Anyone here from New Mexico?

[Bill in Oregon]

I have had a couple of unexpected redirections in my life and plan to move to Alamogordo this fall. Wondering if there are any members her with experience in that neck of the woods -- er, desert. I see there is a nice shooting range near La Luz, and there is some fine quail hunting to be had.

[Blaine]

Well, I sure hope that a good thing for you.
I don't know jack about NM, but I've driven thru a few times and it's sure a pretty place. Four Corners was a neat place with super NA art stuff....

[GunnyMack]

I applied for and turned down a job in Alamagordo back in '92. The town and people were nice but it was HOT! I was there around Easter, high 90's by mid morning.
The White Sands Missle range is there, talk about mirage!!

[crs]

Welcome to the Southwest.
You will be a few hours drive from the northern NM mountains and some great fishing and hunting. The NRA Whittington Center is uo there on the border with Colorado if you want to spend a week shooting.

Have a safe move.

[Bill in Oregon]

Thanks Charles. I have been to the Whittington Center but haven't shot there. I always stop at Philmont Boy Scout Ranch when I am near Cimarron, as I did a 50-miler there when a kid.
Reason I am choosing Alamogordo is that when my great-great-grandfather died in Texas in 1883, my great-great grandma Mary Wayland gathered up her unmarried kids and drove a herd of cattle to La Luz. They ranched there for the rest of their lives and are buried in Alamogordo. Wayland Canyon in the Sacramento Ranger District of the Lincoln National Forest is named for my ancestors. Makes it feel a little bit like home, and there is lots of great quail hunting nearby.

[crs]

I understand as I have similar connections to East Texas and Southeast OK. There are dead Sheltons in most of the grave yards there.

[C Lee Nickel]

I live in New Mexico but up in the Four Corners area. I've got a backcountry vacation place a few hours south, but still quite a ways from Alamogordo. Been here since 2002, and as far as guns go, New Mexico is pretty "gun friendly". Lots of public land/BLM land and pretty much all of it is open to shooting. Where I live it's only 5 minutes to an informal "range" on public lands. Practically just over the hill from my house. I've never lived this close to a shooting spot before. At our backcountry vacation place, we have a 100 yard range in the front yard. Land is pretty inexpensive if you don't mind it being somewhat remote. We were at our backcountry place most of last week and on the dirt road in, along the 8 mile stretch, we passed about 20-30 elk in about a mile.

Wide variety of countryside. Alamogordo is on the "low" side, more desert (but still over 4000 feet), but there is a pretty nice mountain range almost directly east of there. Cloudcroft is only about 30 minutes away from Alamogordo and you are up well over 8000 feet. Plenty of forested country up there. There's lots of mining ruins/ghost town type stuff if you are into that. Lakes for recreation and fishing. That part of New Mexico is "Billy the Kid" country. Elephant Butte lake is a pretty popular large reservoir along the Rio Grande out in the desert only a couple hours from Alamogordo.

I guess the one drawback to the southwest states would be the big game hunting. Most of the large game hunting in New Mexico is on a drawing/lottery system and the odds aren't good. I'd say it's overmanaged considering how much game I see. Bird hunting is better in southern New Mexico than in either of my areas. And I hear pig hunting is good in certain parts of the state. New Mexico is trying to eradicate feral pigs so you can hunt those all you want, but though the state says it has a feral pig problem, it must be somewhere away from any of the places I go, because I've not seen a feral pig an I spend quite a bit of time in the backcountry.

There is even an Oryx hunt on the White Sands Missile Range, but I've only known one person who was lucky enough to draw for that. It's a "once in a lifetime" thing last I heard...if you draw for it, you never get to do so again.

As for weather...this year it's been hot all over the state. We've topped 100 even up here in the Four Corners only 20-30 miles from Colorado. It was over 90 at our backcountry place last week, and it's right at 8000 feet. We've had temps this high before, but it's been a few years.

[Bill in Oregon]

Lee, thanks for sharing. I look forward to poking around in the Lincoln National Forest. There is a canyon named for my rancher ancestors south of Cloudcroft.
Eager to hunt some quail again, too. Last time I was in the area, I was reading Robert Utley's "Billy the Kid," while visiting Lincoln. Even stood at the window in the jail where the Kid leaned out and shot Deputy Bob Olinger. History sure came alive. Pretty cool.
There is a very nice shooting range just minutes from town near La Luz. That will be a real pleasure.