Benbrown

When I started reloading, I lived in deep South East Texas--one of the most humid places on earth. I hunted every year in Colorado and always stopped at a local range in Pagosa Springs as we went through to check the rifle's zero. Never had to make any adjustments. Now, 45 years later, I load in single digit RH here in New Mexico for my daughters and grandchildren who live on the Coastal Plain of south Texas. The chronograph differences are minor and probably due more to ambient temperature than anything to do with humidity. The rifles that I sight in here work exactly the same there. That said, I have had major differences impact point due to bringing wood-stocked rifles from areas of high humidity to low and vice-versa. You need to make sure that your wood stock is totally sealed so that it is impervious to moisture.

Thanks, Bryce! If we decide to use it, I may ask you to send me a jpeg. Ben

Hey, guys and girls. I am preparing a piece for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership that focuses on inventoried roadless areas which cross state lines and which are important big game habitat. I would to include a photograph of a hunter with an elk taken in either the Campbell Blue, Centerfire or Nolan Roadless Areas in Unit 27. This will be used in a publication and I will credit the photographer. Does anyone have such a photo that they would be willing to lend me for one-time use? Thanks in advance for any help that you can provide! Ben Brown

I will take it. Please PM me with payment information. Ben

I have not hunted this unit in several years (and only with muzzle loaders), but I and my hunting partners have always seen and harvested more mule deer on the east side of the San Mateos than on the west side. The same holds true for the Magdalenas. Mule deer tend to hang around the areas where the steep canyons break out into the foothills. They go up into the woodlands to loaf and rest during the day and come back down at sundown to feed. If you can find a drainage where the ground cover is intact and a good crop of both forbs and browse are available, you will be able to glass up deer at daylight and just before dark. If you are lucky enough to have heavy cloud cover, and even some rain, deer will be out later in the morning and earlier in the evening. The best hunting that we had was one year when a Baja hurricane moved up and stalled out over us. For three days, the mule deer were up and down and moving about all day. We always wondered if our rifles would fire when we pulled the trigger, as the wind drove the fine rain into every crack and crevice--our GoreTex had as much water on the inside as on the outside! Good luck!

Try a 117-grain Hornady Round Nose over 25.0 grains of IMR 3031 with W-W cases and Winchester Large Rifle Primers, or 28.0 grains of IMR 4320 with the same components. I have been using the latter for almost 25 years, mostly because I use IMR 4320 with other cartridges too. Either is accurate in my flat-band 1894 or my 1893 Marlin, and both have accounted for a few deer as well as a couple of lions way up in the top of Chihuahua pines. As always, start about ten percent lower and work your way up in your rifle. The .25-35 is a great saddle gun and the one that I pack most on horse or mule back. It has accounted for way more coyotes than it should have with open sights and scampering targets.

You guys have got to be kidding--right?

Neat! I have been thinking that I need to get one of those to complement the .243 RSI that I have had for almost 30 years. The little .243 has a Leupold compact 2-7X and has been my favorite knockabout rifle for years.

I've got a pretty good idea of what they might be, but will have to see a picture to be sure... Post some soon.

I will preface my remarks by saying that I haven't hunted this unit since the last time (before this year) that I drew an elk permit in New Mexico (in 1995). The elk will be high. If you come in through Mimbres, there is a road that goes up to a Forest Service cabin that was right on the divide of the Black Range. At the time that we hunted, it was first come, first served. I wouldn't have spent a night in that cabin on a bet, but there was water there: a spring and a corral. We saw a fair number of cows in the the mid-elevations, but the bulls were still scattered up high in all-male groups. They were starting to bugle, but would not come to a call. Fortunately, it was thick enough that one could approach fairly closely if you were cautious and paid attention to the wind. On the other hand, it was so thick that it was difficult to find a lane for a clean shot. The east side of the divide is a Ladder Ranch allotment and they do a pretty good job of keeping people out. It is a pretty precipitous drop-off and if you went down there and killed something, it would be a bear to bring the meat and antlers out. I scouted the north end with a friend about seven or eight years ago, and we found a lot of elk sign and saw a lot of cows and calves, but the bulls weren't bugling yet. We busted a few out of the thick stuff, but wouldn't have had a shot, even with a rifle. I know some folks there in Las Cruces that hunt that unit from the north side, but they haven't divulged any of their secrets. I will find out who is hunting this year and maybe I can pick up some specifics. The elk are there, but you will have to earn your bull. Hopefully, the rut will have started when your hunt gets under way--that's how the Las Cruces guys get their bulls... I still think that it's a good draw for a bow hunter.

Deer jerky, a can of smoked oysters and saltine crackers. Also carry a couple of granola bars and Snickers for an unexpected overnighter--and, as everyone else says, enough water in the hydration bladder to last.

It's about to get harder to draw. Sportsmen in New Mexico are up in arms over the allocation of tags and there are likely to be some changes, among them a reduction in the proportion of nonresident tags in the draw. The recommendation will probably be the same as Arizona: 10% maximum. Antelope contribute relatively little to the overall funding compared to elk and deer, so it would not be that great of a hit to DGF's income. We'll see what the commission does in July...

If you will PM me with your hunt area, I will try to give you some information about access and illegals. Basically, you may encounter illegals just about anywhere south of Hwy 9. I even cut the tracks of three who came through last night while doing my morning hike today. This was just across Hwy 338 east of my house, about 1 1/4 miles north of Hwy 9. The badder guys tend to stay in the higher elevations except where they cross Hwy 9 or Hwy 80. Ben

Wow! Africa and now a new truck. BP must be paying pretty good these days!

Not my cup of tea, but good luck! Hope you end up with just what suits you.

A one of a kind photo! Thanks for posting.

Congressman Harry Teague and his staff are aware of this effort and we (NM Wildlife Federation and TRCP have met with them a couple of times to discuss this. They are sympathetic to sportsmen and trappers and simply wanted some information to counter the propaganda that the anti-trapping activists were disseminating. They don't think that this is going anywhere with respect to federal lands. A more serious threat may be looming on state trust lands. Ray Powell is running for State Land Commissioner again, and he was neutral on the subject the last time he served. To his credit, he did not support the antis, but neither did he speak forcefully for sportsmen's interests. I would recommend that everyone keep an eye on him if he turns out to be the Democratic candidate. If he is the democrat in the general election, we need to hold his feet to the fire with respect to hunting, fishing and trapping on NM State Trust Lands.

BP must be paying more than I thought, these days! Have a wonderful trip and take lots of pictures.

I have had them look at both the cartridge designation stamped on the barrel and the ammo (mostly out of curiosity, I am guessing). Nonetheless, why invite questioning about a discrepancy with one or the other? If you ever take the rifle overseas, especially to one of the African countries, they will check to see that the ammo that you have matches the cartridge for which your rifle or rifles are chambered.

One was found dead in Palo Pinto County, TX, a few weeks ago, also hit by a car. Although it had none of the usual signs of a captive animal (collar mark, clipped nails, etc.), it was in extremely good flesh, despite having only a couple of tiny "mice" in an otherwise empty digestive tract. This suggests that it was indeed a captive animal that either escaped or was released, especially since it was almost 500 miles from the closest known extant occurrence of a wild ocelot. I'm betting that the one found dead near Globe will turn out to be the same. SIA has a picture of an ocelot (taken in Mexico) in the post on their web site--why didn't they post the picture from Cochise County?

I heard about it yesterday at a meeting with federal and state agency representatives in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. What I heard agreed with the elements in the story you posted. As a result, for the next three weeks, USFS employees are banned from field work in those units of the Coronado NF that are adjacent to the border. In those units away from the border with a history of illegal/smuggling activity, they must work in pairs or be accompanied by an LEO. NRCS has issued a similar directive to their employees in counties along the border with Mexico. The Border Patrol representatives from Douglas and Lordsburg indicated that they are undertaking changes in how their agents are disposed with the aim of sealing the border at the border with agents on the ground. We'll see how that plays out...

If you're worried about it, print out Mr. Elms' reply. I doubt that a CO in the field will issue a citation if you have that in hand. Better yet, go to the regs and print out the same paragraphs that Mr. Elms did. Obviously, the CO who said that the parent who transferred the tag had to be "within 50 yards" was quoting something that he remembered from the academy or was told by another CO, and was not aware that the reg had been amended. Why make it more difficult than it has to be?

I have several friends who have cabins up there. They have pretty good numbers of birds right around their places (some of them feed the turkeys all winter long). From what others said at the Turkey Workshop in Las Cruces last week, it sounds like there are lots of birds in the Sacramentos. The area around Cloudcroft should hold quite a few birds. I would go for it, if I were you.

Good on you! That's one heck of blackbuck, too!

.338 Win Mags are next--we have to stop them!