Has anyone hunted state, BLM or Forest Service land in NM, specifically unit 38? We haven't seen anything. I'm guessing the extreme drought conditions and the moon haven't helped but we haven't seen anything other than coyotes. We scouted Thurs and Friday and hunted yesterday and today. Nothing. Very few tracks and the crap that we have come across looks to be weeks, if not months old. Seems as we are the only people that will backpack/hike. The locals seem to drive around all day in hopes to shoot out of the truck. Any tips would be great. First time hunting public land in NM and it is very different than what we are used to on public land in CO.

Public land there can be hit or miss. The further you get away from the road, the better. And glass, glass, glass. Big muley bucks like to bed and sit. They don't move much, except very late and very early.

I've put in a couple inquiries with my contacts out there, I'm not sure what they know or when they will get back to me.

I'd generally head for the center of the largest unit away from Corona. Anything an easy drive from Corona is known for being "traditional", ie road hunt and who needs a permit.

We have tried our best to get off the beaten path but everything is so dang dry. Our gameplan has been to find water, locate the game trails and hunt those early and late. During the day we are hiking slow and high and classing as much as possible. Seriously though, it's so dry the cacti are dying and when we hike it is not uncommon to come across 15-20 cow carcasses a day.