Posted: 5/14/2007 7:30:14 PM EDT
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I am planning on taking a camping / prospecting trip to southern New Mexico in early October. I was wanting to spend at least a week going from the Las Cruces area to around Deming. I have had a couple of people tell me that I am an idiot if I tent camp in this region due to drug smuggling activity from Mexico, illegal immigrants, ect. I was thinking of contacting the local Sherriffs office in the area to get their input; but I would like to hear some opinions here as well. I am more than likely going regardless of popular opinion; but depending on feed back I get, I might take Mr. 870 along to supplement my usuall G23. I really can't imagine it being all that damned dangerous. So what do y'all think? |
While I certainly would not call you an idiot for camping in the area, I would call you one for camping unarmed down there!  La Frontiera is indeed the Wild, Wild West. Frankly, I would bypass the 870 and go directly to AR-15. G23 is a good call. ETA: 
Report back to us when you get back. 
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The open desert, south of Columbus/ I10 or Santa Threasa, Kilborns Hole, maybe. It is best with friends. I would not do it alone. Deming, Silver City... some nice places there. Still, I would not do it alone. Bar none, pack a sidearm and don't leave shit laying around. |
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I am sure this was in jest. However, all of the BP and deputies I have met out here suggest otherwise. Seriously, there are people out here that don't fuck around and could not care less about the law. Now that I think about it, it is a lot like Detroit (with more places to bury the evidence.)  ETA: if you plan on exploring off road (4x4), get a GPS unit, DC tire pump, and a tire plug kit.
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It's never safe to be camping alone out side of state or National Parks. As far as safety there should't be a problem except in the Santa Theresa area. Sometimes people shooting in the desert run into 2 legged critters who just materialize out of nowhere. Areas you mention are snake havens so snake shot would be a nice or required addition. Now if you feel like it stop by the Ft. Bliss Rod and Gun club for a little range fun tuesday - sunday. |
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Now that I am thinking... What a great excuse for an ARFCOM Shoot!!!!!!!! Plenty of space and planty of ARFCOM members in the area.
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Bad juji camping in that area me thinks. I'm sure there are some safer areas around, but I love the scenery down there. I would go a bit north, like the Hija Wilderness Area or around Alamogordo (I have family there). Don't go alone and bring a gat. Whatcha prospecting for anyway, human pelts? mfn |
I live outside of Las Cruces. There is not much between here and Deming--not sure what you want to see out there. I'd stay away from the border. So, don't go much south of Deming towards Columbus and stay off of HW9 along the border. 357mag |
I have not seen one. Kind of a pity they are too PC to post instructions on how to deal with it if encountered.
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Gold!!!....lots of gold!!! The way it works is, you spend several hundred dollars, minimum, on a trip from north central Tx to southern NM. You sleep in a tent with a leaky air matress for a week on some hard ass ground and then you come home with $10 to $20 worth of gold. (if your lucky) Seems to make perfect sense to me  |
Thats sad. |
YES. |
I would love to prospect for some gold, but alas I would be stuck digging through limestone here in KY  . Always wanted to do it out west and hopefully will sometime. I got a similar fever out in N.C panning for emeralds (found a tiny little one in a bucket of gravel and blew another $40.00 on crap buckets. I hear you can find meteorites out in the SW as well. Just be careful out there
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You should take a trip to NM. You can have mountains or desert, which ever you like. I have found some, not much, gold in the mountains around Tres Piedras. You can even prospect for uranium ore in the Albuquerque area if thats more your taste. www.unitednuclear.com Where we were in Tres Piedras is about 10k ft and that kind of elevation kicked my "want to" right in the butt. |
I'd like to go with you if you reschedualed it earlier in the year. I coach cross country in the fall, so I am busy after about the middle of august. I'm sure we could find some more arfcommers to come as well. I have my own metal detector and my own pans, pick, and truck.  -Ben |
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I go 4 wheeling and shooting in that area on a regular basis. Never have I had a problem there. I have also camped out there a number of times without problem but as everyone else has said, multiple vehicles multiple people and well armed Temperatures around here are getting up to 90 already and won't be going down anytime soon. Be prepared for 100's soon. Take lots of water, you won't find any. You will find lots of jack rabbits, snakes, scorpions, coyotes and maybe even the occasional mule deer. Keep an eye on the ground because nomadic tribes used to wander this land many years ago and I have found many arrowheads and the occasion grinding stone or peice of pottery. |
I was stationed at McGregor Range for a short time while my unit was doing a train up before deploying to Iraq. On top of that, I attended New Mexico Military Institute. I know the desert down there fairly well, and it never ceases to amaze me how so many people can go out there and sleep in fox holes and not be bitten by snakes or stung by scorpions. Those two things happen to also be things I really really really hate. Snakes and Scorpions.  -Ben |
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October is a great time to camp in our area. Its not to hot . A massing of ARFcom members for a little shooting sounds like fun. I would like to suggest the Ft. Bliss Rod and Gun Club. You can shoot all day for $10 or $12. I just cannot remember what the price is. We also have a club house where one can eat and have a cold one after a hard day at the range. Range 1 is LEO only. Range 2 is for rifle and pistol (4 lanes) range 3 is for pistol and rifle(1 lane), range 4 is for trap and skeet (4 lanes). Range 5 is a covered rifle range out to 1,000 yards( 1 lane). Range 6 is pistol(3 lanes) of which range 6c is a 25 yard covered range. range 7 is a 100 yard range for rifle and is covered. Range 8 is the plinking range. No glass. Range 9 is closed. The covered ranges cover only the shooting positions. They are open I think from 8 till dusk.The kitchen is open in the club from noon Friday to Sunday. BTW there is a state park in Las Cruces where one can camp and there is a State Park in El Paso that has about 5 primative campsites but cover 24,000+acres of mountain area, Lots of hiking trails, mountain bike trails and bouldering. I even think there is a guided tour to a tin mine in the area. |
Hell, lets start our own planning committee. We seem to have hijacked the thread as is. Who said we can't plan an extra campout?-Ben |
I didn't hear(or read) where anyone said we can't plan an extra campout I'll give it some thought, you are in VA? It is quite a trip down here 
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I get a kick about some of the fairy tales people make up about my back yard. I have slept in the bed of a pick up on more then a few hundred nights in the deserts around Las Cruces. Good idea to stay off the ground unless you plan on cuddling up to the local fauna. Do go armed but really you have to worry about the desert itself as much as the two legged creatures. Get stuck without water and you will be in a world of hurt. One thing that people fail to think about is the high winds that hit from time to time. Make sure you have a good pair of goggles just in case. A pair of motorcycle glasses with a foam liner will do in a pinch. I know plenty of people that travel the desert at night unarmed, and while I don't recommend it, most of them make it back without a scratch. Go ahead and take the 870, it will help you sleep a little better at night. |