NEW MEXICO ANTELOPE

[Coues]

I am putting in for New Mexico Antlelope for the first time. Has anyone hunted there and how are the odds of drawing a tag? I will probably put in for the rifle hunt, but possibly the muzzleloader hunt if it helps the odds considerably.

 

[paulc]

coues, the most and best antelope hunting in nm is on private land.. if you are willing to pay that is your best choice.. there are some public land hunts in nm but the quality is lesser.. there are some public land muzzle loader hunts that are decent.. odds are about 1 in 10 for the one i am applying for..
i paid last year for private land and made the mistake of taking my antelope in the first few minutes of daylight.. this year i am  applying for the muzzleloader tag

 

[Coues]

From what I understand, the G&F department will assign you to a ranch within the unit you draw. So you don't have to hunt public land if you draw a tag. 1 in 10 doesn't sound too promising, Maybe I'll lool at Nevada instead. What $$$ are NM private land tags averaging?

 

[paulc]

$202.00 are what the tags go for in newmexico.

your best odds will be in new mexico.. nevada will be even more difficult.

 

[brian bearden]

in my opinion the northeast portion of the state holds the best antelope. i killed one that went 78" year before last up there. this past fall the same ranch had 4 bucks over 80" taken, no booners though. it was a private land hunt where we had to purchase landowners.

 

[Coues]

In New Mexico, in order for a rancher to receive landowner tags, they have to let the public hunt their ranch. That is why the G&F assign each hunter who draws an antelope tag to a specific ranch.

 

[cabuck]

   Leaving tuesday for hunt in 52.  Grail, hope to catch-up with you, we are staying at motel. 3 days scouting should be plenty. Have new gun this year! Weather should be fine. Stay out of trouble, tell Ash, GO GIANTS!!

 

[spectr17]

Good luck on your hunt cabuck. Let us know how your hunt goes and don't forget the camera.

 

[bnc]

cabuck, how did you do on unit 52?

 

[Grail]

I shot at a nice buck, but I got excited and neglected to use my rangefinders.  I shot just over his back.  Hopefully I will have my revenge.

Never shoot at a buck with a smokepole if you don't know the distance.  It's a waste of lead and smoke.  

 

[paulc]

cabuck, i was on the same hunt. we were in a white dodge. me and my wife had tags and we brought our 4 and 8 year old with us.. we had several oppurtunities but operator error and we came home goatless.  my excuses are as follows..

battery in range finder died and i didnt have an extra

didnt  know my gun at 200 plus yards i figured it would drop at least 8-10" and after shooting over the back of 2 bucks (me and my wife both shot over top) i tested it and it shoots flat at 200 yds.

last excuse is we ran out of time. 1st day we spent on the east side that had no water no grass and no goats and when we went west of 287hwy we got plenty of action.

i came home with a nice souvineir,  my scope kissed me on my forehead when i was shooting at a lope prone uphill without my the butt of the gun snug against my shoulder.
boys and girls dont let this happen to you.

i still got a wyoming 27 tag so there is still hope.

 

[cabuck]

  Grail and PaulC,

 Took goat at 168 yrds. up on the "mountain". About a 2 hour stalk, all up-hill. Missed at 120 yrds. on Sun., no excuses, just over shot, really did not expect to ever get that close. Shot at noon monday, finally had goat in truck at 4 in afternoon. Green scored at 80 6/8.   6 6/8" on bases and 4 7/8 above prong. Only 14 6/8 long but extremely heavy. Will post pictures when I get photos scaned.                                            

 

[GilaMonster]

Originally posted by Coues@Mar 13 2002, 04:24 PM
What $$$ are NM private land tags averaging?

The private land "Landowner" tags are sold for whatever the market will bear. Outfitters have gotten the prices out of sight on any ranch with reasonably good trophy quality. When I was Outfitting Pronghorn hunts in New Mexico, I paid $600 for each tag at that time. The term "tag" is really not what it is. It's a form that is given to the landowner that quarantees the license. The license must be purchased using this form. This form does not include the actual license fee. I understand that the same ranches that I used to purchase Pronghorn "Landowner tags" from are now getting over $1000 for each one. In the SW area or our state, I know of a few ranches that get $2,500 for each landowner tag. Of course there are many big, high scoring B&C bucks available on these rances too. The odds for drawing a public issue tag are extremely poor. The proclamation shows how many people applied for the tags the previous year and then states "up to so many tags available". The problem is that the number listed for the tags available include "landowner tags", which make up the majority of the tags issued in the state. The odds are much worse than the figures indicate because of this.
I hope I helped somewhat on this issue.

 

[jims]

I've always been mystified how New Mexico's public hunters have not complained for a change in how the public antelope draw is conducted. From what I've seen, applicants must select a region and have the option of listing a particular unit they would like to hunt. For the most part, the applicant has no say as to which unit he will draw nor the ranch he will hunt? Each successful applicant is randomly placed on a god knows what ranch.

It seems to me this is a bunch of hogwash! I spend many hours each year researching and scouting the best units to apply for throughout the West. With NM system there is no way you can do this.

It certainly seems to me that NM system is designed strictly for wealthy hunters that are willing to spend high $ to purchase landowner licenses or cash in on high $ guided hunts. Whatever happened to the days when you simply apply for a tag to hunt an area you have researched and scouted?

 

[GilaMonster]

Yes, you are absolutely correct in that. Here in NM, if you find a big buck and you want to hunt it, the only way to do it is to find the landowner and try to purchase a landowner tag from him. It's highly unlikely though because nearly all of the good pronghorn tags are sold for high dollar to outfitters. it's simply supply and demand. In the good ol' USA, there are a lot of wealthy people who have no problem dishing out whatever it takes to get a big "whatever". Pronghorn is a prime example. Here in NM, it's not difficult at all to take a high scoring B&C Pronghorn if you're wealthy. You just fork out the $$$ and it's all yours. As far as applications go, it's nearly impossible to draw and then you are put wherever they stick you. I've been luckier than anyone else on the draw and have drawn three licenses and over 20 years. I know many hunters who have applied for over 20 years and never drawn one at all. When I drew the last tag, it wasn't even in any of the choices I had listed on the application. They give you first, second and third choices. I was stuck in an area that wasn't any of my choices and there wasn't even one Pronghorn on the place. After scouting the area for a couple of weeks, i wnt to the Las Cruces office and complained. They finally had a field officer go take a look at the area I was assigned (which was a huge, deep rimrock canyon) and he agreed that there were in fact, no Pronghorn there. They let me hunt on the next ranch closest to it. That's the ranch my wife drew. That's right we applied together and I was put on one ranch and she was put on another one. Finally after it was all said and done, we were allowed to hunt the same place. Only problem was, there was only one Pronghorn buck on the entire ranch the whole hunt. Good game management huh?