I'm up here in NM this week with family and hanging out with some fellow hunters. We were trying to make heads or tails of this state's odd seasons. No matter how hard we tried, we can't make sense of it.

Basically, if you are fortunate enough to draw a tag, it's only good for 5 specific days. And those days typically run Saturday to the following Wednesday. Of course everyone else will with the same tag will also be hunting those same dates. Seems to me that this places an intense amount of pressure on the animals during that time. And with only 5 days to hunt it encourages hunters to take what they can get when they can get it, rather than being selective. Mule Deer does are not allowed in any season in most units. Yet there seems to be an inordinate number of does compared to bucks. This model seems to be applied to all species; Mule Deer, White-tail & Elk, among others. They even regulate Audad (Barbary Sheep), Oryx, Ibex and other exotics. This is extremely foreign and makes no sense to me at all. It seems totally contrary to good management practices. In fact, I think it encourages the taking of young animals and poaching (which seems to be an issue here).

Even privately land has to abide by these goofy season limits. Does anyone here have a reasonable explanation for it? I'd love to hear something that makes sense.

You need to talk to someone in Santa Fe, that will be a waste of time.

Precisely why I didn't. Thought I'd tap into the collective bank of wisdom known as the THF.

I think BuckRage just hunted in NM he may be of some help

Check with this guy. http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/users/34128

We've been scouting all week for cow elk in Unit 36, which opens Saturday. Never had so much trouble finding cows. Conversely I've found 3 tremendous bulls and one heck of a mulie buck. All off limits, of course.

Next year I'm going for the Mescalero Apache Reservation hunt. I ain't foolin' with the NM Game & Fish nonsense again.

Where are you looking for cows.....should be am easy hunt. I can help if you are having toruble.

I don't sponsor crazy states like NM. Look for Mulie Mike here on the forum, and he can get you an ELK hunting TEXAS free range wild elk. NO HIGH FENCE.

Watch those Feather Heads Mike...

Make sure to color within the lines to a Tee Amigo...


Tonto's still mad at the Lone Ranger

I got's me tommyhawk. I'll clip them feathers.

My brother is a resident of Ruidoso. Back in Oct. he was bear hunting and seeing elk everywhere. We went back to the areas he was seeing them in bear season. Nothing but crickets now. He's got a cow tag for next week's resident only antlerless elk season, so we were scouting for locations. Crazy, because we had no trouble finding bulls and mule deer. Never laid eyes on a cow.

But that's not what this post is about.

My question is why does NMGF reduce all these seasons to 5 days only? It makes no sense from any sort of management perspective. Seems counter-productive to me.

I love high fences. But he's right, if you want free range elk (big ones), Texas has tons of them in the trans pecos region now. Plenty of ranches offer hunts. And no ridiculous regs. or featherheads.

It's what private ownership can do....

Wait. You're expecting govt run hunting on govt land to make any semblance of sense? You're killin me.

Rancher, I agree. A bunch of the ranchers out here in NM need to challenge the G&F and change these antiquated regs.

The problem is that the fed owns most of the land. The ranchers are just the tenants in most cases. Even if you own private land in NM the state controls your tags and instead of giving YOU {the landowner) the right to manage, they get all in your business.

I know a guy who owns awesome pronghorn land in the eastern part of the state who the state essentially blackmailed by restricting his tags if he didn't let the public have access to hunt his private property.

We have deer, elk, bear, mountain lion in unit 36......between the 5 of them and all the different weapons that is well over 1500 tags. If the seasons were long and ran into eachother, could you imagine that many people slinging bullets all at once in the woods. So it is set that way so different weapon types cam have an opportunity to hunt without too many people, and different people can hunt different species without overlap.

I think most western states have seasons set like this.
I know Colorado and Wyoming do.

Got to understand that most federal employees (LE generally excepted) do not really like guns or hunting.

That makes sense, but still isn't good for trophy hunting. Yes, you may fill your tag and it might even be a trophy, but generally it seems that it forces you to shoot when you get a shot because you might not get another. 5 days of hunting for any given season just isn't enough in my opinion. But they didn't ask me.

Boy, that would chap my butt something fierce.

Very few states have a liberal rifle season like Texas. Most limited entry units (think draw hunts in TX) are limited to a certain window of days and I would venture a guess the overwhelming majority of those rifle hunts are 9 days or less. Yes, pressure is increased because everyone is hunting the same time, but that's how nearly every draw state does it. I don't think it's goofy, but I hunt far more in other states outside of TX, than I do in TX. I guess it's not out of the ordinary for me.

Have you ever been on a public draw deer hunt in Texas? Most are three day hunts, but actually you start at noon one day, then hunt all the next day and then done by noon on the third day. By the time you get set up it's over.

The way it's done is just foreign to me. Seems there's a better way. I question whether the Forest Service has hunter's best interest at heart.

Last Sunday we drove up over and around Capitan Mountain in Unit 37, where Mule Deer was open. That mountain was flat covered up with hunters in trucks, four-wheelers, UTV's, horses, and on foot. There were camps everywhere. It was crazy.

This brings back memories of teaching and coaching in Carrizozo and being able to go out and hunt after school and other times without to many restrictions. Carizzo Peak was really fun along with the lava beds west of town. The school even had 2 "deer" days....

I hunt 37 on a landowner tag and can tell you the hunting pressure has taken a toll on the herd.
Too many inferior bucks and alot of does. Some of the older hunters in our group talk about
monster muleys in 37 back in the 70's and 80's. Now, it's mostly a meat hunt and no trophies.
I think the old saying "follow the money" has something
to do with the arcane rules and seasons. Plus, it's a state that votes blue consistently.