Hey folks,
Building inspiration finally turned into action this year and my friend, his teenage son, and I entered and drew deer tags in New Mexico for Unit 21 rifle (second season Nov 10-14). This will be our first western hunt and we plan to backpack in to the gnarly country and camp out to find bucks in their "sanctuary" (as Randy calls it).
My friend's son is very active in boy scouts so they'll be getting plenty of practice camping, hiking, etc. and we are also planning regular hikes here with loaded packs to get into shape as well as working on our marksmanship to make sure we're ready for this hunt.
Thus far I've been researching and gearing up using GoHunt and OnX but I thought I'd check with folks here to see if anyone had personal experience in NM 21A for Mule Deer. One thing multiple folks have told me is that it's been quite dry down there so finding water in the backcountry may be tough. We will be carrying plenty of water in our trucks for sure and we'll tote it to and from the truck if needed but we'd obviously prefer to filter water from a creek or something. Are there regions of 21A that we're more or less likely to find water in? Seems to me the northern parts are more forested at least.
For my e-scouting so far, I've just been trying to find nice looking canyons with some forest and exposed points for glassing that are also away from roads. Do you have any other tips that you'd be willing to share to help this first timer? I'm pretty excited about it and I'm hoping to learn the unit and come back again in the future as I'm pretty sure this first foray will be a lot of education versus a lot of shooting
Thanks!
Building inspiration finally turned into action this year and my friend, his teenage son, and I entered and drew deer tags in New Mexico for Unit 21 rifle (second season Nov 10-14). This will be our first western hunt and we plan to backpack in to the gnarly country and camp out to find bucks in their "sanctuary" (as Randy calls it).
My friend's son is very active in boy scouts so they'll be getting plenty of practice camping, hiking, etc. and we are also planning regular hikes here with loaded packs to get into shape as well as working on our marksmanship to make sure we're ready for this hunt.
Thus far I've been researching and gearing up using GoHunt and OnX but I thought I'd check with folks here to see if anyone had personal experience in NM 21A for Mule Deer. One thing multiple folks have told me is that it's been quite dry down there so finding water in the backcountry may be tough. We will be carrying plenty of water in our trucks for sure and we'll tote it to and from the truck if needed but we'd obviously prefer to filter water from a creek or something. Are there regions of 21A that we're more or less likely to find water in? Seems to me the northern parts are more forested at least.
For my e-scouting so far, I've just been trying to find nice looking canyons with some forest and exposed points for glassing that are also away from roads. Do you have any other tips that you'd be willing to share to help this first timer? I'm pretty excited about it and I'm hoping to learn the unit and come back again in the future as I'm pretty sure this first foray will be a lot of education versus a lot of shooting
Thanks!
