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I'm going to try to chase some bears in unit 27 this October, just wondering if you guys are having any problems with the wolves like they do up north? I have not heard anybody really complaning about them so I was just curious if they are a threat to your dogs in that unit.

Thanks for any response,
Cory

Rockman on here lost some dogs to them.
Shoot him a PM and see where he was hunting at.

Didn't have a problem last year over there. The Mexican wolf is much smaller than its cousin to the North and there aren't even close to as many of them out and about.

There have been some problems with the wolves in the past. The problems have been spread throughout the region. There have been problems with woves and hounds/dogs on the Blue, Cambell Blue, Lower Blue/San Francisco, and all over Eagle Creek. In the last couple of days wolves killed a cow on Black River toward Big Lake.

Greg anderson lost a couple dogs to wolves over in 27 as well

Thanks for all the info. Between the wolves and all of the other hunters do you guys think that unit is worth an 11 hour drive coming from Utah. Just want to let my dogs chase a few bears during our off season.

You guys probably don't want to post it on the internet but, is there a better unit with less hunting pressure and wolves that still has a high number of bears?

I would probably go anyway. It would serve you well to check with the locals as to the wolf activity at the time. That's a lot of country, and if you get away from the roads to any extent you will find virtually no hunting pressure. If you talk to the locals in the resturants they can usually point you in the direction of someone who knows where there are bears, as well as where the wolves have been most recently.

Thanks Benny, I think I'll do that.

Don't forget to take your wolf treats!

There were some boys that were callin dogs to the truck and called some wolves right to the tailgate in 27.

Wolves are not the only thing to worry about there, the Javalinas are worse.

Unless every dog you own is 110% broke off Javalinas, you will prolly chase them, possibly catch them, and get most of your dogs hurt or killed.

There are not many roads there, the canyons really mess with signals, GPS is a god send there, and the Javalinas are terribad.

Plus, if your dogs get on luce ranch, the dogs there might just kill them.

3B has just as many bears, but more hunters and more roads which means more non-hunters who will pick up dogs.

Is it even worth it anymore?

Sam Luce has those dogs because of the wolves killing his pets and calves. If you are ever hunting in that country, take the time to call Sam. He is a super nice guy, and loves lion hunting as well. If Sam knows that you will be hunting close to him he will put his dogs up while you are there.
Cow Creek is full of bears right now. It can be accessed from the Pueblo Park Road. Four days ago there was an extremely large reddish/maroon bear on the Blue River Road right at the NM/AZ state line. At this time there are four different lions killing calves at the bottom end of the Blue River Road from Alpine. There are also some bears hanging around in that lower country as well. It's shaping up to be one of those exceptional years for bears on the Blue. Take some tough horses or mules, or be prepared to be wore smooth out in that rough country! Good luck.

Yep, Sam is a good guy, but for someone who doesn't have his number or know how to get a hold of him, it can be scary.

Dad and I didn't have his number and our main Cabo dog ran right down there, so we called a game warden and he got us his number.

Sam put his dogs in, and Cabo finally came out in the morning.

One other thing about 27 that is rather scary are the snakes. On the way to a tree, dad stepped right on a baby, luckily it didn't bite him. Dad was deathly allergic to bees and pretty much anything like that, including snakes. We bought some of the Snake Guards from Cabelas I believe.

Does anyone know how much of the Alpine area was affected by that fire? I hear different amounts on the radio here all the time.

The Alpine fire is all but out. The rains have helped mash on it. It has burned just over 6000 acres, and it is south east of Alpine. It burned into the head of Grant Creek, and in that area. It did burn accross the Apache Trail, but just a very small amount.

The areas I hunt in 27, I do not worry about wolves. Oct it is usally cool enough at night the snakes are not real active early in the morning. Get in touch with Game and Fish and they will tell you the general area they are active in. They also have web link that will send you an e-mail that give you information for each area in New Mexico and Arizona. Here is the link: http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/mexican ... home.shtml

Here is a good link to fire information in NM and AZ. The nice thing about these sites is they have great maps of the fire areas.

Az - http://www.inciweb.org/state/3/

NM - http://www.inciweb.org/state/32/

From what I read about the fires around Alpine was that they were low to medium intensity fires that got rid of a lot of the crap on the forest floor but didn't torch everything like the Shultz fire near Flagstaff did.