SDBugler
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My 15 year old son Spencer drew one of the youth ibex tags this past summer. Needless to say we were both very excited to have this great opportunity to hunt such a unique animal. However, there was one glitch in drawing this tag, and that was the fact that I had also drawn a Colorado mountain goat tag and both seasons opened on the same weekend. I had also drawn one of the few non-resident tags for the first rifle elk season in unit 16D. To add to the mix Spencer and I had also drawn muzzy antelope tags in units 50/52. With all these tags and limited vacation time, scouting time would be pretty limited for the ibex and goat hunts.
Luckily, I was able to take a 5 week break from work and this allowed me to spend the week prior to the ibex and goat seasons and split the time scouting for both hunts. I arrived in Deming midmorning on Wednesday before the season and spent the rest of the day driving around the mountain and scouting from the base and checking out access points. That afternoon I was able to locate a couple small herds of nannies and kids but no mature billies.
On Thursday I hiked to the top of the mountains to see if I could locate a herd of billies from above. After working my way along the ridgeline for about a half hour I was finally able to locate a herd of 9 mature billies.
Thursday night I drove back up to Albuquerque and picked up Spencer at the airport at midnight. We arrived back at Deming and got an hour and a half of sleep before heading back to the mountain.
Friday morning we climbed to the top of the mountain and headed a different direction down the ridgeline. Looking back across the canyon, we located the same herd of ibex that I had found Thursday. Some nannies and kids had joined up with the billies bringing the herd size to 23. The herd was in was in the same location as the day before, so we felt comfortable that they would be there again the next morning when the season opened.
We decided to spend the day on the mountain and watch to see what the herd did during the day and where they would go in the evening. With temperatures in the upper 90?s, it was too hot to do much climbing around so we found a good spot with a little bit of shade and caught up on some rest.
Early in the afternoon we started to see more activity on the roads around the base of the mountain as other hunters began to show up. We got disappointed when we watched three groups of hunters drive ATV?s loaded with camping gear up an ATV trial toward the mining cabin at the top of the mountain. These were not small father/son groups but large groups of 3, 4, and 5. Knowing that these other hunters would be camped at the cabin and heading out along the ridgeline from there, Spencer and I decided to climb up to the ibex?s location from below opening morning. If the other hunters came at them from the cabin along the ridgeline, then they would spook them into the rough cap rock and into our lap????or so we hoped.
Saturday morning we began our hike up the mountain in the dark about two hours before sunrise. We estimated it would take about an hour and a half to make it up our planed route with the first hour following only the light of our flashlights. The going was difficult as everything that grows on that mountain has thorns and grabs at your skin and clothes. Several times we ?cliffed out? and had to backtrack to find an alternate route. It took us a little longer to reach the top than we expected and the sun was just cresting over the horizon as we reached the top.
We didn't see any ibex on the hillside so I told Spencer to stay there and be ready in case they happened to be feeding in one of the canyons below while I would go up to the ridgeline above and see if they might happen to be on the opposite side.
As soon as I reached the saddle, I heard rocks tumbling down in the canyon on the opposite side. Looking through my binoculars I saw two hunters at the base of the mountain starting to make their way uphill, and halfway up the mountain was a herd of ibex ahead of them making their way up the canyon toward us. The hunters had spooked the ibex and they were making their escape up through the top of the cliffs. I softly whistled to Spencer and motioned for him to hurry up and join me in the saddle at the top of the ridge.
We watched the ibex making their way up the canyon and guessed that they would either cross over in the saddle we were sitting in or in a saddle on the opposite side of the canyon 350 yards away. The herd was working their way up the opposite side of the canyon and I felt they would head for the opposite saddle so I had Spencer get the gun set up on the bi-pod while I took some readings with the range finder. We got lucky and just as the ibex reached the opposite saddle the billies in the herd decided to head toward our side. We watched in anticipation as the rest of the herd changed course and headed in our direction. The canyon walls were so steep that the ibex went out of sight below us for a while and we had to guess where they would re-appear. We could hear rocks tumbling below us just to our left so I had Spencer get repositioned and ready to shoot when the herd reappeared. About two minutes later Spencer whispered that he could see a couple of the billies. I told him to go ahead and take the shot since all of the billies we had seen in the herd were mature and carried nice horns. Spencer said he didn't have a clear shot as the brush was thick and he could only see their heads. About that time one of the ibex must have spotted us and they began to get spooky. The herd reversed directions and began to move back across the canyon. Spencer and I franticly tried to locate a stationary billy but by the time we would communicate and get on the same billy, and I would get a range reading on him, he would move again. Although the ibex weren't running, the rough terrain and brush made it difficult to get a clear shot. The ibex were continually jumping from rock to rock not allowing Spencer to get a good ethical shot on one of them. If one did happen to stop, he would only briefly pause but usually behind vegetation. Before we knew it, the herd had crossed the canyon and gone over the opposite ridge. The canyon became strangely silent as we both just sat there, overcome with a combination of disbelief and disappointment that we had just gotten within less than 100 yards of nine ibex billies and didn't get a shot. Spencer is usually pretty upbeat, but I could see the disappointment in his eyes. After a few minutes I said to Spencer, ?hey, don't worry about it we will find another herd.? I don't know if either one of us truly believed that or not????.
Although I knew it would be a futile attempt, I suggested to Spencer that maybe we go around the mountain and see if we could find the herd on the other side. I thought the hike would at least get his mind off of the disappointing events that had just happened.
By the time we got to the other side of the mountain, the sun was high in the sky and it was getting quite warm. The forecast for the day was predicting record highs in the upper 90?s. The high temps and the intense sun made it almost unbearable to be out in the open. We huddled up against some rocks trying to squeeze the last sliver of shade from the rock outcropping. Finally around noon after we ran out of shade, I suggested that we head back to our original location in the saddle and see if any ibex moved into the canyon later that afternoon.
We hiked back to the saddle on the ridge and found a bush that provided some meager shade. We spent the afternoon behind the glass trying to locate some ibex through the haze and heat waves. Later in the afternoon as the sun started to drop and cast shadows on the east facing cliffs, I spotted three ibex bedded on a cliff face about a mile and a half off to the west. Although they were nannies and kids, it raised our spirits to think that there may be some billies nearby. We watched them for about an hour. Occasionally one of the kids would get up and climb around on the cliff face. It was unbelievable what these ibex were able to climb!! A little later I located five more ibex including a medium sized but broken billy on the opposite side of the canyon. We watched them feed for a while until they bedded out of sight.
Around 4 pm, I suggested to Spencer that maybe he should go back down the east side of the ridge and set up in case some ibex either moved in from that direction or if some other hunters spooked some in from that side. I would stay up on the ridge and keep an eye on the opposite side of the canyon. Spencer hadn't been gone more than 10 minutes when movement caught my eye in the spotting scope. Zooming the scope in on a bush, I noticed the long curving horn of an ibex. I quietly whistled to Spencer and motioned for him to quickly get back up on the ridge with me. With the sighting of this billy the usual spark of excitement had returned to Spencer?s eyes. The billy was approximately 350 yards away and I helped Spencer get set up on the bipod. We were lying in the rocks and it was hard to get him into a comfortable position, but we managed to find him a place to lie down and used our packs to support the butt of the gun. Finally Spencer confirmed that he had a solid, comfortable rest with the ibex in his crosshairs. I ranged the billy at 349 yards but told Spencer to hold off and wait to see what direction the billy was going to take. Soon the billy began to feed in our direction and we held off, waiting for a closer shot. I was going back and forth between the spotting scope and the range finder keeping tabs on the billy and relaying the yardage to Spencer when Spencer says ?Dad, there's another billy up and to the left of him.? We watched both billies as they slowly fed to within 295 yards of us.
For some reason the two billies began to act nervous and changed course. They started walking off to the right and I told Spencer he better take the shot. I reminded him to control his breathing and gave him one last reminder about trigger control. Spencer asked for one last yardage check. ?305 yards and 5 mph cross wind. Hold 4? high and slightly to the right of the sweet spot? I replied. ?Take your time and squeeze?. I got back behind the spotting scope to watch the shot and coach a second shot if necessary. Two seconds later, a tuft of hair blew off the side of the ibex and he dropped in his tracks at the sound of the gun. Spencer quickly chambered another round, but the billy never moved. I told Spencer to stay on him just in case, but the ibex was down for good. The spark in Spencer?s eye turned into a huge grin as we exchanged hugs, handshakes, and high fives. I told Spencer that he had just accomplished something that only a very few select hunters ever get to do by harvesting a mature ibex billy.
It took us a while to cross the canyon to where the billy lay, but we were soon able to put our hands on an ibex for the first time in our lives. Spencer?s trophy had 38? long horns. We were amazed at how small the ibex actually is compared to how large they appear. They are only about the size of an antelope but they have a very heavy bone structure. The hide on the front legs, neck, and shoulders is very thick (up to an inch thick) I assume to help protect from thorns and rocks.
We got the ibex skinned, quartered, and deboned in a little less than an hour and packed the meat, cape and head in my pack while Spencer carried the rifle, optics, and all of the other gear. The hike down the mountain was brutal with the weight of the pack and trying to navigate down through the steep slopes, loose rock, thick brush, and heat. The temperature remained high even though the sun was setting. We reached the bottom about an hour and a half later just as it was getting dark. Even though we each had 40 ounces of water left before beginning our descent, I was sweating so profusely that the sweat was dripping off the brim of my cap like a leaky faucet. By the time we reached the bottom, I had quit sweating due to dehydration. I was really glad that Spencer waited until the evening to harvest his ibex. I couldn't imagine packing that thing out in the heat during the middle of the day!
That night at the hotel we celebrated by drinking bottle after bottle of Gatorade and ate Spencer?s favorite hunting meal ? Dinty Moore Beef Stew!!!
We had excused Spencer from school for the entire week and since he harvested his ibex on the first day and since he was getting straight A?s in school, my wife and I decided to let him stay out of school the rest of the week and accompany me on my backpack mountain goat hunt rather than fly him home early. We had a great week hunting together, and Spencer was a great asset with spotting duties on my goat hunt.
His luck continued later this fall and he harvested this muley buck back home here in South Dakota.
Luckily, I was able to take a 5 week break from work and this allowed me to spend the week prior to the ibex and goat seasons and split the time scouting for both hunts. I arrived in Deming midmorning on Wednesday before the season and spent the rest of the day driving around the mountain and scouting from the base and checking out access points. That afternoon I was able to locate a couple small herds of nannies and kids but no mature billies.
On Thursday I hiked to the top of the mountains to see if I could locate a herd of billies from above. After working my way along the ridgeline for about a half hour I was finally able to locate a herd of 9 mature billies.
Thursday night I drove back up to Albuquerque and picked up Spencer at the airport at midnight. We arrived back at Deming and got an hour and a half of sleep before heading back to the mountain.
Friday morning we climbed to the top of the mountain and headed a different direction down the ridgeline. Looking back across the canyon, we located the same herd of ibex that I had found Thursday. Some nannies and kids had joined up with the billies bringing the herd size to 23. The herd was in was in the same location as the day before, so we felt comfortable that they would be there again the next morning when the season opened.
We decided to spend the day on the mountain and watch to see what the herd did during the day and where they would go in the evening. With temperatures in the upper 90?s, it was too hot to do much climbing around so we found a good spot with a little bit of shade and caught up on some rest.
Early in the afternoon we started to see more activity on the roads around the base of the mountain as other hunters began to show up. We got disappointed when we watched three groups of hunters drive ATV?s loaded with camping gear up an ATV trial toward the mining cabin at the top of the mountain. These were not small father/son groups but large groups of 3, 4, and 5. Knowing that these other hunters would be camped at the cabin and heading out along the ridgeline from there, Spencer and I decided to climb up to the ibex?s location from below opening morning. If the other hunters came at them from the cabin along the ridgeline, then they would spook them into the rough cap rock and into our lap????or so we hoped.
Saturday morning we began our hike up the mountain in the dark about two hours before sunrise. We estimated it would take about an hour and a half to make it up our planed route with the first hour following only the light of our flashlights. The going was difficult as everything that grows on that mountain has thorns and grabs at your skin and clothes. Several times we ?cliffed out? and had to backtrack to find an alternate route. It took us a little longer to reach the top than we expected and the sun was just cresting over the horizon as we reached the top.
We didn't see any ibex on the hillside so I told Spencer to stay there and be ready in case they happened to be feeding in one of the canyons below while I would go up to the ridgeline above and see if they might happen to be on the opposite side.
As soon as I reached the saddle, I heard rocks tumbling down in the canyon on the opposite side. Looking through my binoculars I saw two hunters at the base of the mountain starting to make their way uphill, and halfway up the mountain was a herd of ibex ahead of them making their way up the canyon toward us. The hunters had spooked the ibex and they were making their escape up through the top of the cliffs. I softly whistled to Spencer and motioned for him to hurry up and join me in the saddle at the top of the ridge.
We watched the ibex making their way up the canyon and guessed that they would either cross over in the saddle we were sitting in or in a saddle on the opposite side of the canyon 350 yards away. The herd was working their way up the opposite side of the canyon and I felt they would head for the opposite saddle so I had Spencer get the gun set up on the bi-pod while I took some readings with the range finder. We got lucky and just as the ibex reached the opposite saddle the billies in the herd decided to head toward our side. We watched in anticipation as the rest of the herd changed course and headed in our direction. The canyon walls were so steep that the ibex went out of sight below us for a while and we had to guess where they would re-appear. We could hear rocks tumbling below us just to our left so I had Spencer get repositioned and ready to shoot when the herd reappeared. About two minutes later Spencer whispered that he could see a couple of the billies. I told him to go ahead and take the shot since all of the billies we had seen in the herd were mature and carried nice horns. Spencer said he didn't have a clear shot as the brush was thick and he could only see their heads. About that time one of the ibex must have spotted us and they began to get spooky. The herd reversed directions and began to move back across the canyon. Spencer and I franticly tried to locate a stationary billy but by the time we would communicate and get on the same billy, and I would get a range reading on him, he would move again. Although the ibex weren't running, the rough terrain and brush made it difficult to get a clear shot. The ibex were continually jumping from rock to rock not allowing Spencer to get a good ethical shot on one of them. If one did happen to stop, he would only briefly pause but usually behind vegetation. Before we knew it, the herd had crossed the canyon and gone over the opposite ridge. The canyon became strangely silent as we both just sat there, overcome with a combination of disbelief and disappointment that we had just gotten within less than 100 yards of nine ibex billies and didn't get a shot. Spencer is usually pretty upbeat, but I could see the disappointment in his eyes. After a few minutes I said to Spencer, ?hey, don't worry about it we will find another herd.? I don't know if either one of us truly believed that or not????.
Although I knew it would be a futile attempt, I suggested to Spencer that maybe we go around the mountain and see if we could find the herd on the other side. I thought the hike would at least get his mind off of the disappointing events that had just happened.
By the time we got to the other side of the mountain, the sun was high in the sky and it was getting quite warm. The forecast for the day was predicting record highs in the upper 90?s. The high temps and the intense sun made it almost unbearable to be out in the open. We huddled up against some rocks trying to squeeze the last sliver of shade from the rock outcropping. Finally around noon after we ran out of shade, I suggested that we head back to our original location in the saddle and see if any ibex moved into the canyon later that afternoon.
We hiked back to the saddle on the ridge and found a bush that provided some meager shade. We spent the afternoon behind the glass trying to locate some ibex through the haze and heat waves. Later in the afternoon as the sun started to drop and cast shadows on the east facing cliffs, I spotted three ibex bedded on a cliff face about a mile and a half off to the west. Although they were nannies and kids, it raised our spirits to think that there may be some billies nearby. We watched them for about an hour. Occasionally one of the kids would get up and climb around on the cliff face. It was unbelievable what these ibex were able to climb!! A little later I located five more ibex including a medium sized but broken billy on the opposite side of the canyon. We watched them feed for a while until they bedded out of sight.
Around 4 pm, I suggested to Spencer that maybe he should go back down the east side of the ridge and set up in case some ibex either moved in from that direction or if some other hunters spooked some in from that side. I would stay up on the ridge and keep an eye on the opposite side of the canyon. Spencer hadn't been gone more than 10 minutes when movement caught my eye in the spotting scope. Zooming the scope in on a bush, I noticed the long curving horn of an ibex. I quietly whistled to Spencer and motioned for him to quickly get back up on the ridge with me. With the sighting of this billy the usual spark of excitement had returned to Spencer?s eyes. The billy was approximately 350 yards away and I helped Spencer get set up on the bipod. We were lying in the rocks and it was hard to get him into a comfortable position, but we managed to find him a place to lie down and used our packs to support the butt of the gun. Finally Spencer confirmed that he had a solid, comfortable rest with the ibex in his crosshairs. I ranged the billy at 349 yards but told Spencer to hold off and wait to see what direction the billy was going to take. Soon the billy began to feed in our direction and we held off, waiting for a closer shot. I was going back and forth between the spotting scope and the range finder keeping tabs on the billy and relaying the yardage to Spencer when Spencer says ?Dad, there's another billy up and to the left of him.? We watched both billies as they slowly fed to within 295 yards of us.
For some reason the two billies began to act nervous and changed course. They started walking off to the right and I told Spencer he better take the shot. I reminded him to control his breathing and gave him one last reminder about trigger control. Spencer asked for one last yardage check. ?305 yards and 5 mph cross wind. Hold 4? high and slightly to the right of the sweet spot? I replied. ?Take your time and squeeze?. I got back behind the spotting scope to watch the shot and coach a second shot if necessary. Two seconds later, a tuft of hair blew off the side of the ibex and he dropped in his tracks at the sound of the gun. Spencer quickly chambered another round, but the billy never moved. I told Spencer to stay on him just in case, but the ibex was down for good. The spark in Spencer?s eye turned into a huge grin as we exchanged hugs, handshakes, and high fives. I told Spencer that he had just accomplished something that only a very few select hunters ever get to do by harvesting a mature ibex billy.
It took us a while to cross the canyon to where the billy lay, but we were soon able to put our hands on an ibex for the first time in our lives. Spencer?s trophy had 38? long horns. We were amazed at how small the ibex actually is compared to how large they appear. They are only about the size of an antelope but they have a very heavy bone structure. The hide on the front legs, neck, and shoulders is very thick (up to an inch thick) I assume to help protect from thorns and rocks.
We got the ibex skinned, quartered, and deboned in a little less than an hour and packed the meat, cape and head in my pack while Spencer carried the rifle, optics, and all of the other gear. The hike down the mountain was brutal with the weight of the pack and trying to navigate down through the steep slopes, loose rock, thick brush, and heat. The temperature remained high even though the sun was setting. We reached the bottom about an hour and a half later just as it was getting dark. Even though we each had 40 ounces of water left before beginning our descent, I was sweating so profusely that the sweat was dripping off the brim of my cap like a leaky faucet. By the time we reached the bottom, I had quit sweating due to dehydration. I was really glad that Spencer waited until the evening to harvest his ibex. I couldn't imagine packing that thing out in the heat during the middle of the day!
That night at the hotel we celebrated by drinking bottle after bottle of Gatorade and ate Spencer?s favorite hunting meal ? Dinty Moore Beef Stew!!!
We had excused Spencer from school for the entire week and since he harvested his ibex on the first day and since he was getting straight A?s in school, my wife and I decided to let him stay out of school the rest of the week and accompany me on my backpack mountain goat hunt rather than fly him home early. We had a great week hunting together, and Spencer was a great asset with spotting duties on my goat hunt.
His luck continued later this fall and he harvested this muley buck back home here in South Dakota.
