New Mexico Deer News  New Rio Grande National Monument sets stage for Browns Canyon Proposal March 31, 2013 New Mexico, Denver Post ... U.S. Senator Mark Udall, D-Colo., introduced legislation Thursday that would protect 22,000 acres surrounding Browns Canyon of the Arkansas River between Salida and Buena Vista... will protect more than 60 miles of trout stream and critical habitat for game such as pronghorn, mule deer, migratory waterfowl, bighorn sheep, turkey and elk... Legislature Approves Bill to Increase Poaching Penalties, Highlights of 51st New Mexico Legislature March 16, 2013 Danbury News Times ... Increase penalties on poachers who take the heads and antlers of elk, deer and other trophy animals and leave the meat behind to rot... New Mexico Deer and Elk Harvest Reporting Deadline Extended February 15, 2013, Outdoor News The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Friday extended the deadline for deer and elk hunters to report their 2012-13 harvest information ... The Information Center number is 1-888-248-6866. Anti-poaching bill introduced WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS January 18, 2013 New Mexico, New Mexico Watchdog ... New Mexico Game and Fish investigators have always battled poachers but in recent years, they’ve seen a spike in stomach-churning cases of big game animals that have had their heads cut off with their bodies left to rot. “It’s been a more common occurrence in the last couple years,” Field Operations Colonel Robert L. Griego told New Mexico Watchdog. De La Tierra: Lions and martens and bears, oh my! January 17, 2013 New Mexico, taosnews ... New Mexico is one of the last places in the United States where the Mountain lion seems to be holding its own... These big cats need the equivalent of about one deer a week to survive, and mountain lion densities in the Rocky Mountains tend to correlate with deer densities. Mountain lions are adaptable creatures that may hunt by day or night... Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge January 9, 2013 New Mexico ... The United States Fish & Wildlife Service (Service) is proposing a population management hunt through Special Use Permit (SUP) and staff culling of elk at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge). The elk population on the Refuge is currently compromising the Refuge’s ability to produce the grain crops used to support wintering sandhill crane. Therefore, the purpose of this action is emergency short-term strategies to reduce the elk population until long-term strategies are determined through the Refuge’s 15-year comprehensive conservation plan. Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is located in Socorro County five miles south of San Antonio, NM and is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Providing foraging and roosting habitat for wintering and migrating sandhill cranes and migratory waterbirds is the management focus of the Refuge. Additionally, the Refuge maintains the pristine nature of three wilderness areas. The area surrounding the Refuge is primarily rural with main conomic drivers of agriculture and ranching... The Service is authorized to take animal species which are surplus or detrimental to the management program of a refuge (50 CFR 31.14). Deer decoy operation leads to arrests December 21, 2012 New Mexico, KRQE ... A decoy deer placed near roadways to catch illegal hunters ... it was 36-year-old Billy George Jr. who stopped the truck he was driving, so his 14-year-old nephew could take a shot. Kline said the teen stood up in the truck bed and shot from there. Loose buck causes tizzy in SE Albuquerque December 7, 2012 New Mexico, KRQE Animal Control and New Mexico Game and Fish captured a deer on the loose in a southeast Albuquerque neighborhood... Officials say they have doctored the deer’s foot and released it at a wildlife reservation west of the Sandias.... Expect roadblocks statewide in deer winter range December 3, 2012 New Mexico, Mountain Mail ... The Department of Game and Fish will conduct roadblocks throughout the state in wildlife wintering areas to collect harvest data and to apprehend wildlife law violators. When deer gather in wintering grounds during the mating season, they can be vulnerable to illegal hunting and other human disturbances... To report a wildlife-law violation: 1-800-432-GAME (4263). Wildfires create bounty for hunters November 30, 2012 New Mexico, Farmington Daily Times ... New Mexico and Colorado had record-setting wildfires in the past two years ... "Fires that burn really hot can really sterilize that ground," said Ross Morgan, northwest spokesman for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. "Where they burn a little slower, they burn off the old growth and let the new growth come through.... It created a lot of good habitat," ... Thanksgiving search warrant nets gun, crossbow, two mule deer November 27, 2012 New Mexico, Deming Headlight Mule deer are especially vulnerable to poaching at the end of November and through December because they are in the rut or breeding season, and are concentrating more on procreation than survival during this time ... Responding to a poaching tip, almost a dozen Game and Fish officers spent their Thanksgiving processing crime scenes in Mora and Harding counties ... Promoter of coyote hunt pledges to use fallen animals for fur clothing November 14, 2012 New Mexico, Carlsbad Current Argus It's a coyote management hunt," he said. Chavez says he likes to hunt mule deer, but their population in New Mexico has dropped by two-thirds in the last 50 years, to about 100,000. In that span, coyotes adapted and flourished, in part by preying on fawns. Investigation: Illegal hunters November 7, 2012 New Mexico, KOB.com Every year in New Mexico,Game and fish officers write scores of tickets to hunters shooting animals from the roadway and often time- from inside their vehicles. Last year over 70 citations were issued ... Under state law in order for a licensed hunter to kill a deer on public land, they must be either 40 feet from the road or on the inside of a fenced right-of-way... [see video below]... NM coyote killing contest back on under new sponsor October 29, 2012 New Mexico, Las Cruces Sun-News ... Mark Chavez, owner of Gunhawk Firearms in Los Lunas, N.M., has stepped up to fill the void left when Calibers Gun Shop of Albuquerque bowed to public pressure and canceled a planned hunt in December... Chavez said the public outcry against Calibers planned hunt, and its cancellation of the event, spurred him into action to keep the hunt going. Decreasing the coyote packs across New Mexico will benefit ranchers as well as recreational hunters who go after the state's deer and antelope herds, he said. Guidelines for Monitoring Elk and Mule Deer Numbers in New Mexico [PDF] October, 2012 Cooperative Extension Service Methods range from trend indices, which provide information on whether a population is increasing, stable, or declining, to abundance estimators, which provide a population estimate (Lancia et al., 1996). Population estimates are preferable to trend estimators for several reasons. First, they allow direct calculation of harvestable surplus. Population estimates can also be converted to densities, and relationships between resource availability (forage, etc.) and population size can be determined. Ultimately, it is the per capita resource (food, water) availability that determines individual body condition and thus population productivity, harvestable surplus, and animal (trophy) quality (Bender, 2011). Department Expands Chronic Wasting Disease Control Areas September 17, 2012 New Mexico Department of Game and Fish
Chronic wasting disease in deer and elk in southern New Mexico has prompted the Department of Game and Fish to expand areas where hunters must observe special rules pertaining to the handling and transportation of animal carcasses. The Department has designated the entire Game Management Units 34, 28 and 19 as Chronic Wasting Disease Control Areas. Previously, only portions of some units were designated as control areas. Department rules allows hunters who take a deer or elk within a control area to transport only certain portions of the carcass outside the boundaries of the Game Management Unit from which it was taken. Those portions include: Meat that is cut and wrapped, either commercially or privately. Quarters or other portions of meat with no part of the spinal column or head attached. Meat that has been boned out. Hides with no heads attached. Clean skull plates with antlers attached. Clean is defined as having been immersed in a bath of at least one part chlorine bleach and two parts water, with no meat or tissue attached. Antlers, with or without velvet, attached to skull plate with no meat or tissue attached. Upper canine teeth, also known as “buglers,” whistlers,” or “ivories.” Finished taxidermied heads. Chronic wasting disease is a fatal neurological disease found in deer, elk and moose. It belongs to a family of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies or prion diseases. The disease attacks the brains of infected deer, elk and moose, causing the animals to become emaciated, display abnormal behavior and incoordination, and eventually die. To date, ongoing investigations by state and federal public health officials have shown no causal relationship between CWD and human health problems. Hunters can assist the Department in its chronic wasting disease research and tracking efforts by submitting deer or elk heads for testing within 48 hours of harvest at a field-testing station within a control area. Hunters who harvest deer or elk outside a control area can submit heads for testing at any Department office. Participating hunters will be entered into a special drawing for transferrable elk or oryx licenses. For more information about chronic wasting disease, the drawing, or a field-testing station location, please call the Department at (505) 476-8080. | Search for news and information by keyword above or find links to state news stories organized by topic. New Mexico data: An estimated 220,000 Mule Deer in 2011. The estimated economic impact from deer hunting is $120 million annually. Other useful links: - New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department - New Mexico Environment Department - Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico - Guidelines for Monitoring Elk and Mule Deer Numbers in New Mexico [PDF] - New Mexico Game and Fish Department Objectives, Strategies, and Action Plans: Objective 1: That by 2012 75% of New Mexico’s hunting interests express understanding and support for the Department’s game management strategies. Objective 2: That by 2012 the Department has established broadly supported management objectives for 9 species of big game, 4 species of small game, and 7 species of fish that maximize recreational and economic benefits within the context of relevant biological, ecological, physical, social, economic, political, spatial, and legislative factors. Objective 8: That through 2012 hunting and fishing opportunities are maintained through prevention and control of wildlife diseases. New Mexico Resident Hunting Licenses: Private Land Deer $39.00,General Hunting $43.00 |
New Mexico |