Lets see... our lion and bear seasons are too long.. ALL of our lion season is on a quota... so how in the hell can the season be too long ??? What's worse is there's 3 weeks left in the lion season.. and only 2 of the quota's have filled and one of them is a 3 lion zone!!!!
The bear population is estimated to be 6000 (per 10 year study completed in 1999) and the managment quota is 10% .. there have been 700 bears taken in each of the last two seasons.... thats 11.6%.. What they don't say is how many of those were depredation takings.. even still its within a percentage point of being right on the money... I was wanting a persuit season.. but hell I'll be happy to have any season at all when the Audobon commissioners finish with us...
For those interesed here is the article:
Commissioner Montoya works for the Audobon Society and Pino is an indian... wait a minute.. I thought the resevervations were sovereign nations...?? Whats he doing on the commission.. they darn sure ain't letting us hunt on the res !!!!
http://www.abqjournal.com/news/apbear03-07-03.htm
Game Commission May Reduce Bear Hunts
The Associated Press
SANTA FE ? The state Game Commission next month will consider cutting back on the number of black bears hunters are allowed to kill in New Mexico, after record numbers of bears were killed over the past two years.
Gov. Bill Richardson replaced all seven commissioners when he took office in January. The previous commission, under Gov. Gary Johnson, lengthened bear and cougar hunting seasons in response to complaints from ranchers about predators and after a bear killed a 93-year-old Mora County woman in her home in August 2001.
New Mexico hunters averaged 250 to 300 bears killed each year, but killed more than 700 in each of the last two years. The state has an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 black bears.
Commissioner Jennifer Atchley Montoya of Las Cruces asked fellow commissioners Thursday to decide whether to rewrite this year's bear-hunting regulations next month.
"It seems we've got a constituency that has great concerns about this," Montoya said. "I want to make sure we're not damaging the (bear) populations. We have some people that believe we're doing that."
About a dozen people asked the commission to tighten bear-hunting regulations. Members of Sandia Mountain Bearwatch said bear-human conflicts could be avoided if people would not leave out garbage and other things that attract bears.
Commissioner Peter Pino of Zia Pueblo said hunting seasons for bear and cougar are too long. He said hunting those animals needs to be treated differently from deer and elk because bears and cougars "have spiritual significance to pueblo people."
"It's not the animals' fault," Pino said. "It's ours ? people who build their homes in the mountains. We have to modify our behavior."
Jay Taylor of the New Mexico Houndsmen Association disagreed.
"I think you need to treat bears and cougars the same as the rest of the natural resources. They need to be managed," Taylor said.
Drought and a failed acorn crop in the mountains two summers ago brought dozens of hungry bears into Raton in northeastern New Mexico.
Now, Raton resident Beverly Lang said, she's concerned bears are being wiped out by landowners and game officers.
"Since that time, I have not seen one cub," she said. "There is another thing to take into consideration, with the drought and burned areas. I think that the prior commission did not take any of this into consideration."
Some hunters and outfitters said the complaints about hunting were exaggerated and emotional.
"Their objective is to end bear hunting," said hunter George Hobbs. "We have a really high population of bear. Hunters would be the first ones to start screaming if we felt the bear were being overhunted."
Bears currently are hunted from Aug. 1-29 and Sept. 25-Nov. 15 statewide with a bow-only season Aug. 30-Sept. 22. The Sandia and Manzano mountains near Albuquerque are open for rifle hunts only from Oct. 15-Nov. 15. Landowners and ranchers leasing property for grazing may kill any bear that has killed livestock or poses an immediate threat to human life or property.
Steve Lithgow
http://www.waycoolkennels.com