Rodeo

SOCORRO
Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge
Bosque del Apache with means "woods of the Apache", was named for the people who often camped in the riverside forest.  Today it is known as one of the most spectacular Refuges in North America.  This 57,331 acre refuge straddles the Rio Grande Valley in Socorro, New Mexico.  It ranges in elevation from 4,500 to 6,195 feet above sea level.  It receives approximately 8 inches of precipitation each year.  Within the refuge's borders lie three wilderness area totaling approximately 30,850 acres and five research natural areas totaling 18,500 acres.  Here, tens of thousands of birds--including sandhill cranes, Arctic geese, and many kinds of ducks-gather each autumn and stay through the winter.  Feeding snow geese erupt in explosions of wings when frightened by a stalking coyote, and at dusk flight and flight of geese and cranes return to roost in the marches of the refuge.

MAGDALENA
Magdalena Old Timer's Festival
For the past 30 years, this annual event takes you back to the glory days of a livestock and mining town.  The festival includes a mini-cattle drive, rodeo, barbeque, parade, Kelly walk/run, pancake breakfast, western dances, Indian Village, entertainment, and crowning of the Old Timer's Queen.  Magdalena Old Timer's takes place the weekend following July 4th.

Magdalena London Frontier Theater
The London Frontier Theater was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1991.  It came to Magdalena in 1996 and presents a wide variety of plays adapted to its western setting.  It incorporates the area's multi-cultural history to create an entertaining theater experience.  Presentations are held at Magdalena's historic WPA gym.

Magdalena Arts and Crafts Festival
The Arts and Crafts Festival and Studio Tour is held every year in the Spring and Fall.  It features a great variety of unique creations such as fine art, woven rugs, decorated eggs, handmade quilts, pottery, sculpture, metal art, glass beads, holiday decorations, and hand decorated tiles.

DATIL
Very Large Array
The Very Large Array, one of the world's premier astronomical radio observatories consists of 27 radio antennas in a Y-shaped configuration on the Plains of San Augustin a short distance east of Datil, New Mexico.  Each antenna is 82 feet in diameter.  The data from the antennas is combined electronically to give the resolution of an antenna 22 miles across, with the sensitivity of a dish 422 feet in diameter.  The first antenna was put into place in September 1975 and the complex was formally inaugurated in 1980, after a total investment of $78.5 million.  In 1989 the VLA was used to receive radio communications from the Voyager 2 spacecraft as it flew by Neptune.  It is not, despite depictions in popular culture, used to assist in the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI)  The image of the VLA has become nearly iconic in American culture, though most persons do not know where it is located or what exactly it does.  But it has appeared in much of pop culture since its construction.  It has been the setting of movies including 2010, Contact, The Arrival, Armageddon, Independence Day, and Terminator Salvation.

PIE TOWN
Pie Town Pie Festival
The Pie Town Pie Festival is held annually in the fall on the second Saturday of September.  There are food and craft vendors, a pie baking contest, a High Plains Outlaws Gunfight Reenactment, pie judging, a crowning of the Queen, children's games, a horned-toad race, a pie eating contest, and raffle prized.

RESERVE
Catron County Fair
The Catron County Fair is held annually in Reserve, New Mexico.  The fair boast a variety of animal shows, livestock judging contests, dummy roping contests, a rodeo, a dance, a junior livestock sale, a junior rodeo, team roping, and a parade of champions.

Southwest Annual Dutch Oven Cook-Off
The Dutch Oven Cook-Off has a large variety of set-ups like cowboy-camps, teepees and tents, and even mule-drawn wagons.  The cooking begins in the morning, and then the cooks bring their pots to the Pavilion.  Folks show up to purchase Tater Plates where they will receive a spoonful of each dish on their plate, and there are usually about 30 to 40 different dishes on the buffet line.  Tables and benches are provided for the diners.  Attendees are entertained with musicians and after everyone is served awards and prizes are presented to the winning cooks.

WINTSON
Geronimo Trail Guest Ranch/Dude Ranch
They say that there's nothing in New Mexico but the land beneath you, but for some people that's exactly what is needed.  At Geronimo Trail Guest Ranch, some of the most beautiful pieces of it are found.  The nearest stoplight from the ranch is found 85 miles away, making this ranch rich with seclusion-induced serenity.  A day at the ranch is up to the guest.  Horseback riding is a must, as the terrain carries visitors across open meadows, through majestic ponderosa forests, down into deep canyons with rugged cliffs and crystal clear streams, and up onto high hills where view stretch for miles across the Gila National Forest.  Children's activities are also offered here-indoor and outdoor games as well as campfires.  Hiking, mountain biking (bring your own bike) and fishing in the rivers that run through it are all within footsteps.

Bugling Bull Elk

Enjoy the privacy of 120 acres surrounded on three sides by state, or public land.  This property is ideally located for hunting on the border between Units 16E, 17, and Unit 21, three of New Mexico's highly sought after hunting units for elk and mule deer.  Sitting just off of New Mexico's County Road 163, in Catron County and leading to the mountain town of Beaverhead, this 120 acre parcel would make a perfect location for a hunting cabin or summer retreat.  Phone, electricity, and County Road 163 are all within half a mile of the property.

Magdalena Adobe Style Home

Only 3 miles outside of Magdalena and directly off of Highway 60 this property and its beautiful adobe style home create the perfect setting for country living while at the same time being within a comfortable distance from Magdalena's health care facility, school, shopping and restaurants.

Quemado Lake

Phase IV West of Quemado Lake Estates is now available with 46 lots remaining.  The peaceful easy living of Quemado Lake Estates centers around Quemado Lake Recreational Area and the scenic 130 acre Quemado Lake.  Quemado Lake consistently produces large rainbow trout and muskie, and the area around the lake links together over seven miles of hiking trails with spectacular panoramic views of El Caso Peak, Castle Rock, and the Lake itself.  The common areas of Quemado Lake Estates are often frequented by grazing elk and mule deer, and trails take off in every direction for endless trips and adventures including horseback riding, wildlife viewing, and the fantastic big game hunting known to the area.  Prices start at approximately $40,000.00 per acre.

Brilliant Canyon Ranch

Sitting withing the boundaries of Vermejo Park, Brilliant Canyon Ranch is one of northern New Mexico's truly secluded properties, a unique private retreat, and a fantastic hunting ranch.  The pleasures of its numerous crystal clear, spring fed, lakes filled with rainbow trout and the abundance of game including elk, mule deer, and turkey make Brilliant Canyon Ranch a great hunting ranch and a fishing paradise.  Spectacular view of the Sandre de Cristo Mountains from the ranches hilltops, covered in majestic pine, add to the grandeur of Brilliant Canyon Ranch.  Its close proximity to Raton, New Mexico, Trinidad, Colorado and numerous ski resorts provides easy access to unlimited amenities and recreational activities including skiing and snowmobiling.

Branding

New Mexico's cattle ranches range in size from the 290,000 contiguous deeded acres of the Bell Ranch in the northeastern part of the state, to smaller ranches consisting of one or two sections of deeded land and large forest service, state, or Bureau of Land Management grazing leases such as the Luera Ranch in the southwest's Catron County.  New Mexico's abundant public lands, available for cattle grazing, add value to private or deeded acreage and support a way of life for New Mexico's ranchers that dates back to the granted land of the 1800's.

Southwest Communities

In the midst of southwest New Mexico's ranching and hunting country as you travel west from Interstate 25 on Highway 60 are the small towns of Socorro, Magdalena, Datil, Pie Town, and Quemado.  Socorro (literally to give aid) was a source of help to the first expediton of Spanish families traveling north from Mexico in 1598, led by Don Juan De Onate y Salazar.  Socorro continued to grow with the arrival of the railroad in the 1880's which brought miners, merchants, and cattlemen to Socorro County.  Today farming along the Rio Grande and ranching in the outlying areas support the agricultural community of Socorro.  The Bosque del Apache and New Mexico Tech add to the diversity of the Socorro community.

Archery Elk and Deer Hunting

New Mexico offers it's residents unlimited recreational activities.  It's numerous national forests , monuments, and resorts provide endless opportunities for the outdoorsman and sportsman.  The Gila National Forest is comprised of more than three million acres of beautiful rugged landscape, and more wilderness than in any other national forest of the Southwest.  From the high spruce-fir reaches of an eleven thousand foot peak in the Mogollon Mountains where golden eagles play with the wind, down to the semi-arid four thousand two hundred foot elevation, vibrant with antelope and Chihuahuan and Upper Sonoran desert cacti, there are six distinct "plant communities."  This superb example of pristine mountains, forests, range land, and protected desert, is the first ever designated wilderness area in the world.  The Gila National Forest has three lakes.  The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish stock all three with rainbow trout in fall, winter, and spring months.

Quemado Lake

The 800 acre Quemado Lake Recreation Area is located approximately 20 miles south of Quemado.  The recreation area includes the 131 acre man made trout lake with two ADA fishing piers, two boat ramps, seven developed campgrounds, one private campground, and links to more than seven miles of hiking trails.  The lake is nestled between pinon-juniper woodland and pine forests at an elevation of 7,860 feet.  The lake offers year round fishing and warm water fishing for trout and muskie.  The lake also has an overlook trail that leads through stands of ponderosa pines.  From the overlook, panoramic view of El Caso Peak, Castle Rock, and Quemado Lake provide excellent photographic opportunities.  Many types of birds inhabit the area.

Wapiti Ranch

Dusty cattle drives and old west legends surround the history of the "Trails End" as Magdalena is often referred to.  The "train stops here", and this beautiful horse property is the perfect place to ride and explore both the Magdalena and the San Mateo Mountains.  The ranch is currently used as a horse property throughout the year, and during the fall hunting season it receives archery and muzzleloader elk tags and is a great hunting ranch.

Homestead Ranch

They say location is everything and located just two miles off of the paved highway at Datil, New Mexico, this one of a kind ranch is everything you would want.  It's a great hunting ranch, a working cattle ranch, and a beautiful place to get away and relax.  Homestead Ranch definitely has the potential to increase in value because of its location.  Homestead ranch consists of 3,560 deeded acres along with a state lease of approximately 2,880 acres.  Homestead Ranch is located in Game Management Unit 16E and received archery, muzzleloader, and rifle elk tags, in addition to antelope tags.

Brilliant Canyon Ranch

Sitting withing the boundaries of Vermejo Park, Brilliant Canyon Ranch is one of northern New Mexico's truly secluded properties, a unique private retreat, and a fantastic hunting ranch.  The pleasures of its numerous crystal clear, spring fed, lakes filled with rainbow trout and the abundance of game including elk, mule deer, and turkey make Brilliant Canyon Ranch a great hunting ranch and a fishing paradise.  Spectacular view of the Sandre de Cristo Mountains from the ranches hilltops, covered in majestic pine, add to the grandeur of Brilliant Canyon Ranch.  Its close proximity to Raton, New Mexico, Trinidad, Colorado and numerous ski resorts provides easy access to unlimited amenities.