Word of caution (first hand) about hunting Mexico now

[WAB]

Agreed. Want to defang the cartels? Take away their market, but don’t think they will go quietly!

 

[CEO]

The timing of this thread is spooky for my family and me.
I have vacationed in the Playa del Carmen three times with my ex-wife, 2007, 2008 and 2011. Always felt safe and often left the resorts. Since then I have heard that it’s not as safe anymore.
Now my current wife has been wanting to go and we nearly pulled the trigger on a January trip to the same area. However she procrastinated getting her daughter’s passport application sent in and Canada Post went on strike for the month of December. I told her that I wasn’t going to book a trip if she didn’t have a passport so she wants to go next year.
Now if read this post and I am very reluctant to go. Don’t know what other Caribbean country to suggest but I’m going to show her this.

We're going to Cancun later this year. Been there a few times. Cozumel. Never felt unsafe, but aside from riding all around Cozumel on mopeds we tend to take a private car from the airport to the resort and only leave for scuba or fishing.

My first instinct was to recommend Belize to you. Wife and I went to Ambergris Caye a few years back and felt completely safe. Everyone speaks English and it's common to rent golf carts and explore around on your own. That said, not long after we were there some guys were shot (one killed) in the exact area where we were after Bonefish. I don't think you can really go anywhere cool without some risk.

 

[codofish]

Lake Baccarac lodge might be the only exception for me as far as going back to Mexico. In addition to arguably being the best big bass lake in the world it is in the Sinalo mountains in a very isolated rural area and has it's own private landing strip. We take a private charter flight from Houston directly to the lake so you don't spend any time on the highways. It seems like highways is where the bad things happen.

 

[DonPablo]

It's a shame for sure, but their government is to blame.

And I believe that the road that lead there was the repeal of their gun rights. Something to keep in mind.

 

[SETH RINGER]

The timing of this thread is spooky for my family and me.
I have vacationed in the Playa del Carmen three times with my ex-wife, 2007, 2008 and 2011. Always felt safe and often left the resorts. Since then I have heard that it’s not as safe anymore.
Now my current wife has been wanting to go and we nearly pulled the trigger on a January trip to the same area. However she procrastinated getting her daughter’s passport application sent in and Canada Post went on strike for the month of December. I told her that I wasn’t going to book a trip if she didn’t have a passport so she wants to go next year.
Now if read this post and I am very reluctant to go. Don’t know what other Caribbean country to suggest but I’m going to show her this.

COSTA RICA

 

[BGGMKLR]

Your safety is not 100% guarenteed anywhere. The best one can do to mitigate risk is do the research, perform the due diligence, and plan/act accordingly.
There are many Countries with "areas" that are controlled by gangs, thugs, revolutionaries, cartels, drug dealers etc...(Venezuela, El Salvador, Colombia, Honduras, Russia, Japan, Jamaica,and several in Africa come immediately to mind) but, to my knowledge, not a single one of them is completely controlled/ran/ "governed" from soup to nuts by the criminals...
Mexico is the exception.
Spike

 

[dchum]

This will begin again on a large scale once the border is secured. Their income from being coyotes will dry up and they will look to new sources of income. Some years back this was going on quite a bit. Look for it to return.

Coyotes income has actually gone down because the border is loose. Now migrants just need to walk up the border (the big crowds on we see on TV)

Tighter border means more sneaking through ranch land with a guide (coyote). I live in the busiest county’s in the state. Looks up brooks county and migrant deaths.

It’s been slow here. It will get busier as the border gets tighter. (Per border patrol officials in the area)

 

[dchum]

This will begin again on a large scale once the border is secured. Their income from being coyotes will dry up and they will look to new sources of income. Some years back this was going on quite a bit. Look for it to return.

This is so incorrect I don’t know where to begin.

I know you live out in west Texas but you are miss informed

 

[wesheltonj]

Coyotes income has actually gone down because the border is loose. Now migrants just need to walk up the border (the big crowds on we see on TV)

Tighter border means more sneaking through ranch land with a guide (coyote). I live in the busiest county’s in the state. Looks up brooks county and migrant deaths.

It’s been slow here. It will get busier as the border gets tighter. (Per border patrol officials in the area)

The cartels are not using coyotes, (what we would call a coyote)that much. They get them to border and into a car. They run ads on TikTok looking for drivers. That’s how the majority make it inland. If the driver gets stopped and caught the minimum sentence is now 10 years. The drivers all plea for probation they don’t want to get minimum. The Aliens are charged with Criminal Trespass in a Disaster Zone and plea down to criminal trespass and are turned over to ICE or voluntary depart the USA.

 

[dchum]

The cartels are not using coyotes, (what we would call a coyote)that much. They get them to border and into a car. They run ads on TikTok looking for drivers. That’s how the majority make it inland. If the driver gets stopped and caught the minimum sentence is now 10 years. The drivers all plea for probation they don’t want to get minimum. The Aliens are charged with Criminal Trespass in a Disaster Zone and plea down to criminal trespass and are turned over to ICE or voluntary depart the USA.

They get dropped off with a guide.

Getting across the border is easy. Getting through the checkpoint is their problem. So yes the drive north from the border until they get close to a checkpoint. Then they are guided through private property around the Highway check point and get picked up on the other side.

Many times by local people (citizens) like you said

My family ranches and I live right here 5 miles north of the largest internal checkpoint in the state.

Texas' Brooks County Is 'Death Valley' for Migrants

A deputy in one of the counties that has seen a surge in undocumented children says they have found 37 migrants' bodies this year alone.

www.nbcnews.com

I don’t get my info second hand. We live it here

 

[pilar]

They get dropped off with a guide.

Getting across the border is easy. Getting through the checkpoint is their problem. So yes the drive north from the border until they get close to a checkpoint. Then they are guided through private property around the Highway check point and get picked up on the other side.

Many times by local people (citizens) like you said

My family ranches and I live right here 5 miles north of the largest internal checkpoint in the state.

Texas' Brooks County Is 'Death Valley' for Migrants

A deputy in one of the counties that has seen a surge in undocumented children says they have found 37 migrants' bodies this year alone.

www.nbcnews.com

I don’t get my info second hand. We live it here

Yeah! This drives me crazy, we have a bypass road around the hwy 83 checkpoint called the old stagecoach rd , and it is a high traffic area and I have seen stolen city & school buses full of “ refugees “ hauling ass with BP or I.C.E in pursuit ( well at least till 2020) and had hundreds if not thousands of people asking for a ride to San Antonio or Houston in the summer time .
Biden put the coyotes out of business by providing a free trip to San Antonio then anywhere in the USA by bus

 

[DLSJR]

I hunted mule deer on Tiburon Island 2 years ago, no problems, we shot 3 bucks for 4 hunters and were going back with the same outfitter, Francisco Valenzuela, last year on the mainland. Short story,he ripped us off, stealing our deposits. I was one of 19 American hunters who he ripped off for a total of over $100,000.00.

I also had a friend who was involved in 2 separate cartel experiences where he actually texted his wife their exact location and said if he followed with an ‘SOS’ text, to call the state department asap. And finally, I had a friend hunting near Caborca last year who was confronted by some cartel members, had a gun put to his head and told he was gonna get his brains blown out. He got home in one piece but said Never Again.

There are too many great places to hunt around the world to risk it in Mexico.