New Mexico Sheep Outfitter Recommendations?

[mrm267]

I am looking for recommendations for a Sheep Outfitter in New Mexico for Desert Big Horns. Does anybody have any recommendations?

I have been spending a fair amount of time researching but cant really find much information. Outside of looking on various outfitters websites (though many are lacking information or say they offer sheep outfitting but can barely find a picture of a sheep from a successful hunt on their website) I cant come up with much.

Ideally I'm looking for a basic guided hunt with a reputable outfitter? Doesn't need to be anything fancy, but most importantly with a reputable outfitter.


Thanks Mitchell

 

[Trial153]

Unless your looking for someone to sign up to get in on the guided draw......getting a tag is well .... close to impossible, so not many Outfitters will have loads of pictures of sheep on their page. If you find one that guided a handful of NR you will be lucky.

 

[philthy57]

Get ahold of Bill Lewellan of One on One Adventures. 575-642 8090 http://www.oneononeadventures.com/sheephunts.htm The man knows his sheep! I used a friend of 25+ years as my outfitter when I hunted on White Sands Missile Range (Unit 19) in 2016, but to be honest it was mainly because I wanted an old friend to come along and could have done it DIY very easily. His name is Mike Root and this was his first sheep hunt. Great guy and a hard worker! Mike has guided all over southern NM for over 30 years and is around sheep a lot. If you're looking for someone that knows sheep like the back of his hand, it's Bill. You really couldn't go wrong with either guy.

There are some really good sheep in Unit 19 (I posted a pic of mine the other day on here). In 2016, all 4 of us hunters got rams from about 172 up to 182. Last summer, I helped a friend scout for his hunt on the Armendaris Ranch (Ted Turner's place near Elephant Butte Lake). It's the Fra Cristobal hunt. The game manager said their biggest up until then was 178 and to be honest, I just didn't believe all the hype I was hearing from them but that's just me. There's a large number of tags (relatively speaking) for that place in the draw and they also get a couple of landowner tags which they sell. Animals are being taken WAY to soon and aren't allowed to get old. Speaking of White Sands, it's a US Army base and there are restrictions for getting on like having escorts, one scouting trip of 3 days or so, etc. There are also restrictions for non-US residents. I don't have the info in front of me, but I can probably dig it up for you.

If you haven't looked before, here's a link to the NMDGF sheep page. Go to the "Links and Reports" page to see previous year harvest reports, etc. Bighorn Sheep - New Mexico Department of Game & Fish

If I can answer any questions, feel free to drop me a message! You'll have just as much a chance as any other person since it's a straight up draw, but with a NR cap. I drew the 3rd time applying lol. Tell Bill that Phil Green sent you and good luck!

Phil

 

[mrm267]

Thanks Phil. Thats great information. I had looked through Bills website already, but nice to have a couple recommendations to narrow it down.

Cheers Mitchell

 

[Kimbersig]

Desert Sheep in NM aren't hard to find so I'd find the cheapest one possible and hunt your minimum 2 days with them and if you don't kill then hunt the remainder of the season on your own.

 

[Brandon@RBO]

Met a guy this past weekend at the Western Conservation Hunt Expo up in Salt Lake City, Utah. I'll try and get ya his information and pricing on the units he outfits for rams. He was showing us the mule deer and coues deer he also outfits.


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[Wapiti1]

One that I have used in NM for elk that also does sheep is Compass West (Chris Guikema). Jim Welles is another that I have spoken with a few times and has been helpful (I got a LO tag through him). Both have been honest with me on various hunts and would be worth a look. By honest, I mean clear answers on what to expect on the hunt, and what caliber of animals are likely. Neither padded the size of the animals in the areas that I hunted or hyped up the area.

Jeremy

 

[robie]

I believe G.T. Nunn takes some of the biggest sheep in the state each year. The only reason I don't put in with him is his contract has the following line in it:

"Frontier Outfitting reserves all rights to any photos or video that is taken during the hunt"

I have no clue why he has that or feels that is necessary but I don't want to go on the hunt of a lifetime and not own my photos. Make sure you read all contract carefully before singing up with any outfitter.

I used to put in with Bill Lewellen of One On One Adventures. This year he started charging a fee just to apply with him, $25 for sheep and $10 for everything else. While I'm sure he is a good outfitter charging a fee for putting in with him is not something I'm interested in. I won't be using him anymore. He received so many complaints that he felt the need to send out the following email. While I agree his time skills as a guide are valuable the time it takes for him to clear up administrative work is part of the gig. Charge more for your hunts if you need to make it up or maybe he doesn't want as many people applying with him.

"I am getting a lot of questions on the Process Fee we are charging to apply in the outfitter pool here in New Mexico. I hope this will help everybody understand. By law in New Mexico we must have a signed contract before hunters can apply in the Big Game drawings. What we do here is send contracts out for clients to fill out and email back, the problem is over 50% would come back incomplete and must be emailed back again. Once a contract is complete the customer was legal to apply themselves online at the Game & Fish webpage. However, the day was not done for us. We must go back and cross check these contracts with the people who actually applied online. We were getting too many people applying who had no contracts, were not legal. This would put my outfitter license in danger until it was cleared up. We don’t want to get people disqualified from the draw, but we must if it jeopardizes my outfitter license.

I hope this helps and I hope you understand. My time is like yours it cannot be replaced. It is a new year folks, lets get applied early and good luck. I will be here for questions and will do my best to answer all that call."


I'm not sure who I will be putting in with this year...