Looks like I got drawn for a barbary sheep BBY-1-109. I believe this is unit 29 and 30. I have hunted new mexico, elk, bear, and oryx but never sheep. Any spots to focus on, techniques? Can we stay in a hotel or do we have to camp outdoors? Should I get a guide or should we just dyi? Any experience or help would be much appreciated.

I don't have anyone in New Mexico for Barbary sheep but I think if you look around you'll find hunts for around $3,500 with a good chance at a big sheep.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by steel:
Looks like I got drawn for a barbary sheep BBY-1-109. I believe this is unit 29 and 30. I have hunted new mexico, elk, bear, and oryx but never sheep. Any spots to focus on, techniques? Can we stay in a hotel or do we have to camp outdoors? Should I get a guide or should we just dyi? Any experience or help would be much appreciated.

You're a lucky sucker aren't you?

I hunted those units this winter with a buddy and my daughter. They each killed a sheep, one a big 30-incher and one a "starter" ram. I missed my chance at a big one and then passed a bunch of ewes and small rams and ended up eating my tag. No biggie, my girl got one and that made the trip for me.

Most of those units are pretty remote. We camped out in the middle of nowhere. You could maybe do a cabin in the northwest of 29 (Mayhill) or the east side by Carlsbad/Queen. If you hunted close to Carlsbad you could hotel it. We hunted about smack dab between those and there's nothing, not even cell service for most of it.

I think if you dedicate the entire hunt (about two weeks, right?), you could have a good chance of finding sheep DIY. Glassing and stalking is the name of the game. Cover a lot of ground and be ready to move fast when you see one. We found that if you can't identify a trophy with 10x bino, they're too far away to get to before they leave! These things are constantly moving. I looked over a lot of sheep before I saw one laying down.

Learn to shoot far and in the wind. February will be windy as hell down there. Shoot, January was windy as hell.

We bumped into a "famous" guide service and they were doing the same as us. Glassing from high spots trying to find sheep to sneak on. They probably have better gear and a bit more knowledge, but we saw and killed just as many sheep as their hunters did on our own. Your call though. If you have the funds for a guide, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt. If you need access to a good camp and off road vehicles, you may be even more interested in a guide.

I am very excited to have drawn again, I did put in for everything but it is nice to be able to hunt this coming year. Yes hunting season is two weeks. I think we will Rey dyi on this hunt. Although I no longer live in New mexico so I will have to rent a truck and a cabin probably. What unit do you think is better 29 or 30?

quote:

Originally posted by steel:
What unit do you think is better 29 or 30?

Heck if I know. I had never seen the area we hunted until the weekend before the hunt, and then only for half a day. We went in pretty much blind, with only my over-the-counter hunt from 2017 to serve as guidance. We ended up killing a sheep in each unit, so I guess they're both good!

My buddy brought along a side-by-side and that saved tons of really rough miles on the truck, and got us places much faster. We killed one while using it to access rough country, but the second one we killed after he left and were just hunting out of the truck. We happened to spot one from a decent two-track, so not to bad. We didn't kill him, but found more a couple miles later and got one from that group.

Shoot me a PM and maybe we can talk on the phone. That'd be easier than swapping text back and forth.