Anyone from New Mexico?
 

It looks like my job is going to take me to NM within the next year. I was looking at the Dept of Wildlife book and the rules out there seem way too confusing to me. Are they really that confusing or is it just the way there printed out in the book? Do residents get any big game tags over the counter or is everything done by a drawing or what? Is there much public hunting land there? I have never hunted big game outside Tn and the NM rule book read like spaceship instructions to me.

RE: Anyone from New Mexico?
 

Your perceptions are correct, even the life long residents have trouble understanding the rules here. I moved here about 8 years ago from TN myself and it took me about 2 years to figure enough out to be able to hunt, with the help of a resident hunter. Most of the big game hunts are by draw and there is no prefrence point system like some states have, basically luck of the draw. There are some turkey and bear OTC tags but not much else. The other big difference is you can only get one tagfor each species, i.e. 1 deer, 1 elk, 1 pronghorn, etc., if you get lucky enough to draw. There are a few exceptions such as turkey where you can get a second tag for some hunts.

As for public land, it seems like half the state is public. Just in the Gila area there is something like 2 million acres of public land. Not all game units have significant public land but most of them have some amount of public land.

If you haven't been in elk country during the bugeling season you are in for a treat, there is nothing like being in the woods within a few hundred yards of a big bull elk screaming at another big bull elk. If that don't get your blood pumping nothing will.

What will be bringing you out this way? To what area?

RE: Anyone from New Mexico?
 

NM is blessed with a lot of National Forest, State and BLM land that can be hunted. Almost without an exception, all hunts are draw.

RE: Anyone from New Mexico?
 

Well plans has changed and I won't have to go to NM but will more than likely be heading to Colorado. I don't know if thats any better but atleast there hunting laws seem a bit easier to understand.

RE: Anyone from New Mexico?
 

I haven't hunted in CO yet but I do have a friend who does. There are some unique things there but it does seem a bit more "user friendly" than in NM. Good luck on your move.

RE: Anyone from New Mexico?
 

What do we know about the Clovis....Eastern part, about halfway down along the TX border....fiance is from there and has family there. Might need an excuse to go visit the future in laws.

RE: Anyone from New Mexico?
 

TreednNC....hope you like blowing wind.....that's all it does around here in Clovis. Hunting is the same as the rest of the state for the most part.....luck of the draw. There are a few ranches that sell tags for pronghorn...$300 for a female tag southeast of Portales, archery or firearm depending on when you want to hunt. Public land is far and few between in the eastern portion of the state....DO NOT DEPEND ON ANY ROAD MAP AND WHAT IT SHOWS! I've gone to a few "BLM" sections marked in the new atlas andfound cows roaming around on it, with fences. Doesn't seem quit right to me but whatever....Best way is to go to the court house and without saying, pay for a current map of BLM land that isn't being leased by the ranchers. Otherwise, if you have a good .223, .22-250 there are some awesome praire dog fields around....they explode really nice with a 45 gr hollow point at 3900 fps!

RE: Anyone from New Mexico?
 

Even if a rancher has a lease on BLM land it is still public land that you can hunt without asking. Now say you stay on the ranchers good side and go ask or at least talk with him, he may tell you where the big one is or even let you in on some privet land at no charge.

New Mexico land owners are a little different in that a lot of them dont wont any wildlife on their land, it takes away from their livestock.

thanks
james

RE: Anyone from New Mexico?
 

If you have never been here or hunted here you first response is odd in that "not any better" assumes there is a negative side to being here. Much unlike the east where typically there is a hunter behind every tree, hunting here in the west is open, where I go seldom see any other hunters and we have two kinds of deer, antelope and elk along with all the little stuff. do you have a huntable population of those in TN.

RE: Anyone from New Mexico?
 

I'll throw in something else too. There are many more hunting opportunities here than meet the eye. We have elk mule deer and antelope as the big three. But don't forget about coues deer, oryx, (easy draw for resident.....I'm hearing the off range orxy hunts may go over the counter next year) ibex, Aoudad or barbary sheep, (over the counter for most of the state) javalina, Big horn, bear, turkey, cougar. In addition we have some awesome goose and duck hunting, and great dove & quail hunting too. NM has some real quality hunting and you can get drawn for at least one or two hunts for big game every year. Most years I hunt elk, deer, and oryx. You can always hunt bear, turkey, barbary sheep, cougar,dove and quail OTC not to mention yotes and bobcats too.

RE: Anyone from New Mexico?
 

You got it vichris. I've lived here all my life and I can attest to there being lots of opportunities to hunt in this state, and if you buy some land or know some people with land then it isn't necessarily luck of the draw for deer or elk. Now if you think our book is hard to understand then you don't like legal documents cause the state book reads like really basic law documents. I understand it, and if you have any Q's the NMDGF is more than willing to answer the phone and help you with any Q's you have.

RE: Anyone from New Mexico?
 

I'm a non res and the rules seem to be perfectly legible...

Simply read whatever you need to figure out....maybe once you get a hang of how they run the system that'll help you understand...

There's plenty of great hunting in NM...

Don't be turned off.

RE: Anyone from New Mexico?
 

well we have 30 millions acres out here, mostly Indian reserves, but great opportunity, elk, sheep, prong horn, mules, we got it all

RE: Anyone from New Mexico?
 

The rule book just doesn't read like the Tn book and it seems more complicated due to all the regions and draw tags and everything. We have 3 regions in Tn and the only tag draws we have are for wildlife management areas so I am not used to anything like that. I guess I will be out there by mid summer. I am not going to Co. for sure now. I am looking at houses in the East Mountain area. I was told the weather was better there than it is down in the basin? Do you have Whitetails down there? Thats the only big game we have here besides hogs and turkey. So anything other than that is new to me.

RE: Anyone from New Mexico?
 

On the same note, I will be working for New Mexico for 6 months starting in June. As a non-resident, what is the best way to go about trying to draw some tags or get an opportunity to hunt?

RE: Anyone from New Mexico?
 

The best I can get from the NM dnr website is you can't hunt big game there unless you have all your tags applied for and paid in full by April. The tags there are high just to apply for them. If you don't get drawn are you just out the hundreds of dollars and better luck next year or do you get your money back or what? From what I read you would have close to a grand in tag applications just to hope you get drawn for something. The way it looks in the book you would have to have plenty of cash just to get a chance to hunt or mabey I just don't understand the way it works. I also read about a non refundable $9 application fee. Do you pay that fee to get in the draw then pay for the tag if your drawn?

I'm fairly new to the NM area, and am also finding the reg book here a little confusing. Some good info here, although some may have changed in recent years. I believe I have missed the drawing for elk, but I thought I read that there were over the counter tags. If some one had the time to explain the OTC tags it would be appreciated. I have read through the reg, but still not quite sure how it works.

The NM rule book has come a long way over the past 10 years, but here's a primer on NM licensing. Obviously there's lots more details, and I'm only touching on a small part of the system.

Hunters generally acquire licenses to hunt in NM (most to least common) 1) by winning in the draw, or 2) after purcasing a "land-owner authorization" typically sold by ranchers which allows one to buy a license from the state, or 3) over the counter (OTC) for a short list of species, or 4) through an online race (sort of OTC) for "left over tags", 5) by getting called for a population management (depradation) hunt, or 6) win a some sort of fund-raising raffle or auction, or 7) win some other special raffle run by G&F.

The draw application deadline in 2013 was March 20 (I'm sorry, but I just found this forum). See page 15 (2013 edition) for list of licenses and fees. There are several ways to "game" the draw to improve your chances of drawing and there are resident/NR quotas attached to the draw.

Land-owner authorizations are available for elk, deer, and antelope (maybe some others). The state Dept of Game and Fish issues a list of land owners and authorizations can be found on Craigslist too. You pay the land owner to transfer the authorization, and then you pay the state for the hunting licence. Watch out for "ranch only" vs "unit wide" authorizatins; there are pros and cons both ways, and which depend on the ranch. No quotas here, money talks.

OTC licenses are available for turkey, bear & cougar subject areal and bag limits; oryx, barbary sheep, ibex outside the premium areas, and "fur-bearer" trapping.

Getting a licence through a raffle, and auction, or getting called for a depradation hunt is really a low-likelyhood event. Even buying a left-over tag on-line is very hard. There are almost never left over elk or deer tags.

Lemme know if this helps.