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.