NMPaul
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This year I did not draw a deer tag here in NM.
We have had a super busy hunting schedule this year. However, I saw the weekend of Nov 20th I did have any hunts that I was helping on or family had, but on Monday I was traveling on business. I had 2 days to work with.
With this in mind about 6 weeks ago I made some calls to outfitters to see if they had any private ranch hunts that were NOT guided, that I could get cheap, and the possibility for a quality buck.
Our own JFWRC told me he had a tag for a single hunter on a property they hunt antelope on. One of his guides had seen a decent buck on it (about 170ish)
Jim, was super flexible. He understood I only had 2 days, and that I wanted to go unguided. Jim gave me a good deal on the tag.
I met with the rancher friday at 1:00 and he showed me the access roads and gave me a map. That night my good friend Kevin and my son Zach met up with me after I scouted that evening not seeing a deer, but, not wanting to put to much pressure on the few square miles of this ranch that have mule deer habitat.
I found a decent spot to glass from for first thing in the AM.
This morning, we were there before daylight. We saw one deer that we could not tell what it was about 3/4 miles away and a few does closer.
This ranch like most antelope properties is very flat and there were 3 square miles of deer looking country with no roads. We got the wind in our face and started working our way through it. About 2 miles in Kevin spotted a group of deer and kept saying big buck. By the time I got on it saw a few does, but, no buck.
The next 1.5 hours was very frustrating. We lost track of the deer and almost blew it. We finally located the does again and now we were only about 500 yards away. I saw the buck and nobody else did. I saw it was huge. All I told them was that it was a shooter.
We worked our way in to about 240 yards. The does (about 6 of them) milled around a group of juniper trees. I knew he went behind the tree, but, could not see them.
I set up on the bog pod, but, Zach found me a lane that I could shoot prone off of the packs.
we then settled down and waited. We waited about 30 minutes and then something upset the does. They started running away. I knew I would not have long to make a shot. He came out trotting after them. I took the only shot I had. The famous texas heart shot. This shot was at 280 yards.
They all disapeared, and then I saw the does going up the hill without him. I found him and got another quick shot off.
He went behind a tree, I almost shot through the tree at him. I got one more shot and the guys told me he was down.
That was a long walk. I was very happy when I found him. Will try to get some pics up.
I want to thank Zach and Kevin who are the best hunting buddies you could have. Here is one pic of the whole posse.
We have had a super busy hunting schedule this year. However, I saw the weekend of Nov 20th I did have any hunts that I was helping on or family had, but on Monday I was traveling on business. I had 2 days to work with.
With this in mind about 6 weeks ago I made some calls to outfitters to see if they had any private ranch hunts that were NOT guided, that I could get cheap, and the possibility for a quality buck.
Our own JFWRC told me he had a tag for a single hunter on a property they hunt antelope on. One of his guides had seen a decent buck on it (about 170ish)
Jim, was super flexible. He understood I only had 2 days, and that I wanted to go unguided. Jim gave me a good deal on the tag.
I met with the rancher friday at 1:00 and he showed me the access roads and gave me a map. That night my good friend Kevin and my son Zach met up with me after I scouted that evening not seeing a deer, but, not wanting to put to much pressure on the few square miles of this ranch that have mule deer habitat.
I found a decent spot to glass from for first thing in the AM.
This morning, we were there before daylight. We saw one deer that we could not tell what it was about 3/4 miles away and a few does closer.
This ranch like most antelope properties is very flat and there were 3 square miles of deer looking country with no roads. We got the wind in our face and started working our way through it. About 2 miles in Kevin spotted a group of deer and kept saying big buck. By the time I got on it saw a few does, but, no buck.
The next 1.5 hours was very frustrating. We lost track of the deer and almost blew it. We finally located the does again and now we were only about 500 yards away. I saw the buck and nobody else did. I saw it was huge. All I told them was that it was a shooter.
We worked our way in to about 240 yards. The does (about 6 of them) milled around a group of juniper trees. I knew he went behind the tree, but, could not see them.
I set up on the bog pod, but, Zach found me a lane that I could shoot prone off of the packs.
we then settled down and waited. We waited about 30 minutes and then something upset the does. They started running away. I knew I would not have long to make a shot. He came out trotting after them. I took the only shot I had. The famous texas heart shot. This shot was at 280 yards.
They all disapeared, and then I saw the does going up the hill without him. I found him and got another quick shot off.
He went behind a tree, I almost shot through the tree at him. I got one more shot and the guys told me he was down.
That was a long walk. I was very happy when I found him. Will try to get some pics up.
I want to thank Zach and Kevin who are the best hunting buddies you could have. Here is one pic of the whole posse.
did khart kill his deer? 
