No tags, again.....sadness in New Mexico

[david58]

Struck out again on both deer and elk. Dangit!

NM G&F touts the fact that 84% of tags go to residents. But a huge portion of those go to landowners, who are allowed to turn around and sell the tags to outfitters or to hunters. These tags are in part doled out on a buddy system, and can be worth thousands of dollars each. Check out the cost of a guided hunt in New Mexico - the price is driven by the cost of the tag. A $5-9000.00 hunt is not unusual, more likely the norm.

Well, I have an extra week to go fishin' this fall, or to visit the kids. Methinks that next year is going to see this NM resident heading to CO or WY and pay out-of-state fees just to get to hunt. Crap, I'm too old to miss out on hunts, I don't have that many left.

Thanks for your ears, lent to a frustrated old complainer...

 

[skeeterfogger]

Yeah, cost is a problem in many places. Here 1k or better for a lease and some you pay for each game season. It's turned into kill happy idiots only.

 

[david58]

Yeah, cost is a problem in many places. Here 1k or better for a lease and some you pay for each game season. It's turned into kill happy idiots only.

At least you have a lease - many of the landowner tags will give you access to the entire unit, but you only get five days to hunt.

 

[skeeterfogger]

At least you have a lease - many of the landowner tags will give you access to the entire unit, but you only get five days to hunt.

Haven't had a lease in years. Last decent lease was poached by previous, didn't know till too late and hunters were trying to fill theirs, their wifes and childrens tags. More I've paid the more idiot the people are I had to share with. I only do occasional day hunts now.

 

[Robert]

That's ok, CO DOW moved the deadline for putting in to the 1st of April. It had been the middle of the month for as long as I could remember. I totally missed putting in for a point or for the draw...

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

Struck out again on both deer and elk. Dangit!

NM G&F touts the fact that 84% of tags go to residents. But a huge portion of those go to landowners, who are allowed to turn around and sell the tags to outfitters or to hunters. These tags are in part doled out on a buddy system, and can be worth thousands of dollars each. Check out the cost of a guided hunt in New Mexico - the price is driven by the cost of the tag. A $5-9000.00 hunt is not unusual, more likely the norm.

Well, I have an extra week to go fishin' this fall, or to visit the kids. Methinks that next year is going to see this NM resident heading to CO or WY and pay out-of-state fees just to get to hunt. Crap, I'm too old to miss out on hunts, I don't have that many left.

Thanks for your ears, lent to a frustrated old complainer...

Sorry to hear of your losing the hunting lottery.
Those land owner tags can be a real racket, they were doing the same thing here in Kansass a while back but I think it got changed..?

( And I think we need a "That Sucks" click on thingie for these sort of circumstances...)

 

[MCgunner]

Struck out again on both deer and elk. Dangit!

NM G&F touts the fact that 84% of tags go to residents. But a huge portion of those go to landowners, who are allowed to turn around and sell the tags to outfitters or to hunters. These tags are in part doled out on a buddy system, and can be worth thousands of dollars each. Check out the cost of a guided hunt in New Mexico - the price is driven by the cost of the tag. A $5-9000.00 hunt is not unusual, more likely the norm.

Well, I have an extra week to go fishin' this fall, or to visit the kids. Methinks that next year is going to see this NM resident heading to CO or WY and pay out-of-state fees just to get to hunt. Crap, I'm too old to miss out on hunts, I don't have that many left.

Thanks for your ears, lent to a frustrated old complainer...

I gave up on New Mexico already. Didn't even know they were drawing for DEER now. I hunted out there in the early 90s, Lincoln NF in the Guadalupe Mountains just north of the Texas state line. I killed a mulie out there, nothing to brag about, but a mulie. Of course, you couldn't hunt the elk there, but there were lots of elk and a good success rate in the Sacramentos south of Cloudcroft and I bought a rifle for elk in anticipation, but they started drawing for tags on elk before I ever did that. Besides, without horses, how to you pack out the meat?

Yeah, outfitters are ridiculous. So, my preacher/hunting partner calls me a month or two ago and asks if I wanna go kill an elk next fall. Heck yeah! The hunt is in Texas on, of course, private land. It's a large ranch I think in the western hill country, though he's told me about hunting free range elk in the Davis mountains before. Price for this hunt is $1000 for a cow, $1200 for a cull bull. Hey, I just wanna KILL an elk with the rifle I bought to hunt 'em with. I ain't lookin' for a trophy! AND, I can AFFORD this!

 

[Paul7]

I like the landowner tag system, cow tags are easy to get for $2K and under.

 

[LRDGCO]

Drive north, plentiful OTC tags in CO, until Comrade Polis and the Supreme Soviet in Denver outlaw firearms and hunting.

 

[redneck2]

Well, I’ve got the opposite problem. I have some really good turkey ground I can hunt. Free.

Took my friends son last year opening day on his first turkey hunt ever and he took a nice bird about 15 minutes into the season

Both of them are busy for the first 10 days of the season. I have no interest in going by myself. Get a lot more enjoyment helping someone else fill their tag

Would love to elk hunt but don’t think it will ever happen

 

[tarosean]

Me too.. I am seriously thinking about OTC tags either in Utah or Idaho. Mostly hunted in CO/NM/TX
However would like to attempt something new... Yet serious trepidation about knowing nothing about the areas...

 

[CoalTrain49]

I used to hunt wild pheasant in eastern WA. until the land owners leased out all of the land. Years ago you could just ask permission and about half the time the property owners would let you hunt for free. Then the hunting clubs moved in and now they *manage* the property and the fee is around 1K a year to hunt wild birds or deer. There's some state owned land there but the birds are pen raised and non-toxic shot is required. You either have to know somebody or pay the fee.

The canyons on the Snake River have some nice sized whitetails and the wheat fields used to be full of pheasants and huns. The Steelhead fishing isn't half bad either.

I hunted over there about 10 years and have some memories of some real good times. I guess that's worth something.

 

[George P]

I feel your pain; when I lived in NV, it was just as heartbreaking to get your hopes up and not draw for any of the big game tags.

 

[earlthegoat2]

This kind of stuff is unfortunately causing the continued downward trend in hunting participation.

When folks get discouraged to hunt, they then get discouraged to promote hunting. If they can’t use their guns to hunt, they become dismayed at standing up for gun rights.

Making hunting political and corporate is doomed to destroy hunting as any sort of pastime.

I am so fortunate to have access to decent public hunting grounds. Otherwise it would just be me and my gun club and I wouldn’t care a bit about hunting.

As it is I don’t deer hunt near where I live. I travel north to MI for their deer season as my parents own an OK tract of private land my family hunts on. I don’t care for the added regulations and arbitrary seasons and extra tags and aggravations that go along with deer hunting public land.

 

[George P]

The Western states just do not have as much land suitable for large deer/elk/antelope herds. Add in cattle ranching on a large scale and food sources are limited so the deer populations remain relatively stable, albeit small compared to places here in the East where it's 2/day for 60 days

 

[tarosean]

This kind of stuff is unfortunately causing the continued downward trend in hunting participation.
..............

Making hunting political and corporate is doomed to destroy hunting as any sort of pastime.

I'd disagree... Our history proves that we would wipe the species from the face of the earth if left unregulated.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Didn't say we don't need wildlife management.