LAST EDITED ON Apr-04-08 AT 09:05PM (MST)[p]Great point Mike. Mexico was with a doubt tuff hunting this year across the board regardless of the outfitter. I do believe there are, however, a few things a guy can do to stack the odds in his favor so that despite a down year, he still has a better than average chance to shoot a good buck. After my experience last January i have thought a lot about deer hunting in MX being worth the $$ and it is definitely a tuff call. I have been there twice now and both times were with the same outfitter, Desert Trophies. In 2007 my 2 buddies and I wacked 3 good deer and had a good experience, hence our reason for going back in 2008. I need to be fair to our outfitter in that i do not believe he intentionally planned on putting us on a bad ranch. Certainly more due diligence on his part would have helped as i do not think he would have ever leased the ranch had he personally went out and scouted the property before hand. I do believe that our outfitter is a good guy but has made some mistakes that will cost him mine and my 2 other friends business in future years. Don't tell me to drive back to Hermosillo so we can go hunt another ranch and then send us packing once we get there! There are a few Desert Trophies Outfitters in MX and my intentions are not to speak ill of the one we went with only to educate the hard working hunting fool so he does not end up burning his hard earned money on a highly anticipated hunt that turns out to be a bust. #1. Do your DD. Call references from past years, the more the better of both hunters who killed and did not kill. #2 Make absolutely sure the outfitter has leased and hunted the ranch you will be hunting on before and that it is not new to him. Think about it, if ranch is a great ranch, the outfitter will resign with the rancher for another year and will absolutely not let it go. This is were we went wrong. I would call hunters who specifically hunted the ranch that you will be hunting on and ask them of their experience. #3 There is such a thing as over hunting a ranch though. While an outfitter may have had a particular ranch for several years it does not mean that its a great ranch. MX Government is notorious for issuing more tags for a ranch than what the deer population on that ranch can sustain. Find out how big the ranch is and how many hunters it has had on it in past years. This may sound contradictory to my second point but you need to make sure the ranch has been appropriately managed. #4 Make sure your ranch has not been hunted previous to your trip. As i mentioned, one ranch could very possibly receive 8 tags. As MX has 4/5 hunting weeks, it is possible your ranch could have already been hunted prior to your arrival. Where most ranches are not that big, this could be a bad deal.
There are more things a guy can and should do to ensure a quality experience. The bottom line is hunting in MX is no different than hunting here, its hunting and there are no guarantees. For me, had i followed my own advice, i think i could have avoided the bad experience we had and could have possibly come home with a wall hanger. Instead i trusted the outfitter would take care of me as i was a repeat client and put me on a good ranch. But when you are booking 100+ plus hunters a year you will inevitably have a mix of bad ranches, some good ones and a few exceptional ones. Don't trust in your outfitter to watch out for you, do your home work and put the odds in your favor because at the end of the day its your 9K that is being spent! If anyone would like more details you are welcome to PM me.
got the fever