Rural Northern NM towns? (Albuquerque, Santa Fe: for sale, buying, casino)

[DOUBLE H]

For as long as I can remember Colorado has been a favorite spot for out of state deer and elk hunting. A LOT of the out of staters who hunt here are from Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. An ugly incident happened in the Arkansas valley in the Fall of 1969. I'm sure Jazzlover remembers this one.

Around mid-October Colorado got slammed with two MONSTER snowstorms maybe 2 weeks apart from each other. As I recall it these weren't your basic front range up slope storm. In both cases the snow storms were close to 2 feet for each storm. Definitely a freak deal to have that much two weeks apart.

The stretch from Colorado Springs to the Wyoming border was plenty bad. What was just as bad was Salida up to Leadville. What happened after that was worse. Lots of out of staters had been in the area for a couple days and were shocked to see so much wildlife walking around close to town. The Collegiate Range west of Buena Vista got 3 to 4 feet of snow, drove the deer ank elk down the mountains and they were all over town.

And out came the guns. I don't recall how many deer got put down but there was plenty. And law enforcement had their hands full. The fact that hunting season didn't start yet wasn't an issue, as far as they were concerned. They saw deer and elk walking all over the valley including in the city limits of Buena Vista itself, the rifles were in the truck, and they started blasting away. It was a pretty ugly scene. Lots of people arrested, subsequently fined, had their licenses suspended, some for life for out of staters who ran afoul with the law before.

It was a pretty sorry scene.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by DOUBLE H

For as long as I can remember Colorado has been a favorite spot for out of state deer and elk hunting. A LOT of the out of staters who hunt here are from Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. An ugly incident happened in the Arkansas valley in the Fall of 1969. I'm sure Jazzlover remembers this one.

Around mid-October Colorado got slammed with two MONSTER snowstorms maybe 2 weeks apart from each other. As I recall it these weren't your basic front range up slope storm. In both cases the snow storms were close to 2 feet for each storm. Definitely a freak deal to have that much two weeks apart.

The stretch from Colorado Springs to the Wyoming border was plenty bad. What was just as bad was Salida up to Leadville. What happened after that was worse. Lots of out of staters had been in the area for a couple days and were shocked to see so much wildlife walking around close to town. The Collegiate Range west of Buena Vista got 3 to 4 feet of snow, drove the deer ank elk down the mountains and they were all over town.

And out came the guns. I don't recall how many deer got put down but there was plenty. And law enforcement had their hands full. The fact that hunting season didn't start yet wasn't an issue, as far as they were concerned. They saw deer and elk walking all over the valley including in the city limits of Buena Vista itself, the rifles were in the truck, and they started blasting away. It was a pretty ugly scene. Lots of people arrested, subsequently fined, had their licenses suspended, some for life for out of staters who ran afoul with the law before.

It was a pretty sorry scene.

Yeah, I remember that quite well. Years later, I met one of the game wardens that was involved in that mess. He told it me it was all he could do to keep from shooting some of those idiot "hunters"--and I use the term "hunter" liberally here. What they were, really, were a bunch of thugs with guns, with not a lick of sportsmanship among them. That escapade left a sour taste in a lot of Coloradans mouthes--including many true sportsmen--for years afterward. While that was the one of the worst single incidents of its type, every hunting season brings new horror stories of hunters--many non-local--behaving just as cruelly and stupidly.

[desertdenizen]

Hi All, I came back to this thread and was very surprised to see it up to three pages. Even though it drifted about a bit, I'm grateful for the replies. It's interesting to read about the history of the jack-ass hunters from TX and OK. They sure didn't do a good job of paving the way for future Anglos, did they?

Catman, yeah, I know the growing season is relatively short north of 40, but I think it's comparable to where I am now (the mountains of S. Utah, at about 6000 ft). We can usually count on 90 days, but sometimes get a little more. Would you say that's about the same?

Also, you mentioned around Las Vegas as being a good area. Any towns in particular? I think of Anton Chico/Villanueva area as being LV vicinity, but someone told me in another thread that the old land grant areas would probably not be too welcoming. Do you know anything about the Guadalupita and Ocate area?

bradly, when you say Espanola valley, I assume you're referring to the little towns around Espanola? Are you including up the road towards Alcalde, Embudo, and Velarde...? Any small towns in Espanola valley you'd recommend?

Thanks everyone for the input, I really appreciate it.

[mike b 1]

I also have heard that the Northern Hispanic's in N.M. are clannish and racist. I know that I would want to be accepted and not feel like I had to 'prove myself", so I would never move there...

[bongo]

There is also a huge "old hippie" population in N. NM- Embudo, Dixon, Rinconada, Alcalde, Truchas, Ojo Sarco, Penasco & all along the high road to Taos.

We have a place on the high road. There are lots of open-minded people there too. Quite an interesting mix.

[debbie at bouontiful]

Originally Posted by mike b 1

I also have heard that the Northern Hispanic's in N.M. are clannish and racist. I know that I would want to be accepted and not feel like I had to 'prove myself", so I would never move there...

Cannish maybe but I never felt racist with them. I too would love to fit in and do worry about it. Lots of places are clannish though, even here in OK. I live in a rural cattle ranching area and everyone is related to everyone. My girls married brothers and their familes can hardly look at us and anything we do they call culture. Basically, it is that were not from here is all, nor do we have any Idian in us which everyone here has some.

My problem with Chama area is that I tend to look at land that has always been in the grant problems. Meaning owned by the Mundys.

[bradly]

Originally Posted by desertdenizen

bradly, when you say Espanola valley, I assume you're referring to the little towns around Espanola? Are you including up the road towards Alcalde, Embudo, and Velarde...? Any small towns in Espanola valley you'd recommend?

Thanks everyone for the input, I really appreciate it.

Yes, I did.. but I also refered to Espanola mostly. I think it would be a better place to settle.

[Cuervo09]

Originally Posted by desertdenizen

Hi All -- I've made a few posts asking about various small towns in N. New Mexico. I figured that it might be better to broaden my question: Rather than ask about a specific town, ask you all what small towns are, if not friendly, at least not hostile to outsiders. As to location, our basic criteria are North of I-40, and no further east than Taos, and where you can grow a decent garden (without a greenhouse.)

We've looked at houses in a lot of out of the way places: Vallecitos, Costilla, Cerro, Cuba, Regina, Velarde, Alcalde, etc..... And I've done searches on city-data on all of these places (many times!) And, of course, we try to get info out of realtors, but, well, they want to the sell a house, so they aren't what you'd call unbiased, and we take their opinions with a grain of salt.

We came close to getting a place in Vallecitos last summer, but were held back, being unsure about the attitudes of the locals. Some people we talked to said, if you're a good neighbor, they'll eventually accept you, to those that said, forget it, they'll never accept you.

As I've said before, I can understand oldtimers be leary of new people -- they don't want people coming in and trying to change things, and we both understand and respect that. But in any particular town, once they saw we were just quiet folk, farming and raising animals (just chickens and a cow), would we be able to make friends, be part of the community? Are there any small towns like that in the part of New Mexico we're looking?

(And yes, we know we'd probably do fine in the outskirts of Santa Fe or Taos, but as you all know, it's a lot more expensive in those areas...)

desertdenizen,
I am from the general area of Villanueva (Bernal), and went to school there, and graduated in vegas, as well as from NMHU. I just wanted to let you know that it is a very different place, as far as people. If they see that you are there to just to do your own thing you'll be fine. I grew up there and have many friends from the area. The thing I can say is that if you are an outsider and don't look for trouble it probably won't find you. You say you want to farm and tend to animals, that's a plus. They love that there. I say that it might be a good place to live, and if not there are different places just down the road that arn't right in the view of people, but where you can still get to Las Vegas with a short drive. Just a lilttle insight for you. Hope this helps. If you have any questions i would be happy to answer them.

P.S I am very well familiar with the areas around Las Vegas, Mora, Pecos, etc.

[catman]

Originally Posted by desertdenizen

Catman, yeah, I know the growing season is relatively short north of 40, but I think it's comparable to where I am now (the mountains of S. Utah, at about 6000 ft). We can usually count on 90 days, but sometimes get a little more. Would you say that's about the same?

I'd say it's about the same. It would of course depend on exactly where you were located in NM. I certainly wouldn't count on more than 90 days, if that many!

[desertdenizen]

Cuervo09, thanks for your feedback. That's just the kind of information I was hoping for. Given that you said you were familiar with the area around Mora, what can you tell me about Guadalupita?