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The caption says the image was taken during the summer of 1878 but there are no leaves on the trees. So either the trees around their hide out were all dead or it wasn't summer.

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It can be hot and dry in summer in New Mexico. Not great for leaves.

"The loss of numerous leaves from trees is not uncommon in New Mexico in June." -- http://aces.nmsu.edu/ces/yard/1997/063097.html

Yes it's also dry here in CA and trees will lose leaves but not all of their leaves. The trees in the photo are completely bare. Note also that the grass in the foreground shows up in the image as dark. This implies that the grass is green. So even if you are correct and all the trees have lost all of their leaves then you would expect the grass to be dormant (not green) and show up as light in the image if it were summer.

Because the photo is purported to be from after the "end" of the Lincoln County War, my understanding is that Billy the Kid and the other Regulators were not hiding out when it was taken.

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