NM Hunt, you have made some very valid points that so many people are failing to take into consideration. Private land owners and ranchers with grazing leases on both state, forest, & BLM land have built the vast majority of all water sources in NM. Our habitat stamp program and various conservation groups have also contributed signifigantly. However, the private land owners are the ones we need to thank because they are the ones who have made the biggest impact to the carrying capacity of millions of acres in NM. It is a also a fact that all their blood, sweat, & tears that went into creating all these water sources were not intended to supply elk & deer, they were created for cattle.
In my opinion people better be careful because there is nothing we can do to force the hand of a private land rancher that will force them to allow wildlife to drink "their" water, or eat "their" grass. It's THEIR land people!!
In my favorite elk hunting unit, if 100% of the landowner tags were to go into the public draw it would increase my odds of drawing a tag by LESS than 1%. Woop-de-do.
Elk destroy fences, and consume vast amounts of grass & especially alfalfa if the can access it, plus they can empty a water hole leaving no water for the ranchers cattle.
All of these things must be taken to heart before jumping to half thought out solutions. Landowners do deserve some type of compensation for what they do.
Look, I don't like the current landowner tag allocation system either. Nor do I think that anyone can compare NM to any other state. NM is very unique, nowhere else in North America has the variety of habitat types or the square miles of habitat that Elk can & do live in. Colorado has a lot more elk than we do, but they do not have elk that eat flowers off of cactus either.
* Landowner contributions that benefit wildlife needs to be recognized.
* Landowner depredation deserves some type of compensation
* SCR system needs serious restructuring
Millions of acres of private land ARE open to public hunting. Every ranch that receives unitwide elk tags MUST allow equal access to their land. We do have a serious problem with ranches receiving unitwide tags that lock all their gates and block roads, but allow full access to the hunters who buy their tags. This really is criminal and needs to be addressed and dealt with.
Like I said before, our FIRST order of business MUST be to abolish the Jennings law. If you don't know what it is, look it up. Our ungulates are being shot by landowners with zero reprocussions unless they fail to notify the G&F within 24 hours and even then they only receive a $500.00 fine.
Personally I think this law needs to go away and then if a landowner kills elk, deer, antelope, deer, etc. he needs to face the same penalties as a poacher does. But rather than focus on punishment for killing the animals, a better solution is to require the landowner to call G&F so that the G&F can in turn call the next person on the depredation list, BUT there does need to be some type of reimbursement financially to the landowner to help pay for whatever damage the ungulate has caused.
I've heard a thousand complaints about 5 acre ranches that receive elk tags. I personally have a friend in Colorado that purchased a small ranch here in NM just so he can get a landowner tag. He does not run cattle on this ranch, nor does he care if the fences get torn down. This is wrong in many ways, however I don't blame my friend for following the stupid rules we have, I blame the Jennings law. Without the Jennings law, landowners could no longer hold this over our heads by threatening to just shoot all the elk or deer or antelope if they don't get tags for compensation.
So how can we keep the land owners happy so that they will continue to allow wildlife to drink their water, eat their grass, and allow the public to access their land "equally" while hunting? Have you even thought about this or are you just going to keep complaining without thinking of possible solutions?
See thread titled "Food for thought".
"Windage & Elevation Pilgrim, Windage & Elevation"