HUNTING IN NEW MEXICO IN 2016?

If you are going on a hunt in New Mexico this year, be prepared for more check stations that will be posted throughout the state. Game Wardens will be assisted by State police this year at check stations.

NEW MEXICO ROADBLOCKS

I didn't notice any reference to increased check station presence over past years?

They sent me that notice. Pretty much guarantees I won't grace that state with my hunting dollars again. Gestapo tactics are for sheep.

my concern is slowing me down on the way to colorado

They've said that every year for the last 10 or more. I've hunted in NM going on 20 years and only been checked twice and both times was a positive outcome. They were professional and courteous. In fact, the times I was checked it wasn't even a road block. One came into camp to check a deer we had hanging and another time I met one on a trail. I just pulled over and handed him my license. After small talk, he directed me to where he had seen a buck about 30 min earlier and was able to get him. We've been checked more times by Forest Rangers than by Game wardens.

"Gestapo tactics". Good grief.

Same here, but what I have seen is a high number of poachers and particularly during muzzle load season! In 2001 in Unit 15, a muzzle loader unit, we had set up near a water hole on an elk hunt and heard a nearby shot. So we packed up to the truck only to see a man and his son coming down the road with a "spike" bull in the back. While talking with them I noticed bolt action rifle in the back seat that was not a muzzle loader. In '05, I came upon a group that was field dressing two cows during the BULL ONLY season.

I fully support field check stations. Many national forest utilize field check stations, such as the Sam Houston National Forest, where there's an ample supply of "wing nuts" driving around!