Information needed. NM free range draw hunt for Barberry Sheep

Hello,
I've drawn a Barberry sheep hunt in December in NM in 33-34, 36, 37 units which surround the Mescalaro reservation. I have not been in this area before and would like to correspond with any successful hunters who have hunted there in any and all topics from a-z. I am recovered from a double whammy of both Cancer and a heart attack and have my doctors' permission to make this hunt and can take the entire time of the season ( 2 weeks plus this year) to do this hunt properly.

Thank you for your attention in this matter.

Gene S.

Following.

What is following?

He is tagging into the thread, as he is also interested in your question.

Wildcat I got a otc sheep tag as well but I also drew elk in 37. I know nothing about the sheep but I can't hunt them in 37, pm me, as I do some trips scouting I'll be happy to provide sheep updates in 37 if I run into any and ya curious what advice if any gets given to ya.

Hello again,
Now I get it. This is what little information I am gathering. Apparently you have an excellent area to be hunting Elk, in, in terms of quality game to be taken. Also expect to be running into certainly some big mulies, and perhaps some bighorns.
Apparently you are th guy I wished to stumble into on this website. With all four GMU,s open during this December season that is between 800 and 1,000 square miles. my God! Logic dictates that the vast majority of the 250 hunters will be concentrating on where the majority of the Barbery sheep are: Southwest 34 and Northeast 32, which are linked. I am looking at the his ina contrarian way. Where Everybody is going to be at, I don,t want to be! If a Ram is going to survive hunting pressure, logic dictates it would be in the lesser hunted areas and if the terrain is terrible, so much the better. Does any of this make sense to you? I am feeling that with all my disabilities, I can slowly get where nobody who wants to go out and be back Ina single day will ever get. Two weeks time, but comparison to N. Mexican five day deer seasons, seem almost like a luxury to me. Don't be afraid to give me your honest opinion in this matter.
WW

Logic makes sense to me bud, I plan on getting in there myself.

We have a ranch in 37, near the Capitan Hi Power range. I can't say that I have seen many aoudad in the neighborhood on a reliable basis - I once saw a herd of 30 or so grazing right along the highway above Picacho, and have seen singles along that same stretch. We covered a lot of ground during elk bow season this past year, and did not see any.

Good luck!

Hello Jonoton,

thank you for your reply and info you shared with me. I have it on reliable information that there are virtually no aodads in 36. It would appear the state has allowed 600 permits per year to hunt these areas, but I cannot gain a success ratio from them for this hunt. Now instead of 600 hunters they will be allowing 750 in staggered set of hunts, October-December-February. I still very much appreciate your advice on area 37.

WW

You will probably be better off hunting the BLM and state land in unit 32 which is included on your tag. There will be enough vehicles/hunters in the area to let you know you are hunting the right place...

wildcat westerner said:

Hello Jonoton,

thank you for your reply and info you shared with me. I have it on reliable information that there are virtually no aodads in 36. It would appear the state has allowed 600 permits per year to hunt these areas, but I cannot gain a success ratio from them for this hunt. Now instead of 600 hunters they will be allowing 750 in staggered set of hunts, October-December-February. I still very much appreciate your advice on area 37.

WW

Click to expand...

I will be putting up game cams on our private land, and will let you know if I spot any. Good luck!

Edit: aoudads are interesting animals. I have seen them appear out of nowhere in areas where they have never been even rumored to be, a pair of them booking it across a ridge. And I've found the ground covered in fresh turds with not a one in sight.

Jonoton,
Thank you for going to this effort at acquiring information for me. I figure that with conditioning, and learning more about these animals I should be better aware of a successful strategy for taking an Aodad on free range. I note my question about a success ratio on hunting Aodad on public lands has gone unanswered by the NM Fish and Game.

Success rate is those units have run from 40-60% in the past. With the new hunt structures-more hunts fewer tags in each hunt, the earlier hunts should be real good and will get progressively harder in the last hunts. The units you drew have a lot of inaccessible or hard to access public land. Barbary sheep hunting is all about working harder than the next guy, glassing smart and shooting. If you can do those you will be in great shape. All sheep like open country your not going to find many in thicker cover type country

Hello Plinker 147, thank you for extremely valuable insights. I have the December hunt. The open country insight is something I instinctively picked up on, but your stating it is appreciated. How do I go about untangling this public land access issue. I can see, since I have the time, accessing areas the average person would not consider, since access would be difficult or impossible with UTV, or bike etc.
thanks again
WW