LAST EDITED ON Mar-16-13 AT 10:11PM (MST)[p]Sorry for rambling, just frustrated with this state.
There would be much better hunting in NM, if Science led game management rather than politics. Senators should not have any role in wildlife management other than providing funding for biologists to do their jobs. I am very impressed with Bighorn and Desert Bighorn management in this state. Wish management of the other NM big game species (like deer and elk) would follow the bighorn biologist's science based hunting tag management policy. The Desert Bighorn team allowed hunting for the first time ever on species. Based on their studies on the NMDGF, I believe it is a sustainable resource. I know that I will probably get blasted on the MM forum, but ?Legal over harvest? of deer herds is a much larger threat to our natural hunting resource than poachers in NM. An example is that for 2013, NMDGF is allowing 2240 high powered deer tags for hunting unit 30. I believe this ?legal harvest? has much wider impacts to long-term management of our hunting quality and game resource. WY doesn't even finalize fall tag numbers until they get fall harvest survey, spring aerial survey data, and vegetation (drought) survey data.
In 2012, the only major poaching case in NM that I'm aware of is the case where three kids (17, 18, & 21) illegally shoot two antelope bucks and three doe. These guys were all over the local news and made examples of by name. These three characters got into a mess of trouble. I bet if you asked them, they learned their lesson about shooting what amounted to 5 antelope. Not to mariginalize what they did -- but 5 animals is nothing compared to 2240 "legal" tags based on at best no funding for quality science and at worst absolute incompetence from NM game managers.
My second point: How many people had their license checked by a game warden on their last hunt? I admit that may be in the minority, I've never seen a game warden in the field while hunting in New Mexico. I tend to see game wardens at least a single time during the hunts in Colorado. Maybe checking licenses is asking too much with the game department's limited budget.
NM would be better served to have our State Senators focus on serious issues in this state. I also strongly believe that biologists with survey based game management studies should more strongly dictate game management policies. Simple changes to NM game management like sending game wardens into the field may be a more efficient starting point. Any clue how much money the senate spent debating this bill? How many days would that money have paid for a single warden to be in the field?
Betters ways to improve hunting, 1. Senators should focus on provide NMDGF funding to do their job. 2. Allow science to dictate ?legal? harvest rates. Poaching is bad, but NMDGF allowing too few or too many hunters is much worse to the herds. In some areas, NM could actually be harvesting too few animals which may also be bad. 3. Desert Bighorn and regular Bighorn are prime examples of quality management. Trophy size is nearly the same every year from each unit. I strongly believe that the desert bighorn harvests will be closely watched and tweaked to allow hunting of this animal to continue.
Just my 2 cents...
Edit: I don't mean to come across negative to Senator Munoz. He does a great job for this state. .
