My bride and I had enough of the heat so we headed to New Mexico to cool down and look at a few properties. Cloudcroft was as green as I've ever seen it. One of the locals told me that they had over 20" of rain since August 1st. 15 miles in any direction it was dry, not Texas dry but dry. The Elk were just starting to talk and were not showing up until right at dark then you could hear the bugles in the evenings but they aren't in a hard rut yet. The amount of grass in the upper basins was incredible. I saw bulls in Russia Canyon, Rio Penasco Canyon and several different groups of cows and calfs in most places I looked. I located 2 6x6's down close to Weed that were big mature bulls with long beams and alot of mass but both had short points. The rain this spring and summer never came and the antlers are showing it. The deer were healthy looking and still had velvet.
Good Luck to anyone with a tag. Later Baker

I am thinking about buying a parcel in a co-op near Timberon and Cloudcroft. Heard they were over run with elk but not many mulies. Problem is mules are over the counter if you have your own land but elk are still on a lottery system. Have you heard anything about the mule hungint/population up there?

p.s. south of Cloudcroft in the lower elevations

We have a cabin between Cloudcroft and Mayhill on 82. Haven't been up there much in years, but I used to love sitting out and listening to them bugle. We had a HUGE elk that would come in and eat our young apple trees, but we just let him because he was so awesome to see close up. Good luck. There are a bunch of them up there typically.

BuckRage, I lived in Odessa for 19 years and used to hunt 34 every fall. The Elk numbers are way up in the unit and Deer numbers are down. There are still some decent bucks killed every year but don't expect a monster. I would never pass a 150 class buck in unit 34. The entire unit has some deer but I prefer the lower end down toward Pinon. Try to find you a water hole thats not occupied by another and wait em out. Check CR44 that runs close to Lewis Peak but get a good map and stay off the private land. Good Luck, Baker

I think I couldn't handle it living there and not being able to draw a ticket for an elk hunt and having to look at them.

Thanks elkhunter49, the place I'm talking about is in the southern foothills of the Sacramento mountains and I would have access to 1750 acres plus it's surrounded by the Lincoln National Forrest and the only way to get to 10's of thousands of acres of it is through the gated ranch. It's near Bug Scuffle Hill & Table Top Mountain on Mapquest. Nice place with great amenities but whats really holding me back is what I have heard about the mule deer hunting and that's not what I would have expected for that unit. Wonder why the decline in mulies and the rise in elk population?

I'm familure with the Timberon area and I've hunted bug scuffle
before there were so many cabins down there. I don't really know why the deer numbers are down but they are. I know the Elk and Deer compete for the agriculture in the area but that goes on everywhere. With that being said it seems like every season someone kills a 180+ muley from 34 but I always assumed it came off of private and but that might not be true. Later Baker

Hey BuckRage FYI I thought I'd share a post I just made on Monster Muleys just incase you have school age children. Take Care
I was up in Cloudcroft last weekend looking at some property and visiting some of the places I used to hunt before it became almost impossible to draw a tag. The area near Cloudcroft was very green and looked great but no more than about 10 miles in any direction it was still very dry. My question is about the school system in Cloudcroft. After talking to some of the local parents it appears the kids in Cloudcroft schools 1-12th grades are only going to class on Tuesday thru Friday every week this year. The 2 people I spoke with said the school district can't afford to pay the teachers for 5 days a week so the cut back to 4. How does a school system keep its accredidation when you just eliminate that many school days from the year? It's seems unfair to the kids although I'm sure they love it. Beautiful Country, and the bulls were talking but not much. Baker

Thanks elkhunter49, I only live about 2 hours away and was going to buy a parcel in a co-op only for the hunting rights. Don't plan on living there although I appreciate you letting me know. I've never heard of such a thing before...

I've thought of doing the same thing myself when I lived in West Texas, I'm reminded by my recent trip how far away I am so for now it's not an option. Good Luck with your choice. Baker

I've hunted near Weed up in Blue Canyon....beautiful country. But it seems to me, the elk were always holed up in the draws near farmland. Waiting to move into the waterholes before dark. Now I know.

I just got back last week from bow hunting muleys in unit 34. It was our first ever trip and we had a blast but didn't see many deer. We had elk bugling all around us and saw a bunch of elk. We spoke with several "ole timers" while we were there and every single one of them told us the deer hunting has really fallen off the past several years. One guy said he had hunted there for 25 years and he wouldn't be back. Most of them blamed the decrease on the mountain lions but that is hard to believe that the lions could effect the population that much. Anyway, we had a great time chasing the muleys and will be back in January to chase them again.

The problem IMO is they give too many tags away for the number of deer in that unit.