TLH Report post Posted July 9, 2011 So today i received the ranch assignement that my son in law and i were drawn for. It is near Springer (more closely to Pennington) but it is a big old ranch! Just wanted to know if any of you have been in that area hunting antelope?? Good luck to all of you this year on your hunt! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
buffhunter Report post Posted July 9, 2011 Don't know anything but good luck to you guys on your hunt!!!!!!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TAM Report post Posted July 10, 2011 Don't know anything but good luck to you guys on your hunt!!!!!!!!! Terry, Several years ago I hunted a ranch that was about 45 minutes east of Raton near a town called Des Moines. It wasn't a big ranch but there were a lot of antelope on the place. There were several mid 70's type bucks and perhaps a couple upper 70's but nothing big. Not sure how similar the trophy potential is to the west where you'll be hunting but it was very average where we were. Got lucky and pulled my 5th NM antelope tag with my 11 year old son this year. As always I'm expecting a crap shoot. You just never know what to expect until you get there to check things out. I'd give the ranch owner a call before the hunt... some of them are great and others will make your rancher buddy down here in Prescott look like a nice guy! I won't say his name but you know who I'm talking about The biggest problem I've run into is ranchers that don't want to give you "unrestricted access" to the entire ranch. I've had two of them try to tell me that they will assign me a "pasture" to hunt until the other hunters fill their tags. They will try to convince you that it's for saftey reasons and so you won't have hunters on top of each other but they're just catering to their paid hunters. Had another rancher tell me that there was one certain pasture that was totally off limits because that's where he kept all his prize horses... coincedentally the day before the hunt we saw the biggest buck of the trip in that pasture. Hopefully you won't run into that problem but you may want to have the name and number of the G&F officer for the area handy in case you need him to remind the rancher what the rules are. Even if the rancher is a jerk and there are nothing but small bucks on the place at least you have an antelope tag in your pocket... Have a great hunt!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
.270 Report post Posted July 10, 2011 there are big goats stacked up in that country. i drive i-25 going to colorado going goat hunting there every year and wish i was hunting there instead. don't know exactly what ranch you are on, but hold out for a big one. Lark. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TLH Report post Posted July 10, 2011 .270 i have the M&M Cattle Company/Billy Mitchell ranch. It has a total of 23,945 acres to hunt with 6,306 public and 17,639 private. TAM--i do know who you are speaking of--in fact i told him he was number one just two days ago while passing him on the road that he is always sleeping--er i mean working on! LOL! I appreciate the info guys!! We will do the best we can and i hope it has at least two nice bucks on it--with that much land you would think they would. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
andrewandy1 Report post Posted July 10, 2011 My dad and I hunted just outside of Springer 5 years ago both of us killed 80 inch bucks and saw couple monsters after we killed of course. Should be a great hunt. Good luck!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coach Report post Posted July 10, 2011 A buddy of mine had a similar experience to TAM's. The rancher tried to tell each hunter what area they could hunt, and which ones they couldn't. Turns out he had a big buck picked out for his wife that was in an area that should have been allowed to hunters. My buddy's hunting partner ended up shooting the "saved" buck in a part of the ranch they were told they weren't allowed to hunt. It got pretty dicey from what I heard, and they had to high-tail it out to avoid a fist fight - or worse. Personally, I don't know what legal rights the landowners have to tell you where you can and can't hunt, but just know they might push the limits of the law there and expect to supercede the agreements they have with NM Fish and Game. The best tool you can have is knowledge. Really research what your rights on that land are, and be prepared to defend your hunting choices with documentation and detailed maps. I've seen first-hand NM ranchers trying to close off state lands. If you go by what they say, versus what is actually legal, they can and will bully hunters out of areas that are legal to hunt. Be informed, courteous and, if necessary, willing to defend your rights to hunt a particular area if it is legal for you to do so. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
.270 Report post Posted July 10, 2011 i ain't for sure how the rules on those ranch assigments work exactly but from what i've experienced, the whole place has to be opened up and i don't think the rancher can limit you to just one part of the place. but you best talk to the game and fish and get the rules in writing. and it won't hurt anything to let the rancher limit you a little until his paying hunters fill. even if he legally can't do that. after their paying customers leave, which will be after the first day or so, they will most likely let you have your run of the place. a good friend got assigned to a place in new mex once that was just one section. one square mile. and there wernt a goat on it. he got on the highest point on it and about 8 in the morning some guys hunting around it ran a nice buck onto it and he shot it. from i-25 you can glass any number of record class bucks from wagon mound to raton. the closer you get to springer, the more you see. and that is from the highway. my boys went nuts looking at the big bucks along there when we drove up to colorado last year to hunt goats. they wanted to hunt there. you have an incredible opportunity here. make the most of it. you are also going to be suprised how small 30,000 acres in the prarie can end up being. so get real familiar with the boundaries. most of those ranches are real irregular in shape. if you think a rancher will get pissed if you shoot a buck on his place he didn't want you to, wait till you shoot one on the wrong place. same as poaching. those folks make a good bit of cash from landowner permits evey year and they can get sorta non-understanding if ya break the rules. do you know how many hunters the rancher will have there? but again, seriously, do some homework. maybe make a trip up there before the season and see if they'll let ya poke around a little. from my experience there, you have a real golden opportunity. Lark. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
