On my way home to NC with my friend and oldest boy (his first trip west for a hunt at 8 yrs old). I put in for the 32 rifle hunt because I’ve hunted the unit back in 2015 or so and had a great time. We had 2 tags for this hunt and never had a round in a chamber. We got there early enough to glass the night before the opener and found a 3x3.
Once the hunt started, we never saw a legal buck. We saw 80 does and fawns over 3.5 days of hunting. We had to head home early due to Covid in both mine and buddy’s family.
I can not believe how different this unit is than it was even 5 yrs ago. It used to be a fun hunt where finding a big deer might be hard but you’d see lots of deer and have a high success rate.
Is this trend statewide due to poor management from the NMDGF? I’m blown away by how bad it was this hunt.
Not a lot will agree with me on this, and that is fine. This is my opinion based on my personal data collection and experiences. Personally, the biggest problem is predators. The past two years I've set out a good lot of game cams in the Gila, and there are A LOT of cats roaming the mesas and hills. Much more than I expected. The prey to predator ratio is really bad in the areas I've stepped foot in. During my hunt in 2020, I watched through my binos a pack of coyotes attempt to take down a doe. It was like watching the Nature channel. I saw the whole thing from start to finish: the stalk, the attack, etc. The deer didn't even attempt to run. It fought, as it knew if it ran it was toast. There are some MONSTER coyotes in that place that travel in packs of 4 or 5 or more animals. I've talked to ranchers who have had to shoot cats that have taken down their livestock. I've been up in GMU 52 and caught cow elk up there with their throats completely ripped out, flesh hanging. I've seen all this, and I don't get out all that much - 3-4 scouting trips per year and the hunt itself. I can't imagine the devastation I'd see if I was out there all the time.
With that said, the state has completely failed at properly controlling predators. I tell people and the "wolves belong" lot that as soon as humans stepped foot here, we threw the balance out of wack. On top of that, the landscape here in New Mexico is extremely fragile and with ranching is unable to sustain large herds of big game to support a healthy population of predators.
Now we are faced with an ammo shortage and all predator hunting is toast, they are talking about introducing jaguars, and the wolves are at an all time high in population. Let me tell you, I've read the scientific studies of mountain lion diet in the Davis Mountains in Texas. They eat a lot of meat. Now they removed the population cap here. Definitely not a good look.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think the problem is solely wolves. The problem is a high density of cats, the added pressure from wolves, and pressure from large packs of coyotes. If they want more wolves, they need to reduce the population of cats plain and simple.
This girl hunts the Diamond Creek area in the Gila. I can tell you where about 5 other cats hunt regularly. This girl been eating good.