Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game New Mexico BLM and state land locked....

Have been monitoring posts regarding locked and posted public lands in western states. Whereas I am not a resident of NM I cannot understand that some public lands, BLM and statel owned land, is behind locked gates. Can anyone from NM explain the issue? I do understand that public lands are open in MT the state of my residence. Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought public land should be open to the public. MTG

Land locked generally refers to public lands surrounded by private lands, with no public access easement. It isn't that you can't legally be on those lands....but you can't legally get to those lands without trespassing.
There's plenty of these areas in Montana....they're not just confined to New Mexico. I believe Randy Newberg has an elk episode where he helos into a landlocked piece of BLM, and even doing that has supposedly been contested in court as has corner crossing checkerboard areas. Based on your thread title, I am not sure if this is what you're asking about or not...


There are some public lands that are off limits, especially state lands for O&G, mining and other industry, but that's another issue.

If the public land borders a public roadway and you have a tag then go hunt it. You can legally scout for a week or maybe two before the season begins as well

If it’s landlocked you can’t trespass to get to it

I am aware of land locked public land. I spoke to a NM game and fish officer about this issue today. His understanding of the NM state law is that if the property is leased, not BLM mind you, that the person that leases the property can lock it even if bordered by a county road. But, during hunting season a legal hunter can hunt this state public land. State lands that are land locked, not accessible via a public road can be off limits. A legal hunter cannot access these land locked areas, without permission, by way of a private road. The hunter must have permission to access this public state land, to cross private land, by the private land owner. MTG

NM State Land is not technically “public” land.

NMDGF pays yearly to allow hunting on state land.

During the rest of the year, state land is only accessible with written permission from the leasee.

A licensed hunter is allowed to access state land 7 days prior to the hunt to scout. There is no camping allowed on state land without a state permit and written permission from the leasee.

State land issues are going to get pretty interesting in the next few years with the new antelope rules.

NM state is leased by from the state of NM by the lease. Then, NMG&F pays the leasee to allow hunting on state land. Am I the only one that thinks that there is a questionable problem here? Is there an equitable exchange of funds? Is there a bit of questionable unfair exchange of funds?
I spoke to a land owner here in SW NM. He spoke of selling antelope tags for his property. Can an antelope tag be sold on state lands that are leased? Does anyone here see the dilemma of questionable actions? I ask you, is this the future of big game hunting in NM?
Now, as far as BLM land I have been assured that this cannot stand. NM ranchers/farmers cannot restrict access or charge to hunt BLM. BLM land that is land locked may be a different situation.

No, the “access fee” from the NMDGF is paid directly to the NM State land office, not to the leasee.

The new antelope plan (A-Plus) is going to cause quit a few issues. On the old A-Plus, a land owner was given a number of authorizations from the NMDGF to sale based on animal surveys and amount of deeded ground. If the LO had a certain amount of state or public land within his boundaries, the state would assign a number of hunters through the state draw to the ranch based on “public ground” acreage.

The LO had to allow equal access to the state hunter and the private Hunter, so “public” ground was not really an issue.

With the new system, the LO can sale as many antelope hunts as he wants regardless of acerage or animal densities by just writing a letter to said hunter so he/she can buy an over the counter lic. That lic. is only good for private ground

The problem is, a big portion of state land is in the middle of deeded ground. A majority of the state/BLM land is not fenced off from the deeded ground within the ranch boundaries.

If a LO is now telling you that you can hunt the state/public ground on his ranch with a lic. he sales you ,he is absolutely wrong. You can only hunt the deeded ground within his boundaries.

This has been an ongoing problem with the ranch only elk authorizations but it is all going to come to head now. There are a few groups stating they will be “policing” the “public” ground within deeded and reporting any discrepancy.

Yes, NM is jacked when it comes to how it handles private ground hunting

I’ll start with saying I am 100% for private property rights and owners,but the New Mexico Council of Outfitters and the NM Cattle growers has a choke hold on our commission and I don’t see it changing in the near future.

SLM, when you all are talking about "leased" state lands....what do you mean by that?
Leased for what? Grazing? O&G?

Sounds like NM is more jacked up than I thought.

SLM, please clarify your statement whereas in your initial post you stated that technically state land is not “public” land. In your succeeding post you referred to state or public land as “public” ground. I am a bit conflicted. Please set me straight.
Yes, NM is jacked when it comes to how it will handle state and private hunting. I ask only for clarification not to blur the issue NOT for sake of argument.
Understand that I am a nonresident, resident of MT, looking for equal hunting opportunity for all. I continue to keep informed regarding Montana public and private land issues. MTG

Yes, some leases are O&G, but the majority is grazing.

Sorry for the confusion. Was just trying to differentiate between private, state, BLM and forest.

State land is not open to the general public and is not available to a LO on authorizations.

We do have some state wildlife mangement areas but that is totally separate .

Confused now?

When it comes to private ground elk and antelope we are extremely jacked. Hope myself and everybody I know is wrong about the new A-Plus being a disaster for the antelope herds in certain parts of the state.

That’s not even looking at our outfitter welfare system and NR draw quota.

MTG, rereading my post I’m not sure I cleared it up?

If you have a state drawn lic. for any big game species you are allowed to hunt state land.

If you have a ranch only elk authorization or a LO over the counter antelope or deer lic.,you can not hunt state land.

It is never open to the general public.

That sucks.

Put in for WY this year and I'll show you BLM and FS without any of that BS, though our state lands do have some of that going on....

Been studying Wyo. for deer and antelope. Should have Wildchild’s schooling paid for this year.

I won’t confuse the issue with ranch only vs unit wide elk authorizations.

We can really screw some sh it up in NM.

We can look at it when I come up for my Supertag hunt.

Some public land O&G sites around here are off limits to the public, but it's usually due to OSHA safety requirements....not because the land is off limits in a general sense and you sure as hell don't need the lessee's written permission to go hunt or hike around in it.

Grazing doesn't create any public access restrictions on our state lands, though some ranchers think it does. I'm about as pro grazing as they come, but some of the big name landowners are stirring the pot big time. Sucks to be a normal, family owned rancher these days...some have the governor in their back pockets, but many are still pretty good dudes. The Turners and Wilkes brothers on the other hand...

You only need written permission to hunt non game, just roaming and camping.

State trust lands in New Mexico are not public land, but are held in trust by the state and are in fact managed for income. The bulk of the income is from leasing for mineral development. Grazing lands don't bring in anywhere near the amount of money that mineral leasing does. Since the New Mexico State Land Office manages these lands for the public trust, they can dictate what they are used for--including hunting. As SLM noted, the SLO receives a payment from the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish to allow hunting on state trust lands that are accessible to the public. If the lands are not accessible via public roads and/or easements, the lands cannot be hunted without the consent of the surface lessee.

The current situation with respect to antelope, elk and deer are likely to change--possibly drastically-- with the new administration. The game commission just cancelled their meeting scheduled for next week. We can only assume that the commissioners are waiting to see if they any of them will be reappointed, or if they will all be asked to submit their resignations--as usually happens when the governor's office changes hands. Edited to add that the bill to reform the New Mexico Game and Fish Commission did not pass--it died on the floor as time expired.

Perfect. You'll be the third person I know to have drawn a supertag.

Can't wait.

You may as well buy a deer, elk and antelope point this year so you'll have a somewhat realistic chance of drawing a decent tag in the next few years.