Category: New Mexico

Posted By:
duckbag
Web Member

12-06-2006 11:42
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 0-10 Degrees – Ice
Hunted our goose spot for the first time this year and finished a two day hunt with 18 big Canadas. Two short of a limit.
This is the earliest we’ve been into this spot and we saw at least 500+ geese. No ducks spotted at all. Hopefully they’ll be showing up soon.

JD, your fields should be full by now with lots of banded birds!!!

The farmer cut our milo down to the ground and chisel plowed, which kinda had our blinds sticking out a little. We had 40 yard shots all day long but didn’t take them, we wanted the landing gear down before firing.

It was a lot of fun even with the 7 degree, 10mph, NE winds in the morning.

SHOOT EM IN THE FACE!!!

Posted By:
John-Prentice
Field Editor

Las Vegas REfuge 12-06-2006 07:30
Arctic Blast – 10-20 Degrees – Ice
Hunted geese(ghost geese) on Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge on Tuesday. I can understand why the refuge personel are in non-commitment mode. What geese are in the area are on private property with lots of downed milo. I have never seen that many Snow Geese in the area. We saw two groups of Canadas-one group of 4 and another of 3. They were long ways off and flying high. Wouldn’t waste my time and money to do it over. All we was sun tan.

[Edited By John-Prentice on 2006-12-06 07:31]

Posted By:
rmarci
Guest

rio south 12-05-2006 17:58
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 0-10 Degrees – Open Water
so i went out yesterday and also saw that 9 degree reading……burrrrrrr doggy. this california guy was indeed feeling a chill. but thanks to the advice of a member here my new 1200 gram thinsulate hodgemans were working overtime. finally, warm feet. anyways saw zippo for the first 2 hours so decided to drive. hit about 3 spots before i jumped about 200 birds off one location. ran back to the truck and put out my 6 mallard dekes and banged 4 greenies in about an hour and a half as they trickled back in.
today was a completely different story. went back to that spot and again didn’t see a bird for the first 2 hours. what? went for a drive again and nada……oh well. my friend arrives from cali tomorrow or i’d hang it up for a week or 2 till this moon passes. stay safe.
randy

[Edited By rmarci on 2006-12-05 17:58]

[Edited By rmarci on 2006-12-05 21:29]

Posted By:
seeker28
Guest

12-05-2006 07:18
– – –
GH–I think in ’95 or ’96 on the pheasant opener i recall negative temps. The river froze. Been several times when we’ve had to break ice skirts off the decoys and the river was turning to slush.

We were cautious yesterday while wading. Getting wet in the dark would be the end of your hunt. River was flowing at 1300 cfs. Stepping into waist high water in a sandy channel can get real interesting.

We use the USGS sight to check flows. A good tool. Some places you may hunt can become very dangerous if the flows get run up. This year there has been a lot of fluctuation.

Be careful everyone. Hunt safe and smart—wear a belt and use a stick. Be careful with your dogs around higher flows and the bank brush also.

Posted By:
Greenhound
Web Member

12-04-2006 20:42
– – –
Seek, I don’t know how long you’ve been in NM but have you ever seen minus temp’s on the Rio? 9F, wow that’s cold enough!

Great story, I love reading your posts.

Posted By:
seeker28
Guest

Rio South 12-04-2006 17:44
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 0-10 Degrees – Ice
DQ, the ‘Holic and I hit the Rio this morning. Temp said 9 degrees as we got out of the truck and slapped the gear on our backs. Set up with the setting moon in our face and smoke on the water.

Gaddy pair into the decoys right at shooting time. DQ dumped the drake. A little while later and a decent group of Baldy’s lock up on final approach. The carnage began 10 yards directly in front of the blind. 4 drakes plummet and the dog gets a cold water workout. A little wait and 2 Mallards join their widgeon friends in the same fashion. 30 minutes pass and to our left we hear Mallard talk from the sky. A pair of Greenheads lead the way and committed. We hold off—-50 or so more are descending behind them. They hit the box a little high so we turn ’em and they swing. Still at the edge, we turn ’em again. 2nd swing offered a good passing shot. We hold off and turn ’em a third time. Final approach. First 2 are feet down–we let ’em slide thru to the dekes–next five stacked behind on the glide path–main group is right behind them. Cut ’em. 4 Mallards down and the dog is off to the races.

Ended up with 8 Mallards, 4 Baldy, and a Gaddy. Worked several groups of Mallards in 5-10 bird numbers. Blew a couple opportunities due to jibberjabber, movement, and coffee breaks. Good time by all.

Call’em, Kill’em, Let the Dog Get’em.

[Edited By seeker28 on 2006-12-04 17:46]

Posted By:
Norman-Harris
Guest

12-04-2006 15:55
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Hunted on the Rio south, Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.I can’t believe that there are still no birds. I don’t know if they are on the refuges chowing down the free corn or what. A teal and a wood duck was all that I took……

Posted By:
Greenhound
Web Member

Rio del Norte 11-30-2006 00:43
– – –
Well I guess I better get in the mix here. Went out Friday, day after Thanksgiving with my brother-in-law who was in town for the holiday. We didn’t get out super early as we weren’t going to decoy but rather just jump shoot a few spots near my old stomping grounds I used to hunt about 10 years ago.

We got there right at sunrise and the mallards were flying. First spotted about 5 mallrds sitting on the river and they jumped before we could! They were spooky. Then we got up on top of a bluff overlooking the river up and down. Below us was a clump of Russian olives and a mallard pair flushed from under it. We decided to put the stalk on what we thought were another five or six up river and by the time we got there they had floated down river. Anyway as I was standing on the bank of the river my brother-in-law whistles at me and about six mallards were coming right over me. I dropped a single greenhead. Then we headed up river.

To cut the story short, we saw two greenheads and a suzie sitting in the middle of a bend in the river. I came right up on them and picked out the greenheads and let the suzie go, although I should have nailed her too so I could have gotten closer to my limit. The water wasn’t flowing too fast so I got down river and picked up one drake. Walked up river to pick up the other drake and fellas his right leg was glistening silver!!! Yep he was banded. That’s the second banded mallard I’ve shot on that river in over ten years of hunting it. Anyway it was really worn down and missing about three numbers. I’m anxious to see where it came from and how old a fella he was.

Anyway a single gadwall flew by and I took it and we called it a day. We had an unbelievable time. It was great to be out with someone so close to me who I hardly see each year. LW glad your hunt went well. Randy I can’t believe your friend missed a collared bird!!

Good luck to you all with this new front that has passed through. There should defintely be new birds coming in.

– The Hound, aka Aggiequack

Posted By:
rmarci
Guest

11-29-2006 16:27
– – –
trip was alright. i was not as nervous on stage as i thought i would be. i was real worried about drying out however, and made the mistake of holding in a mouthful of water just before taking the stage. i swallowed, did my warm up, and then got to it. first note hit it hard and it sounded great. next note, something felt wrong and by the 3rd note of my opening hail i locked ‘er up. oh well. finished my routine like a pro and walked off stage waitin to become a spectator. had to sit in the back for 2 more hours waiting for the 1st round to end. i did meet some great guys, but after the comp was over, i was ready to get home. that place is………different. now it’s time to try and get after the ducks here and forget about contests until after the season. went out today in this nasty storm and couldn’t help but wonder where all the birds are. very slow considering the weather. oh well, back at it tomorrow to my “make me feel all warm and fuzzy” spot. good luck to everyone headin out in the next couple days.
duckbag, glad the spot worked out for ya. my buddy shot 2 honks and missed a collared honk on thanksgiving there.
Randy

[Edited By rmarci on 2006-11-29 16:29]

Posted By:
duckbag
Web Member

NNM 11-29-2006 11:22
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Hunted Sun and Mon at a new spot. Lots of birds moving thru this area and big birds!
Had a fairly easy shoot Sun and had to work the ducks real hard on Mon. Finished those days with limits of mallards, no other ducks to finish off the 6 bird limit. There were a bunch of pinners of course, now that we can’t shoot them. Lots of Canadas, but they didn’t want to play.
Mallards had at least 1/3″ of fat on them, big ol’ fatties.

How was the trip Randy??????

SHOOT EM IN THE FACE!!!

Posted By:
seeker28
Guest

South 11-29-2006 09:56
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Hunted with the regular crew on Monday and Tuesday.

Monday was average out on the pond. We took mostly divers with Blackjacks, Ruddy’s and a Redhead in the bag. A couple of Smileys and Gad. The divers are pretty much educated now to stay at least 80 yards away from most cover. Enough still made mistakes to have a fun hunt.

Tuesday we changed locations and were hopefull for some wind and maybe new ducks out in front of the approaching storm. We got the wind but not much duck movement. However, the Greenwings couldn’t resist our set up and 10 died with the gear down.

I have to appologize to DQ now as I played a dirty trick on him with a FT Blank. That Mallard probably has broken eardrums now. 😉

Call’em, Kill’em, Let the Dog Get’em.

Posted By:
duckbuster91
Web Member

11-26-2006 20:24
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
Today was really slow at the begging and right as we were getting ready to pick up around 8:30 some snow geese decided to fly over thought they were pretty low so we took some shoots and ended up getting two so we just finished picking up and went home figured it was enough for dinner

Posted By:
John-Prentice
Field Editor

Western Ka nsas 11-26-2006 16:07
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
I know this is Waterfowler.com but couldn’t resist posting results of Pheasant hunt in Western Kansas. We hunted Wed-Fri-Sat. Limited on long-tails and Quail all three days along with a whole bunch of guys from Florida,Kentucky-Missouri-Arkansas-Oklahoma and New Mexico. We had sufficient numbers to put on some big drives with plenty of blockers. It is amazing how many birds can be pushed if you have enough hunters. I had forgotton how much fun Pheasant hunting could be. Now time to get back after the quackers. Have hunt at Las Vegas Refuge on Dec.5. I’m a little leary after Marci’s post. I’m just wondering if they have very many honkers there yet???

Posted By:
NMDuckaholic
Guest

11-22-2006 15:29
– – –
Yes!! Good Luck Randy!!! I’m sure you will do great!!!

NMDuckaholic

Posted By:
Norman-Harris
Guest

11-22-2006 08:51
– – –
Good Luck to Randy Marci.
He will be representing New Mexico this Saturday at the 71st Annual Championship Duck Calling Contest in Stuttgard. We all hope it goes well for you…..
Duckbag, thanks for the hint on the Maxwell area. It was a beautiful place but a little too open for me.

Posted By:
duckbag
Web Member

Rio del Norte 11-21-2006 14:15
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
First time back to my blind in a couple weeks and there are definately more birds!
Went home with 4 mallards and a couple wigeon. Lots of birds flying late, 9am. They were destination minded, but regardless, there were a lot of them.
What a good year it’s going to be. God, I hope I didn’t just jinx it?
Happy T-Day to all, I”ll just be cooking for a little over a thousand while you guys are out bangin’ em.

SHOOT EM IN THE FACE!!!

Posted By:
seeker28
Guest

south 11-20-2006 19:52
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
Bombed by Divers–

Four of us got buzzed by large groups of BlackJacks all morning and took home diver/dabbler bag limits. Enough Mallards around to keep it interesting. Not bad for a windless and clear day.

While they may not be the finest table fare they certainly make for fine shooting. They will also run the legs off of DuckQuest when he goes after a cripple. Fun to watch that aquatic rodeo.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone.

Posted By:
rmarci
Guest

las vegas nwr 11-18-2006 21:30
– – –
welllllllll……..put in for the las vegas dark goose hunt. never again. never fired a shot even though i had a flock of lessers in closer than anyone else fired a shot at. had one group of the big guys on a string and the blind down from me decided to put them back into scatter mode at about 75yds. up. what could possibly go through your mind when shootin at honks at that range. enough of my rant. i still love the oppotunities in this state. left the pit at 10:30 with not a shot fired. first zip of the season. back out monday tuesday and wednesday. gotta get my licks in before i head to arkansas for the worlds 1 week from today.

Posted By:
John-Prentice
Field Editor

Way East 11-18-2006 10:54
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 50-60 Degrees
Long drive but plenty of birds. Buddy and I limited in 22 minutes. Mallards,Gadwalls,Widgeon. Going to Kansas for Pheasants and Waterfowl this next week. Ducks and Geese are arriving in big numbers throughout Western Kansas.

Posted By:
duckbag
Web Member

11-16-2006 16:25
– – –
Norm,
The only time I’m going to hunt up there is when I know for sure were going to have some kind of weather. If you don’t the birds will get up in the morning, fly for 2 minutes, and raft back up.
Sun afternoon and Mon were good windy days that kept them moving and then it’s a great hunt.
I haven’t seen many geese up there also?, there usually thick up there by this time.

Posted By:
seeker28
Guest

11-16-2006 14:57
– – –
Was up that way myself this past week. On Saturday saw very few birds on the ranch potholes. Came back Monday as the front was blowing in and every pothole had birds in it. Quite a few birds seen up in CO. Looks like there are more waves to come.

The early lull may be starting these next few days. Time to look at some new spots and visit some old honey holes.

Posted By:
Norman-Harris
Guest

Maxwell area 11-16-2006 09:27
– – –
Hunted the Maxwell area for the first time ever,last friday afternoon and saturday morning. It was only OK for me. There were a moderate number of birds but they didn’t move around much. I never did figure out the best way to hunt them. I talked to a guy down form Denver. He always has good luck but he hunts on a local ranch pond. He doesn’t have to call or decoy them. They just come in. I was surprised not to see any Canadas in the area. I got nothing friday evening and 2 mallards and 2 teal on saturday morning. Oh well, it was a beautiful sunrise and a beautiful morning…

Posted By:
duckbag
Web Member

Maxwell Area 11-14-2006 16:15
Cloudy, High Winds – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Had a great hunt, although all my mallards are gone from this area. I did manage to shoot a nice bull can on my last day and a day before the season closes up here. Three of us put the smackdown of mostly wigeon & gads, couple mallards and a couple cans.
Birds must be moving down, but I know we’ll have a bunch more arriving.
Dwayne, sent you a pic of the bird and was hoping you could tell me whether or not to mount it?

SHOOT EM IN THE FACE!!!

Posted By:
rmarci
Guest

11-14-2006 10:47
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GH, great post. lurkers are more of a problem than realized. i will never fail to help a fellow hunter when asked. i will however not tell the whole truth as to where i hunted on the net. since moving here in february i have spent alot of time and effort into insuring that i wouldn’t have a “bad” season my first go here. let’s face it, newbies are the only hope in continuing our tradition. however, they need not be spoonfed info. they need to be taught how to scout and what to look for. most would find that gettin that out of the way hole or even that really obvious spot that everyone passes to produce is quite rewarding. i look forward to teaching my boys how to find birds and that day will start soon.

Posted By:
NMDuckaholic
Guest

11-14-2006 08:44
– – –
I didn’t get to talk to the GW, he drove past us like he was on a mission to go talk to those other groups out there??? He may have been up on the hill side watchin them shoot ducks that are not in season yet? In every sport there will always be slobs, that gives the sport a bad name….. All we can do is set a good example!

NMDuckaholic

Posted By:
Greenhound
Web Member

11-14-2006 00:03
– – –
Did you make sure to complain to the GW? It never ceases to amaze me the guys who call themselves waterfowlers, but don’t even take the time to correctly ID birds. It really is sad and unfortunate. That goes out to all you guys who read these forums looking for places to hunt, but don’t take it upon yourselves to do your own homework and scout and find new and solitary places to hunt. That’s why no one here posts exactly where they hunt; we don’t want the public knowing where the hard earned spots are. Good job, way to go.

Posted By:
NMDuckaholic
Guest

Down South Lahoya (sp?) 11-13-2006 21:28
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Had a good mornin out with Duck Quest… It’s hard to work Ducks when there are so many sky busters!! all around you….. Lot’s of Pennies in the sky’s as well as Canvas Backs!! Makes ID’ing birds very important!! But most of these guys still shot at em??? We got our limits of legal ducks!! and got out of there….We did see a Game Warden as we headed out.

NMDuckaholic

Posted By:
rmarci
Guest

NZ 11-10-2006 22:56
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
managed to get out and chase some birds this a.m. since i sure as heck can’t write a story like seeker, i’ll just say that 3 of us rushed our limits and finished at 8:30 with 11 mallard, 3 pintail, 2 redheads, 1 wigeon and a token ringneck. overall bird numbers were way down from the last time i was at this spot. looks like all that could change however with this cold snap a comin.

Posted By:
seeker28
Guest

11-08-2006 09:11
– – –
Dog will be fine. Kennel cough is kind of like a chest cold in people. Just has to run its’ course 2-3 weeks. Abrasions will heal up and we flushed his eyes good.

It was good to see a nice flock of Redlegs in the area. A little better shooting and we would have limited on them.Headed to Colorado this weekend so the dogs will get some rest. Looks like another front may be in this weekend.

Good luck everyone.

Call’em, Kill’em, Let the Dog Get’em.

Posted By:
rmarci
Guest

11-07-2006 22:52
– – –
Definately a fun time. i couldn’t have asked to share the blind with a more patient hunter or well behaved dog. my hat’s off to you for your handling abilities.

Posted By:
Greenhound
Web Member

11-07-2006 21:52
– – –
Great story seeker, do you have a degree in creative writing? Glad to hear you guys got out and about. I’d like to hear some of Randy’s calling one of these days. I didn’t know California produced callers like that:)

Posted By:
NMDuckaholic
Guest

11-07-2006 21:14
– – –
Sounds like ya’ll had a good time!!! Payton gunna be alright???

NMDuckaholic

Posted By:
seeker28
Guest

Marci’s Duck Hole 11-07-2006 17:44
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Hooked up with the reigning NM Duck Calling Champion today. Said he’d seen a few ducks in a place he put some sweat into scouting. I wasn’t really expecting to see a lot of birds as the moon was full, the winds were calm, temp is up, and we are between fronts. But I realy didn’t feel like raking leaves.

So the call master says bring your gun, shells, personal gear, and a dog. No problem with the first three but both dogs have kennel cough so I teeter on the fence about that part. Up at 2A.M. and the dogs want to go. Payton seems alright so off we go.

After a few gear issues and playing with an abnormal current, we are a bit behind schedule. Ducks are in the air and the sky is getting light. We wade through the muck and the dekes go out. We settle into Marci’s Duck Hole. The master warms up his call. I feel woefully inadequate. O.K. you call ’em and I’ll happily kill ’em.

The first fatality is a drake Widgeon. Then a Greenhead is feet up in the hole. A Gaddy is next into the kill zone. Unfortunately, she’s a cripple and gets into the thick nasty cattails. The dog busts his butt to no avail. The cattails are so thick he gets lost down the way. We get him back 15 minutes later and run him through the area again. He comes out with a duck but it’s old and very riggored. Back at the hide we wait and a Suzie let’s us know she’s on the way. My caller sweet talks her and gives me two shots to kill her. I fail in my attempt to finish her. The Master Caller drops her in classic back up fashion. She spirals into the thick n’ nasty stuff. Again the dog busts his hump and this time comes up with the bird. Payton is looking a little rough. Thick, knee high muck and wall to wall cattails are tough on a dog. The lull starts and we wait and have a cup of coffee.

Some teal roar in and plop down. Two spent shells and and we have one in the bag and another cripple across the hole and in the crap. The dog goes in again for the hunt. Again he comes up empty. We go in for a look ourselves and not a feather is found. Back to the hide to wait.

Mallards!!! Big–full ploomed–red legged Mallards!!! A flock of 40-50 are on their way in. Three drakes land in the decoys. The master works the pattern for three swings as we expect the group to come meet their buddies feet down. We blow our chance at a solid passing volley to try and get the landing gear down. Instead, the group bugs out and we get nada. Grrrrr!

Now it gets really slow. Finally, a pair of Mallards is in the pattern. Marci gives them their clearance to land and again one duck is dead and another is on the loose. My hen is into the twisted, muddy gunk and the dog is again giving everything he has to find it after getting Marci’s fat Greenhead. Two guys and a dog scour the area trying to find my duck. A small flock of Greenwings smoke in and we each dump one. The dog comes out of the ‘tails to take a look and I can tell he is done. He’s all out of go.

We have our limit now, including our lost birds, so we pack up and head out with 9 birds.

I asked a lot of a sick dog and he worked until he couldn’t anymore. His nose and eyebrows are cut up and at home we pulled a nasty devilhead sead out of his eye. The cattails and mud did a job on him. He won’t be out again until he kicks this cough. I probably shouldn’t have taken him.

A good hunt and I must pay homage to Mr. Marci and his calling. The ducks thought he was the real thing. Thanks for calling them in for me man!

Posted By:
Greenhound
Web Member

11-07-2006 16:10
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What are you doing over there? Well have a great time, take pics.

Posted By:
dbercier
Guest

11-07-2006 06:03
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I’m out in the Netherlands right now and there tons of ducks out here. Lots of water and all full of birds. Not sure if they are migrating through, but I’d sure wish I had my gear and dog out here with me right now. I’m seeing a few birds I’ve never seen before, they would be nice for my collection.

Posted By:
Greenhound
Web Member

11-06-2006 19:52
– – –
Looks like we have some new members aboard. Welcome to the site.

I headed to TX Sunday, hunted with Lonestar_Farmboy. Quite a few snows had already showed up. We had a shot at two pretty good sized canadas early, but we missed. We were holding out for the greenheads, but they weren’t coming in. I did end up taking my first hooded marganser drake. I considered mounting him but I don’t think he was as mature as he could have gotten.

Yeah, I hope a cold spell will produce some new birds from the north, we could use it.

Oh, and Sen I’ve hunted the PV for quite a while and there are no black ducks there, nor in NM for that matter. You probably saw a mexican duck.

Posted By:
NMduks
Guest

11-06-2006 09:23
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
It was a virtual duck buffet this weekend. I shot mallards, shovelers, blue-wings, green-wings a pair of cinnamon drakes, mexican duck, goldeneye, and a ruddy duck. Needless to say, I found a sweet spot! We were covered up in ducks. Lots of ducks around but there is sure a lot of water scattered around. I think it will be feast or famine until we get some real nasty weather up north and the playa lakes begin drying up. A bit of scouting seems to be paying off since my usual spots are not like they have been. Sill have not got to Caballo to look at it yet. Maybe this week. Hope you all had great hunts. Best of luck this week.

Posted By:
senmquack
Web Member

Pecos Valley 11-05-2006 15:08
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 40-45 Degrees
Did two hunts this weekend, one at Bitter Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, and one on an oxbow on the Pecos. Theres a lot of birds at the refuge for this early in the year, but the mallards, and other big ducks are not coming into the public hunting area. I got skunked but some other people there were getting teal, one snow and a black duck. There are lots of pintails, and especially immatures, sure made me nervous. based on the ducks that were there it should be glorious come december. Lots of sandhill cranes, and a far number of snows. there are even a few canadas at a golf course lake near there, that moved in a couple days ago. as for the pecos, there are also a lot of ducks for this time of year. I got a single gadwall hen. there were lots of ducks flying, and a a far number were mallards, but the weather was to nice and they were flying to high both days. Its still awesome to be duck hunting period. yall ahve a good week, and good hunting.

Justin.

Posted By:
grayfox
Guest

South 11-05-2006 12:08
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Went south, but tore my waders before legal, so spent the morning scouting. Saw very few big ducks. Need some cold up north.

By the way, how do I email Al. I thought that there was a direct link as a member.

grayfox

Posted By:
Norman-Harris
Guest

Gila/Rio south 11-03-2006 13:50
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Even though there are no longer that many deer in the Gila, I was at the right place at the right time. I was able to bag a nice 4X4 buck with my muzzle loader. The Snow Lake area is incredibly beautiful. It was a stark contrast to where the fire this summer did so much damage. Mile after mile, west of the lake there was nothing but blackend trees. I have never seen it so bad before. I got the deer Sunday morning so I was able to hunt the Rio south Monday morning. I only got two teal and only saw two big ducks. It’s still too early I guess…