Speedgoating in New Mexico...

My latest trip to New Mexico came the first weekend of August, 2003. I hooked up with Jess Rankin of West Tx.-New Mexico Outfitters, and drew an antelope tag for the disabled only season. I was pumped.

Why? Because i knew i was heading for one of the best areas for big pronghorn in the country, Lincoln county, NM. We pulled in to Carrizozo, just NW of the Capitan mountains, at about 2pm on Friday. There we checked into our motel and hooked up with one of my guides, Foye.

After some quick intros, we headed off to look for some goats and get some kind of rig ready so i could ride on the back of Foye's 4-wheeler. And as you can see from the pic above, we came up with a great system.

Left - the Four Winds motel where we stayed in the big city of Carrizozo.

In the distance, the Capitan Mountains rise a mere 5 minute car ride away.

Our motel was about 25-30 minutes away from where we hunted, and antelope seemed to be everywhere we looked.

I will definitely be going back!

The first day was a great day to hunt even though it was 90 degrees for half of the time. We must've seen about 30 bucks and passed up 2 that were legit 75 inchers. Needless to say, i was pretty confident that we'd find one that would clear that mark, and i was holding for a good one.

And a good one we found the next morning. We came across a buck with true 17" horns and I got to crack at him at nearly 500 yards after my dad and guides rolled me half a mile to the edge of this hill. Well this big boy was already sneaking off and I had to make a quick decision. My shot hit right over his back and he bolted for cover.

Not 15 minutes later, Foye & I were in position to cut him off near a fence. He was trailing this doe and she was leading him right at us. He looked like a monster with those long prongs coming by at 50 yards.

Well she stopped at the fence, paused, then turned around and hauled ass the other way. I was waiting with rifle ready, resting on Foye's shoulder about to get a shot of a lifetime.

But then he stopped short. 40 yards away and staring right at us. Right behind a cactus. All i could see was his horns sticking out above, and i knew he was gone before he turned and blew outta there to my right. "What a show!"

Long story short, my guides located another big goat about 3 hours later. And this guy had massive horns and some good cutters that rose 3" above his ears. What a great animal, and what a great trip.