James Tabet

I had a really good time. I skipped opening weekend to avoid the crowds and only saw 2 other hunters the whole time. I hunted for 3 days camped on Cloverdale road and then moved up to Geronimo trail. I was hunting alone so I planned on hiking early each morning and getting around 3 miles in before sunup, I hunted until around midafternoon each day and then walked out before dark. I saw 3 small bucks on Cloverdale side and 2 small bucks on Geronimo side. Never saw a shooter. I saw lots of does, especially on the Geronimo side. Also, lots of turkeys both places. I liked the country, it had a little of everything. I hunt 23 NM and 36B AZ and this area had a mixture of both vegetation, oaks and juniper on the same hill. Lots of country to hunt, backpackers definitely have an advantage, and I am sure there are big deer that are never seen. Might try this on an earlier season warmer hunt. Only other issue was hard glassing in thick vegetation, but that is just how it is. Its a learning curve and I will put in for it again.

Yes, my unit 27 tag is for Coues. Thanks

Hunting is mostly about the experiences, and the experience with the cowboys was one of my most memorable when it was all said and done. I have repeated this story several times because it was so surreal and really made an exciting trip out of it. I had already tagged out and my brother had shot one the evening before so we were driving to where we would park with no firearms, which probably made it feel more unnerving than it needed to be. As we got closer to a gate there was a pickup with a cattle trailer parked in the road. We saw several cowboys on the other side and as we drove around the truck they started galloping towards us. We thought they were coming to move their truck or possibly even open the gate for us. As we pulled up and got out they lined up their horses shoulder to shoulder across the road, there were 8-10 of them, most had bandanas across their faces. We explained that we had a Barbary sheep down and we were going to pack it out. It was total silence and then someone said "Talk to the Boss". We couldn't even tell who said it, or who the boss might be. My brother pulled out his phone and tried telling them the Onyx map said we were on state land, there was even a sign on the fence that said state land. They just stared at us. Then one of them said "The Boss is coming". We turned around and a few hundred yards away you could see a cowboy on a horse heading our way pushing a cow. As we turned to walk in his direction my brother said " I don't know how many of them its gonna take to kick our butt, but I know how many they have." - and one of them chuckled. We met up with the owner who looked right out of a movie, a tanned face with perfect teeth, who ended up being cordial to us. He did tell us we were probably on his land but we were able to show him on Onyx where we hunted and where we were going. He nodded and the cowboys backed their horses up and we went through the gate. It got our adrenalin going pretty good but also gave us a good laugh that night.

Hello, I am a new member looking for access advise for Unit 27 New Mexico. I have always hunted unit 23 NM and 36B AZ. I made one trip down to get an idea of what I would do but wanted to get any help anyone could offer. I did not try on my scouting trip to enter from the AZ side, is this possible or is private property a problem? I also checked out Geronimo trail and the Cloverdale road, just like everybody probably does. Is it possible to camp in those small public areas inbetween the private on Cloverdale road, or is it frowned upon. I was also there when no hunting was going on so it looked like a reasonable idea, but is it covered up with camps because of so little access. Thank you in advance for anyone willing to share. I understand this has been asked before but looking for the most up to date information, had a run in with some cowboys in unit 29 that was unpleasant and would like to avoid that if possible. I have Onyx maps but nothing beats experience. Thanks, James 505-320-6697 thetabet@hotmail.com