So after two weeks of criss-crossing rugged terrain, getting poked by cactus', and long hikes in New Mexico, Eric got his Ibex goat last week. He says this wasn't the big one he was after, but was getting to the end of his rope. Personally, I think he was just getting homesick :) and was ready to come home. I am so proud of him. He went all by himself, to a place he'd never been, to hunt an animal he knew nothing about....all because it was an animal he has always wanted to see and hunt, and something he has always wanted to do.
Here he is after a hike up the mountain. He hunted outside of a little town just 15 miles North of the Mexican Border. The hills/mountains are the Florida (pronounced Flor-ee-da) Mountains. He stayed in a trailer at a campground in Deming, New Mexico. He said the border patrol was pretty obvious and the culture was quite the mix of people.
If you look in the center of the next picture, you can see a pair of Ibex horns on a dead billy that Eric found while hunting. He said they were in a spot that was impossible to get to. They were on a rock that was surrounded by vertical cliffs. It was straight up on all four sides of the animal. Poor thing....must have lept to his death.....Must be pretty common, because Eric did come home with another pair of shed horns too.
Eric hunted the area shown on the right side of this picture below. He said the terrain was incredibly rugged. Rocky and cliffs everywhere which made the little stinkers hard critters to get. Many, many times he found them just out of his reach.
Eric said that he spent a lot of time just watching how nimble these goats are. He said it was amazing how agile they were. He has lots of pictures like this one where the animals are in the middle of a sheer cliff. He said they just danced up and down in like it was nothing.
All in all, he had a great experience and while I am so glad he got the opportunity to go, I sure am glad to have him home! Now, to find a spot on the wall to put the thing :(..........
