# New Mexico Barbary Sheep



## steelyspeed (Apr 10, 2016)

Fully loaded! Once my kid goes to bed I hit the road tonight! I will pick up my buddy from Idaho at the Amarillo airport tomorrow then make it to Roswell around 10:00pm. Season starts Saturday!


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## Hunter1979 (Feb 26, 2008)

Good luck, man! Looking forward to the recap. Hope you get a monster!

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## Huntmaster143 (Aug 28, 2003)

Good luck!! They are definitely some cool critters!!


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## steelyspeed (Apr 10, 2016)

Logistically everything worked out perfectly. I arrived to Amarillo with 2 hours to spare before my Idaho hunting buddy Andy flew in. Plenty of time to buy more water, groceries, and stove fuel. Picked up Andy and we drove the remaining 3.5 hours to Roswell. Andy is a mountain man, and took 2 stops to find his appropriate chew. Settled in to the hotel, and planned to spend the next day verifying our public access and hopefully locating sheep.


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## Nostromo (Feb 14, 2012)

Go get 'em!


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## steelyspeed (Apr 10, 2016)

Day 1 - Day before season scouting day

We left the hotel at 4:30 to drive into the “plan A” hunting areas. You fellow public DIY’ers can relate to how different an area looks in real life compared to the months of escouting Pre trip. Immediately we ran into a roadblock. A landowner who has a signed access agreement with NMGF, had a locked gate. This blocked us from most of the public access we planned on hunting. This would be the overall theme of this hunting trip, tough public hunting access. We burned some serious boot leather and driving miles the rest of the day. We spotted lots of deer and surprisingly 2 bull elk. I read that these sheep will live in the rolling hill country, but prefer steep terrain with rock bluffs. We picked up and moved 30 miles to the other side of the unit. Again we found locked gates or ranch signs claiming that there was no public access. With about an hour left of light and feeling defeated we headed to the last possible access in the area. We pull past a large ranch and see a nice rock slope. I check OnX and confirm the rope third is state and can be accessed from the road with a half mile hike. We started glassing and turned up a few Muley bucks. Andy breaks the silence, “I’ve got sheep”....


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## steelyspeed (Apr 10, 2016)

We took out the spotters and counted 9 sheep! 6 ewes and lambs, and 3 rams. We didn’t think any of the rams were that big, but they were on PUBLIC!! We had high hopes for the next day. Our plan was to camp on a small corner of BLM just a 1/4mile from the sheep. As we make our way towards the BLM there are no trespassing signs everywhere and signs saying “no longer state or BLM, no trespassing”. These signs were on the land we planned to access the sheep from. We were again frustrated and thought our ONX was letting us down. We drove to Artesia and got a hotel to really nail down what spots were public and how we could have been so wrong with the access. I texted the area fish and game officer screen shots of where we wanted to hunt and camp, hoping that the visible sheep from the road were still attainable...


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## steelyspeed (Apr 10, 2016)

Day Two

With no word from the game and fish officer, we set out to hike and glass a piece of BLM that we drove by the day before. We didn’t find any sheep or sign, just lots of mule deer. Throughout the hike I am trying to call the officer to confirm if we could access the sheep seen the day before. Finally, that afternoon the officer texts me back saying my OnX maps was correct and the signs were incorrect. Green light baby! We hiked back to the truck and moved 20 miles to where we saw the sheep. We got within 1000 yards of the hillside and rolled down the windows to glass. At the same time Andy and I picked up the sheep and realized there was a nice ram with them!! With only an hour until sunset we drove around the hill the sheep were on and parked as soon as we hit the road access. We had a half mile and about 1000 feet to climb to get to the sheep. We ran to the base of the hill then started climbing the steep rocky hillside. The sheep were feeding in a direction that would put the sun in their face as we crested the top of the hill. As I get to the top Andy hangs back to cut down on the noise, I take of my pack and grab my rifle. I slowly inch my way up and start to see the tops of sheep horns feeding away from me. I realized that the sheep had beat me when I recognized these two lone ewes. I kept glassing and movement catches my eye. A small ram walking away towards the other sheep. I struggled finding a quick rest on the steep angle and attempted a semi off hand shot at 170 yards . My breathing was heavy after the quick hike and watched a rock blow up under the ram. I had blown my opportunity and watched the sheep including the really nice ram take off onto private never to be seen again. We trudged off the mountain, and drove to the BLM to cowboy camp for the night. The neighbor drove by and gave us a hard time for camping, so I showed him the text from the fish and game officer stating that this was BLM and camping was legal. He scoffed and drove away.


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## steelyspeed (Apr 10, 2016)

Day Three

We hit the hill early and were glassing at first light. Because of the small area to access public I didn’t think we had another chance at the sheep. Overall I was frustrated with the trip and the inability to access the sheep country that I was planning on hunting. On most of these diy trips I feel like you get one chance and that I had blown my opportunity. After a whole day of hiking and glassing we didn’t turn up any sheep. Andy has an incredible game eye and spotted a 320-330 6pt bull very close to the road on public during elk season! We also spotted a Spanish goat which apparently are common in the area.


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## steelyspeed (Apr 10, 2016)

As day 3 came to a close we didn’t spot any more sheep. With limited public access and only one opportunity I thought about other options. I accepted the fact that I may not fill my Barbary tag, and started working on plan B. I talked to a rancher in west Texas who offered reasonable hog hunts and a place to camp. With my tail tucked I decided to make the 3 hr drive to Texas for a few days of hog hunting to end the trip. 


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## steelyspeed (Apr 10, 2016)

Day 4
We pulled camp and made our way to town to fuel up and grab some groceries. After a little over 3 hr drive later we arrived to hog camp just north or Abilene Texas. We each paid the rancher and waited until 6:30pm when he would drive us into our first night’s sit. We sat until midnight with no activity other than a few raccoons.


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## steelyspeed (Apr 10, 2016)

Day 5 

After a few hours sleep I poked Andy out of bed to check the baits at 5:00am. Only raccoons spotted again and we glassed the area until daylight. We returned to camp for a few hours nap. At 9:30am we decided to drive the farmers fields and glass for any pig activity. At 10:30am we spotted a big lone pig and I was able to connect as it was running into some thick bedding cover. I found that I hit it all 3 shots with my 308win 180gr. We went to work gutting this big female and took back to camp to skin and break down. It was 85 degrees and I wanted to get the meat on ice ASAP !


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## steelyspeed (Apr 10, 2016)

We got my hog broken down into coolers and we took a nap in the AC of my truck for a couple hours. The farmer had been cutting his hay field and noticed excessive hog damage and suggested that we sit a field edge that night to see if any entered the field at last light. Sure enough, a half hour after sunset 20ish hogs entered the field. Andy quickly found a prone position and shot the biggest hog in the group. Another big female lated 200 yards from us on a very hot! Eventful day.


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## steelyspeed (Apr 10, 2016)

Day 6

We had a nice cold front and were able to hang both hogs over night. We went into town for 80lbs of ice to insure freshness As I drive home to west Michigan. We drove to Amarillo where Andy will fly out of the next day to Idaho. This ended up being a great trip with success and bonding for two Hunting buddies. I can’t wait for our adventure next year


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## Hunter1979 (Feb 26, 2008)

Congrats on the hog! That's always a blast. Sorry the audad hunt didn't work out better, I was really hoping you got one!

Sent from my Droid


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## Nostromo (Feb 14, 2012)

Well, you got some meat. Make a safe trip home.


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## MallardMaster (Nov 17, 2003)

Major bummer, but thats how she goes I guess. I was really pulling for you to get that Barbary Sheep. What a cool piece of country you got to lay your eyes on though. Thanks for sharing your story with us though. Enjoy the trip back to MI!


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## steelyspeed (Apr 10, 2016)

Got home last night, and just got the pig in the freezer. Going to do a euro and capes out the skull. I also tested the backstrap, and wow ! For how stinky they are they taste like normal pork just Leaner.

If any of you are kicking around the idea of a NM Barbary sheep hunt I would suggest applying for the 29 and 30 units. There is much more public access than the 32units that I drew.


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