Making up the right side of New Mexico’s bootheel region, and bordering Mexico on the bottom and right edges, this area is not regarded as a top deer unit although draw odds are good and pressure is light. No national forests are here but BLM and state hunting lands can be accessed in some places. Hiking into remote desert mountains can allow for the opportunity of taking a nice buck or a record-class desert bighorn ram.

Coues bucks can be found along the Animas Mountain peaks above 6,000 feet and along higher peaks close to the international border above Chihuahua, Mexico; however, coues numbers have struggled in this unit, historically. Desert bighorn rams can be taken in the Hatchet Mountains near Playas. Antelope numbers are limited, but sometimes found in Hachita Valley grasslands. Mule deer live at low elevations in mesquite thickets and in low mountain canyons. Bighorn tags are limited. Most coues can only be reached by backpacking in.

Most of this desert unit is remote and many of the better mountain ranges are hard to reach. Most terrain is rocky and steep with limited vegetation until 5,000 feet where brush lines start. Mountains here are part of the Sierra Madre Mountains that extend up from Mexico. The highest peak in the unit is Animas Peak at 6,482 feet in the southern part. Near Hachita, the higher peaks in the Alamo Hueco Mountains run 6,200 feet along the ridge tops. The highest peak in the Hatchet Mountains is Playas Peak at 5,501 feet. Near Lordsburg the highest is Pyramid Peak, standing out in the range at 6,008 feet.

Low elevations mainly consist of desert with flat to rolling hills covered with creosote, ocotillo and barrel cactus. Grasslands are mostly flat with gramma grass and soaptree yuccas. Middle elevations have foothills with sandy arroyos lined with mesquites, ocotillo, prickly pear and jumping cholla cacti. The high elevations consist of the Higher Mountains that rise out of the desert floor and into cooler, northern slopes and deep draws. Scrub oaks and junipers provide cover. In the highest peaks, dense stands of oaks and chiricahua pines provide canopy above manzanita brush.

One can get here off of Interstate 10 where it makes the north border from Road Forks past Separ. State highway 338 separates Unit 26 from Unit 27 on the west border, all the way down to the Mexican border. Highway 146 and Highway 9 connect back to the International border on the eastern edge. Highway 81, south of Hachita, will take you to the Big Hatchet State Game Refuge and the Hatchet Mountains. In the center of the unit, Highway 9 runs from Animas to Hachita. Private lands in the southern portion create problems with road access to some state lands due to locked gates in this often-dangerous border territory.

Camp in the northern section of the unit even if it means early, long travel to your intended hunting area. Lodging can be found in Lordsburg along with several restaurants. No camping is allowed on state land.