I would rather take my chances with a grizzly, then having some cartel member trying to cut my head off with a dull machete. I have seen the outcome of running into the wrong group of people first hand. I will stick to my hill country deer. I did see Don K getting eggs and milk at the Super S grocery as the sun was going down but he was in a hurry.

I have been to Sonora twice and no troubles there. Ive been told by the mexican's in Sonora that the Cartel in Sonora is all business and would rather not be in the spotlight with killings etc. The Cartels in Chihuahua don't care and like the violence.

It's the business part that you don't want to become a part of. Kidnapping & human trafficking are a part of their business plan. I wouldn't go and I definitely wouldn't let any of my family go across.

This is straight out of the current Mexico travel warning:

Sonora: Nogales, Puerto Peñasco, Hermosillo, and San Carlos are major cities/travel destinations in Sonora - Sonora is a key region in the international drug and human trafficking trades and can be extremely dangerous for travelers. Travelers throughout Sonora are encouraged to limit travel to main roads during daylight hours. The region west of Nogales, east of Sonoyta, and from Caborca north, including the towns of Saric, Tubutama, and Altar, and the eastern edge of Sonora bordering Chihuahua, are known centers of illegal activity, and non-essential travel between these cities should be avoided. Travelers should also defer non-essential travel to the eastern edge of the state of Sonora, which borders the state of Chihuahua (all points along that border east of the northern city of Agua Prieta and the southern town of Alamos), and defer non-essential travel within the city of Ciudad Obregon and south of the city of Navojoa. You should exercise caution while transiting Vicam in southern Sonora due to roadblocks that can be instituted ad hoc by local indigenous and environmental groups. U.S. citizens visiting Puerto Peñasco should use the Lukeville, Arizona/Sonoyta, Sonora border crossing, and limit driving to daylight hours.

Grizzly? Don't make me laugh. How about 5-10 Cartel guys with auto weapons?

i've always been partial to my head being attached to my body.

I tend to agree. Id walk down cherry street barefoot at night on a full moon with no flashlight without batting an eye and still feel way safer than mexico. Nobody is going to kidnap you and hold you ransom on cherry street. You may have a few questionable "ladies" solicit you though.

I have a buddy with a lease in mexico. He has been on it two years with no problems. He keeps inviting me to go with him and shoot a cull buck, which would likely be a pretty big deer to me. I haven't accepted yet, but it is getting tempting.

How do you know if you've bribed someone enough? Kidnapping is a business there. I have a friend that's a Mexican national and he's had two relatives kidnapped. One was killed and the other was returned after a $3,000 ransom was paid. Life has little meaning for a disproportionate amount of the population. There are many wonderful people in Mexico but too much cash and too many drugs. Here criminals cannot move about as easily, they don't have the cooperation of the police and tend to be more confined to certain neighborhoods. I'm not saying it doesn't occur in every part of all cities, just saying it's not as widespread here. Too much corruption for me.

Lol please they would rob you blind in about 2 seconds on cherry street past dark

Cherry Street is a thing of the past, Backpage from the internet is where the Ladys of Ill Repute do there business. So I Heard!

You can still get robbed there though

Always wanted to hunt Mexico but with a wife and 2 young ones it has changed my perspective and I won't be going

You need to go if you think it so safe. And leave your new truck parked on the street and see if it is still there in the morning.

I had a chance to go and take a 140-160 management buck, I passed.

that was redchevy I think cherry street is dangerous as hell

As for the OPs questions.
The owner provides the hunters agreement and deer tags.
Our owner takes care of our gun permit paperwork.
We cross at the columbia bridge and check in guns the 1st day of the season.
Mexican military is set up at the crossing. They check to make sure your guns (make/model/cal,/serial numbers) match the gun permit. You can also bring in up to 100 rounds per gun. After the initial entry your ammo must stay at the ranch. You can leave your guns at the ranch or bring them back and forth. The gun permit must be present with the guns. The military is set up everyday at the crossing.
Most gun permits expire the last day of the season. You can check them out anytime no later than the final day of the season. Any unused ammo must also be removed at the time your guns are checked out. Checking them out is simple as you present the guns and permit to the military at the crossing. They verify your guns are present and take back the permit. You then cross back to the US.
Its pretty simple.
As for the violence, we have not seen any nor been bothered. Our lease is less than 20 minutes from the crossing and we travel during the day. Lots of military in that area and the marines are building a new base near the crossing. I've never felt uncomfortable and cross 10-20 times a year. As a kid we travelled alot in mexico and I have family that lives there so its not new to me. I do understand theres danger there. And I do understand that some folks will never want to travel there. To each their own.

hunted there several seasons with zero problems. I understand the fear. However I have this question? If hunters from USA were being "beheaded", etc. would it not be in the news? If you or I went to Mexico to hunt and never returned would the news not be all over that? In this day and time to think American hunters are being captured and killed on a widespread basis is not realistic. It is raw country with incredible deer - if you lease the right ranch the risk is no higher than hunting in south texas IMO

You guys stay away from Mexico, no deer Keep lease prices down for us few

Old Mexico is overrated in most cases.

Hunted a few leases there. Some good and some terrible. Most all are hunted while your gone whether they tell you they are or not. Really no repercussions there if they do.

Just not worth it anymore to deal with the hassle. Some guys like it because they are in a different country and that hypes it up for them whether or not it is really justified.

You can get a good Texas lease with a lot less hassle and worry for equal to what you pay in Mexico for the time and effort.

$2500-3000 for trophy level bucks in Mexico - south texas will run $5000-$10000 for same level of deer -

Oh yeah, the Sonora cartel is known for its professionalism.

I haven't seen a real "trophy" type lease in mexico for 2500.

Sure there are - 160+ deer - with the drop off in Americans crossing to hunt there the prices have dropped significantly and there are some nice ranches there for that price range. Go to leasehunter.com and put Mexico in lease search box - they are on there regularly among other places

We hunted the same ranch southwest of Laredo for 8 yrs . 8 guns @ $2500.00 pr gun we killed 4 bucks over 160 in one year . Other years we always killed one or two over 160 . And during that time we killed two bucks over 170. It's was the greatest ranch I've ever hunted on bar none . But we just got tired of the paperwork and BS and we gave up . But never felt scared except for one time coming back across with our guns U.S. customes put me in handcuffs and I spent 2 hours in a jail cell . Just for them to inform me I was carrying a stolen rife . Which I had purchased from a local gun dealer 5 years before. And had also crossed the border with 4 previous times with no trouble at all.