NM Unit 34 question

[AZbowhntr]

I will be hunting in unit 34 this Nov. I will be with a friend that grew up in Alamogordo and his dad that worked for the Forest Service there. They have a few good places picked out. I have been looking at topos and I see a lot of what are marked as ranches. How much of this unit is public land and how is the deer population? Just curious. Thanks

 

[NM_Muley_Hunter]

LAST EDITED ON Sep-24-04 AT 12:42PM (MST)[p]Most of the unit is national forest land. However, some of it is hard to get to because of private property surrounding the road. Deer densities depend on what part of the unit you are hunting in. The area around Pinon/Pinon Draw (the southeast part of the unit) probably has the highest densities, but it also has the highest hunter densities. I'm talking about hunters camped every 100 yards on the roads. Same goes for Mule Canyon (south of highway 82 about 10 miles east of Mayhill). It is unbelievable.

Outside of the national forest land, there are some small patches of BLM/state land, but those get hit pretty hard too. If you want to get a better idea of the amount and location of the private property in the area, get the BLM map (for the Alamogordo quadrangle).

Overall, there are quite a few deer in the unit, but not many big ones. In 8 or so years of hunting and scouting up there, I think I've seen one that would go about 28 inches wide, a couple that would go over 25 inches, and a bunch of smaller bucks (of course, I've only seen most of these outside of the hunting season). I think the combination of high hunting pressure and not the best genetics keeps many of the deer from growing large racks.

I'll be going up there some time in October for scouting again, then hunting deer Nov. 13-15 and elk Dec 4-8. What hunt are you going on? If you have any more questions, feel free to post here or e-mail me.

 

[jamaro]

All you NR better hunt NM while you can.. WE are going to a draw for deer... I LOVE IT.....
j-dawg

I hope you can help us when I need help for my sheep hunt next year.

 

[AZbowhntr]

NM, thanks for the reply. I will be hunting Nov 3-5. Hopefully it won't be quite as bad as the later hunt on the weekend. Supposedly the guys I'll be with know the area really well. I used to live in NM while I was in the AF, so I know somewhat about the size to expect.

So is NM going to draw for rifle with otc archery still or is everything going to be draw? Or are they still deciding? Again, thanks for the replies.

 

[sandhillhunter]

The entire state will be a draw for deer.

 

[rost495]

I take it that its a draw and hunting only for residents from your post?

I see nothing wrong with the draw. It normally only helps things greatly.

Though in unit 34 the genetics for large deer are not there. According to my sources. Though it won't be bad to let the young ones live enough to become 20-25 inch 4x4s. And the new 3 point rule this year should help out some.

Guess I'll enjoy it this year only. Ya'll enjoy the results of no NR hunters! I guess I started to try to draw an elk tag for 34 a few years too late (

Jeff

 

[nmelk13]

It will be a draw for nr's and res. But if you know someone with private land you can get a lisence but are stuck to his land only. I wonder what kind of allocation they are going to do. Are they going to use the same qoutas they do for elk??? Or are they gonna do it like Oryx where it is an even pot?

 

[Curlee]

AZbowhntr,

Their right on about it being crowded in that area. I've hunted the area for 5 year and it always is. However when I take off in the hills I very seldom run into someone.I will attemt to attach a photo of the best Buck I've taken in the area. He was taken about 1 mile off of pinon draw near long canyon. If you want you can take long canyon until it dead ends and thats a pretty good spot to set up camp. I have never seen anyone camp in the canyon except me. It gets pretty rough if you get rain or snow. So be sure to have 4WD or chains.

http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=3444750093

Curlee