https://www.demingheadlight.co...r-deming/3933067002/

Link has photo of Agent carrying the hunter off the mountain.



U.S. Border Patrol agents rescue twin hunters in Florida Mountains south of Deming

Bill Armendariz, Deming Headlight Published 5:15 p.m. MT Oct. 10, 2019 | Updated 1:12 a.m. MT Oct. 11, 2019



LUNA COUNTY – The perils of hunting in the Florida Mountains are well-chronicled in Luna County. During the exotic hunting season for Persian ibex in the rugged Florida (Flo-Ree-Dah) range, local volunteer rescue teams and first responders average a call a year for hunters in distress.

Such was the case for twin brothers Nick and Chris Achibeque of Roswell. The 21-year-olds began their bow hunt with a climb up the mountain at 9 a.m.on Saturday. By 3:30 p.m., the brothers were at about 5,500 feet when Chris began to show symptoms of dehydration.

Nick called 911 and his father back in Artesia to let him know the two were in distress. Chris was cramping, vomiting and complaining of dizziness and exhaustion. "I couldn't walk any further," he said in a telephone interview with the Headlight.

“When Nick called me, I knew it had to do with water,” said the twins' father, David Archibeque. “It sounded to me, with the heat and humidity, Chris had consumed too much water and flushed out his electrolytes."



According to their father, the twins are experienced hunters in New Mexico and David is a hunting guide. “Both my boys are becoming guides also — they are avid hunters,” David pointed out.

Border Patrol helps

U.S. Border Patrol agent Fidel O. Baca said central dispatch in Luna County reached out to the Deming Border Patrol Station requesting assistance in locating two hunters in distress.


The Border Patrol was able to get coordinates for the hunters' location and headed out on ATVs to search the area.

Two agents left their ATVs and went on foot to locate the hunters. A quick medical assessment determined that Chris required medical attention. Agents met up with EMS who transported the him to Mimbres Memorial Hospital in Deming.

"One agent shoulder-carried me down the mountain a ways and then they supported me on their shoulders," Chris said.

“My boys had plenty of water with them,” David said. “The doctor confirmed that Chris had consumed too much water during the hike up the ridges and it was salt depletion.”

David said he left Artesia at about 6 p.m. on Saturday to meet with the twins at the foothills of the Floridas. “They didn’t get to the hospital until 1 a.m. I was told a Border Patrol agent carried Chris down the mountain. Border Patrol does not get the credit they deserve.”


Ibex aplenty


Nick Archibeque arrived in Deming a week ago Monday and had been scouting the mountain range since Tuesday of last week. Chris followed on Friday and the twins were on their first-ever bow hunt for ibex on Saturday.

"We had been there once before, but not that high up," Chris said. "It's a different kind of hunt."

The ibex, or Persian goat, was brought to the Floridas in the early 1970s as an exotic hunt. The mountain range is a typical habitat for the ibex with steep cliffs and vertical walls. The ibex is well-suited for the rugged terrain, but humans are not.

“I was upset with the boys after the rescue, but they are fit and healthy for this type of hunt,” David said.

Chris was released from the hospital on Tuesday in good health.

"We'll be back," Chris said. "For the rifle hunt next time. We have unfinished business on that mountain."

Bill Armendariz can be reached at 575-546-2611 (ext. 2606) or biarmendariz@demingheadlight.com.

A few years ago, I was lucky enough to draw a rifle tag for Florida Mountain Ibex on my first try. It is not a huge area. But the terrain is more than tough enough to make up for that. There are no roads across, over, or along the mountains. It's a good walk just up to the base and then it gets steeper and more rugged as you go up from there. It's good they were able to get medical help to them in time.

There is a border patrol check point on highway 70 near my house.

They are wonderful people.