This area shares a border with the Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation, which is famous for record-book mule deer and big elk. Hunters take many deer and elk on private ground, but public hunters have a challenge with being restricted to strips of BLM land.

The state does not give many tags, but most public-land hunters find themselves competing for space while seeing few mature elk or deer. Hunters on private land are far less crowded and take the vast majority of bucks and bulls. Mule deer seasons take place before the rut.