This is my story of the 2003 New Mexico Mobility Impaired Antelope Hunt. Just because I didn�t add any meat to our freezer doesn�t mean the hunt was not worth bragging about.

We arrived in the hunt area a couple days early to do some scouting and pretty much all the goats we spotted were on private property. The next day some good friends, Abel & Abran, from Bloomfield, NM met us in Fence Lake, NM. Fishing is terrible there but maybe that�s because there ain�t no water just fences. There was our first mishap of a eventful trip. We broke one of our trailer�s leaf springs so we arrived in town with a cloud of smoke, both tires on the left side were rubbing againest each other. After a few hours, with the help of a come-along, a block of wood and a guy from that town we were ready to get back on the road. But first we had to do alittle scouting North of town. We didn�t see any Antelope but did see some cow elk. When we got back to where we left the trailer we talked it over and decided to go East to El Malpais. On the way there we spotted several herds of them Turbo goats but again they were on private property. I later met up with the owner�s represenative but that will be told in my 2003 NM Cow Elk hunt.

Late in the afternoon we pitched camp after scouting around for some firm ground because of the brief rain showers. Opening morning arrived but the sun was hidden by the overcast and spoty ground fog. Finally by mid morning it cleared up enough to see past a couple hundred yards. We saw a couple of Antelope Bucks at 100+ yards but they were moving at a full sprint, about 65 mph. Those were the closest ones we saw during the 3 day hunt. As the day wore on we glassed a couple other herds but they were a good 500 or 600 yards away and only saw because they skylined themselves. But we did come on a few Prarie Dog colonies and a couple Coyotes. Those dogs weren�t spooked by us at all they would walk off in the sage brush then turn and watch us. In New Mexico the legal shooting hours end at sunset. So it wasn�t even dark when we got back to our muddy camp. That evening we watched a light show to the South of us. As that lightening show was nearing it�s end the wind came up so went to bed and got rocked to sleep. When we got up the stars were bright and morning broke nice and clear. Cruised the lava fields looking for goats but only saw prarie dogs. Then spyed a single Antelope buck but he was a long way off. It stayed clear until noon and we got into some piney high country where we came on some deer. Dropped out of the pines into a rain storm that would float a battleship. And fought our way through the mud back towards camp but about half way back it quit raining. When we were about a mile from camp the truck started to kick up dust but headed back anyway for fuel.

On Sunday we were on the trail at can see light looking for one of those illusive goats but again saw nothing but prarie dogs and rabbits. By lunch time we were back in camp when a rancher pulled up and told us we were on private property. After talking and argueing for a bit out came the USGS maps that shows Private, Fed., BLM, State, ect ... the maps came out and the meeting ended. My buddies had to go to work the next morning so they started to break camp and take some pictures The next morning my Dad and me started to break up camp after policeing the area we were off. To get on the main highway we needed to cross a cattle guard that was on a rise on one side then dropped into a 1 foot hole. A pretty good sized hunk of plumbing was tore off and all our gray water and the fresh drained out. We went about a mile down the road when we came on a couple Antelope bucks standing maybe 50 feet off the road. I could swear they were thumbing their noses at us and laughing at us. But the hunt was over. After we crossed back into AZ and orginally planned to stop by Lyman Lake and get alittle fishing in but the plans got changed for us. Because of the drought here the lake wasn�t much more than a oversized mud puddle so we headed home.

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