New Mexico Elk and Ibex!!!

[SC Living Outdoors]

Well I don't really consider myself a lucky guy, but the last couple years I have been doing a ton of research and applying all over and it has been paying off. Somebody has to draw, right? I just pulled a 16E rifle tag. Last year I was able to kill a good bull in a unit that wasn't supposed to be that good so Im hoping I can get a nice bull this season. On top of that I also drew a Florida Mountains Rifle Ibex tag. The ibex tag is a F/IM in February so I can shoot any ibex with horns up to 15" . Any Ibex is a trophy to me. I actually had to been emailing a guide over seas in the last week about an ibex hunt that I'd have to save years for and now I have a tag in my pocket. Im exstatic!!!

If anyone has any tips on these hunts and would like to share (or PM me) I always enjoy hearing first hand experience and the guys on this site are always fantastic.

 

[ImBillT]

I banged both bumpers of a 4x4 single cab Tacoma while on roads at the base of the Florida Mountains. I wasn’t Ibex hunting, but most, if not all, of the Ibex hunters there had ATV’s of some sort or another. I wouldn’t say they are required at all, but the roads are ROUGH once you get to the base of them. The scenery is beautiful.

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

I banged both bumpers of a 4x4 single cab Tacoma while on roads at the base of the Florida Mountains. I wasn’t Ibex hunting, but most, if not all, of the Ibex hunters there had ATV’s of some sort or another. I wouldn’t say they are required at all, but the roads are ROUGH once you get to the base of them. The scenery is beautiful.

10-4. Thank you for the info.

 

[1_pointer]

My pard has shot a nanny in the Floridas a couple years back. He flew down and rented a sedan. Took some extra hiking, but he got it done in 3 days. Said everything on those mountains wants to poke or scratch you.

 

[hank4elk]

A buddies son shot a huge ram in there a couple years back....they got smart & got some pro climbers to help retrieve it the next day. Brutal. & they know that place well..................Good luck.

 

[mrcowboy]

1

Well I don't really consider myself a lucky guy, but the last couple years I have been doing a ton of research and applying all over and it has been paying off. Somebody has to draw, right? I just pulled a 16E rifle tag. Last year I was able to kill a good bull in a unit that wasn't supposed to be that good so Im hoping I can get a nice bull this season. On top of that I also drew a Florida Mountains Rifle Ibex tag. The ibex tag is a F/IM in February so I can shoot any ibex with horns up to 15" . Any Ibex is a trophy to me. I actually had to been emailing a guide over seas in the last week about an ibex hunt that I'd have to save years for and now I have a tag in my pocket. Im exstatic!!!

If anyone has any tips on these hunts and would like to share (or PM me) I always enjoy hearing first hand experience and the guys on this site are always fantastic.

16 e can be rough on a vehicle too. Had the archery hunt there few years back. Lots of elk. Saw some decent bulls. And one toad. Good luck. Not certain what it is like during the rifle hunt. Archery season was exciting.

 

[hank4elk]

16e....get good boots. There are a few elk in there....

 

[ImBillT]

I should probably elaborate a little. There are three or four roads into the place from the highways. They are all smooth and easy. Then there are a couple roads around the base. They are some of the worst I’ve ever been on and I’ve been down some nasty roads. It took me over an hour to go from the north end to the south end and it’s only a few miles, and I wasn’t babying the truck. There were washes steep enough that my bumpers hit the bottom while my wheels were still on the sides. If you wanted to go from the east side to the west side, or the northwest end to the southwest end, it is actually faster to use the easy road to the highway, and come back in on another easy road than to drive around the base. Most of the Ibex hunters either camped in the mountains or dropped a truck and trailer at the base and used an ATV to drive the roads at the base, or part way up. The low road around the base that appears to encircle it widely is interrupted by private property in two places and using OnX on medium resolution it looked like it was a county road, but it did actually turn into a private road. The higher road that encircles it has a similar issue on the west side, but the west side has easier access from the highway, so it’s really not an issue. There appeared to be a few hunters entering and exiting through private property, which I assume involved a fee, and definitely seemed unnecessary from my perspective. There are some pieces of private property up in the Floridas, but it isn’t an awful lot. I was there on the opening weekend of the F/IM season and despite looking small on a map and from the highway, you would never have though there were more than 2-3 hunting parties on each side and they seemed to be a long way apart. Once you get up to the mountains you realize that they are deceptively large.

I was javelina hunting the arroyos in the flat country away from the mountains and didn’t realize the Ibex season was open until I showed up. There were multiple times that I though a 2-3 mile move would take 10-15 minutes and it would end up taking 1-2hrs because of how rough the two roads around the base are. Obviously you won’t be hunting from anywhere near any of the roads, and I don’t know if there’s any reason to move a mile or two from one area of the Floridas to another, but if you decide to, you should know that it’s going to take an awful lot longer than the map makes it look like if you’re in a street legal vehicle. You should also sit down at a desktop with OnX and zoom in on every inch of road you think you might need and mark all the places they turn private, because on medium resolution from a smart phone I ran into country roads turning private a couple times unexpectedly. As you may already know, in NM a landowner can put a gate and a no trespassing sign accross a public road, AND you can still travel on the public road. Unfortunately there are also cases where there is a county road on one side of private property, a county road on the other side of that private property, and a PRIVATE road connecting the two county roads in such a way that on a map they appear to all be a single county road, when in fact they are not. Anywhere in NM that you think you might want to be where a county road appears to go through private property, you need to zoom in extra close and be extra certain so that you don’t make a plan to hunt a certain spot and then when you get there you find out that you can’t.

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

I should probably elaborate a little. There are three or four roads into the place from the highways. They are all smooth and easy. Then there are a couple roads around the base. They are some of the worst I’ve ever been on and I’ve been down some nasty roads. It took me over an hour to go from the north end to the south end and it’s only a few miles, and I wasn’t babying the truck. There were washes steep enough that my bumpers hit the bottom while my wheels were still on the sides. If you wanted to go from the east side to the west side, or the northwest end to the southwest end, it is actually faster to use the easy road to the highway, and come back in on another easy road than to drive around the base. Most of the Ibex hunters either camped in the mountains or dropped a truck and trailer at the base and used an ATV to drive the roads at the base, or part way up. The low road around the base that appears to encircle it widely is interrupted by private property in two places and using OnX on medium resolution it looked like it was a county road, but it did actually turn into a private road. The higher road that encircles it has a similar issue on the west side, but the west side has easier access from the highway, so it’s really not an issue. There appeared to be a few hunters entering and exiting through private property, which I assume involved a fee, and definitely seemed unnecessary from my perspective. There are some pieces of private property up in the Floridas, but it isn’t an awful lot. I was there on the opening weekend of the F/IM season and despite looking small on a map and from the highway, you would never have though there were more than 2-3 hunting parties on each side and they seemed to be a long way apart. Once you get up to the mountains you realize that they are deceptively large.

I was javelina hunting the arroyos in the flat country away from the mountains and didn’t realize the Ibex season was open until I showed up. There were multiple times that I though a 2-3 mile move would take 10-15 minutes and it would end up taking 1-2hrs because of how rough the two roads around the base are. Obviously you won’t be hunting from anywhere near any of the roads, and I don’t know if there’s any reason to move a mile or two from one area of the Floridas to another, but if you decide to, you should know that it’s going to take an awful lot longer than the map makes it look like if you’re in a street legal vehicle. You should also sit down at a desktop with OnX and zoom in on every inch of road you think you might need and mark all the places they turn private, because on medium resolution from a smart phone I ran into country roads turning private a couple times unexpectedly. As you may already know, in NM a landowner can put a gate and a no trespassing sign accross a public road, AND you can still travel on the public road. Unfortunately there are also cases where there is a county road on one side of private property, a county road on the other side of that private property, and a PRIVATE road connecting the two county roads in such a way that on a map they appear to all be a single county road, when in fact they are not. Anywhere in NM that you think you might want to be where a county road appears to go through private property, you need to zoom in extra close and be extra certain so that you don’t make a plan to hunt a certain spot and then when you get there you find out that you can’t.

This is really good info. I really appreciate it. I always break the area down on a computer before going on a new hunt, but I’ll pay extra close attention to what you mentioned. Thanks for all the pointers.

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

1

16 e can be rough on a vehicle too. Had the archery hunt there few years back. Lots of elk. Saw some decent bulls. And one toad. Good luck. Not certain what it is like during the rifle hunt. Archery season was exciting.

The unit I hunted last year had some rough roads as well. I’ll get there a few days early and scout hard. It should be a lot of fun.

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

My pard has shot a nanny in the Floridas a couple years back. He flew down and rented a sedan. Took some extra hiking, but he got it done in 3 days. Said everything on those mountains wants to poke or scratch you.

Awesome. That sounds about right. I did an aoudad hunt on the rio grande about 6 weeks ago and it was the same thing - lots and lots of pokey things, lol

 

[prhunter]

Congrats on the tag. I also drew back to back elk tags in NM a couple years ago (2016&2017).

I'm sure you'll have a good time. How did you Aoudad hunt go?