Well bearpaw the area seemed pretty safe to me. There are drug runners and cartels in the area, but there's also several military checkpoints and Mexican "Federales" that patrol heavily. Our hunting caravan got stopped at a few of these and they mean business. They searched all our belongings while keeping a sharp eye on us. The guides also say the media overblows the danger level in the area and they have never ran into an issue in nearly 20 years of hunting down there.