NM Mule Deer Unit 32 near Roswell Nov 10-14

I drew my first ever NM tag for mule deer in Unit 32 for rifle Nov 10-14. Does anyone have any experience with this unit and if so, what will the weather be like that time of year and good camping locations?

This is my first time chasing mule deer and hunting New Mexico, so it will mostly be a learning trip. From the maps it looks like the public land is scattered throughout the unit in small pockets, so going to try to narrow down a region to focus my efforts on. Either way excited to see a part of the state I have never visited!

Rough hunt. I think the Pecos river is in the far south of the unit. I would there. I am not sure if it is the unit, check.

Most of the deer are on private where there is feed and water. It’s desert. I would try and find water on public, or set up on public behind private fields and try and catch them when leave.

The Pecos River does run through this unit in the northern part and borders the southern half I believe. I haven't heard very many good things about this unit, but I will try to make the best of it and it did seem to have a decent success rate, but that may be primarily on private land.

I had that tag a few years ago and it was a beat down for me. Saw WAY more hunters than deer (like 100+ hunters and maybe a couple dozen doe deer). I hunted the Salt Creek Wilderness on the Pecos, down in some area Southwest of Roswell that everyone says is the place to hunt (and there were TONS of people hunting!), and then an area due west of Roswell on the western edge of the unit.

I didn't ever see a legal buck. I wouldn't hunt that area southwest of Roswell just because the sheer number of people that were hunting it. It was amazing the density of folks and I even got a couple miles from the road (which was hard to do there are roads everywhere in there) and still had hunters walking by within 100' yards of me.

The Salt Creek Wilderness was interesting but the deer density was pretty low. I found a few sheds there though so there are bucks around.

If I hunted it again I would probably try to spend some more time due west and a little northwest of Roswell. The hunting pressure wasn't as high as to the southwest and there were still some deer around. All I saw were does but if I had spent more time over there I might could have turned up a buck.

I would advise going into it expecting to see tons of people and few deer and possibly no bucks. I ended up just hunting the weekend and going home because I wasn't interested in finding and killing the only forky left alive in the unit.

Weather could be anything that time of year.

Good luck.

ishootdasmallones said:

Most of the deer are on private where there is feed and water. It’s desert. I would try and find water on public, or set up on public behind private fields and try and catch them when leave.

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That sounds like a good approach, I appreciate the advice!

npaden said:

I had that tag a few years ago and it was a beat down for me. Saw WAY more hunters than deer (like 100+ hunters and maybe a couple dozen doe deer). I hunted the Salt Creek Wilderness on the Pecos, down in some area Southwest of Roswell that everyone says is the place to hunt (and there were TONS of people hunting!), and then an area due west of Roswell on the western edge of the unit.

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Unfortunately that is what I have read in some older posts after drawing the tag. Guess I should have done a little more research before applying

I will check out the Salt Creek area for sure, I usually try to stick to walk in only areas if possible.

Thanks for the help!

I found my old blog post on this hunt if you are interested - https://padens.blogspot.com/2013/10/new-mexico-mule-deer-hunt.html

npaden said:

I found my old blog post on this hunt if you are interested - https://padens.blogspot.com/2013/10/new-mexico-mule-deer-hunt.html

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Your blog was the first thing I found when I started researching this unit, very well done btw. It at-least gave me hope that there are deer in the unit. I plan on staying for the duration of the hunt and exploring quite a bit, so I will be sure and update you with what I find.

I live in Roswell and hunt Unit 32 just about every year. As others have pointed out, be prepared to see a LOT of other hunters. Expect to see campers in some of the best deer country too. There are over 600 rifle tags per hunt, so it's just a lot of pressure for an area that holds low deer densities. Don't get me wrong, there are deer in the unit, but a ton of pressure. I got tired of the crowd, so I gave up on the rifle hunt.

Unit 32 has three basic sections. The Southwest portion off highway 13 is supposedly great hunting although I've personally never hunted down there. I was looking around down there last weekend and it looks decent. I hear it draws quite a crowd and the ranchers tend to be jerks. The Western portion is similar to a parking lot during deer season, but again, I hear of people taking bucks out of there regularly. Then there is the northern section, which used to be pressured less but that has changed in recent years.

If you have any specific questions, shoot me a pm and I'd be happy to help.

As for camping, there's a ton of BLM land in the unit if that's your style. Roswell has a few RV parks if that's what you're after.

NMGuy said:

I live in Roswell and hunt Unit 32 just about every year.

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I really appreciate the advice on the three sections. I am going to grab some BLM maps online and add NM to my OnX maps. I will definitely PM you as it gets a little closer to the hunt and I try to narrow down my search area.

unit 32 New Mexico 32

mduncan said:

I drew my first ever NM tag for mule deer in Unit 32 for rifle Nov 10-14. Does anyone have any experience with this unit and if so, what will the weather be like that time of year and good camping locations?

This is my first time chasing mule deer and hunting New Mexico, so it will mostly be a learning trip. From the maps it looks like the public land is scattered throughout the unit in small pockets, so going to try to narrow down a region to focus my efforts on. Either way excited to see a part of the state I have never visited!

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I have been hunting unit 32 my whole life. I have hunted it for 15 plus years. I even hunted it when unit 32, 31, and I believe 30 was one entire Region K and the license were over the counter. I too drew out for the second hunt on 32. My advice is to be patient. You will see a lot of hunters in the unit especially if you hunt close to Roswell. However not every hunter is actually hunting. You will see most of them stick to the main county road or two track roads and will stay on ATVs or vehicles. This is not really hunting, more like booze cruzing unfortunately. Unit 32 is big country. There is a lot of arroyos, canyons, sand hills, and mesquite shrubs. It is very difficult to spot deer from a long way off, unless you can find some elevation to glass down. I have the opportunity to bag a few nice bucks. I don't always tag out, but have passed on many bucks over the years wanting something good. You are going to need to hunt hard. Early morning and late evenings are the best times to hopefully spot the deer before they bed. Usually these bucks are smaller and hang around does. However the big bucks are usually bedded by sun up. I have been lucky once and tagged a decent buck before it bedded with does. This buck was a 5x4. My advice is if you come across some sand hills with oak brush, this is a good starting point if you see sign. Arroyos are good bedding spots for bucks especially if one side is flat and the other side as mesquite and sand hills. During the day i would walk trough the sand hills and brush stopping a few yards to glass up the flat side and listen. Most of the time i will here the deer before i see it. Got to be quick especially in the sand hills. Never had much luck sitting in one spot glassing all day looking for bedded bucks, especially in the type of terrain unit 32 is. It may look flat, but get in there you will realize its not at all. The biggest buck I have tagged in 32 was a 5x5 with a 29 inch spread. I have seen bigger bucks taken out of there and even bigger ones, not giving me a chance shot. I would here them see them and they was gone. This was walking the arroyos and getting him up out of his bed as he tried to escape the other side. Of course he stopped and looked at me to see me as most mule deer do. He gave me a good shot at about 150 yards out. Again you are going to see a lot of hunters, don't get discouraged and if you want a buck, you need to hunt hard.

hunthard said:

I have been hunting unit 32 my whole life. I have hunted it for 15 plus years. I even hunted it when unit 32, 31, and I believe 30 was one entire Region K and the license were over the counter. I too drew out for the second hunt on 32. My advice is to be patient. You will see a lot of hunters in the unit especially if you hunt close to Roswell. However not every hunter is actually hunting. You will see most of them stick to the main county road or two track roads and will stay on ATVs or vehicles. This is not really hunting, more like booze cruzing unfortunately. Unit 32 is big country. There is a lot of arroyos, canyons, sand hills, and mesquite shrubs. It is very difficult to spot deer from a long way off, unless you can find some elevation to glass down. I have the opportunity to bag a few nice bucks. I don't always tag out, but have passed on many bucks over the years wanting something good. You are going to need to hunt hard. Early morning and late evenings are the best times to hopefully spot the deer before they bed. Usually these bucks are smaller and hang around does. However the big bucks are usually bedded by sun up. I have been lucky once and tagged a decent buck before it bedded with does. This buck was a 5x4. My advice is if you come across some sand hills with oak brush, this is a good starting point if you see sign. Arroyos are good bedding spots for bucks especially if one side is flat and the other side as mesquite and sand hills. During the day i would walk trough the sand hills and brush stopping a few yards to glass up the flat side and listen. Most of the time i will here the deer before i see it. Got to be quick especially in the sand hills. Never had much luck sitting in one spot glassing all day looking for bedded bucks, especially in the type of terrain unit 32 is. It may look flat, but get in there you will realize its not at all. The biggest buck I have tagged in 32 was a 5x5 with a 29 inch spread. I have seen bigger bucks taken out of there and even bigger ones, not giving me a chance shot. I would here them see them and they was gone. This was walking the arroyos and getting him up out of his bed as he tried to escape the other side. Of course he stopped and looked at me to see me as most mule deer do. He gave me a good shot at about 150 yards out. Again you are going to see a lot of hunters, don't get discouraged and if you want a buck, you need to hunt hard.

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Thank you sir, that is just the motivation I needed before I head out tomorrow for NM. I plan on covering a lot of ground on foot and hopefully bumping one up to get a shot. Thanks again for the advice and good luck to you on your hunt as well!

Just to update everyone on my NM 32 hunt: Hunted 3 days pretty hard both North and Southwest of Roswell and saw lots of sign, but only 3 does. Still enjoyed the scenery, hiking, and taking a half day to go see Carlsbad Caverns. I did find a bighorn ram skull that was an interesting find.

PS Special thanks to everyone that helped point me in the right direction. For future reference I would recommend the SW part of 32. It wasn't as crowded as expected and deer sign was everywhere.

Being totally unfamiliar with the area I have no idea, but Is it possible that is some kind of weird domestic/exotic?

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a 1 1/4 curl ram with what must be 11 inch bases? Interesting find nonetheless.

I was thinking an exotic from a nearby ranch, but not very familiar with sheep or the area. There are barbary sheep in unit 32, but I was not lucky enough to see any.

Definitely no bighorns down that way. Most likely some rancher's domestic ram. Historically that was big sheep (domestic type) country.

Thats most likely a rambouillet domestic... Neat skull none the less.

I thought I had recommendations since I’ve hunted 31, but I took a look at the satellite and 32 is definitely a different beast.