Oryx Hunt on Ted Turner's New Mexico Ranch Special Event for a Lady

Photo Courtesy of Diane Gilmore

It wasn’t the kind of story you might expect to hear upon walking into a biker bar like Silva’s in downtown Bernalillo, New Mexico on a Saturday afternoon.

The lady behind the horseshoe shaped bar was running about, talking excitedly and offering up samples of the oryx she’d bagged just a day or two earlier.

On Ted Turner’s Armendaris Ranch in southern New Mexico of all places, she said.

Turner is the largest private land owner in the country and has several big ranches here in New Mexico including the Armendaris, the Ladder and Vermejo Park bordering the spectacular Valle Vidal in northern New Mexico.

And hunting or fishing on one of them would normally be way out of reach for most people, I thought.

But for Diane Gilmore, 54, of Albuquerque, a night of bartending at a National Wild Turkey Federation banquet last winter led her to the remote Turner ranch and a way of life she’d missed for many years.

See, Gilmore, a laid-off computer technician who moonlights as a bartender, used to hunt and fish all the time with her husband of ten years, Vern.

Many times they went fishing with Felix Silva Sr., proprietor of the fabled watering hole in downtown Bernalillo where Gilmore tends bar.

Photo Courtesy of Diane Gilmore

But she lost her passion for the hunting and fishing life after her husband was killed by a wrong-way driver on a highway in Texas during a cross-country motorcycle the pair were taking in 1995.

Gilmore labored on through the years without her partner and best friend until one day her girlfriend, Ann Salmon, invited her out to attend a National Wild Turkey Federation banquet.

Salmon’s boyfriend, Mike Jasper, is the organization’s regional field supervisor and he invited Gilmore back to tend bar at a state leadership conference banquet last January.

“Going to the banquets, I got the itch to hunt again,” Gilmore said.

And that’s where she came across the opportunity to hunt for an oryx, an African native that was brought to New Mexico in the 1970s to develop a herd on White Sands Missile Range for hunting purposes.

The big antelope have done well here due in part to the lack of any natural predators to keep their numbers down, thus hunting is one of the only ways to effectively manage them.

Hunters can apply through the state Department of Game and Fish for a reasonably priced, once in a lifetime license to bag one of the big animals on White Sands Missile Range or they can try their luck at drawing an unrestricted, off range license to hunt oryx on public lands surrounding the range.

And then there’s private land hunting permits issued by the Department to landowners for use on their own property.

Typically those permits are available through outfitters who offer guided hunts to the public for premium price.

Which brings us back to Gilmore who while serving drinks at the National Wild Turkey Federation banquet noticed a bucket full of a dozen custom knives up for auction.

Attached to each knife was a raffle ticket for a guided oryx hunt on the Armenderis Ranch, normally a $3,000 proposition.

“I got all excited thinking about the chance to go after one of those majestic animals,” she recalls.

So Gilmore picked out three knives, plunked down $330 and waited for the drawing.

“I screamed like a maniac,” the New Jersey native says of the moment they called her number. ”It was surreal, my heart nearly jumped out of my chest.”

Gilmore had won and arranged to go on her hunt the following fall.

As the date of the hunt got closer, Gilmore grew more nervous.

“You know how it is,” she said.

Gilmore borrowed Jasper’s .300 WSM rifle and went out to the city’s range for a little practice and found her aim was still true.

And then the day of the hunt finally arrived.

Gilmore had stayed at a friend’s house at Elephant Butte the night before and awoke early to make the drive over to Engle and where the gate to the big ranch stood.

Accompanied by Jasper and Salmon, Gilmore met up with her guide, Amado Hernandez, who gave her an orientation, took her to ranch firing range to check her shooting skills and then they went for a drive.

The group searched the sprawling ranch for several hours before they finally spied a herd far off in the distance.

Upon driving around the base of a small hill to get a closer look they suddenly came across a lone oryx observing them from about 215 yards away.Photo courtesy of Turner Enterprises Inc.

Gilmore got down to see if she could get a shot at her but watched in dismay as she began to walk away.

Guide Hernandez gave a shrill whistle and the animal stopped to look back.

Gilmore took her shot and dropped the big antelope on the spot.

“My friends were yelling `she’s down’ and I was all excited,” Gilmore says with emotion. “This was my first hunt in twelve years and I was smiling so much my cheeks hurt.”

Gilmore says the best part of the hunt had to be after the kill because in all her years of hunting with Vern she knew the real work came in harvesting the animal.

“Amado did all the work,” she says. “That was special,”

Hernandez says he guides about 50 or 60 oryx hunts on the 360,000 acre ranch east of Truth or Consequences every year and remembers Gilmore because she was so ecstatic about her hunt.

“She was pretty thrilled,” he says. “And she did a good job too.”

Gilmore says she’s got a freezer full of good, lean organic meat processed by Gordon Mishler of Mishler Meat Cutting in Williamsburg and has a beautiful trophy mount for her wall on its way from Ken Watkins of High Sierra Taxidermy in Truth or Consequences.

But for Gilmore the best part of the hunt was that it rekindled in her that long dormant passion for the sport.

Jasper says that’s exactly what the National Wild Turkey Federation is striving to do, conserve wildlife and preserve the heritage of hunting.

And making exciting trips like this available is one way to do it, Jasper says.

“To let an average, everyday, person have a shot at a trophy hunt like this is priceless,” Jasper says.

Jasper says banquet auctions like the one Gilmore participated in have allowed numerous men and women around the state to go on such hunts while also raising much needed funds for the organizations’ mission.

And it couldn’t be done without the generous contributions and donations of people like Ted Turner whose ranches not only provide the habitat for many game species but the opportunity to hunt for them too, Jasper says.

The Governor Giveth and the Governor Can Taketh Away

A habitat improvement project designed to reduce silt and sediment and improve fishing on the popular San Juan River has been put on hold in the wake of Governor Bill Richardson’s decision to freeze all capital outlay projects.

“It’s on hold,” says Marty Frentzel, Chief of Public Information and Outreach for the state Department of Game and Fish.

Up until the Governor’s order came down, the department had been working on issuing a formal request for proposals (RFP) for engineering plans to install habitat improvements in the Braids section of the blue ribbon trout fishery and to divert Rex Smith Wash to keep silt laden runoff from dumping into the river at Texas Hole.

The habitat improvement project had been one of Richardson’s own initiatives that he undertook at the behest of local guides last year for which he sought and obtained $250,000 in funding from the legislature.

But Richardson has since become embroiled in a budget battle with the legislature over an estimated $650 million budget shortfall and he has now ordered all capital outlay projects frozen, including his own.

The move comes on the heels of a recent special session of the legislature during which lawmakers crafted bills for Richardson’s consideration that includes deep cuts to state agency budgets and a reduction in the number of Richardson’s paid, political appointees.

In ordering the capital outlay freeze, Richardson says he took exception to the fact that legislators did not make any effort to trim its inventory of taxpayer funded projects.

“I am taking this bold action since the Legislature chose not to cut even one dime of its pork projects,” Governor Bill Richardson said in his October 26 press release. “These pork projects should be the first to be cut before we take any action that affects people.”

Only those projects that already have third-party agreements will be honored as of Oct. 23, the press release states.

The freeze on capital outlay projects will remain in place through the next legislative session in January when the issue can be revisited, the press release concludes.

The press release notes that the freeze applies to all capital outlay projects, including the governor’s.

The freeze came just weeks after the state Department of Game and Fish announced that they would be seeking new bids for the habitat improvement project on the San Juan (see related story ).

The department had declined to hire one of the two firms, out of about six that had been solicited to submit proposals this past summer.

The department decided it would be best to pursue the more formal process of requesting proposals before proceeding.

“The Department determined that a broader solicitation was warranted in order to ensure the best possible outcome is achieved,” Frentzel said at the time.

The Braids and Rex Smith projects were called for by a working group of San Juan River stakeholders during a meeting earlier this summer.

Funding for the projects came as controversy raged over the perception that fishing conditions on the river had declined due to low flows implemented by federal operators of the dam over the last decade to accommodate endangered fish downstream.

It now remains to be seen whether funding for the habitat improvement projects will be reinstated or if after more than a year of behind-the-scenes political lobbying, intense public debate and other efforts to help the river, have all been for naught.

In the meantime, Governor Richardson is taking public comment before making any decision about the cost saving bills the legislature sent him during the special session.

Richardson has until Nov. 12 to make his decision.

And while he decides, the Albuquerque Journal reports that the state budget has grown more than 50 percent under Richardson’s watch. The state now has 24.5 state workers for every 100 in the private sector, compared with the national average of 16.22. About 400 state workers were added to the state’s payroll last year alone at a cost of $1 million every two pay periods and 468 political appointees have joined Richardson’s administration during his two terms, the Journal reported.

To register your views on the budget situation email the governor at Special.session@state.nm.us.

Or call the Governor's office at 505-476-2210.

You can also write a letter and send it to: Office of the Governor, 490 Old Santa Fe Trail, Room 400, Santa Fe, NM 87501.

To visit the Governors website go to www.governor.state.nm.us

State Seeks More Bids for San Juan Habitat Improvement Projects

State Game and Fish officials have decided to seek additional bids for engineering services before proceeding any further with long-awaited habitat improvement plans to the trophy-class trout fishery at Navajo Dam on the San Juan River.

The department solicited and received proposals this summer from two firms to develop engineering plans for a runoff diversion at Rex Smith Wash and in-stream habitat improvements in the “Braids,” both areas located just above “Texas Hole.”

The two projects were called for by a working group of San Juan River stakeholders earlier this summer after the state legislature, last winter, appropriated $250,000 for the habitat improvements on the San Juan at the request of Governor Bill Richardson.

The funding came as controversy raged over fishing conditions on the river due to low flows implemented by federal operators of the dam over the last decade to accommodate endangered fish downstream.

The department solicited bids from about a half-dozen engineering firms to do the engineering work and received proposals from two firms interested in performing the job, said Marc Wethington, the San Juan’s Fisheries Biologist for the state Department of Game and Fish.

After review of the two proposals, department officials decided to seek more proposals through a formal request for proposals process

“The Department determined that a broader solicitation was warranted in order to ensure the best possible outcome is achieved,” says Marty Frentzel, Chief of Public Information and Outreach for the state Department of Game and Fish.

Frentzel declined to elaborate on the decision.

One of the firms that applied was Freestone Aquatics of Littleton, Co. in conjunction with Goff Engineering of Durango, Colo.

They submitted a bid to do the work for close to $62,000.

Freestone Aquatics is owned and operated by a couple of fishing guides who formed their own company in 2006 to do fish habitat work, according to information contained within their proposal and posted on their website.

It was noted in Freestone’s proposal that they had done a preliminary analysis of the San Juan River this summer on behalf of the San Juan River Foundation, a non-profit organization recently formed to raise money in support of habitat improvement and other projects on the river.

The foundation’s president is Bubba Smith, a San Juan fishing guide widely credited with drawing Richardson’s attention to the river and for working closely with state Game Commission chairman, Jim McClintic.

Freestone Aquatics referenced its preliminary work with the San Juan River Foundation in describing their work experience, stating in their proposal that “Freestone Aquatics is involved in a large scale restoration project on one of the premier gold-medal tail water fisheries in the West.Working with the San Juan River Foundation and the state of New Mexico, Freestone has been asked to provide expertise in managing this high profile, high use fishery.”

The statement goes on to say that “Freestone Aquatics employees are currently in the data gathering and design phase that will eventually be applied to this highly valuable fishery. Installation of Freestone-designed structures will function to transport sediment resulting in the recovery of thousands of square feet of macro invertebrate habitat.”

Freestone Aquatics is not currently working for the state of New Mexico in any capacity with regards to the San Juan as may be inferred from this statement in their proposal, said Lance Cherry, Assistant Chief of Public Information and Outreach for the state Department of Game and Fish.

The low bid for the project came from Riverbend Engineering, a river restoration firm with offices in Albuquerque and Durango, Colo., who submitted a proposal in partnership with Aquatic Consultants of Albuquerque.

They offered to perform the engineering services for just under $50,000.

Riverbend Engineering also provided reduced cost engineering services for the in-stream habitat work recently completed in the Cottonwood Campground area of the San Juan River, Wethington said.

The firm was not involved, though, in the oft-criticized habitat improvements done below Simon Canyon a few years ago, he said.

Those were designed by the Army Corp of Engineers, Wethington said.

An angler fishes during the summer of 2008 among the much maligned but highly effective habitat improvements installed below Simon Canyon.

Riverbend’s partner in their proposal is Aquatic Consultants which has been involved in numerous projects throughout the state including trophy sport fishing and commercial fisheries management projects at Cow Creek Ranch on the Pecos River, Don Imus’ ranch near Las Vegas, N.M., and Isleta, Sandia and Eagles Nest lakes.

Paul Cassidy, founder and president of Aquatic Consultants, was the state Department of Game and Fish’s Northwest Area Fisheries Manager for 11 years before leaving the department to form his own firm.

A new request for proposals for the Rex Smith and Braid’s habitat improvement projects is forthcoming and these firms may apply again, Wethington said.

In the meantime, the department awaits the outcome of the upcoming special session of the state legislature called for by the Governor to consider the state’s $650 million budget shortfall.

Frentzel said the department is not anticipating loss of the previously appropriated funds for the San Juan projects but noted that the any funding decision rests with the state legislature and governor.

One suggested method of covering some of the state budget shortfall includes recouping previously appropriated capital outlay funds that have yet to be spent.

However, Linda Kehoe, Capital Outlay Analyst for the state’s Legislative Finance Committee tells Outdoors New Mexico that the San Juan River’s funding appears safe for the time being.

“We’re not looking at those (from last year) right now,” she said. “But I would suggest that they (NMDGF) get a plan and start spending because as soon as this next session starts, we’ll be looking again.”

Even under a worst-case scenario, the San Juan projects appear to remain a priority.

“The Department views these projects as important,” says Frentzel. “And (we) will have to evaluate our budget situation and ability to move forward on them should the current funding be lost.”

And in the future, the department may have an additional revenue stream to rely upon rather than the generosity of the legislature to complete projects on the San Juan River.

Frentzel said the department is in the process of drafting proposed legislation, as directed by the state game commission, to authorize an additional habitat stamp for those who fish the quality waters of the San Juan River.

That idea came out of public discussions last spring regarding ways to improve fishing conditions on the San Juan River (see related article).

The Dream Hunt

As the fall approached I began having the dream again, sometimes in vivid color, sight and sound and other times just blurry images and a fast fading, foggy memory of it upon awakening.

Then this morning I snapped awake feeling frantic and agitated.

I lay in the dark listening through the bedroom door as my aging and now slightly demented dog, Wiley, padded back and forth across the living room floor.

Then there was the slap, slap of the doggy door as she went outside to continue her rounds.

I struggled with my fleeting memory as the dream evaporated with the slowly brightening room.

From outside I heard our newspaper land in the driveway and the delivery truck speed away.

One thing I knew, it was essentially the same every time, reliving the actual events, but with an unnerving twist.

We were out on our hunt, having drawn tags for cow elk, up in the high country above Eagles Nest.

I was there with my buddies, Mikey Giddings and his uncle and Glenn Jaramillo and his son.

It was our second year in a row hunting in this location.

The year before we had been very successful and stocked our freezers full of good, lean organic meat (see related story here).

But this second year was different and I haven’t told the story until now.

We had been scouting at dusk along a forest road crossing the valley floor when we came across a herd headed back up the mountain.

They crossed the road right in front of our trucks.

“You know where I’ll be tomorrow morning,” Glenn said.

The elk were following an old logging road and we talked excitedly about our plan to catch them coming down or going back up again in the morning when the hunt officially began.

We were there at first light, Mikey on the far left up on a little knoll watching the draw that spread out before us into a large meadow.

I was hiding in the tree line a couple hundred yards away, covering the middle of the meadow, right where the logging road began its climb up the mountain.

And Glenn and Jonathan went ahead, around another tree covered knoll, to the cover the other side of the meadow.

As we waited, a few trucks motored by loaded with hunters heading off into the forest and the grey light of dawn gave way to the sun.

The elk should be moving off the watering holes and meadows down below us and heading back uphill soon, I thought as I waited.

Then a rifle shot cracked through the air and Glenn was on the radio.

“I got one,” he whispered.

They had slipped in right before us, coming up the draw and skirting the meadow by walking through an opposing tree line.

Glenn was in the right spot to see them working their way across us and picked off a young, antlerless, male.

We went back to camp and got to work skinning it and were eating grilled tenderloin with fried onions by lunch.
The next day brought a good dusting of snow which help revealed plenty of tracks and sign all over the valley floor, up the logging roads and on top of the mountain.

But we weren’t having any luck at all in actually seeing them.

So the next day we climbed the mountain in my little four wheel drive Geo Tracker with Glenn riding shotgun, bouncing up and over the rock strewn logging roads, and we went looking for them.

For miles we drove along snow covered forest roads, enjoying the beauty of the frosted mountain, the late afternoon sunshine and discovering new places.

Then we came across a wide meadow on the uphill side of the road. A little, two track, jeep trail ran up through it.

Glenn advised me to follow it.

We dropped the transmission into low gear and began idling up the muddy trail.

On our right a deeply forested hill rose, shaded from the sun and still covered in snow.

To our left, scrub oak, evergreen shrubs and stands of aspen bathed in the sunshine.

As we motored on up the meadow, she came out of the south facing treeline and began across the trail.

Glenn swore as I slowly came to a halt, turned off the engine and applied the parking brake.

She was now standing in the middle of the trail, just at the crest of the hill, broadside and looking straight at us.

Glenn swore again as I slowly pushed open the driver’s side door and eased my Dad’s model 1898, Springfield Armory, 30.-40. Krag from between the front seats.

I dropped to a knee, rested the rifle in the crook of the door frame and thumbed off the safety.

I couldn’t believe she was still there when I sighted down the barrel.

Glenn hissed, “shoot her, damn it.”

I took a breath, held it and then began steadily pulling the trigger.

Then she suddenly leaped off the road and bounded towards the safety of the snow covered pines.

I still had her in my sights when I heard a shout in my head.

“Run, girl, run!”

That’s when I usually snap awake.

This morning I lay there thinking, again, why I never took that shot.

I could take some solace in the fact that I hadn’t taken a risky shot, that we didn’t have to follow a wounded animal off into the woods, near dark, in the hopes we could recover her body.

I did the right thing I argued to myself and others after the hunt.

I just didn’t feel comfortable taking the shot.

But someone couldn’t help but snicker that maybe I would have if I had only been carrying my camera.

So as we prepare for this year’s hunt, in the same place for the same animals, I wonder about that shout in my head.

Did that happen or was it really just a dream?

After the elk had escaped that day we had gone up into the tree line and found their beds amid the grass, some still warm, their pellets soft and moist, we’d just missed them.

Maybe she’d slept late that afternoon and was the last to leave.

Maybe she’d been dreaming too.

Fly Fishing on a Bubble - What a Hoot!

This summer I was invited up to the lake to do some fly fishing with some good ole boys I know from Missouri.

But I balked at the thought of blowing out my arm trying to cast to rising fish just out of my reach.

No, No, No, they told me.

Forget the fly rod.

We’ll be fly fishing “hillbilly” style, with a bubble and a spin casting rig, that is.

Knowing I was about to enjoy some fine company, even better camp cooking and lots of good fishing, I was digging out my bass rod in no time.

Now when I first got into fly fishing I’d had the occasion to meet an older, Hispanic, gentleman from Taos up at Shuree Ponds on the Valle Vidal in Northern New Mexico.

He was tying up Wooley Boogers off the back of his old Jeep so he could go after one of those lunkers the boys from state Game and Fish like to stock up there.

He swore you couldn’t beat dangling one of his boogers below a bubble if you were serious about catching one of those big, high country fish.

But I was new to the game then and lacked a spin casting rig so I spent my time and effort making long laborious casts with a fly rod and watching as my caddis fly landed just out of reach of some big risers.

Now, I’m not saying you can’t catch fish at the lake with a fly rod but it requires a long leader and incredible diligence, squinting at your fly out there on the still water and waiting, always waiting, for that strike to come.

And sometimes the wait pays off, like the time I took a moment to clamp the rod handle between my teeth so I could free up my hands to unzip my pants and take a much needed whiz.

As I’m fumbled about in my shorts, I saw a snout break the surface to sip at my fly.

I whipped my head back in a futile attempt to hook him and watched as he dove out of sight.

Self induced whiplash, a blown out shoulder and too many near misses diminished my enthusiasm for fly fishing on lakes and I only indulged when necessary.

But now I’ve seen the error of my ways since meeting up with the Davis brothers at the River’s End Campground at Taylor Reservoir in Colorado this summer.
From left to right: James Davis, 72, of Coldwater Mo. is a retired manufacturing maintainance technician. Bud Davis,70, is a retired trucking company manager who lives in Jackson, Mo.. Raymond Davis, 66, of Imperial Mo. is also retired from the trucking business. Edward Page, 69, retired from the automotive industry and his wife Ellie, a homemaker,live in Scroggins Tx. They are cousins to the Davis family. Eddie Davis,63, of Patterson Mo. is a retired school teacher. The Davis brothers all teach Sunday school and are avid hunters, anglers and cooks. The author with his trusty dog, Wiley, 17, of La Cueva, N.M.

I happened across these camo clad, back slapping, good ole boys during a roadtrip to fish the Taylor River’s trophy waters last year. I was up there to see how some of our neighbor’s tail waters stacked up against New Mexico’s legendary San Juan River.

And boy was I happy I did (see related article).

So when they invited me back again this year I quickly emptied the spare change jar and left the sweltering, summer days of Santa Fe behind.

I arrived to cool mountain temps, afternoon thunderstorms and a hearty welcome.

I would be fishing with my Abu Garcia, Cardinal 100, a six and half foot long, medium action rod with a factory matched, five ball bearing, #102 spinning reel.

I picked it up one day while wandering around the Sportsmen’s Warehouse in Albuquerque. I was there hunting for a general purpose spinning rod for bass fishing and upon seeing the huge selection available, I asked a fellow customer, who looked like he knew what he was doing, to pick out a good rig for me.

He did and I’ve been happily hauling in bass and walleye from the boat ever since.

But fishing for trout with it was something new and the first thing Ray Davis did was hook me up with some new line on my reel, Mr. Crappie, six-pound test , camo line from Bass Pro Shops.

We then threaded the line through a medium sized, clear, plastic bubble and then added a swivel, making sure it moved freely in the mouth of the fat end of stem inside the bubble.
You fill the bubble up by pushing the skinny tip of the stem back inside the bubble, I used the flat blade of my knife to push down on it.

Then you dip the bubble in the water with the little hole at the tip facing up. Air bubbles should emerge from the little hole at the tip as it fills up.

Fill it about half way or for even longer casts, about three quarters full. Jam the stem back into place in the hole and you’re done. Keep in mind that you’ll have less flotation and won’t be able to see the bubble on the water as well, the fuller it is.

And the length of line you use to attach your fly will depend on the fishing conditions but as a rule we just peeled off a piece of line about the length of our outstretched arms and tied the fly to one end and made a small loop knot in the other and hooked that to the swivel.

I found it helped to cut this piece of line off the spool before attaching the bubble.

I also found casting side arm really heaved it out there with less slack line to reel up but I also enjoyed watching the rig fly like a mortar shell when I lobbed it overhand out in front of me.

Once the bubbles sets down, reel in the slack until you see the bubble shimmy on the water and the line grows tight, then slowly, with the rod tip down and pointed in the direction of the bubble or just off to the side, reel it in, stopping occasionally to let it settle or to jig it a little.
Strikes on the bubble are subtle and many times I felt a slight tug or bump on the line but found they were long gone before I could set the hook.

You have to develop a feel for the fish and need quick reaction to set the hook I was told - a number of times.
Gazing off at the surrounding mountaintops as the clouds rolled over and bird watching didn’t help my fishing success either.

But during our trip to a Mirror Lake above the little mining town of Tin Cup - a scene straight out of a Clint Eastwood western - our group of seven caught and released well over a hundred stocker rainbows and wild brookies while fishing on the bubble.

Most were hooked on the lip and released with no harm done.

And during much of that time you could hear Bud Davis crooning into his walkie talkie, “fire in the hole, there’s another one on Moffatt’s high country special.”

My winged, pheasant tail, bead head, nymph proved to be deadly on that trip and tying up some for the group earned me plenty of accolades and my breakfast in the morning.
Now I've just got to get back up to Shuree Ponds before the season ends and see if those Wooley Boogers on a bubble really work.