This is the buck that I shot on Monday in New Mexico. Thanks to ridgewalker and no_catch for giving me some good places to start hunting.
I didn't see as many mature bucks as I expected given the reputation of the area and the time of the year. I hunted hard on the opener and saw 8-10 bucks but nothing big enough. On Sunday I spoke with a game warden and she told me to hunt lower as far away from the roads as I could get so that was Monday's plan. I started off the top glassing every canyon I could as I went down. As evening approached I decided to sit and watch some good country and I immediately picked out some does another mile away in the very bottom of the canyon. I felt like that many does must have a buck with them so the stalk was on. When I got to the bottom to my suprise there was a camp right on the road that I thought was closed (I was now 4 miles from where I started). Fortunately they were hunting a different canyon so my stalk went on as planned. As I got close to the deer the wind swirled and they started moving up the bottom of the draw away from me but they calmed down after several hundred yards and I was able to move in at a little different angle. I watched several smaller bucks in the group including a 24" 2x2 before the wind swirled again. I caught sight of this buck trotting through the trees at 150 yards and had to make a very quick decision.
I didn't measure it other than spread (27"). I'm guessing it to be a low 170s buck - what do you think?
I didn't see as many mature bucks as I expected given the reputation of the area and the time of the year. I hunted hard on the opener and saw 8-10 bucks but nothing big enough. On Sunday I spoke with a game warden and she told me to hunt lower as far away from the roads as I could get so that was Monday's plan. I started off the top glassing every canyon I could as I went down. As evening approached I decided to sit and watch some good country and I immediately picked out some does another mile away in the very bottom of the canyon. I felt like that many does must have a buck with them so the stalk was on. When I got to the bottom to my suprise there was a camp right on the road that I thought was closed (I was now 4 miles from where I started). Fortunately they were hunting a different canyon so my stalk went on as planned. As I got close to the deer the wind swirled and they started moving up the bottom of the draw away from me but they calmed down after several hundred yards and I was able to move in at a little different angle. I watched several smaller bucks in the group including a 24" 2x2 before the wind swirled again. I caught sight of this buck trotting through the trees at 150 yards and had to make a very quick decision.
I didn't measure it other than spread (27"). I'm guessing it to be a low 170s buck - what do you think?
