Fifteen-year-old Esparanza Lopez recently made headlines with her impressive hunting skills in the New Mexico backcountry. Accompanied by her father, Richard, Esparanza has been honing her hunting abilities for years, learning valuable lessons from her father along the way. However, after Esparanza successfully shot a jaw-dropping 28-point mule deer buck with her muzzleloader, some of those lessons seemed to be forgotten in the excitement.
Esparanza’s father had always advised her to wait for an hour or two after making a shot to ensure the animal’s death. But this time, Richard disregarded his own advice and rushed to the deer’s location. To their amazement, they discovered the buck lying dead exactly where Esparanza had shot it, with the shed antlers from the previous year just 50 yards away.
According to Esparanza, she and her father ventured into the public land unit on horseback the day before the youth muzzleloader season opened. Despite hunting in the rain on Sunday morning, they took a break at midday to tend to their horses and mules and warm themselves by a fire. In the afternoon, they rode up a nearby ridge and secured their horses near a canyon entrance. Slowly making their way up the draw, Richard scanned both sides of the canyon with his binoculars.
Esparanza, still wearing her spurs, walked painstakingly slowly to avoid making any noise. Suddenly, she spotted the buck emerging from its bed to feed on some oak brush. Although she initially underestimated its size, Richard’s reaction to the buck through his binoculars revealed its true magnitude. Without revealing the buck’s enormity to Esparanza, he helped her set up a 100-yard shot with her open-sight muzzleloader. Esparanza took aim, thinking it was a decent 5×5 buck, and successfully brought it down with a single shot.
After witnessing the incredible buck, Richard immediately began searching for a suitable route to bring their mules in to pack out the deer. To their astonishment, they discovered the buck’s two sheds from the previous year nearby, which only added to the excitement of their find.
The buck’s impressive rack boasts 28 points and an outside spread of approximately 32 inches. While Richard and Esparanza plan to wait for the 60-day drying period to pass before officially scoring the buck, estimates from knowledgeable friends suggest it may surpass 200 inches. They intend to create a combined, side-by-side euro mount with the buck’s sheds from last year.
Richard admits that despite their extensive hunting experience, they have never encountered a deer quite like this before. It is a remarkable achievement for Esparanza, who at just 15 years old, has already proven herself to be a skilled and successful hunter in the New Mexico backcountry.
