Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game UPDATE: New Mexico rules changes

A short exerpt from an email received today.


"Calls, emails and testimony from sportsmen like you got Senate Bill 196 over its first hurdle. On Tuesday, the Senate Conservation Committee voted overwhelmingly to give resident hunters 90 percent of big game draw quota licenses, and sent a message to outfitters that they need to compromise on the 12 percent of licenses they are currently guaranteed by state law. After much back and forth, the amended bill passed on a 7-1 vote. It gives residents 90 percent of draw licenses, cuts unguided nonresident hunters to 2 percent and still guarantees outfitters 8 percent of licenses for all their clients, both resident and nonresident. The sponsor, George Munoz of Gallup (right), agreed to refine the bill as it moves forward through the Legislature.....The Conservation Committee vote was crucial, but it was just the first of many SB 196 will face this session. Its next stop is the Senate Finance Committee. Once again, your voice will be a key factor in determining whether SB 196 passes the Legislature this year. We�ll let you know when the next hearing is scheduled."
"

I have heard the same thing and if true is total BS, no way in helll should outfitted hunters get 8% and DIY 2%. Leave it up to NM gov. to screw something up worse when trying to fix it. The outfitter welfare system has to stop.

Did anything effect the "ranch tag" situation?

NMGFD has been screwed up ever since Jerry Apodoca fired Ladd Gordon and put his worthless brother-in-law in charge. From there it just got worse as it became more and more politicized over the years.

So the game plan is to make non-resident hunters purchase a general hunting license before they can apply for draw hunts, like Arizona and Idaho? This will make up for some of the lost revenue when the percentage of non-resident tags goes from 22% to 10% ? Is this right? A quick check of the NMDGF 2011-2012 big game proclamation says that general hunting licenses are not sold to non-residents at this time. Let's say they change that to accomodate the proposed new rules. Let's say that 30,000 NR hunters apply for draw hunts and have to pay $125.00 for a general license plus a $20.00 app fee. That comes to $4,350,000.00 . Brilliant ripoff.

Not that I know of, I don't think they will do anything with the LO. tags this year ( or any year soon). If this does go through though the LO. tags will be in even higher demand and prices will get higher. Land owners will be pushing for more tags and things will get even worse in my opinion. I know it sounds like it but I am not anti LO. or outfitter at all but our system is broke.

No. That situation will be addressed through the Game and Fish Commission. If not, it will be addressed through litigation and legislation. Litigation and legislation is in no way the manner in which wildlife management should be practiced, but New Mexico is already way down that road thanks to the ranchers' lobby and their allies in the legislature, like Senator Jennings.

The North American Model of Wildlife Management, not to mention several SCOTUS rulings, will eventually prevail, but it's going to be bloody. As one of the comic strips (Prickly City) said a week or so ago, "After watching congress make laws, I think that we owe the sausage makers an apology!"

Not good,the refining will only benefit outfitters.

I usually stay out of these discussions, but the NMGFD is deff. the poster child of how to NOT run a game and fish dept. and mostly just plum GREED and stupidity that has pretty much take the promise land of hunting and turned it into a joke.Have had many a good trip in the past there, it is truly sad. Please this is JMO..................Allen

Looks like in the future, my DIY hunts and tourist dollars will be spent in states a little more friedly to those of us living east of the Mississippi.

2% of tags going to unguided NR's????

I really hope this backfires and NM is left with an incredible drop in revenue.

As I said, this whole issue is a long way from being settled. This law, if passed and signed by the governor (doubtful), would force landowners to negotiate the issue of transferable authorizations. This is something that they have refused to do as they think that they have the political muscle to stonewall efforts to change the way that tags are allocated.

NM DGF put together a "task force" consisting of hunters and landowners to make recommendations about the distribution of antelope licenses last spring and summer. The initial makeup of the task force consisted of about 17 or 18 landowners and three representatives from sportsmen's groups. Naturally, all of the participating landowners felt that the present system was working perfectly and did not need to be changed, despite the fact that only about half of the eligible landowners participate in the A-Plus program each year.

Personally, I would just as soon see all transferable authorizations done away with and everyone (resident and nonresident) compete equally in a random drawing. However, the history of abuse in the present system is going to result in New Mexico having a system similar to its neighboring public land states to the north and west.

As I said in a previous post, New Mexico sportsmen pretty much unanimously agreed that they would be willing to pay twice as much for an antelope license if they had a significantly greater chance of drawing a tag. If the A-Plus program was abolished, the increased income from license sales combined with the $300,000/year savings from not having to administer the program would be a wash financially for NM DGF.

The pandering of New Mexico Politicians to special interests is so rampant they will ruin the state.

I quit applying to NM when they started requiring paying for the license up front to apply. But it was nice to know I could still apply with some hopr of getting a tag. If NR tags go down to 2% that is horrid. Why waste the time and tie up the money. Colorado and Wyoming are much more accomidating. They get my money.

This is why I don't return home to New Mexico to hunt with my father...

and why i hunt in wy., and co.

Hey, I hunt elk in Colorado every year with an either sex tag, but waited 15 years to draw a bull tag in New Mexico...

It would be sad if this came to pass. New Mexico is my favorite elk hunting state. But they are NM elk and if that is what they want that is their option.

Good job NM- nothing like flipping the bird to out of state hunters

Feldman and Udall have already heard it from me- have they from you?

Link to Udall page;
http://tomudall.senate.gov/?p=contact

15 years and still waiting 7 years for a deer, and 15 years for an oryx. tried a few times for an antelope, but gave up. i can go to wy.
this state sucks.

The UBNM is the new bo hunting org and they are trying hard to change the current system, but it will not happen over night. Udall is a corrupt idiot and why he gets re elected is beyond me. Cut the LO tags back a bit, get rid of the 12% outfitter allotment, kill the Jennings law, and things would be better for the draw. It would be a start anyways.