Scouting for a good hunt

The heat is on.

By the time August came around, with less than a month until bowhunting season, I had spent weeks obsessing over where to look for mule deer. From alpine basins high in the Pecos Wilderness to scrubby lowlands tucked into the mountains west of Las Vegas, New Mexico. The further, the better.

My scouting journey always starts the same, from my couch, where I order a topographical map of the region I will be hunting, this time Game Management Unit 45. Once the map arrives, I will get out my package of stickers and search for remote basins (a large bowl open on one side, often with water running down the middle) and saddles (the path of least resistance between a set of highpoints).

I mark the promising areas I find with a sticker before going digital. The downside of physical maps is you cannot get an idea of tree cover or vantage points — which is where I turn to onX Hunt and Google Earth. With these tools I can see which of those stickered areas on the map provides the best view, secrecy and access.

In 3D mode, you can use the tilt function to nearly put yourself on the ground, where you can get an idea of how things will look when the time comes. Another big requirement (especially since I’m hunting solo) is access: being able to hike, often in the dark, two miles or fewer to a glassing point from the truck. I mark all the spots that meet or come close to those quotas, and then it’s time to hit the road.

Last weekend, I went after my two highest-priority markers: a peak with basins on three sides that sat at over 12,000 feet in the north portion of the Pecos and a 3-year-old burn scar to the northwest of Las Vegas. I took my friends and colleagues Donn Friedman and Rob Browman with me to the first area, which was a white-knuckle ride up a forest “road” that at times felt like a 90-degree angle.

By the time we reached the top, it turned out to be the highest elevation I had ever driven my Toyota 4Runner to in New Mexico. With storm clouds rolling in, I told the boys I was going to make tracks two miles up the trail to confirm the coveted spot was all that I had dreamed of from my couch.

The trail was rough and untrodden — always a good sign. I immediately was stepping over droppings from a large buck, mountain lion and bear. Within the first mile I had seen a large elk, a turkey, grouse and countless gray jays.

Another sign of a good hunting spot: A place where the birds and chipmunks seem surprised to see you, but in a curious way. That’s how you know you’ve found a place rarely visited by people. Now, obviously when scouting I don’t want to scare everything away, so I get in and get out — acting like a hiker as opposed to a hunter.

Within an hour, the max time in which I want to be able to reach my spot, I was on the edge of the basin and found a nice cut-in where I wouldn’t be skylined before tucking into some trees with my binoculars. It was perfect.

But it’s always good to have a Plan B, especially when depending on roads that would be unusable if a hard enough storm hit. So, the next day, me and Rob bid farewell to Donn, and we met famed Journal photographer Eddie Moore on the far east end of the Santa Fe National Forest.

The spot I had marked here was within the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon burn scar. We arrived to find several hunters with dog packs looking for bears. The area was unlike any I had been in, three years after the fire — the largest in state history — torched trees stood like matchsticks across the landscape.

At their trunks was a sea of green and color, as shrubs covered the ground, with all manner of wildflowers sprouting from them. From that well of destruction and sadness and loss for so many had erupted one of the more strikingly beautiful environs I have spent time in. Wild strawberries covered the ground and we stooped down now and then to eat some.

But, alas, the access was an issue with lots of deadfall and the view was broken up by charred timbers still standing. Sometimes you don’t learn these things until you get boots on the ground but preparing with physical maps and technology will save you lots of trouble.

With less than a week before I head into the wilderness, I feel the jitters. Excited and anxious, I wonder: have I done enough? I hope so.

Scouting for a good hunt