Drummond,

I was picking up some reading material this morning, for something to do while my wife was hot air balooning.

I ended up grabbing a copy of Sports Afield.

Interestingly enough, given the conversations of late, it had an article in it about the state of trophy mule deer huning in Sonora. They didn't paint a very good picture. Poaching, bribes to ranch hands to hunt on private property, lack of deer, etc.

I'm not trying to start nor imply anything, but I was wondering if you'd seen the article and if you could comment on the it's accuracy.

Thanks!!

-Steve

[ 08-11-2003, 02:58: Message edited by: Steve ]

I have not seen the article but I will go out and pick up the magazine and post my thoughts after I read the article. Thanks for the heads up.

Drummond

Steve, I'm hunting desert mule deer and coues deer in Sonora come January with my good friend Kirk Kelso. Article or no article, I'm going, and I guess we'll just have to see what happens when it's all over. No, I'm not worried about the outcome........

AD

HS,

If you can't find it I can scan the article in an squirt you a copy.

Allen,

Nice to hear from you again. If I were you I'd go in a heartbeat!

BTW, The ballon trip was down in your neck, Newberg. Give me a ring when you get a chance. I'd love to chat.

-Steve

[ 08-11-2003, 04:04: Message edited by: Steve ]

Steve, that would be great, I would appreciate it. Also, if you are hunting with Kirk Kelso you wont have anything to worry about. He is a great guy and has some great ranches./

Drummond

Drummond,

There are still a few good mulies left in Sonora. The one below was killed when I was down there hunting Coues with Duwane.

He guided the hunter to the buck the afternoon after I had glassed it that same morning and told them where to go find it. I saw several other dandies later during the hunt, too. BUT...I wasn't hunting mule deer. -TONY

Well, I read the article and I was pretty amazed at the claims that the author made. In a way he is correct in some ways but not on such the grand scale he would have the reader believe. There were a few phrases in there that were just absurd such as the number of deer that get harvested down there that are over 30" wide. He quoted someone as saying "you may see 3 or 4 come through the airport a year". Hell, we killed that many this year, not that 30" constitutes a great deer. Anyway, I am in the process of writing a letter back to Sports Afield and I will post it here although I doubt it will get printed. I guess all one has to do is look at the issue of MuleyCrazy that has all Sonora deer to know that the guy that wrote that story really has no idea whats going on down there and that he is basing his opinion on the whole state based on a few bad experiences with shady mexican outfitters. Well, here is some eye candy of deer we harvested this past year.


Drummond

[ 08-13-2003, 04:30: Message edited by: huntsonora ]

Here are a couple and I will post a few more once I get them hosted. The top deer is a mid 230"'s deer with 21" beams, if his beams would have developed he would have been closer to mid 240"'s.
The bottom deer was killed this past season as well and grosses 194" typical, if his right side matched his left side he would have easily booked, as it is he will be within an inch either way but I doubt he will make it. Hope you guys like them

Drummond Lindsey




[ 08-13-2003, 04:37: Message edited by: huntsonora ]

Mexico like most anywhere else has some great muleys if it has not been overhunted or poached out by locals...

The local mexican can hunt, track, and he is the ultimate poacher/preditor, he will with a 22 rifle load up a string of burros with meat for village or for sale...they hit us from time to time on our ranch in Texas near the Big Bend National Park, also took cows and horses from time to time...not a healthy practice, but done never the less and still happens on ocassion...

On Mexico ranches where the deer or managed and the vaqueros ride every day its a different story, they still have the deer and the gene pool is active..They can and are very brutal towards poachers and the word get out plenty quick...The ranches have kill records, checking them out is the simple thing to do, see what they got last year and the year before, check references...

There are and always will be greedy men to take your money on both sides of the border, those men will kill everything in sight and move on to greener pastures...The world is full of them.

You can't condem a whole country on the actions of some, we (self included have all made that mistake and it's the wrong thing to do...generalization is never correct...

Drummond, please check your mail. - mike

Yup, no more big deer!

34" 194" typical, we tracked this deer for 4 miles, notice my sunburn, I had forgotten my hat in the truck when we got on his track and did not get to put it back on until we got back to the truck.


31" wide, 203" typical. This deer was on the cover of Eastmans last year. We killed this deer on the very last day of the hunt, in fact my hunter missed his flight. I thought it was worth it, what do you think?


Anyway, according to Walt, there are no more of these big deer left.

Drummond Lindsey

A friend of mine hunted in Sonora with TimberRidge Outfitters in '02:


MtnHtr

Thats a lot of fine looking Muleys guys, thanks for the pics!! Your getting me fired up for Oktoberfest..

Hey the heck with the Carp deer-how's about that Coues on the left!! The left sides 2's and 3's look a bit short but still a nice venado.

"GET TO THE HILL"

Dog

[ 08-15-2003, 06:58: Message edited by: Mark R Dobrenski ]

Here is a few more Coues.

This one grosses 144". This deer was killed this past season. The ranch that this guy hunts on is in the best area in the world for big coues deer. You will not see a lot of deer but the genetics are amazing and if these deer are allowed to mature they are mind blowing! This is not a ranch I have leased and I did not guide on these bucks but I thought you all would like to see these deer. I did lease the ranch next door that had a mid 160"s gross deer killed on it 3 years ago.(I did a story on that deer in Trophy Hunter 2 years ago)


This is another good deer, this one nets 120". All of these deer were killed by the same man.


This is the HOG! I did not put a tape on him but he will be in the top 3 typical Coues deer ever killed, possibly a new world record! I cannot begin to describe the mass, its just incredible, I hope you guys like the pictures.


Drummond Lindsey

[ 08-15-2003, 07:45: Message edited by: huntsonora ]

Thanks Drumond-you just made my day-great pics! I wish I was in Old Mex right now.

"GET TO THE HILL"

Dog

Dang son! Them's some big uns!