Rick Richard
Well-Known Member
I elk hunt that area and usually stay at Ancient Way cabins. Love that area.
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Where in Arizona/ New mexico to retire
- Thread starter valleysnyper
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imyourhuckleberry
Well-Known Member
Retire to where it is a 10 to 15 min drive to a mile range or further.
nakneker
Well-Known Member
I live in the White Mountains of Arizona. I was Born and raised here and have lived here 90% of my life. It's a beautiful place. Growing up it was small and everyone knew everyone but that's changing fast with the first real growth happening in the late 90s. Unfortunately in the last year we have a lot of people from the coastal areas moving in, especially California. The resident population is growing at a much faster rate than ever before. I live in Show Low and homes and land are turning and burning. It's a familiar story in the southwest, I hope we can keep that specialness Arizona is known for, super gun friendly and lots of hunting opportunities even if the good tags are hard to draw. It gets cold here in the winter so the White Mountains isn't what your looking for. Lots of beautiful places down low in the desert. If your within an hour drive of the Phoenix or Tucson area public land will be much more crowded than if you keep a 2-3 hour cushion from those areas. If you go out on the weekend close to those areas you will have a hard time finding a place to shoot and get some elbow room, gets crowded.
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Rick Richard
Well-Known Member
I was in Show Low this past summer visiting a friend who is an outfitter in AZ and NM who also lives in Show Low. Lovely area for sure.
wbm
Well-Known Member
Lived in Arizona for years but New Mexico for the past 36 and have seen that state gradually erode into a liberal clone of California. If you doubt it check out the insane anti gun legislation that is currently on the agenda.
So for me it's hands down Arizona for a place to retire.
So for me it's hands down Arizona for a place to retire.
Papa Don
Member
You might take a look at Farmington, NM. I lived here 50 some years and will stay for the finale.
The weather is decent with all four seasons, we usually have about 3 months of winter but nothing like what you are used to.
The hunting is good for deer, elk, Turkey and bear on occasion. We do operate under a draw system for big game tags. Some areas are a draw for Turkey and others are over the counter.
We are expecting temps in the high 70s today.
Be safe.
Jim’s Hunt
Well-Known Member
Bisbee, Sierra Vista is great. Mule deer, Couse whitetail,Javalina, good dove and quail not super cold or hot. Was born and raised in Bisbee
sonorakitch
New Member
Wickenburg and Globe haven't been mentioned yet. Both are exceptional smaller communities well-suited for retirement. If a fellow has blueish voting tendencies though best select another state!
I'm a native New Mexican and spent most of my adult years there. Here in CO I'm only 85 miles from an off grid log cabin I own in northern NM where the hunting and fishing is excellent, but too cold for your purposes and, as a CO resident, currently too expensive for me. I first hunted NM 60 years ago when a resident hunting license cost $15 and came with a deer, bear and turkey tag; only draw hunt was for a very limited herd of elk in the Pecos wilderness area. Now there are elk everywhere but everything is a draw.
NM residents can hunt without any license at all for the state's non-game and unprotected species: feral hogs, coyotes, skunks, porcupine, prairie dogs, rabbits, ground squirrels, and Himalayan tahr. If you have tons of money you can book excellent hunts on private land and the Indian Reservations. Decent medical care is plentiful in Albuquerque and Santa Fe but you would have to put up with those city's wokeness, crime and leftist political correctness. One very profound hunting opportunity that only NM offers is for Gemsbok (African Oryx) yes, that's also a draw hunt but well worth the wait for a chance at bagging a beautiful trophy animal that has the finest tasting game meat I've ever eaten. An oryx on the White Sands Missile Range is actually more of a big game gathering expedition than an actual hunt, as the on range oryx aren't particularly afraid of men. All trophy oryx hunts on-range are a once in a lifetime draw. But if you're not a trophy hunter a better chance of drawing an oryx license can be found in what the Game Dept. calls the Broken Horn Oryx hunt (we've always called it the Ugly Oryx Hunt. The disadvantage with the BHO hunt is that the ugly oryx population only accounts for 10 to 20 percent of the total population, so it takes a lot more searching to find a legal animal for you tag during a short season.
For a retired person another option is the Off-Range Oryx hunts which also have a better chance to draw and the hunt that you apply for is one of the twelve calendar months of the year. That's perfect for a retiree who doesn't have to burn valuable vacation time from work. And by applying for summertime months, when families typically have other vacation plans and/or months with major holidays, college & pro sporting events, etc. further enhances the draw prospects. Off range, however, has the disadvantage that the oryx have grown very wary so that long range shots and closer shots at running animals are the only chances. An advantage to the month long off range hunts is that, while most of the off range oryx habitat is on private ranches, getting landowner permission to hunt is generally pretty easily procured because the oryx are quite destructive, tearing down barbed wire fence and not infrequently killing any cattle that happen to **** the oryx off. I would advise anyone planning to apply for a NM oryx hunt to check out my advice on this site at:
www.longrangehunting.com
NM residents can hunt without any license at all for the state's non-game and unprotected species: feral hogs, coyotes, skunks, porcupine, prairie dogs, rabbits, ground squirrels, and Himalayan tahr. If you have tons of money you can book excellent hunts on private land and the Indian Reservations. Decent medical care is plentiful in Albuquerque and Santa Fe but you would have to put up with those city's wokeness, crime and leftist political correctness. One very profound hunting opportunity that only NM offers is for Gemsbok (African Oryx) yes, that's also a draw hunt but well worth the wait for a chance at bagging a beautiful trophy animal that has the finest tasting game meat I've ever eaten. An oryx on the White Sands Missile Range is actually more of a big game gathering expedition than an actual hunt, as the on range oryx aren't particularly afraid of men. All trophy oryx hunts on-range are a once in a lifetime draw. But if you're not a trophy hunter a better chance of drawing an oryx license can be found in what the Game Dept. calls the Broken Horn Oryx hunt (we've always called it the Ugly Oryx Hunt. The disadvantage with the BHO hunt is that the ugly oryx population only accounts for 10 to 20 percent of the total population, so it takes a lot more searching to find a legal animal for you tag during a short season.
For a retired person another option is the Off-Range Oryx hunts which also have a better chance to draw and the hunt that you apply for is one of the twelve calendar months of the year. That's perfect for a retiree who doesn't have to burn valuable vacation time from work. And by applying for summertime months, when families typically have other vacation plans and/or months with major holidays, college & pro sporting events, etc. further enhances the draw prospects. Off range, however, has the disadvantage that the oryx have grown very wary so that long range shots and closer shots at running animals are the only chances. An advantage to the month long off range hunts is that, while most of the off range oryx habitat is on private ranches, getting landowner permission to hunt is generally pretty easily procured because the oryx are quite destructive, tearing down barbed wire fence and not infrequently killing any cattle that happen to **** the oryx off. I would advise anyone planning to apply for a NM oryx hunt to check out my advice on this site at:
Drew Oryx-NR-Off Range
After what it seems like 100 years submitting for Oryx I have finally drawn. I will be guided in November, off range. I have two rifles that are suitable for this... Both shoot their preferred loads lights out, both are reliable with quality glass. Do I go with the 28 Nosler running 195...
Yet another possibility in NM is what the NM Dept. of Game & Fish, through woke political correctness, calls the population management hunts (used to be known as the depredation hunts.) That is a hunt to thin out a big game herd that is depredating an agricultural area. Only disadvantage is that you have to apply for one of the usual draw hunts for that species AND for the depredation hunt, paying for both applications in advance. If you draw out on the regular hunt that you applied for they take you off the list for the depredation hunts and refund that application's fee. Or if you don't, or can't, accept the opportunity when called by the Dept. on relatively short notice anytime of the year then at the end of the hunt year (spring of one year to spring of the next year) they again refund your cost(s). But either way your money for one or both applications is tied up for the full year.
borderbill
Member
Texas
Jim’s Hunt
Well-Known Member
Bowen and raised in south eastern Arizona. I prefer that area between Wilcox and Bisbee and Douglas AZ. and rRodeo New Mexico not real hot and not real cold. Good dove & quail hunting fair duck hunting fun javalina hunting and if your lucky to get a tag for coues deer and or mule deer. Not far from some pine covered 9000 foot Chiricahua mountains
Surprised no mention of Nevada?
