The New Mexico mule deer season opened at Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron on November 1st, 2009. Don Braddock and I traveled from Jacksonville to participate in this years hunt. This was Don’s first visit to the high adventure mountain camp owned by the Boy Scouts of America. This was to be my third trip to this beautiful and scenic 140,000 acre ranch.
We arrived in Colorado Springs and drove the 200 miles south through the Rocky Mountains and Sangre de Chisto Mountains. There was snow already on the mountain peaks. We arrived at Philmont in time to meet our guide, Charles Duran and sight our rifles in at the range. Other hunters, old and new were getting settled in for the four-day hunt. There were a total of 21 hunters this year. Most of the hunters were returning for the awesome beauty of the ranch and a chance at trophy muley.
We ate dinner early because of Halloween and settled in for some after dinner drinks and fellowship with the other hunters in camp.
We awoke at 4:00 am and as November ushered in daylight savings time. It was a cool 30? degrees when we stepped out to a perfectly clear starry sky. We ate a big breakfast and were in the truck heading out at 5:15 am. Hunting at Philmont is in 4-wheel drive trucks covering the almost 220 square mile ranch. You drive ridges, canyons and pastures glassing the hillsides for deer moving or bedded down. There are 13 areas of the ranch and the guides pick their section and keep in radio contact with Bob Ricklefs, ranch superintendent. Bob coordinates who is in, leaving or covering each area of the ranch. It is amazing to me how well the guides know the ranch. We are talking about 140,000 acres.
Don said I would be the first shooter. I also was responsible for opening closing the many gates. Don and Charles made several comments about my gate opening skills and called me “the gate bitch”, more on this later.
We were in the area 7 by 5:30 am waiting for a 6:23 sunrise. Legal shooting times are half hour before sunrise to one half hour after sunset.
We drove and parked near an impoundment that holds water for the livestock and wildlife. We glassed for a while spotting only one doe. The trail roads at Philmont are adequately graded but were very soft and slick from the previous weeks’ rain and snow. The roads were going to present a problem getting around the ranch.
We spotted a group of five does feeding around 8:00 am and did not see another deer all morning. We spent hours driving, looking, laughing, and joking around as we covered miles and miles of Philmont. Charles talked about an injury he received to his eye while branding some cattle last year at the ranch. He split his eyelid and had what he called a “cockeye”. We had a lot of fun with that one! We checked out of area 7 and returned to the motor pool to clean the mud from the front windows. After we finished, Charles picked up the industrial hose and gave it a good blow so it would not freeze up. Where is the camera when you need it?
We checked into area 2 Urraca Mesa around noon on the south end of the ranch. I had hunted this area some last year and had seen some big deer.
We drove up to camp Zastow and had lunch and rested up for a while. There was a beautiful Rayado trout creek that ran by the camp.
We traveled the difficult trail roads up the ridge to a rock formation called toothache. It is at elevation +/- 9000’. We could see for miles. We spent an hour with binoculars looking for deer. We then moved to another location and glassed and spotted some deer feeding around 3:00 pm We broke out the spotting scope but there were no shooters in the group. Just seven does and one small buck. We saw several bull elk feeding on the mountain pastures.
I was glassing an area that had a red roofed wooden port-o-let structure that are located all over Philmont. I told Don “ I see a shitter”; he thought I said “shooter”. Everyone got excited only to break out laughing “ a shitter, not a shooter”!
We continued to hunt into prime time. Don and I got out of the truck and crossed a fence and stalked across a meadow where a doe and fawn were feeding. They did not spook as we crossed in the open. We got back up in the truck as daylight was fading. We entered area 3 and were greeted by hundreds of turkey heading for the roost. We ran up a main road past “Lovers Leap”, a 300’- 400’ rock outcropping that was quite spectacular.
Daylight turned into night and day one of the hunt was finished. We drove over 100 miles of the most beautiful terrain, but no shooters today. We went back to our room, ate dinner and lights were out by 8:00 pm.
Day two started at 4:00 am again and we were at the gate of area 11 by 5:30 am. Area 11 is also known as the Upper Ponil and is noted for its dinosaur footprints and Indian writings on the rocks. We started our trek up the ridge road to House canyon. We observed two different groups of cow elk and a pretty good bull following one of the herds. The ridge road of the canyon was very steep and soft. Don and I had to hold on as Charles aka “Fireball Roberts” raced up the canyon trail. Charles accused Don of leaving pistol grips on the door handles from gripping so tight. We continued to drive the rim of the canyon. We spotted two shooter bull elk on a nearby canyon ridge moving through the timber. We did see a group of mule deer does and fawns as we descended down the ridge again into Cook canyon. We stopped and had lunch on the tailgate and listened about “MSU”. Charles said he had a degree in “make something up.” The lunch break was a good way to break up a slow deer hunt and stretch our legs. We were covering a lot of the ranch looking for mule deer that were not cooperating. Charles decided we should go south again and we entered area 1 and planned to hunt the afternoon in the Rayado creek area. Charles and I got out of the truck and walked along the creek for about half mile while Don drove the truck around. We saw turkey and elk but no deer. We also found some fresh bear scat. Day two hunting came to a close. The moon was full and rising above the ranch as we returned to camp, ate dinner and were in bed by 8:30 pm.
We awoke at 4:00 am with the moon was covered by clouds and the temperature was around 31? degrees. Sunrise was at 6:25 am and we were back in area 11 by 5:30 am. We drove the canyon bottom until it was after sunrise. Charles wanted to try Horse canyon but was concerned about the condition of the road. We soon found out why! The grade of the road is very steep, it was slick and there is nothing between you and death at the bottom of the canyon. Only God knows how I felt inside as we started up the incline but somehow we made it to the summit without incident. Don and I were puckered up from the ride and I mentioned that we had paid money for this experience.
On top of the canyon we regained our composure and resumed hunting. We saw a group of does and fawns feeding in a burned blow down of timber and several unknowns running away as the truck approached. We cruised the ridges all morning without seeing a mature buck. We stopped and took a breakfast burrito break and discussed going back south again. Charles had scouted a couple of really good bucks in area 2 a week earlier. We stopped back at camp and one of the hunters had shot a 170” class mule buck in the hay fields behind camp. There were regularly deer in the fields but we had not observed any good bucks. We decided to check it to see what may have shown up overnight. There were a couple of irrigation pivots and we could see deer bedding down around the pivots. We spotted another group of deer bedded near a tree along the fence. We stopped the truck and glassed the deer. There were two mature bucks and seven or eight does. The buck on the left was a 24”-25” wide spread 5 x 4 missing a brow tine. The other deer was a non-typical 6 x 7 with some trash points on its base. We got a good look at them and decided either one was a shooter. Don was up to shoot and he decided to pass. I did not hesitate to get ready to shoot. I grabbed my backpack and put it on the hood of the truck for a rest. The deer were still bedded down so Charles got out and moved around the deer from across the fence. The does were the first to spook and took off with their familiar hopping gait. The 5 x 4 followed the does and finally the 6 x 7 took off after his fleeing friends. The deer jumped another fence and the buck stopped on the other side thinking he had reached safety. I had a good rest and I chambered a .338 round in the action. The cross hairs settled and the buck fever started. I took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger. The buck stood for moment then he stumbled forward and went down. Wow, that happened fast! Don and Charles and I had the high fives, fist bumps going as we inspected the fallen buck. A trophy with 154” inches of antler and a non-typical rack. After the picture taking session, the packers from camp retrieved the deer and returned it to the skinning shed for processing. It was almost 2:00 p.m. when Don asked if we were planning to eat lunch. In all of the excitement we forgot to eat. We grabbed a quick sandwich at the motor pool and headed back out. One deer down and one to go. We went back to area 2 Urraca Mesa and climbed to the top of toothache again to glass the pastures below. We glassed but did not see any deer. As the sun slowly set in the west behind the mountains we moved down and drove the pastures. The deer were moving around 5:00 pm, but no shooters. We observed some young bucks and does as another day of hunting came to a close.
Day four started as the previous mornings at 4:00 am. We decided to hunt area 10 Dean canyon and were there again at 5:30 am. There was considerably much more snow in this canyon than the others we have hunted and roads were still frozen. I assumed my job of gate bitch and opened several, as we made our way up the canyon. This canyon road was no way near the one we ascended yesterday. Look Don, no hands! We saw a couple of young bucks bedded on the side of the canyon but they were not even last day shooters. We saw several more elk including a good bull moving along the timberline on the canyon ridge. We crossed over from Dean canyon to New Dean canyon and were heading to Santa Claus canyon when Charles spotted two bucks feeding in the timber. We stopped the truck and started to glass. They were 100 yards away in some pretty thick woods and we had to back the truck up to get a look at their antlers. We repositioned the truck again, but still were having some difficulty. It was around 8:00 am when Don said lets pass. I suggested we try to get closer and get a better look. We went off the main road onto a logging road were able to close within about 60 yards from the deer. The deer are used to seeing trucks all over the ranch and seemed unconcerned about our presence. We get a good look at the bucks from this vantage. One deer is old and had good mass and a 6 x 7 rack. Don asked me what I thought? I told him the buck would already be dead if it were my turn.
Don decides to take the deer. He gets a good rest, “triangulates” and “braces” for the shot from the passenger front seat of the truck. His .300 Win Mag breaks the silence of the cold mountain air and the deer drops in his tracks. Great shot! A Philmont trophy 153” mule deer is down! Pictures, field dressing, “Florida redneck display” and the trip back to camp. We arrive back to our rooms by 11:00 am and we decide to take a road trip to see Taos, and the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, which is spectacular. We get back to Philmont in time for dinner then head over to the St. James Hotel bar with Charles and to watch game six of the World Series. We returned back to Philmont and shared a couple brown waters, relived the hunts, and the great time we experienced “ Living the Hunt Life”
