Hunting near the Mexico border

Scott/IL

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 1, 2014
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223
I may try to make a short trip (probably 5 days of hunting) to Arizona this January if work permits (tried last year and didn't quite work out). Due to time constraints, I won't be able to return to the area I bowhunted in '15, and was wondering about the areas near the border so I could fly into Tucson.

I will be solo, and would consider camping as well to avoid hotel costs. I remember researching for 2015 and reading some stories about the illegal activity in these areas and was just wanting to pick the brain of some people who have a little more experience down there.

Hopefully it'll pan out this year! I had a blast chasing those little deer a few years ago.

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Joined
Jun 12, 2013
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673
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Las Cruces, NM
Well, I haven't camped on the AZ side, but I have been in the Coronado on the NM side. The traffic was HEAVY last time I was camped down there(which I think was in 2015 too). I've been told by BPA that for some reason, the illegals that cross on the NM side are rarely ever armed with anything at all, but that isn't the case on the AZ side. I don't know how true that is at all, so take it for what it's worth(about $0.02). Hopefully someone from AZ can chime in. But I'll be honest, I've camped down there several times, but I prefer to not do it alone.
 

RoJo

WKR
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Dec 5, 2016
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403
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South Central Arizona
Hunters do it every year, with few issues. There are pretty good deer numbers in the 36's. A friend of mine hunts 36B religiously.

Are you planning to hunt Muleys or Coues? If you would prefer not to hunt that close to the border, there are other units around Tucson that are outside the smuggling corridors, like 33
 
OP
Scott/IL

Scott/IL

Lil-Rokslider
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Jan 1, 2014
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I would focus on Coues, but would not pass up a muley if granted an opportunity. Thanks!

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RoJo

WKR
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South Central Arizona
You might consider unit 33 then, very convenient from Tucson without the border issues if that worries you. The Catalina Mountains hold fair numbers of Coues, with opportunities for a backpack hunt if that's what you are looking for. The higher elevations could be quite wintry in January, but there is plenty of lower country in the foothills.
 
Joined
Sep 12, 2015
Messages
437
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New Mexico
Well, I haven't camped on the AZ side, but I have been in the Coronado on the NM side. The traffic was HEAVY last time I was camped down there(which I think was in 2015 too). I've been told by BPA that for some reason, the illegals that cross on the NM side are rarely ever armed with anything at all, but that isn't the case on the AZ side. I don't know how true that is at all, so take it for what it's worth(about $0.02). Hopefully someone from AZ can chime in. But I'll be honest, I've camped down there several times, but I prefer to not do it alone.

This is my experience on the NM side as well (and the in the Chiricahuas). Never had any trouble (nor do I know anyone who has), mostly down there in the winter, glad I'm armed, and haven't done it alone. Can't speak to farther west in AZ though.
 

RoJo

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South Central Arizona
Smugglers do use the Chiricahuas. I have found remnants of drug backpacks/bundles clear up in the high country, and I see BP and county sheriff foot patrols regularly on the trails in the high country as well. I would not let that stop me from hunting there, I have and would hunt up there solo without hesitation.
 
Joined
Sep 12, 2015
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437
Location
New Mexico
Smugglers do use the Chiricahuas. I have found remnants of drug backpacks/bundles clear up in the high country, and I see BP and county sheriff foot patrols regularly on the trails in the high country as well. I would not let that stop me from hunting there, I have and would hunt up there solo without hesitation.

Yeah, I've found those backpacks too. I never sleep too well when I'm down there, despite sleeping with my gun. Everybody has their own comfort level though. Apart from myself, I also would worry leaving a vehicle at the end of one of those roads for too long if doing a backcountry hunt.
I just heard that New Mexico is #1 in violent crime in the lower 48... I'm probably safer down in the border country.

I visited my cousin who works for BP on the AZ side one year for Christmas. He said it gets a lot busier after the new year. That was 5 years ago. Not sure if that pattern still holds true.

One thing's for sure: it is spectacular country! I love those live oak stringers that come out of the canyon bottoms into the grassland, the sycamores and cypress, among other things...
 
Joined
Sep 22, 2013
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The entire border is iffy. Though not AZ...my opinion of the border was changed forever in one predawn morning. My buddy and I are 8 miles from the Mexican border at dark thirty with our bows and FoxPro FX5 electronic caller…a little outing of predator hunting in the Cleveland Nat’l Forest in eastern San Diego County. It’s a hilly area with lots of chaparral, perfect for close and personal coyote action with a bow. We sneak in 40 minutes before grey light, place the caller 25 yards out and settle in awaiting the first rosy fingers of dawn to pierce the morning sky. Other than a few birds, there is nothing moving.

Wearing 3D camo and tucked into the scrub brush, we are seated for about 8 minutes or so when I hear movement directly behind me. At first I freeze, unsure what is approaching. Then I nock an arrow and remove my knife from its sheath…not sure exactly what to expect. The sound of heavy weight moving thru the chaparral is unnerving…whatever is coming up behind me is big.
I lock eyes with my buddy, they are wide open in fear and now I am filled with dread. When you see sheer terror on your hunting buddy’s face, you know you’re in deep sh*t.

The sound is moving laterally behind, not more than 15-20 feet. My mind is racing. I’m thinking about jumping up so if it’s a mt. lion I am not such a small target but realize if it was a something like that, my pal would already be up on his feet and you don’t hear lions coming in. He’s not moving. I follow his lead. He can see what it is, I cannot…not until the sound turns again and move past me at 20 yards. At first all I saw was the gun, an AK47 slung over the shoulder of the dirtiest man I have ever seen. Then I saw his buddy, equally filthy and toting the same firearm. In tow were 34 others, all Latino, most likely Mexican. We sit perfectly still and watch as a total of 36 aliens pass by without a word. The “train” was completely male and no backpacks, which I thought was strange. Not at all like the videos you often see posted online with a mixed bag of men and women of all ages moving past a surveillance camera hidden along the trail.

[video=youtube;KD-OPWEmHp8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD-OPWEmHp8[/video]

It isn’t until they had passed a quarter mile away that my buddy and I broke silence. He calls the Border Patrol and gives em the GPS numbers, head count and weapons description. We beat it outta there ASAP.

Later my buddy is told we were extremely lucky. Just ahead of the group that passed us was another of equal size carrying backpacks of dope. The second group was the relief column. We had slid in right between the two. When we retrieved the game caller, there were shoe prints 5 feet away from it.

Now we never hunt that area with sticks and strings…I carry an R25 semi-auto in .308 w/ ten rd magazines. There’s an armed invasion taking place on the border and people who do not live near the southern border cannot imagine just how real the threat is. I didn’t fully appreciate it until this encounter. Though this all happened years ago…I can see it like it was yesterday. The most dangerous animal in the field has only two legs.
 
Joined
Sep 12, 2015
Messages
437
Location
New Mexico
Scary stuff!
I know a guy who had a similar experience in the Animas Mountains in the Bootheel of New Mexico one May day about 10 years ago. They were birdwatchers, so carrying no weapons. One of these pack trains passed just below them. Armed men in the front and back and drug packers in between. Never were seen, so no incident.
 

Billinsd

WKR
Joined
Aug 25, 2015
Messages
2,464
The entire border is iffy. Though not AZ...my opinion of the border was changed forever in one predawn morning. My buddy and I are 8 miles from the Mexican border at dark thirty with our bows and FoxPro FX5 electronic caller…a little outing of predator hunting in the Cleveland Nat’l Forest in eastern San Diego County. It’s a hilly area with lots of chaparral, perfect for close and personal coyote action with a bow. We sneak in 40 minutes before grey light, place the caller 25 yards out and settle in awaiting the first rosy fingers of dawn to pierce the morning sky. Other than a few birds, there is nothing moving.

Wearing 3D camo and tucked into the scrub brush, we are seated for about 8 minutes or so when I hear movement directly behind me. At first I freeze, unsure what is approaching. Then I nock an arrow and remove my knife from its sheath…not sure exactly what to expect. The sound of heavy weight moving thru the chaparral is unnerving…whatever is coming up behind me is big.
I lock eyes with my buddy, they are wide open in fear and now I am filled with dread. When you see sheer terror on your hunting buddy’s face, you know you’re in deep sh*t.

The sound is moving laterally behind, not more than 15-20 feet. My mind is racing. I’m thinking about jumping up so if it’s a mt. lion I am not such a small target but realize if it was a something like that, my pal would already be up on his feet and you don’t hear lions coming in. He’s not moving. I follow his lead. He can see what it is, I cannot…not until the sound turns again and move past me at 20 yards. At first all I saw was the gun, an AK47 slung over the shoulder of the dirtiest man I have ever seen. Then I saw his buddy, equally filthy and toting the same firearm. In tow were 34 others, all Latino, most likely Mexican. We sit perfectly still and watch as a total of 36 aliens pass by without a word. The “train” was completely male and no backpacks, which I thought was strange. Not at all like the videos you often see posted online with a mixed bag of men and women of all ages moving past a surveillance camera hidden along the trail.

[video=youtube;KD-OPWEmHp8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD-OPWEmHp8[/video]

It isn’t until they had passed a quarter mile away that my buddy and I broke silence. He calls the Border Patrol and gives em the GPS numbers, head count and weapons description. We beat it outta there ASAP.

Later my buddy is told we were extremely lucky. Just ahead of the group that passed us was another of equal size carrying backpacks of dope. The second group was the relief column. We had slid in right between the two. When we retrieved the game caller, there were shoe prints 5 feet away from it.

Now we never hunt that area with sticks and strings…I carry an R25 semi-auto in .308 w/ ten rd magazines. There’s an armed invasion taking place on the border and people who do not live near the southern border cannot imagine just how real the threat is. I didn’t fully appreciate it until this encounter. Though this all happened years ago…I can see it like it was yesterday. The most dangerous animal in the field has only two legs.
That's so funny!!! It's legend!! I've heard this story and wanted to ask the person that it happened to, you, approximately where this was? This was years ago, right? Where you east of Dulzura? I spend a lot of time down there. I had thought this happened in Laguna Mtns? You can pm me. I'm not trying to steal your spots. I don't EVER want to go near where that happened!! I found Bruce!! Thanks Bill
 
Last edited:
Joined
Sep 22, 2013
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6,389
Was southwest of there along the southern border of the CNF (near the center and the agricultural areas). I cannot be more specific as this was a buddy's honey hole. When you see vast piles of trash dumped in a ravine you know you're close. Look for lots of BP vehicles (be careful, they drive crazy fast on those dirt roads) and dumped backpacks, sleeping bags, clothes, food & water containers as well as the occasional Muslim prayer mat. Spooky stuff.
 

Gr8bawana

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Sep 14, 2016
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Nevada
A couple of years ago my wife and I passed through the border patrol checkpoint just outside of Tombstone. I was towing my travel trailer and they never checked inside, I even asked if they wanted to look inside. If I had known that I would have found a bunch of illegals and mode some $$$.
 
Joined
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Las Cruces, NM
You know those cameras and camera looking things that you went by before you pulled up to the man asking if you are a US citizen? They had pretty much already checked you and your trailer out.

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Beendare

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Corripe cervisiam
Get more than 20-30 miles from the border and its a lot different than say 3-5 miles from the border. I hunted S of Arrivaca many years ago and it was the wild west down there.....chopper flyovers, border agent checks, THE GARBAGE.....and bumping into gun toting drug smugglers in remote dry washes.....naw, not worth it.

When you get further north....you will have very little of that.
 

RoJo

WKR
Joined
Dec 5, 2016
Messages
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Location
South Central Arizona
Get more than 20-30 miles from the border and its a lot different than say 3-5 miles from the border. I hunted S of Arrivaca many years ago and it was the wild west down there.....chopper flyovers, border agent checks, THE GARBAGE.....and bumping into gun toting drug smugglers in remote dry washes.....naw, not worth it.

When you get further north....you will have very little of that.

I see that kind of stuff 70 miles north of the border! I got buzzed by a BP chopper just outside of Silverbell Estates, south of Arizona City, while hunting coyotes. There is a minor environmental disaster going on with all the trash (backpacks, water jugs, dirty clothing, used toiletries, bicycles, etc.) piling up in washes as far north as I-8 near Casa Grande. I have met stake bed trucks with standing room only in the back (UDA's) heading north on desert jeep trails while out predator hunting or checking game cams or whatever, in places like Vekol Valley near the Tabletop Wilderness, and the West Silverbell Mountains.

The Wild West is a good comparison, although I don't think it is as bad as it used to be. Fortunately I have not met up with any gun-toting smugglers yet.
 
Joined
Apr 1, 2013
Messages
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Get more than 20-30 miles from the border and its a lot different than say 3-5 miles from the border. I hunted S of Arrivaca many years ago and it was the wild west down there.....chopper flyovers, border agent checks, THE GARBAGE.....and bumping into gun toting drug smugglers in remote dry washes.....naw, not worth it.

When you get further north....you will have very little of that.

Sounds like parts of south Texas
 

TexanSam

Lil-Rokslider
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Nov 28, 2016
Messages
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Hey I'm considering a coues hunt in January as well, shoot me a pm I'd be willing to team up

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