I've hunted for many years in both AZ and NM and often both states. The Gila NF and the Apache Sitgreaves NF are the same country, but the hunting in AZ is better in my opinion as it's a 1 bird draw hunt whereas NM is a 2 bird over the counter hunt.
You will definitely need to cover a lot of country and use locator calls to find birds.
I will say there seem to be a lot of guys cruising the logging roads with a buddy literally riding shotgun on the passenger side. I've even witnessed twice guys stopping to shoot off the blacktop US 191 as I was headed into town.
Locate birds and be willing to hike in after you've found them away from the numbnut road hunters and you can have a very rewarding hunt in some beautiful country.
I've seen several bears, one mountain lion, tons of elk, Coues deer, a few wolves along with sheep.
Merriams hunting in the mountains of CO, NM and AZ is pretty special and especially rewarding when you find the birds, do some strenuous hiking and get to take one of those beautiful birds.
