Saturday, January 16th - I arrived in Omaha, Nebraska with a mouthful of canker sores. Ned picked me up at the airport, and being the dentist that he is, was kind enough to get me an Rx for viscous Lidocaine, which at least numbs the mouth long enough to eat. We went to breakfast, bought a Spanish dictionary, and then drove to Ned's fathers house, where he practiced shooting for an hour or two. We briefly attended an Iowa SCI banquet and then went to Cabelas where I got a great deal on a Swarovski scope (mentioned earlier in the previous thread about Ned's bowhunt). We watched some of the football playoff games and then had a big dinner at the Pink Poodle restaurant. I repacked my gear and crashed at Ned's house for a couple hours of sleep before our 0400 wake-up.
Sunday, January 17th - We arrived at the Omaha airport at 0445. During check-in, a first class upgrade was available, for $100 from Omaha to Phoenix, and $50 from Phoenix to Los Angeles (LAX). Baggage checked for free for first class flyers while I believe that Ned had to pay $50 per bag. I wonder if my bag had been overweight or "oversized", if first class tickets would STILL have "zeroed" any "normal baggage fees"? Something that I will definitely check-out on future flights....that is for sure.
The flights were uneventful, but we really didn't have any spare time between flights (15-20 minute layovers, where I tried to give everyone a quick update on our status). We arrived in Lareto and Victor picked us up, as Ty Miller had to pick-up a different hunter in La Paz or Cabo San Lucas. During the two hour drive to base camp, we passed two VERY shapely senoritas making a nature call by the side of the road. When the driver of the truck in front of us hit the horn, the senoritas simply waved as they stood up and pulled up their pants.....Needless to say, it provided a very animated conversation in the vehicle for about the next 30 minutes!! We arrived in camp about two hours later. We met the staff/guides (Jorge, Sergio, "Torino", and Guillermo). Ned set-up some arrows and practiced shooting for a while. A quick dinner and early lights-out in preparation for tomorrows first day of hunting.
Monday, January 18th - Our first full day of glassing and scouting. Temperature was about 85 degrees and no wind. We spotted at least three separate groups of sheep, each of which contained at least one "shooter" ram. We relocated a couple times, and began to pattern the ram to the east, as he seemed to be the largest. He was also staying in a rather stalkable position throughout the day. At the end of the day, we made the twenty minute drive drive back to camp, where Ned shot 20 to 40 arrows at 20-30 yards. His groups were good, and the bow shot well despite a few "nicks" on the limbs that had prompted Ned to buy, sight-in, and practice with a second bow (A Z7, which also made the trip).
Dinner was bean soup, and some kind of chicken alfredo dish that was probably the best meal that was served while we were in camp.Tortillas were served at every meal....and I do mean EVERY meal. After dinner, since I had brought my laptop (and had bought a couple hunting videos at the Cabelas in Omaha), we showed the guides a hunting video, which they REALLY seemed to enjoy. We hit the rack by 2200 hours on most evenings.
The camp is located right on the beach (playa) of the Sea of Cortez, about 20 minutes south of our hunting area...right across the bay from the village of Agua Verde (green water). There are hammerhead shark and small manta ray carcasses all over the beach. Local fisherman moor their small fishing boats here, and they dry their nets here as well....probably explaining all of the carcasses that we saw.
Tuesday, January 19th - We never really had a breakfast for the duration of the hunt. The guides would drink coffee, while Ned and I would drink juice or water and have a banana. We reached the same scouting area where we finished our glassing the previous day, and within minutes we had located the big ram to the East. Ned located a ram and a couple ewes to the south. After a couple hours of watching (and waiting for the wind to die out completely), we moved upslope, across the valley from the big ram. He had relocated and was now bedded quartering away at 750-800 yards. We spent considerable time evaluating the ram and determining various stalking opportunities that might work.
The day passed quickly and we learned that Ned would not be trying a stalk that day. Today was strictly a second day of scouting.....about an hour before we left for the day, a ewe was spotted on the skyline directly above us (to the east). Not ten minutes later, we heard the crash of a small rockslide, and it was close. Thinking that a sheep might have caused the slide, I turned to Ned and whispered "Where is your bow?" With a pained look on his face, he quickly ran downslope about 30 yards to where he had left his bow before we started glassing. While no sheep ever appeared near us, Ned kept the bow close from then on.
A nice shooter ram (borrego "cimarron") eventually did appear above us with that ewe (hembra) and a couple other females. Once again, by the end of the day, we had located three shooter rams in different locations.
Dinner was meat, rice, and beans....and tortillas. I showed the second of the two hunting hunting videos that I brought with me....from here on, the evening cinema will be reruns...and the guys could care less....I doubt that they ever watched a hunting video before. They were quite interested in the videos. Before nightfall, Ned had shot 30-40 arrows (fletchas) and his groups were all lethal.
Wednesday, January 20th - Having watched the big ram for two consecutive days, the third day found us leaving camp earlier than the previous two days. My good luck ritual is to shave on the mornings when I think that everything will come together. So, I shaved, Ned packed my golden horseshoe (an established good luck charm for me), and Ned wore his good luck hat. We arrived at the primary spotting site and quickly found the "champion", which was the name given to the large ram located to the east of us. Sergio and Trillo stayed at this site while Ned, Jorge, Victor, and I moved around the ridge that the big ram was bedded upon. We thought that the ram would feed up and over the ridge, explaining our decision to try to get ahead of him. Once we got around the ridge, Victor and I headed upslope to the west, while Ned and Jorge started to scale the slope to the east. The ram is on the backside of the east slope that Ned is climbing, and Sergio and Trillo are located in a spot that allows them to keep an eye on the ram (if he doesn't scale the top), who has now bedded, instead of climbing the the ridge, as expected.
Once we decided that the ram apparently bedded on the north side of the slope, I grabbed my orange and white flags and Victor and I scrambled back down to Sergio and Trillo's position. By this time, Ned and Jorge are on the top of the ridge, trying to locate the ram beneath them.
Once Victor and I met-up with Sergio and Trillo, the four of us climbed the slope across from the big ram. We stopped climbing when we were about 700 yards from the ram. Over the next hour, Ned and Jorge were able to close the distance to less than 100 yards. It sure is exciting when the orange flag and the white flag are almost touching!! By 1400 hours, the stage is set. Four observers are across the valley with three spotting scopes trained on a 160"-165" stud of a ram. Ned and Jorge are thirty yards above the ram. This is going to happen! Suddenly, I see through the spotting scope that Ned is fussing with his hand, and Jorge reached for something. Then it all comes together....Ned was crawling to the edge of the ledge and he put his hand on a cholla cactus!!Jorge had to pull it out of his hand with a Leatherman.
Jorge first looks over the ledge and spots the ram beneath them. Jorge backs up and Ned looks over the edge, spotting the ram. Ned backs up, gets his rangefinder, and when he peeks back over to range the ram, it is looking right up at him. Ned tried several times to get a distance with his angle correcting rangefinder, but has no success. The rock ledge must be too close to the ram's line of sight. Ned shoots a distance to a boulder behind the ram....34 yards. the ram is about 4 yards in front of the rock. A thirty yard, angle corrected shot - no problem. Ned nocks an arrow, and draws his bow while crouching behind the ledge. When Ned leans out to shoot, he doesn't think that his arrow will clear the ledge. Ned backs up a couple yards, stands up, and moves a couple yards to the right. Jorge grabs the back of his pants at the waist and his belt as Ned leans over to shoot.....time seems to stand still......
.....suddenly, the ram bolts to the east. I can see no blood or evidence of an exit hole. Ned and Jorge scramble to their right for a possible second shot. The cover is thick enough that they don't realize that the ram has reversed his position and has doubled back. The ram is looking at Ned and Jorge from fifteen yards away (down slope), but the guys are looking to the right, and the ram is beneath them (to the left) at only 15 yards!! After 10-15 seconds, the ram bolts. He doesn't blow out of the zipcode, but he gets far enough away that our day of chasing him is done.
We pack up our gear and head downslope to a point where we can meet Ned and Jorge. It was a great day!! Yeah Yeah.....the archer missed, but only after stalking within mere yards of a STUD of a ram. Even though Ned missed, I promise you that the sight of that big ram will be with Ned for the rest of his days - trust me.
When we first meet up with Ned and Jorge, Ned is heartsick and apologetic. The first words out of everyone's mouth are "No problemo"....we get to do this again tomorrow!! Nonetheless, it was a long, quiet walk back to the truck, but Ned kept saying how the rangefinder picture just didn't seem right.
Upon our return to camp, Ned started to practice shooting. While he was gone, I checked his rangefinder....and just as I had feared, his mode button must have been depressed in the excitement of the stalk, because the rangefinder was set for line of sight distance, NOT angle corrected distance!! Instantly, it became painfully clear why Ned had shot high. as steep as his shot was, Ned should have used his 20 yard pin, NOT his 30 yard pin. When I shared my findings with Ned (after he finished shooting), he understood immediately what had happened. Needless to say, Ned did not sleep well that evening, as the ghost of "ram hunts gone awry" visited him several times throughout the evening. We had fish for dinner that evening, and even Ned liked it....and apparently Ned doesn't usually like fish. Think that his mind was elsewhere? Probably.....but the fish was REALLY good.
Thursday, January 21st - We got a late start today because Victor decided that we would scout for rams from the shore of the Sea of Cortez (it might have been a day of mental rest after the previous days outcome....but who knows). We rode north of camp until we were about 20 kilometers from camp. We glassed from a couple different spots on shore. At the first stop, we found a turtle shell just a few yards from an abandoned palapa, but our glassing efforts found no sheep. Our second stop found no sheep either, but we saw live crabs on the shoreline and coyote tracks on the beach. Ned and the guys collected some seashells. Victor and the owner of the boat took us about 3 kilometers south of the second point, and we must have spotted several dozen porpoises all around the boat at various times during this part of the ride. We also watched pelicans ("alcatraz" in Spanish) feeding on baitfish near the shore.
When we reached the the third spot where we were going to spot from, Victor and the boat operator/owner dropped us off to scout for sheep, while Victor and the boat owner went back to Agua Verde. Victor would pick us up later in the day with his pickup truck.
We walked about 3/4 mile inland from the Sea of Cortez and started to glass. We saw a couple ewes, but not much more. After a couple hours of glassing (and maybe a nap or two), we moved further to the east. You may not believe this, but Ned took photos to prove it - I found a Blue Marlin!! In the middle of the silly desert, I found a blue marlin carcass! Apparently, a local restaurant owner must have bought the fish from a fisherman, butchered it, and then drove the carcass far from his restaurant (up into the mountains) and dumped it.....and I happened to stumble upon the remains. A blue marlin carcass in the mountains of Mexico while bowhunting for Desert Bighorn Sheep!!
Continued glassing turned up a dozen sheep, including several rams, and at least two of them were shooters. Ned nicknamed one of them "Whitey" because of a white spot that we could see on his right horn......even at over 1,200 yards. We then located a single ram only 500-600 yards away from us. Jorge didn't think that the ram was big enough to stalk, but he sure looked decent (and stalkable) to Ned and myself. Victor showed up shortly thereafter, and we returned to camp. Ned practiced shooting his bow for a little while. We then ate dinner and went to bed rather early. The wind is REALLY starting to pick-up as we call it a day.
Friday, January 22nd - Throughout the evening, the wind must have gusted upwards of 30-40 mph. The tent walls were huffing and puffing all night. When we awoke the next morning, the sky was very overcast. Victor and Jorge actually had us check one mountain area before we could get to where we had located the sheep the previous evening.
This mountain area was actually the next drainage over from where Ned had a shot at the "champion" ram only 2 days earlier. Six sheep were quickly spotted, and one was a very nice ram.....possibly the "champion". We bagged the idea of going to the area that we had scouted the day before, parked the truck, and grabbed our backpacks. The clouds actually looked looked very dark, but we were in the desert, so we knew better than to expect any rain....but the wind was still really gusting. We hadn't gone 500 yards further, and it started to sprinkle! Rain in the baja desert! Blue Marlin in the mountains! What's next?!!
Two hours later, we were up on top of the mountain where we had seen the sheep, but they were nowhere to be found. That is when the skies opened up....it was so windy, and raining so hard, that visibility was probably less than 50 yards for a while...in the desert!! The strata of the desert are so friable that when a rainstorm DOES occur, erosive effects are greatly magnified. We had rockslides happening all around us. Victor, Jorge, Sergio, and Ned actually climbed higher and spotted the sheep that we had seen earler in the morning, but they had moved over to another peak. We descended the mountain (soaking wet and laughing about it), and headed back to base camp. At times like those, it sure is tough to beat a dry set of clothes!!
Saturday, January 23rd - We went back to the spot where we first started glassing from on the first day of the hunt. We never located that big ram again, just some some small rams and ewes to the south. We eventually moved to the west, to look for the large group of rams that we had located a couple days earlier (on "blue marlin" day). While glassing, Trillo brought Ned a couple scorpions to look at and photograph. One was actually pretty darn big.....Trillo was pretty playful with the smaller one, but he never let the big guy raise his tail at him without quickly withdrawing his hand.
We eventually located two rams to the west, one was so-so, and the other was definitely a shooter. We moved further west, so that we would be right across the valley from them, and we glassed for hours for those two rams, and they simply disappeared....go figure. Around 1330 hours, we spotted a small ram (chico) even further to the west. I felt that it was unlikely that this ram would be alone, and I told Ned that we should keep an eye on this smaller ram. Sure enough, within an hour, we located a very nice ram which bedded within 15 yards of the smaller ram.
Eventually, the bigger ram got up and started to move to the west. We grabbed our gear and also headed west. This ram eventually moved into a valley that was full of morning glory vines. With all of yesterdays rainfall, the leaves from the morning glory vines gave this ram plenty of vegetation to feed on for quite some time. Sergio and Trillo stayed back, while Ned, Jorge, Victor, and I closed to about 800 yards. After glassing for about 15 minutes, it became clear that this was a really nice ram, and he was so engrossed with the plush vegetation of the valley that he was in, that it might be possible for Ned and Jorge to get a stalk in on him....despite the wind which was for the most part blowing in his general direction.
I set-up the spotting scope and admired this ram for a good thirty minutes, he sure looked like a shooter to me! I even videoed him while he fed, but the glare of daylight on the camera screen made it difficult to determine if I was actually zooming in on him. After about an hour, Jorge and Ned were on the eastern edge of this 160 yard wide depression. Once they had closed to about 80 yards, Jorge pointed out the ram to Ned (the vegetation was thick) and Ned began the rest of the stalk by himself. Ned would crabwalk on his hands, feet, and butt whenever the ram had his head down and was feeding in the thick morning glory.
Ned closed to about 40-45 yards, and suddenly the ram started to head butt one of the palo blanco trees that he was standing beside!! He was facing away from Ned and was so engrossing in punishing that tree that Ned was able to close to 35 yards! Ned was able to range several landmarks around the ram, and had turned himself so that the ram was on his left shoulder. Although Ned was sitting, since he was slightly above the ram, he was in great position for a shot. Eventually he got ready for the shot, and the ram suddenly sensed that something wasn't right. He stared right at Ned for at least 30 seconds......and then went back to feeding, and maybe walking one or two yards to Ned's right........
As I am watching this drama in my spotting scope, suddenly the ram bolts from the vegetated area...running until he was about 55 yards from Ned. Ned shoots again, but the arrow appeared to miss (or at the very best, just grazes the ram). The ram started to move directly away from Ned and just as he was about to drop down over a ledge at 65 yards, Ned shot a third time. I could see that the arrow had hit the ram in the rump, and he was bleeding heavily from it. I could also see the first arrow had hit the ram low in the body cavity, but was about one inch behind the front shoulder.
The ram went about 50 yards and bedded. After a few minutes, his head started to drop every now and then, but suddenly I could see that Ned and Jorge were following the spoor. When they closed to within 15-20 yards, the ram must have sensed them. He jumped up and before he could bolt, Ned shot again.....and again hit him in the rump( I later learned that most of the ram's body was obscured by a bush, and Ned just wanted to get another arrow in the animal). Ned had a five arrow quiver, and his fifth arrow is now on the string (I didn't know that he had picked up his first arrow, which had completely passed through the ram). The ram started to run downhill, but he was starting to lose his balance.....about then Ned shot his fifth arrow, which double lunged the animal, and put him down on the spot. Ned Greer had just filled his Desert Bighorn sheep tag!!
Ned is actually still in Mexico, enjoying a few more days of R&R. However, I am sure that he will add to, and modify my comments........as well as provide several photos. Nonetheless, he is now a half slammer!!
Jake
Sounds like you had a blast!
michael
Thanks for the great story
Sharpstick
Great write up. Congrats on the ram!
This photo hopefully shows the back of Victor (in the Lower Left corner). Ned and Jorge are across the valley, JUST to the right of the farthest right branch above Victor's head (does that sound right?)...in the dark green. The ram is in the valley where the most green vegetation is located. He was quite low on the mountain.
Jake
MM
is the shoe for rent .....
Congratulations, Ned!
Damn you have a good memory! TSA at the Edmonton airport took my first golden horseshoe, claiming that it could be used as a weapon.....probably afraid that I was a ringer (sorry, couldn't resist). When Ned found out that the first horseshoe that he gave me was confiscated, he OVERNIGHTED the second one to me so that I would have it in time to take it with me on my Mountain Goat bowhunt. I got it the day that I left for my goat hunt.....I just wish that it had worked as well for Tom Edgington as it did for me.....I got my goat, Tom did not.
City Hunter,
All evidence to the contrary....I submitted an article about four sheep bowhunts in one year to Eastman's, Bowhunter, and even The Huntin' Fool....and none of them ever published it.
And congrats again Ned, what an awesome hunt.
and Jake, thanks for reporting and the pics! Looks and sounds like you guys had a blast.
Nick
Jake who's going to get to utilize the golden horseshoe next?
Geez Jake, you're gettin' really good at that writing and storytelling thing. Thanks.
Soooo, did Ned get to shoot an arrow at the bar? Or is this a different place than where you and tthomas went?
Jake, Give me a call. Since you are retired and on a fixed income now I have proposition for you.
I am thinking the name of the new business could be...
"Golden Horseshoe Rental R-Us"
LOL
thanks for the story Jake,
michael
Ned killed his ram in the same general area as where Tom Foss, Greg Bokash, Casey Brooks, myself, and maybe some others tagged their rams.
The bar where the arrows are shot into the beam is called Del Burachos, and Mike, the owner is a really good guy. He even remembered me from 2 years ago. Ned even got a pretty funny photo of the two of us with somberos drinking a shot of tequila near the end of the Saints game. We watched both play-off games there on Sunday, and there are now about 6 arrows in the beam....but by the end of the week, there's gonna be at least seven (Ned's) ..... maybe even eight, as Tom Miranda is currently down there hunting where Fred Eichler killed his ram.....it's a rather steep, nasty area.....but it does have sheep.
Congrats
Good luck, Robb
Does anyoneone know how Cam made out this past fall??
Once again CONGRATS to Ned.....hoping there's more pics coming from him (wink wink)
Cheers MM
He will have some additional photos to post, including his arrow in the centerbeam post of Del Buracho's, the Blue Marlin, two bowhunters drinking tequila and wearing somberos....plus a few others, I am sure. I guess that Tom Miranda was sick upon his arrival to Lareto, but he is bowhunting out of Santo Domingo, so I am sure that he is hard at it.
Ned also offered a few other things that surprised me....
1.)He was able to get all of his CITES paperwork done, so he is bringing his ram horns and cape with him....and NO, they were NOT checked on....he is hand carrying them. I sure hope that it is a waterproof bag. The Mexican authorities did NOT plug his ram!! Apparently, that process has been discontinued, which surprises me. I wonder if that will be true for the other species as well.....or if it is only true for Bighorns taken in Mexico?
2.) I guess that Scott Limmer (CWO) was able to taken a dandy of a bighorn ram with his rifle....but I have NO details. Maybe Scott can post them at a later time. Either way, I heard that it was about a 185" ram.
3.) Ned's ram green scored 154 6/8.
Well, our recent ram slayer should be posting on the forum by tomorrow....I just wanted to post a few new details for anyone that is interested. I was even thinking of starting a post about the intricacies of such a hunt....just to share our info with anyone that may be lucky enough to go in the future.....kinda like what has been with some of the previous muskox threads.
Jake
"We don't neeeed no stinnnking plug!"
heheheh....
Can't wait for the rest of the pics and story. Thanks.
Yes, please do!
.
Jake
It will delete all his passwords that he has automatically sign him in.
Then he needs to get his Bowsite registration number and enter that.
I had the pleasure of running into Ned and Ty Miller at the Loreto airport as I was on the way home from helping another hunter take a good desert ram on the Biosphere Reserve. I got to see Ned's ram... very nice.
I helped Ned get his ram through US Customs and the USFWS inspection at LAX as I have done this several times with my hunters. The day before I had called with my SAT phone and scheduled a USFWS Inspector to meet me at LAX. Of course I had no idea Ned would be on the same flight! It worked out great cause after we checked our ram, I helped Ned. I helped Ned with his paperwork, some of which has changed this year. If any of you are planning a MX hunt, let me know and I will help you pre-print the forms and rules to carry with you just in case you get a "beginner" inspector or Customs Agent. I also provided a copy of the new rules to Ty. Let me know if I can be of any help.
Since Jake brought it up, here is a pic of my NEW Mexico rocky ram. He is 39 6/8 x 14 4/8 with 11 4/8 3rd quarters. Nets green at 184 and change and grosses 185 and change. Biggest ram ever taken in the San Fran River unit. From left to right is friend and CSU Vet Student, Nathan Winter, friend Skip from AZ, and me. Enjoy.
Scott.
You better drive over to his office and just fix it for him!! LOL
Scott,
Thanks for the update. Why aren't they plugging rams anymore?
TD.. that was a funny post!!!!!!
Jake and I believe that it will help to have another thread started on the intrecacies of hunting desert sheep in Mexico. Scott may have alot to contribute to this subject as well. We will most likely start a thread on that subject in the near future.
Congratulations!!!! Hope to see you at WSF.
John
Congrats again.
what is the deal with the Shark jaws? they local?
Some people have an Elephant as their dream specie, for me it is to catch a Shark on a hook and line!
michael
How much time did you spend on the beach? lol
michael
fess up. I see Mr. Jaake packing a bow there. Did you make him carry your gear too! lol
So why aren't the Scorpions a concern? I thought those suckers stung anything that got near them...
Did you guys find any kills or remenants of a lion kill?
Did they say what % of their hunters are archers?
michael
Michael, I imagine Jake picked that up for me at the time of the picture so that I didn't step on it. I am an accident waiting to happen. Jake did help me at times. With some vertical climbing, there were times I had to hand the bow up and use two hands. This was true coming down as well. Scorpions just weren't a concern as I never saw them unless I looked for them. If we would have made camp in the desert instead of the tent on the beach, it may have been different. I would check my shoes every morning and under my sleeping bag if that would have been the case.
The guides did say that "pumas" were in the area but we did not see evidence of them. Ned I do know that Ty Miller is 12 for 12 with archery hunters. He will be 13 for 13 if Tom Miranda is successful. I would say he may be around 25% with archery vs. rifle/muzzleloader.
Great pics Ned, thanks!
i like your dream by the way~
I have some friends who operate sea-kayaking and whale-watching trips down there so I've been to Loreto a few times. I enjoy it far more than the over-gringo-ized Baja destinations like Cabo.
Any word on how Tom Miranda is making out. If im not mistaken, if he is sucessful, he will complete his sheep slam with the desert.
Congratulations! Thanks for sharing.
How does Tom in PA sleep after looking through your wonderful post? You guys are going to have a blast down there. Do you have any photos of your "mountain".
We're only two weeks away.....I guess that it is actually time to start looking for, and packing gear. The great thing about arctic hunts and hunts in Mexico, is that the seasons frequently occur in the off season.
With the exception of Spring turkey season, usually there isn't much to bowhunt in the first half of the year. Instead of competing with the available time during each Fall hunting season, by planning a Spring adventure you get to anticipate yet another hunt rather than go through "withdrawal". When the Spring adventure is over, we only have 6-7 months before the next Fall hunting season..... rather than 10-11 months.....
Might want to print out some of the regs from the USDA website and USFWS website to take with you in case you get a Customs Agent that knows nothing of them. Could save you a lot of time and headaches. Ned was able to make his connecting flight cause we had everything ready. Let me know if you need any help. On the USDA website you can download and fill in the Form 3-177 and then print it to take with you. The rest of the form is completed after harvest. Also print out the USDA regs about cape and horn importation. Capes should be flint dried (well salted and stiff, not wet) or frozen. Keeping a cape fully frozen is tough to do and more risky for importation. Good luck!
I talked with Dr. Traci Butler from USDA yesterday. There is a new reg that says you must certify (print up your own written statement at home and take it with you and sign it in MX) that the cape was frozen solid for 24hrs before leaving MX. The cape then needs to be thawed for tick inspection by the time you get to US Customs. After thawing, you could salt it so it won't spoil/hair slip. You can get around the freezing reg if you can get the cape re-salted several times to the point that it becomes "hard-dried." This means the flesh side should be fairly stiff like cardboard and no longer wet. If you are going to hangout and fish/kickback for a few days, this is possible. Otherwise, take it somewhere in Loreto and get it in a freezer for a day and a half. Also THOROUGHLY scrape the skullcap so there is no wet flesh or sinew and then salt it so it is not wet. Call the USFWS in Torrence, CA a couple days before you leave MX if flying through LAX to arrange for a USFWS Inspector to meet you at LAX US Customs. They will want the original copy of your CITES and a USFWS Form 3-177. Plus they will look to make sure you have the MX PROFEPA export permit, and a hunt contract but will not keep those. The USFWS Inspectors are fine to deal with if you are ready. They are better than US Customs as the Customs folks don't deal with this stuff enough and many times don't know what to do.
Good luck!
