New Mexico Ibex Adventure

chase

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LAST EDITED ON Jul-05-10 AT 11:20PM (MST) by Founder (admin)[p][p align=right]Thread Views Counter....[/p]

The Beginning:

On April 7th with only minutes left until the 5 o'clock deadline i was still trying to weigh my options. I had finished my elk application, finished my barbary application, and the only thing my ibex application needed was a click of the mouse. I had 2 major things holding me back. My fiance and I were scheduled to close on our house that friday and our wedding was only a month away. Money was getting pretty tight and I did not want to cause a divorce even before the wedding! On the other end of the scale were these thoughts; full up front fees, the new non-resident application fee, and a crappy economy make for a "better than normal" chance at drawing this tag. With 5 seconds left on the New Mexico Game and Fish clock i figured this would be my last decision as a free man. "CLICK" Now I just had to wait 3 months to get my $1600 back!
 
The New House:

Friday came and we were still able to close on the new/old house. Let the projects begin...

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The following week I was already seeing wildlife in the back yard.
There were six doe just passing through

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This guy went to the same block every morning looking for a mate.

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I guess my porch was a warm place for him to lay

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The Wedding:

May 22nd came and she still married me, even after i spent 2700 with NMDGF.

I know what you are saying...."let's see more pictures of animals and less of the house & wedding!" I wanted to show you the 2 things that almost kept me from applying for this tag.

I am a lucky man. We were together for three years before we tied the knot. She loves the outdoors and has been there on many of my adventures. Everyone, meet Flo.
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Some of our family and good hunting buddies.
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LAST EDITED ON Jul-11-10 AT 11:00PM (MST)[p]The Reason:

I am going to take this back a few years... Since 2003 I have been hunting aoudad with a good friend from Carlsbad, NM. Even when i didn't hunt i would always make the trip just to video. The rough country that these sheep live in never failed to amaze me. My friend had told me on more than one occasion "If you think this country is rough you should see where the ibex live" So every year after the aoudad hunt I would go home and research the cliff jumpers of the Florida Mountains. I was broke back then and just couldn't afford the non-resident tag fees. Ibex was only a dream hunt.

In February of 2009 a friend of mine wanted to go hunt barbary. It was the last year for over-the-counter tags so we loaded the truck and headed for Carlsbad. The first morning we woke up to more hunters than i was used to seeing in this area. We started glassing and right away spotted 4 sheep. 2 decent rams. We watched them for several hours and when they bedded we made our move. My friend harvested this nice 20" ram.
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On our 3 mile pack out the wind started to blow. By the time we got back to the truck It was howling pretty good and it looked like a storm was rolling in. We threw camp in the bed of the truck and started home.
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On our way home to Tucson I mentioned how it would be neat to try and find some ibex. And with our aoudad hunt only lasting 1 day what better time than now. That night we rolled into Deming, unfolded our cots, and slept at the base of the Floridas. We woke up to a light rain and cloud covered mountains.
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That morning we talked to a guy who was scouting for the muzzy hunt. He pointed us to where he had glassed several young billies at first light. It didn't take long and we found them on top of the mountain.
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After watching them scale the cliffs for a couple hours we went back home. Now I was hooked. I had to find a way to apply for this hunt. The april 2009 deadline came and with full up front fees I could not cough up the funds, AGAIN. It seemed like "maybe next year" was always the answer....
 
Bad News:

On June 5th i received a 4a.m. phone call. One of those calls that puts a knot in your stomach as soon as you look at the phone. When I answered I could tell right away that Juan was crying. This was not good because i had never seen Juan cry. He went on to tell me that our good friend Mitchell Eddy was killed in an accident that night. Mitchell and his fiance were just out taking a joy ride on their new side by side. They drove up to a muddy spot in the road and to avoid it they started up a small 4 ft hill. Half way up the polaris flipped and landed on top of Mitchell. Just a freak accident....

Mitchell and I started hunting together our freshman year of high school. Living in small town TX it was a sin not to play football but Mitchell and I had better things to do. You see, football season got in the way of hunting season. When the bell rang our friends would head off to practice and we would head for the country. Wether it was checking hog traps, checking trail cameras, hanging deer stands, filling corn feeders, or just cruising the backroads looking at deer we had a great time together!
A few years later we went to the same college and almost every weekend we would drive home to go hunting. One of my favorite trips was when Mitchell and I went bear hunting with my uncle in New Mexico.

Mitchell was a great friend. I know he will be there looking over my shoulder for many seasons to come. Miss you buddy
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Good News:

It had been a rough 4 days and now I was on a plane back to Arizona. Later that evening I logged on to Monster Muleys, a good way to take my mind off of things. As usual, I looked at the new mexico forum and noticed the post "It's On!". Guys were talking about getting successful emails from New Mexico Game and Fish. Even though it was only the 8th I had totally forgot about the draw results being so close. I instantly clicked over to my email to find nothing. Disappointed I went back on MM to check out what other guys had drawn. Half way through the post one mm'er said his had gone to junk mail. I rushed back to my email. There, tucked away in the junk box, I had 2 emails from NMDGF!! My first thoughts were "awesome, I drew my elk and aoudad tags". I opened the first email and it was my aoudad tag. Opening the second one I almost fell out of my chair.
Congratulations! The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish is notifying you that you were successful in drawing a 2010 - 2011 hunting license for the following hunt code(s): IBX-1-525. The once-in-a-lifetime rifle hunt! I have never been this excited. I thanked Mitchell for the tag and started calling my friends.
 
Scouting Trip #1:

I feel extremely lucky to have drawn this hunt. I understand that guys spend many years applying for this tag and never get an opportunity to hunt ibex. This fall i applied for several hunts in 3 different states and this is my only tag. I am not complaining at all. If anything I am thankful! I can focus all of my time scouting and planning this once-in-a-lifetime hunt!

4th of July weekend....What better time to start the scouting. My wife and I both had 3 days off of work so we decided to take a camping trip. While most people were going to the nice, cool mountains to look at elk, we were going to the hot desert to look at goats!

We had a great time! I traveled most of the way around the mountain but never made it to the south end. We saw a total of 60+/- ibex. The majority of the nannies had babies and we got to see several nice billies. Most of them were too far for pictures, I did manage to get a few through the binos.

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Ibex Video #1:


My wife and I stopped at Spring Canyon state park to eat our lunch. When we were sitting at one of the tables she asked me "what kind of sound does an ibex make?". I wasn't sure but I told her just a regular goat sound. I also told her they are mostly quiet because of the predators in the area. Not one minute later we heard a goat! Way to go ibex, make a liar out of me! It was 2 nannies with their kids only 300 yards away. We both got a good laugh out of that.
Sunday night we parked on a hill and watched the fireworks over Deming. That was pretty cool.


I am trying to put my videos on Monster Hunt Clips but not having any luck. If there is a secret please pm me! thanks
 
New Boots:

It only took a couple of short hikes to realize my old Rocky boots just weren't going to cut it in the Floridas! They have been some great boots but the soles were gone and they were falling apart at the seems. I looked at several posts about boots and talked to a few different guys about what they use. The Danner pronghorn GTX is what i narrowed it down to. Ups dropped them off last week and I couldn't be happier. I was leery about ordering a boot without trying them on first, but it worked out fine. They fit comfy and it doesn't feel like they need much break-in.
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Exercise:

I keep reading all of these posts about how you guys are training for your upcoming hunts and I feel like a huge slacker! Not that I don't exercise, but some of you have intense workout routines. Quite frankly i'm jealous. Storm season (july/august) is my busiest time of year at work. I am constantly on my feet, lifting things, climbing in and out of bucket trucks, up and down ladders, and occasionally climbing power poles. Most of the time "work" is a very good "workout". One thing I do need to improve on is cardio so this past sunday I took a six mile hike in the mountains west of tucson. I plan on taking a hike every weekend and as work slows down 2-3 hikes a week.

It was nice to get out sunday morning. Everything is green from the recent rains.
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Storm damage at work
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Weather:

Technology can be a great thing. I downloaded the weather app on my phone today. Its pretty cool, I have Deming on my home screen so I can see how much rain the ibex are getting. I also watch the 10 day forecast just incase I want to make a quick scouting trip. One more way to stay informed when you live away from your hunting unit !
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Lake Time:

It was a good weekend to escape the heat for some fun and fishing with friends and family. The weather was nice and the water temp was just right. The kiddos caught several channel cat and a few largemouth.
The hardest part about being at the lake was knowing my friends were bear hunting only 30 minutes up the road!
We had a blast, here are some pics of the kids.

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Big Mistake:

For a couple of months now my wife has been planning to run a marathon for cancer awareness. This marathon was in northern arizona. I had the weekend off so, like a good husband, i went up to support her.........and to scout for my friend's archery bull hunt!
Saturday morning, at first light, i spotted a big herd of cows. I glassed for a couple of hours looking for a bull, but no luck. I think the flat was more of a rutting area and the bulls had not moved in yet. On my way to another glassing spot I stumbled across three bucks. They were bedded only 40 yards off the road. I stopped the truck scrambling for my camera. They walked to 50 yards, i snapped a few quick pictures, and they slowly trotted off. This was my first time to see a droptine muley. I was super excited so right away i sent the picture to a few friends. The first reply back on my phone was, "why didn't you shoot him!?". .......It was the opener of early archery season and my bow was in Tucson......Yep, I'm an idiot.

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how can i expect to shoot my first mule deer when i pull a stunt like this....
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I knew it was the first weekend of early archery because my friends were going to hunt coues deer down south....
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I feel reallllly stupid. Although i have convinced myself that if i had my bow i would have never seen these deer!

By the way, Flo had a great time on her run.
and i went home broken hearted
 
Here are a few more pictures from last weekend.

It's very colorful this time of year.
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Caelan spotted this doe and the doe spotted Dylan off to our right. Caelan also found a turkey feather.
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The boys had fun playing some mountain golf! Our holes were stumps, rocks, cow pies, flowers, trees, and many other things.
Dylan calling his shot
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Brandon probably aiming for Dylan!
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and you know we had to do some tree climbing
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We wanted to ask the guys for some honey but Caelan is allergic to bees.
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One of the locals getting gass! They got a kick out of this
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Dove Hunt:

Thursday evening September 2nd, Lance(AZhunter), Mason, Brandon, Dylan, and I went to try our luck at dove hunting. We returned to a spot that usually produces multiple limits year in and year out. Not so much this year, there was water everywhere and the birds were very scattered. We managed to knock down a few each and went home with a whopping total of 12! It was still a great time, there is just something special about the first dove hunt of the year. I can't wait to get out there again!

Mason and Brandon
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Scouting Trip #2:

Labor day weekend, another 3 days off work to go check out some ibex! On our last scouting trip we tent camped all weekend. This time we planned on making some long hikes so the wife requested a shower....and if that's all it takes to keep her interested it's well worth the 45 bucks a night. We did sweat our butts off and that shower was nice! She did a great job on all of the hikes, i only heard her complain once. I think it was the 2 rattlesnakes we came across that made her let out a few curse words...pretty sure i screamed like a little girl too.
The trip was a success. We found close to 100 head of ibex. The biggest herd was close to 30 and we saw many small groups all over the mountain. There was one bachelor herd with 8 billies in it. The rest of the herds had billies, ewes, and kids.
I met two different guys that were scouting for their son's youth tags. Mike, from Albuquerque had blown a sidewall on one of his new tires. Those roads on the south side are pretty rough. The tire wouldn't come off due to a locking lug nut so i gave him a lift back to town for a few parts. A quick trip to autozone and we were able to get his spare tire on. Mike was a real nice guy and i hope to make it back this month to help him with his son's youth hunt. The other kid with the youth tag was from Carlsbad.

It was green, green.... every time i checked the weather on my phone it was raining in the Floridas
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Man that rock was heavy
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Ripe pears were everywhere
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It didn't matter how far we hiked they were still 500+ yards away....my shirt was soaked after that hike
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It really made the trip having her with me. She was a trooper! snakes and all
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This is one of the nicer billies that we found...he tried to stay hidden but those big horns gave him away
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I have more ibex pictures and video from this scouting trip. I will post them as soon as they are downloaded.
 
Here are a few more pictures from our Labor Day scouting...
All of these photos were taken through my binoculars so the quality is not the best.

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I have some really neat video of these ibex and also a close call with 2 rock rattlers. I still need to edit the video but be looking for it in the next couple days.
 
Elk Hunting:

Two of my good friends (Matt and Neil) were lucky enough to draw archery bull tags here in Arizona. They drew the same unit that i hunted two years prior so i was excited to get back up there. Man, was it a good weekend! The weather was perfect, the bulls were screaming, and there was no shortage of action! The guys hunted friday with matt passing on a 5x5 at 50 yards. Friday morning they helped a fellow hunter load a nice bull he had shot over water. I arrived friday night around 9pm, my arrival should have been sooner but when i hit the unit boundary i stopped every mile to listen for bugles. Saturday morning had us 50 yards from a 330 bull but no shot opportunity. Saturday evening was very eventful, i will post a video of the action shortly. Sunday morning was more close calls! We had cows at 8 yards but the bull was just out of range. He was a nice 340 bull, him and 2 other bulls bugled until 930 that morning.
It was an excellent weekend of elk hunting! and the best part is they have 11 more days to "seal the deal". Sadly, i had to come back to Tucson for work. I plan on going back up friday if they haven't filled their tags. I'm saving my vacation time for this ibex hunt.
Good luck guys, hope you kill a monster!

Loading down the red Honda. Elk huntin' rig!
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Saturday evening was one of the best nights of elk hunting that i have ever experienced.
Mason, Neil, and Matt had been glassing this ridge for the past 2 nights. Both nights they found bulls and they fed down in the same general area. So now we have them patterned, saturday evening Matt and I made our way up to "the spot" several hours before dark. The wind was swirling like crazy and we bumped some cows on the way up. We were bummed but still optimistic for the evening. Arriving at the top Matt heard some bugles on the other side of the mountain. Plan B. Elk are bugling, go after them. 3/4 of a mile later we were in the action. What we thought was 2 bulls bugling turned into 12 or 14! It sounded like 3 herd bulls with cows and several other satellite bulls. The elk were still very high but making their way down. We needed to be in the bottom where these elk were traveling to but a spike was keeping us from moving further down.The spike was fun to watch. He came to 8 yards, made a half circle at 50 yards, came back to 15 yards, and finally left. While waiting for the spike to leave we glassed up 3 black bears on the opposite ridge, which kept us there longer...
Finally, we made it to the bottom where we thought the elk would filter. The bulls were still going nuts, bugling every 3 seconds, and heading our way. Cows and raghorns started passing by at 20 yards. The elk passing to our right new something was up. They never barked but they didnt stick around very long. The big bull sounded like he was headed straight for us but light was fading fast. Well, the bull moved too slow and the sun went away too fast. I could see his silhouette through my binoculars as he stood 55 yards out.....too dark for a shot. We sat there in the dark for another half hour as the elk filtered by us. When most of the traffic was gone we snuck away.
I will remember that evening for a long time. There were so many bugles i could hear them in my head when i went to sleep that night. It was also fun watching the bears feed along that ridge.
Here is some of the footage from the hunt. The bulls sound close, they just didn't show themselves.

 
Bull Down:

Matt connected with a great first bull today! He said it has been a long week of hunting and the hard work finally paid off. He is not a MMer yet but maybe i can get him to join and share his story. Here is a picture he took with his cell, more pictures to come....

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Congrats Matt! Great first bull
They are guessing him around 330, nothing official yet
 
Shooting:

Sunday morning, before daylight, Lance and i loaded our gear and hit the desert for some practice shooting. We wanted to get out there early because the temperature in Tucson was to be a miserable 105 that day. Getting out late meant fighting the heat waves and the other 500 weekend shooters that slept in.
Lance took his 300wsm and also an old 22 to plink around with. I had my remington 308 that i am taking on the ibex hunt. We fired a few shots at 100 yards to make sure the guns were still on. Everything looked good so we backed up to 300 and that's where we shot for the rest of the morning. It was only us for the first 2 hours and then the crowd started to show up. We cleaned up our mess and headed for the house.

Remington 700 .308/ Burris 4.5-14x44
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I love that Lead Sled, it takes out most of the recoil and lets you get dead solid
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I need to start practicing some steep angle shots.....or buy one of those fancy rangefinders
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300 yards at 14x zoom
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300 yards. There was a steady 8-10mph crosswind. According to the ballistics it should travel this far but i plan on doing a lot more shooting before my November hunt. I will be practicing more long range shots but i plan on taking my goat at less than 200!!
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Youth Hunt:

Friday 9/24,

The workday drug on forever.... As soon as it was over I jumped in the truck and I was eastbound on Interstate 10. I had earlier plans to make a scouting trip during the youth season, mainly to see how the goats act when pressured. I have been in contact with Mike Corn (from Albuquerque) since my last scouting trip. Mike's son Devin was one of the 15 lucky kids that drew a youth tag. Mike and Devin were kind enough to invite me along on their adventure. My plans of staying in the bottom glassing turned into tagging along and watching the action first hand! The 3 hour drive, that i have become very familiar with, went by pretty quick. Two short stops in Deming, one for a Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich and the other for a bag of ice. I arrived at the mountain just as the sun was going down. A quick change out of my work clothes and i was on my way up to camp. They had been there since morning and made a camp on top of the mountain. It was windy on top and the full moon was shining bright through the clouds. This was the first time i had met Devin, he was pretty quiet but you could tell he was excited for the following day. Mike and i stayed up until 1 a.m. swapping stories and trying to make a game plan for the mornings hunt.

Looking back to the west when i arrived at the Floridas
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Looking to the east
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If you look at the bottom right that is Gem peak in the moonlight
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Youth Hunt

Saturday, 9/25

This video tells the story of opening day...


A few things to add-
Devin is one tough 11 year-old. On this day we hiked several miles in some rough, nasty terrain and he never slowed down. He had so much prickly pear in his legs he looked like a porcupine!
I lost the handle to my tripod on the way up friday. It was a little hard to glass with the high winds up top. I managed to find it late saturday night.

You don't want to miss what happens on sunday.
 
Youth Hunt (Day 2)

Everything happened fast but i managed to get the kill shot on video.

A big "thank you" goes out to Mike and Devin for inviting me on their hunt. I had a blast! Congratulations to Devin for taking a great trophy. He worked extremely hard for that billy.

I lost my mic windscreen on our way to gym peak on saturday. The high winds make the audio a little scratchy.
 
Bear Hunt:

Last friday (10/1) was the opener for bear season here in Arizona. I know this is going to sound repetitive but.....Jeremy and I had the truck loaded and left straight from work. (It seems like every friday we are waiting for the workday to end so we can leave town) Lance is lucky enough to have some vacation days left so he left out on thursday. We were going to the area that i had glassed 3 different bears during the archery elk season. Friday evening Jeremy and I rolled into camp with a half hour left to glass. Right away we found a sow with 3 cubs. They entertained us until dark along with 50+ head of elk. Later that night we met up with Lance to make a gameplan for the morning.

Saturday morning we started out glassing and first thing found a nice boar. Problem...the bear was over 800 yards away and quickly making his way to the timber. There was no chance we were catching up with him.
We had high hopes for the evening hunt, it was a slight overcast and the temps were dropping. Lance came down with some sort of stomach virus that kept him at camp.....or in the woods with toilet paper in hand...lol. Around noon Jeremy and I made our way up to a vantage point, close to where the bears were spotted. This is when the weather started to get bad. First came the high winds, then some rain, and even a little hail. Luckily it didn't stick around long. It cleared of nice other than the wind. We glassed until dark with no sign of a bear. Jeremy did find a nice elk shed...1000 yards away. That night we cooked up some delicious elk fajitas. The weather blew in again and it was pretty funny squeezing 3 bed cots under a 10x10 easy up. Lightning was cracking all around us and our cover kept wanting to take flight. It was a long night.

Sunday's plan was for a quick morning hunt and then head for home. We hiked up to where Jeremy glassed the shed horn (also where the sow was friday night). Our goal was to find that shed and maybe run into a bear. We searched high and low for that thing finding 2 other sheds along the way. Just when we were giving up, i found it! That was pretty cool.
All in all it was a good weekend. We got to see some bears and found some decent horns.

Jeremy is sold on the swarovski/tripod setup. He is starting a swaro savings fun like we all did at one point in time. You remember...$5 here $20 there.... anything to get some good glass!
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Lance with his TP close by
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This is one of the reasons Jeremy wants swarovskis...finding his shed
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The right one is from the picure
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This picture may not look like much, but for me, it's one of the best photos i have ever seen!

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Over the last 10 years or so i have had the opportunity to hunt with many youngsters. At age 17-21 i worked as a guide in texas. Almost every weekend i helped kids to hunt whitetails, hogs, or turkeys. For many of them it was their first hunt.
Since then i have enjoyed hunting with my little cousins, family friends, and even people i meet out in the field.
The kid photos from earlier posts are of my second family! I have been friends with their parents for many years and the kids are pretty much my nieces and nephews! If you have watched any of my youtube videos you can tell these boys are some javelina huntin fools!
As for my official nephews and nieces, they are still too young to hunt. I look forward to the day they can hunt with uncle Chase!!!

I am now 27 years old and that little peanut in the picture is my first baby! It's hard to put into words all of the thoughts and emotions running through my head. I guess the best way to say this is....."meet my future !!!"
 
Work/Play:

For the past week i have been working on a transmission tower near Luna, NM. The structure sits right in the middle of unit 15. It was 25 miles of dirt road to reach our jobsite. Each mornings drive was full of elk, antelope, deer, squirrels, and even a yote or two. A muzzy bull season started that saturday so we were able to see several trophies hanging along the road.

The old structure in the back was on the edge of a cliff and being washed away.
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I wish they would let me take the crane on scouting trips!
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Me on the left
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We saw 14 bulls the day i took this pic.
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#11
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This little guy better wise up. Everyday he stood 20 yards or less
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Coues Deer Hunt:

The 2010 AZ draw left me without a mule deer tag, once again. I'm not sure why they wont give me a strip tag with only 4 points??? The great thing about living in southern az is their are always leftover coues tags and very close to home. This year i picked up a 30b tag. I had never hunted this unit for whitetails, only one day of archery muley hunting a couple years back. I had a few tips from friends on where to go, but for the most part i was going in blind with no prior scouting trips.

On saturday the 23rd i left the house around 3:30 am. My plans were to hunt hard the whole day and go home that night. A half hour before daylight i parked the truck, threw on my pack, and started my hike. The full moon sure helped me find my way around not knowing the area. As the sun was coming up i was finishing the climb to my glassing point. It was a chilly 37 that morning, not normal for an october whitetail hunt. Right away i found deer moving around. 3 doe, 4 doe, 6 doe, doe everywhere..... Finally i found a buck, he was a small forky. Shortly after i noticed there was a father and son glassing below me. They were only 100 yards away and i could tell they were talking on the radio to someone else. I put my glasses back on the small buck and ,sure enough, 2 more guys were moving in on him. 2 shots rang out, a few pictures were taken, and the deer was being drug down the hill. It was neat to watch it all unfold. After that i started glassing further south on the ridge. It didn't take long and i had located 3 more bucks. Two small 3 points and another 2 point. Once again 2 guys were making a move on them. I'm not sure where these guys came from. I watched a little longer and found another hunter moving in from a different direction. This place was way too busy so i slipped out of there. As i was hiking out i heard 3 more shots.

When i got back to the truck i ate a quick lunch and was off to find some new country. That afternoon found me up high on the mountain in the thick oak trees. Glassing was limited to small openings between the trees and one grassy hillside. I watched one doe and fawn for an hour or so. This was a good sign because i was not sure if there were even deer in the area. At last light 3 bucks stepped out. I could tell one was an "ok" buck, the other two i could just make out horns. They were 450 yards away and it was already too dark for a shot. I decided to sleep in the truck and give them a try the next morning.

I woke up sunday morning with cramps from sleeping in the back seat. There they were! 40 yards from where i had left them the night before. A quick confirmation he was a nice 3x3 and i made my way up the hill. When i made it to the 250 yard mark i studied the bucks a little more. The other two bucks were young 3x3's. The mature buck walked into the clearing and i made the shot. The steep hill was covered in grass and was full of loose rock beneath it. Every step was a battle to stay on my feet! I made it to the buck, quickly quartered him up, and hiked out before the temps got up there.

It was a fun hunt, and a quick hunt. I dropped him off at the butcher tonight. Jalapeno/cheese summer sausage is what i look forward to the most! I apologize for the lack of pictures, I wanted to get the meat out before it got too warm.

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Update: October 25-November 12:

Well, it has been a slow couple of weeks. Slow as far as hunting goes. During my coues deer hunt 3 weeks ago i managed to loose my rangefinder. It was a trusty old Nikon 440 that I have carried for several years. As I was making the stalk on my deer i slipped it into my front pocket with the neck strap hanging out. Somewhere in the thick brush it was snagged and fell out with me not knowing. I searched 2 hours for that thing and no luck...

With my ibex hunt around the corner i started shopping for a new rangefinder. I narrowed it down to the Nikon rifle hunter 1000 but everyone was out of stock. I definitely wanted one with the angle compensation, this would be a big help in the steep country these goats live in. I hit the jackpot when i found a new, still in the plastic wrapper, Leupold RX 1000 on craigslist. The guy sold it to me for a hundred bucks off list price. I was a happy camper!

Here are a few other things that happened in the last 3 weeks.....
We cut firewood
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Scouted for deer
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Nice Coues
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Lance shot this nice bear....and rubbed it in because i did not go....
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Brandon shot this nice Coues Buck
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Dylan shot this nice Coues Buck
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Carved a pumpkin
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I have one last scouting trip before my hunt starts, stay tuned.....!
 
Hunt Info:

My Once-in-a-Lifetime ibex hunt starts on Saturday November 27 and ends on Sunday December 12. It is going to be a looooong week at work, counting down the days.... Thursday i will eat turkey dinner with my wife's family and do some last minute packing. Friday morning i will be leaving early early to go setup camp and look around one last time. My good friend Dustin will be meeting me in Deming friday evening. He is traveling over from texas and is hunting with me for 5 days. Lance will also be coming over from Tucson to help for the weekend.

5 more days fellas!!! I really hope all of the work i put in pays off. I have spent several long weekends in NM over the last few months. Every trip to the Floridas has had its challenges, but every trip has also been a great experience.

For those of you who might be interested here is more information on the New Mexico Ibex:

http://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/publications/documents/spring_canyon.pdf
 
One Last Scouting Trip:

I left the house at 2 a.m. saturday morning for one more quick scouting adventure. Back during the youth hunt i put out a trail camera and i was anxious to see if i had anything on it. I didn't see the camera being a benefit for scouting, but it would give me a good reason to hike to the top again.

I arrived at the mountain just as the sun was coming up. I made myself a bagel and orange juice, setup my tripod, and started to glass. It wasn't long until i spotted a big group. There were at least 12 billies in the group and two of them looked to be very nice. They showed some signs of what looked like pre-rut. I watched a couple billies push each other around and i watched 5 different billies take turns rubbing one tree. I glassed them for a while (too far for pictures) and then moved on to more country. I found a couple more small groups as the morning went on.

After 2 hours of glassing i decided it was time to go check my camera. It is about a 3 mile hike from the bottom to where i put the camera. I brought my choc lab "Bella" with me for company. An hour later we made it to the top. It was time for a break so i found a tall rock to do some more glassing from. As soon as i put the binoculars to my eyes i couldn't believe what i was looking at.....a LION was walking down the mountain! I followed it down for 100 yards or so and it stopped on a big rock. It started licking on something and come to find out it was a 2nd lion! They sat there on the rock for 2-3 minutes and a 3rd lion steps out from behind a tree....Wow! 3 full grown cats in one canyon. This was awesome. I watched them for over an hour wishing i had a tag. A tag and a rifle....

This is when things got interesting. I was watching these cats from the shade of a big rock and at the same time my lab was walking around checking things out. She wasn't far away, maybe 20 yards, but she was moving about. The lions were 400 yards from us and all of the sudden one of them catches Bella's movement. It watched her for 5 minutes and decided she looked like a good meal. The cat started down the mountain at a quick, stealthy pace. To get to bella and i it would have to go down 200 yards to the bottom and then up 200 yards to where we were. I followed the cat all the way to the bottom and then lost it. I immediately made my way out onto a rock where i could see 180 degrees below me. I sat there for a half hour and no sign of the big cat. Bella started to get nervous, she was wimpering and couldn't sit still. I'm not sure if she smelled it, caught a glimpse of it, or was just sensing my nervousness. We sat there for over an hour and i never saw it again. Meanwhile the other 2 cats were still across the canyon. I took some video of this unfolding but i will tell you about that later. It was now midday and i still had another mile to hike for my camera.

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I finally made it over to the trail camera around 2pm. I could tell from a distance it was not hanging right. It looked like it had been knocked around a little. I brought along my wife's digital camera hoping it would take the same memory card so i could see the results instantly. No such luck...they were different cards so now i was going to have to wait. I packed up the camera and started back to the truck. On the way out i could still see one cat laying in the sun. The hike down was an easy one.
Now it was time to go find something to eat in town and also find a way to look at these pictures. I took the card to walmart and plugged it into one of the photo printers. Here are a few of them....

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I was excited about the few pictures i had seen so on sunday morning i hiked up to hang the camera in a different spot. On the way up i ran into 6 nannies, they blew at me for several minutes and then ran off. I also spotted a group of javelinas not too far from us. Of course my dog spotted them too and had to go check things out. She curiously walked closer towards the pig. The pig whipped around and with no hesitation it puffed up like a balloon and charged her. Bella wanted nothing to do with this and came hauling ass back to me with the piggy not far behind. I am getting this whole thing on video but when they are heading for me i start to get a little worried. I went for my pistol but the pig saw me and bolted before i even needed to fire a warning shot.

When i made it to the top of the mountain i found this skull. One of the horns was stuck up in the rocks.

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It was another great scouting trip until the very end...... Sunday afternoon i was just getting back to the truck from my hike when it happened. I had my video camera in one hand and was reaching for the tailgate latch with the other. As soon as the tailgate came open Bella jumped into the back of the truck knocking my canon xha1 video camera out of my hands.... and now it wont turn on.

I took it to the camera shop on monday and it will be $650 to fix it. Not only that, they can not get the parts in for 3 weeks.....CRAP... so I ordered a small camera to video my hunt this coming weekend. When i get my good one back from the shop i will post the video from this scouting trip.
 
Friday 11/26:

The scouting trips are over....turkey dinner has come and gone.....Now it's time to do some hunting!

I like to keep up with all of the other adventures and i have to say you guys/gals are very gifted at telling your story. Me on the other hand, God didn't give me the gift of story telling! Or maybe i should have payed more attention through high school and college...either way...

One thing i do enjoy is videography. I'm not too good at this either but I love taking the camera with me everywhere i go. I hope all of you that look at my thread also look at the videos. This is my way of telling the story!

Here is a quick summary of the 'day before opener' and be sure to watch the videos:

3a.m., the truck is loaded once again. This time I am loaded for more than just a weekend scouting trip. This time I am loaded down for two weeks worth of ibex hunting!

I have food, water, camping gear, cooking gear, camo, gun, ammo, rangefinder, binos, spotting scope, backpack, boots, cameras,.....and on and on..
I think i put everything i own for hunting and camping in the back of the truck!

"On the road again" for one last drive from Tucson to Deming. Although this drive was a little different than the ones before. I have a rifle and a tag this time!

I made a few stops in Deming (one to buy my habitat stamp) and then it was off to the hills. I wanted to get my gear to the top of the mountain early so when Dustin arrived i could help with his. He was making a nine hour drive from Texas to help me with this hunt. That's a good friend huh!

It took me three trips to get everything up the mountain, not counting Dustin's stuff. We could have made it just fine with less but why not be comfortable...

Here are 2 of the loads!
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk286/cchr111/568246387_photobucket_27363_.jpg

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk286/cchr111/568246387_photobucket_27364_.jpg

Dustin arrived shortly after i dropped off my last load. It was good to see my old friend! You may recognize Dustin from one of my first posts, he was my best man back in May.

We shot the sh!t for a few minutes, i gave him the rundown on where i had seen goats during prior scouting trips. I was actually looking at some goats when he drove up so he got to see his first ibex right away. He was amazed at where they call home!

We loaded down the rhino one more time with Dustin's gear. (Beverly Hillbilly Style)
It was a rough drive to the top and i'm not sure how i made it 4 times without a flat.
The day was now coming to an end so we dropped his stuff and went to look around for the last hour.

A decent group of goats made their presence known on one of the peaks. It was a beautiful sight to see them skylined as the sun went down. There appeared to be 2 shooters in the group. One very wide billy and one other with good length. Dustin was impressed watching them as they played king of the mountain. So was I. That's where we want to be in the morning!

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk286/cchr111/568246387_photobucket_27369_.jpg

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk286/cchr111/568246387_photobucket_27370_.jpg

Our camp was meant to be a Columbia tent and a 10x10 easy up.. This all changed when nobody had laid claim to the old miners cabin. It is an old rock cabin with broken windows, holes in the ceiling, and a squeeky wooden door. But this place was perfect! Inside it had 3 old metal spring cots and outside it had an awesome porch with a great view of Deming! I had stayed here during the youth hunt with Mike and Devin. I thought for sure someone would claim it for the rifle hunt.

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk286/cchr111/568246387_photobucket_27367_.jpg

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk286/cchr111/568246387_photobucket_27368_.jpg

After dark we finished making camp and then cooked up some delicious tacos.
We checked and double checked our packs for the following morning.

We lied awake in our spring beds catching up on the new stuff and reminiscing the old. It was a sleepless night for me thinking of the morning hunt. but the sound of wind blowing in the broken window and 'mr heater' on the floor were music to my ears!
 
The Morning Hunt:

I am going to appologize in advance for such a short post...
My wife and I are on the road visiting family for the Holidays and she is laughing at me as I try to find a computer to complete this adventure!

Opening morning was full of action. We were seeing several goats and some really nice ones. Dustin spotted what we thought was a shooter at 400 yards. The big billy was laying on a rock with his horns in the sky. My first thought was to shoot him! We watched him at 400 yards for quite a while trying to decide if he was a first morning shooter. The billy stood up and slowly started to come our way. He ended up close....very close!!

TAKE A LOOK AT THE VIDEO!!! http://www.monsterhuntclips.com/video/1285/Ibex-10-The-Hunt

Merry Christmas to you and your families.

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk286/cchr111/568246387_photobucket_28547_.jpg
 
Afternoon Hunt:

As the day went on we found more great billies. One of the billies was in a large group of ibex but he definitely stood out! He was wide and massive...exactly what i was looking for. Dustin and I were making a gameplan as the rutting billy harassed a nanny.

At the same time, Lance had arrived to camp and was watching another wide goat. It was only the first day so we packed our gear and made our way to the other billy.

We made the steep hike back up the mountain and this is where it all came together!!

Take a look!!

*** http://www.monsterhuntclips.com/video/1287/Ibex-11-The-Hunt ***
 
Final Post:

First and foremost I want to thank Dustin and Lance for all of the help. I could not have done it without them.

It was truly an unforgettable experience. Beginning to End... from getting married, buying a house, losing a best friend, and finding out we are having a baby (which is going to be a little girl!!!) These things sound far from hunting but they played a huge part in this adventure.

New Mexico has great opportunity for hunters. I would recommend this hunt to anyone willing to put forth the effort. It is a physically demanding hunt with great reward!

Thank you for tagging along on this adventure and watching the videos!



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