Anybody ever hunted Ibex in the Florida Mountains in New Mexico? I am looking to apply for one of the 100 tags for archery.

I have twice but never with a bow. Please feel free to PM me with any questions.

My son drew a bow tag for mid October 2019
I believe the success rate is very low.
Any suggestions....

Thanks, Lee

My advice is for him to be careful, especially with a bow. They can and will attack when wounded, and have been known to kill people. Not kidding here. A ranch hand was killed by one in south Texas a number of years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by sharpsguy:
My advice is for him to be careful, especially with a bow. They can and will attack when wounded, and have been known to kill people. Not kidding here. A ranch hand was killed by one in south Texas a number of years ago.

Ibex? You sure that wasn't oryx? Those dudes can get a little aggressive at times.

For ibex, get ready to climb. I have hunted them twice with a bow, back when hunter numbers were lower. I think success rates then, and maybe still now, were about 1.5%. It's tough country to hunt with a bow. The two bow seasons now have 100 hunters each, which may be enough feet out pounding the rocks to move the critters around a lot. If I were to do it again, and I'm not (if that says anything), I'd look for good places to set up an ambush along travel routes. The seem to be somewhat creatures of habit, and getting in close to a place/route they want to use seems like a good approach for the patient bowhunter.

It was oryx. My bad. I didn't know there were free ranging ibex in NM.

Kaprota, carry a sidearm. Seriously. A friend had that tag, ran into a game warden and he recommended carrying just because of the number of mules packing drugs up through the rugged Floridas from you-know-where.

It is about 70 miles from my house, and if I was hunting over there I would sleep at my house, and make the drive twice a day.

Border country is pretty rough right now.

A friend of mine drew that tag for rifle nanny a few years ago and camped out there. The border patrol and game and fish visited his camp every night. Just like Bill's friend.

There are quite a few videos on youtube of recent hunts in the Floridas for ibex.