2A NM Youth Hunt
Mule Deer
This is a rifle hunt, so i'll preface this to start. Since it's a Youth Hunt, hoping it's at least not disregarded. I’m primarily a bow hunter as most of you know but getting some of these younger kids started right.
My 9 year old son drew the 2A Youth Hunt. He will be 10 next month and shot his first deer, a fallow deer doe, last weekend. I've personally hunted 2B Jan archery so I know what that's like (I haven't applied for the tag since but that's another story). So for starters, the expectation for a buck is just a buck. Obviously if we can find a big three point or something mature, that goes without saying but it's his call to pull the trigger. The kid is going to want to kill something, that I am sure of.
The experience for my 10 year old is most important. My goal is to be keeping him engaged, excited and enthusiastic as we embark on his first real adventure hunt. Anyone on here been part of that Youth hunt and what was their experience overall in 2A?
That's a tougher unit. Much different then 2b and 2c. You still should be able to find your son a buck though. I would try to get some access to private if you can.
Don't expect a lot of deer. Most will be along the river. Lots of private, and lots of oil field roads. You'll be constantly bugged by people riding atv's, utv's, and four wheeling. Make sure you're aware of the public, and what roads you can drive through on.
As for obtaining permission to hunt on... that's not gonna happen. Lived in Farmington too many years and know how hard it is to obtain permission to hunt private land. Don't pass up any buck, spend a lot of time looking and pushing draws. And don't think you'll be alone or you'll be able to get away from people.
There’s 40 kids hunting total. You know how big that unit is? Maybe you’ve got the wrong hunt. I’m the master of private land permission btw. Went 3 for 4 last time out. The key is the 10 year old kid!!!!
We did this hunt in 2019. The expectation for just any buck is fairly reasonable. Our goal was a "first deer" and shot a small 3 point (2 year old) on the evening of the first day. There is a lot of public ground in 2A. As far as how to hunt it, it's just like 2B. You could hug the CO border hoping for deer migrating in to rut, but, if CO doesn't have any appreciable weather, they won't jump the fence to travel an additional 400 yds to do their thing...
HDE that’s right. Idk if you remember but we stopped into your place in 2014, when we had the 2B. My cousin Jeff and I. Still out there offering advice I see. One of the reasons this website is successful.
Hey Tony, I remember when you stopped buy. We were just talking about that the other day and wondering how your hunt went? 2A would be similar to hunt. You don’t need to stay close to the river since there is a ton of country to hunt.
Hey Chad! Our hunt in 2B was good. COLD AF though! Sub 5-10 degrees some mornings. We say a couple good 4x4's but with the snow, a guy needs a lot of time to get something to go right in terms of luck. IMO a guy could find the same quality of bucks in AZ, in 60-70 degree weather and it's not anywhere near as far for us to travel. Looking forward to getting back to 2A during the youth NOV hunt with my son though!
That’s one thing I don’t like about the January hunt. It can get really cold for a high desert dweller. I had a January hunt in 2A in 2010 and the first day it was -15. Warmed up to about 3 degrees in the afternoon. That was miserable!
