anyone see any deer in GMU 37 for the second rifle hunt?

[Trad Bow 1979]

I hunted the second rifle hunt in 37 recently near Ancho and Jacks Peak. I was dissapointed at how few of deer anyone was seeing. It seemed like there were more elk seen than deer. I think for the whole hunt I heard two shots, never saw a deer hanging in anyones camp. I found it was hard to hunt because there are so many roads in that area. It is hard to find a good spot when you have road hunters in every direction.I also talked to some people that hunted down by Capitan and said they saw nothing. I find it hard to believe that Game and Fish would issue 600 tags unless there was a healthy population. Or was I and about 200 people in the wrong part of 37? I am interested in any opinions you all may have. Personally, ill never hunt there again just because of all of the road hunters.

 

[NMHUNTER]

i hunted the first rifle hunt. we hunted the wilderness on top of the capitans, we hunted lower around lincoln, and every where in between. finally got permission to go on a private ranch in Arabela, and filled 2 of 3 tags. it was definatley discouraging seeing only 3 does the first day and a half. saw one little bucks and 5 does in about 4 days. i believe the elk have pushed alot of the deer out. every where we hunted was covered in elk and sign. also saw lots of coyotes and a couple lions. i think predators and the elk have killed the hunting in 37

 

[hunt1]

Search my thread (trail cam pics) from back at the end of August. Those were unit 37 bucks.

 

[hunt1]

http://www.monstermuleys.info/dcforum/DCForumID34/4562.html

 

[NMHUNTER]

those are somenice bucks. i was seeing deer everywhere in august and september. i had located some really nice bucks at the end of september. i think after the elk and deer muzzy hunt they got pushed into the private land. i had found the most deer on the north end of the capitans, but it was loaded with hunters so we went to plan b and hunted the top. usually we have no problems filling our tags in 37 but it was tougher this year. my friends killed a big buck 180 class for the muzzy hunt. hopefully next year will be better

 

[Trad Bow 1979]

I also noticed that a lot of the tanks on the National Forest were dry as a bone. The West, South, and Hoecradle tanks near Jacks Peak were dry. I have no doubt that there are some nice bucks in that area, as few and far between it is to find them. But I really want to know is How does Game and Fish determine to issue out 2 rifle hunts with 600 tags a piece. Do they really think that there is a large population of deer in that GMU, or do they sell that many because its more money for the state? Heck, when I go elk hunting in GMU 51 I always see a couple of deer, yet they only issue 100 deer tags for 1 rifle hunt. Every time I go fishing in GMU 6A I see a few deer and again, only about 100 tags. How does Game and Fish determine the tag quotas?

 

[cosmic_cowboy]

They don't have a clue..... Quotas are based on another States data

CC

 

[fishhuntgolfgeek]

I was in 37 during the muzzy hunt and noticed the herd head count was down from last year. I don't know if it's due to disease or drought. But there was definately a noticeable difference.

 

[UngulateFoe]

Just got back from 37 for the late archery elk hunt. Saw a ton of deer track just about everywhere. On the second day my buddy glassed up 5 does and one decent buck about 1500 yds away. After 10 minutes they disappeared into the thick. Later that day we ran into about 5 does in some dense PJ. It seems the deer are there, just difficult to see/find. Thats some of thickest country Ive ever hunted in, and difficult to quietly stalk in too given the oak understory.

The Beast is Dead, Long Live the Beast.

-The Nuge