Anyone have any experience in 16C...got drawn for early archery and curious about any packers that might be in that area. Planning to do escape texas and do some hiking out there in July to see what it's like. Pictures of terrain / vegetation would be even better.
NM 16C Pictures & Packers
- Thread starter packin_packout
- Start date
WapitiBob
Veteran member
No packer needed in that unit. An atv will save your kidneys and truck steering wheel. Typical nm country with scrub oaks and such. I'll have to look and see if I took any pictures.
Thomas11
Member
xtreme
Very Active Member
Fell in the snow above the landing strip and broke both bones in my leg, not over it yet. We had found elk in several places. There were elk around Wolf Hollow, elk moved to Houghton canyon at night. The high point just above the air strip had a lot of elk at one time. Trail 4065 and toward Spring Canyon is where I would go. Every water hole will have elk visits, probably daily. Indian peaks should have elk but I never went there. The first wire gate up was where a good bull was spotted, also upper Spring Canyon near the two metal tanks had two bulls spotted. A friend hunted with a guide south somewhere around Whitewater and got a good bull. I didn't get my pictures to load yet. Good luck I think its a good draw
As a heads up the forest service is doing controlled burns from Coonie Prairie all the way over to Wolf Hollow right now for anyone planning on scouting out there....
swampokie
Veteran member
Found four separate herds of anywhere from 15-30 cows each. All bulls seen were still in velvet. Nothing spectacular. Small six and two fives. This unit does not lend itself to glassing due to the cover...you can see the other side of the canyon but not the entire drainage. The monsoons are just starting. Saw a good size mountain lion but no wolves. Local rancher down by wall lake was indicating they have had some predation down there. Roads are reasonable now but will be rutted up by season start I suspect. I cannot go back too far into the wilderness as I will do the pack out solo so watching my distance. Need to be able to hump all out without letting anything spoil in early september. A lot of tanks are dry right now.
swampokie
Veteran member
I was there the weekend of 8/6 (I drew the 16C early rifle tag this year). Was a family adventure, so only one day driving the unit and with wife's SUV and 7yo in tow, we didn't get off the main routes very much. Very similar experience to packin_packout except for the lion which is very cool (I sent you a PM, too)
4-5 herds of cows and calves sighted. Several small bucks. Packin is right - the country is tough to glass in a lot of cases, as the twists and turns and predominant vegetation prevent you from seeing most of the nooks and crannies. Identified some glassing points for evenings, but the days will have a lot of shanks mare to see into the bottoms and folds.
Since I'd never laid eyes on the unit before this, the goal was mostly to find a couple of camping spots and get the lay of the land on foot after months of Google Earth scouting. The monsoon storms had just began (we were chased out of there by a nasty one) the days before, and continued after we left, so the tanks and springs should be filling up.
If anyone is willing to share some info on 16C, send me a PM. I do have some starting points based on the scout as well as a couple folks that have had the tag before.
A couple pics below of example country and some cows.
4-5 herds of cows and calves sighted. Several small bucks. Packin is right - the country is tough to glass in a lot of cases, as the twists and turns and predominant vegetation prevent you from seeing most of the nooks and crannies. Identified some glassing points for evenings, but the days will have a lot of shanks mare to see into the bottoms and folds.
Since I'd never laid eyes on the unit before this, the goal was mostly to find a couple of camping spots and get the lay of the land on foot after months of Google Earth scouting. The monsoon storms had just began (we were chased out of there by a nasty one) the days before, and continued after we left, so the tanks and springs should be filling up.
If anyone is willing to share some info on 16C, send me a PM. I do have some starting points based on the scout as well as a couple folks that have had the tag before.
A couple pics below of example country and some cows.