During the second weekend of the New Mexico pronghorn season, my son and I made the trip west to see that part of the world. We killed two nice bucks. Here is the story.

Dates - September 16-17

Outfitter - Jim Wells, JFW Ranch Consulting, posts on AR as JFWRC and his website is www.newmexicobiggamehunting.com

Guide - Luke, a retired New Mexico Game and Fish Warden and biologist. He was extremely knowledgable and helpful. He knew NM rules and animals like no one could. He was a lot of fun and extremely well prepared to guide us. He was extremely accurate in estimating horn size and the behavour of pronghorns.

Area - between Vaughn and Santa Rosa in east-central New Mexico

Guns Used - Winchester Model 70's, one in .243 Win and the other a new Extreme Weather SS .270 Win.

Ammo - Federal Premium .243 with 85gr TSX, Federal Premium .270 Win with 130gr TSX

One of the best parts of the trip is knowing you are dealing with an honest guy in a good area. I booked this expedition a year ago after hearing about Jim. A call he made to me in July confirmed I booked with the right guy. He called to let me know the drought in that area this year was severe and that buck numbers were very low to none. He offered to send all of my money back with no strings attached rather than have me come out and not see any antelope or take a dink. I told him that I appreciate his honesty and that we could wait until the last minute if it was ok with him. He said his offer stands if we don't see any antelope.

With that, we went. Along the way you see some unusual sights -

An almost empty water tower -



A Cadillac Cemetary -


A guy down on his luck -



A passionate believer -


A free steak if you can eat a 72 oz monster slab of beer -


There is an excellent hotel and diner in Vaughn, something like what you used to see in the 1950's as you traveled old route 66 -





The antelope were not terribly plentiful but we saw 6 bucks that were 13" or better on the first day. We made a couple of relatively easy stalks to about 150 yards on each and made the shots. We used a head flag type decoy to get their attention and it worked. We walked behind the flag much like Jim Shockey does with his canoe paddles while hunting moose. The antelope did not run or flinch but actually walked closer to us to see the flag.

Here they are -

You can the lack of cover and grass in this area. We were lucky to be able to use the terrain to get close. The flag brought them closer.






The one that was next to the road that we did not hunt -



Overall a fun experience. We hunted about 6 hours before settling on the antelope we liked. Both were 13" or so and very representative for this area.

Jim is an honest guy and I would recommend his outfit to you.

Cool trip!

Those are good goats for this year. My wife had a hunt about the same time and the pickin's were likewise pretty slim. I'd say you fellas did just fine!

Right on! Sounds like a damn good time! Congratulations

Drummond

Congratulations on a fine pair of goats!

The She-Wolf, a mutual friend of ours and I were hunting down west of Roswell on another of Jim Wells' operations the 17th thru the 19th.

I'll get a hunt report and pics assembled and posted as soon as I get a spare minute. Jim and his troupe are a class operation with quality country!

Again, well done!

Mark

Congrats, two very fine pronghorn....I was also hunting with a pal just south of Vaughn.