelope can just up and disappear is a mystery, but it can happen. We drove around the rest of the ranch and saw some other hunters standing on the fence line looking onto the ranch we were assigned to and asked them if they had seen anything and they said that they hadn't. Seemed like they were looking at something, but we drove around and didn't ever see what they were looking at.
We headed back to the spot that we had started out that morning and after a while we did see the small buck by himself headed our way looking lost. The rut was just starting and the night before we had watched the larger buck chasing the smaller buck off on a regular basis. The small buck was trailing the group, but evidently they had even lost him when they disappeared. I put a stalk on him and got about 150 yards away, but I just couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger on such a young animal. I ended up walking back to the truck and the small buck moved off to the north.
The ranch that I was assigned to was 4,640 acres, but most of it was sand hill country that didn't seem like the antelope would be very likely to go. After a few more hours of not seeing anything we decided to check out the sand hill country anyway. We did end up seeing a buck and 4 does but they were north of the ranch we were assigned to and moving away from us. After a couple hours of that, we went back to the area where we had started out that morning.
If it seems like there is a recurring theme here, believe me, it seemed like it in person too. There just wasn't much area for us to hunt and we could see nearly the entire place sitting in one spot, so we would park there and glass the ranch and periodically drive to the few spots we couldn't see and then return to the high spot where we could see most of the ranch and then repeat, repeat. I'm not very fond of road hunting, but it seemed pointless to walk the property when you could sit in one spot in the truck and see most of it and then you could drive to another spot and see the rest of it.
The way the state of New Mexico does it's ranch assignments, the ranches are classified as "Ranch Only", or "Unit-Wide". For the most part the larger ranches are "Ranch Only" and the smaller ranches are "Unit-Wide". The one benefit to being on a small ranch that is Unit Wide is that if you aren't seeing antelope on the first day, you can call the local game warden and he can reassign you to a ranch where there are antelope. At least that's the theory. After not seeing anything else, I called the game warden around 2:00 and asked him if I could be reassigned to a ranch that had antelope on it. He said he needed to do some checking around and he would get back with me. We decided to go ahead and stick around just in case that original group of antelope ever decided to appear again.
Probably not even 15 minutes later, I look out and they are crossing the road about 600 or 700 yards in front of us! I hesitated and wasn't sure if I should try to drive up to them or if I should get out of the truck and try to walk up on them, but they were moving pretty good and so I started the truck and started toward them. I was pretty indecisive and drove too slowly and by the time I got there they were about 300 yards away. It all happened too fast and I didn't even have my range finder out to know how far away they were for sure. The wind was blowing pretty hard and they were milling around pretty good and I never felt like I had a great shot so I decided to hold off. They didn't seem too spooked and hopefully they would just move off a little way and I could walk them down.
They ended up moving off and I started after them. The biggest concern was that they were only 1/2 mile from the ranch boundary and I was hoping they wouldn't move too fast. I got to where I could see them again and sure enough, they had crossed the fence and then stopped about 50 yards onto the neighboring ranch. I watched them for a while and then they moved off farther.
It turned out that was going to be my only real opportunity for the weekend. In retrospect it is easy to see that I should have just driven right to them as soon as they crossed the road, but I hesitated for 15 or 20 seconds that would have probably made the difference. I second guess myself less on the shot. It was blowing pretty hard and I never felt confident in the shot and I don't want to just be throwing lead at an animal and hoping that I can hit it. I want to have confidence when I pull the trigger that the animal is going to go down and stay down.
Anyway, after a while we drove the ranch again, glassed some more and then decided to go back the the trailer to grab some drinks and snacks. On the way there we spot the same group of antelope from the county road. They are about 1/2 mile north of the ranch I was assigned to. We pull up to a gate and park to see what they are going to do. They were 375 yards off and after watching us for a while, they end up moving toward us to a windmill to get a drink. We watched them for probably 15 minutes and then another hunter that was assigned to that ranch showed up and the antelope took off, but they went north instead of south back to the ranch that I was assigned to.
That the last time we saw a buck. We hunted hard from before sunrise to sunset (I was surprised to learn from the guy I was hunting with that New Mexico legal hunting only goes to sunset instead of 30 minutes after sunset like most places do) and only saw 2 does the last day that were not even on the ranch I was assigned to. I ended up putting a few miles on my boots the last day doing anything I could think of to try to scrape up an antelope sighting but it didn't happen.
Overall it was pretty depressing that I was assigned to a ranch with very few antelope and those were mainly just passing through. Generally if that is the case you can just move to a different area, but that wasn't an option so we just stuck it out. I doubt that I will be applying for another public land antelope license in New Mexico in the future. The luck seems to be more related to which ranch you get assigned instead of just drawing the tag. I'm really curious to see what the final success rate ends up.
That's it for now. Nathan
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