State Moves To Cut Deer Hunting Near Jicarilla Apache Nation

By Ben Neary/NMWF

PORTALES — New Mexico wildlife managers are moving toward further reductions in the number of deer licenses the state issues in a hunt unit that borders the Jicarilla Apache Nation.

Managers also are moving to reduce the number of cow elk and youth-encouragement elk licenses the state issues in the Gila in response to population concerns.

The New Mexico State Wildlife Commission met Thursday, June 25, in Portales. The commission advanced a proposal to reduce deer hunting in the area bordering the Jicarilla Apache Nation as part of a statewide, four-year rule governing deer hunting. The commission is set to take final action on the rule in August.

Jicarilla officials last year asked the New Mexico State Wildlife Commission to take emergency action to curtail hunting in Unit 2B. The unit borders Colorado, between Bloomfield and Chama.

For several preceding years, the state had been issuing 1,750 licenses public land licenses annually in the unit, which is about 477,000 acres. Jicarilla officials told the state that they harvest 50 deer a year from 850,000 acres of their reservation. Some Jicarilla tribal members hunt deer and the tribe sells some trophy hunts to non-tribal members.

The state has managed Unit 2B as an “opportunity” area, meaning a place where many hunters get a chance to hunt. The tribe asked the state to shift management to being a “quality” area, where fewer deer would be killed so the remaining animals get to mature into larger, trophy animals.

After hearing from the tribe last year, the state administratively cut the number of licenses it issued last fall by 20 percent.

Stewart Liley, chief biologist with the game department, told commissioners Thursday that managing Unit 2B as a quality area would require cutting the number of permits issued there by 885 per year. Total licenses, including both public and private land, would drop from 1,925 to 1040.

Deer in the area migrate between southern Colorado in the summer months down into New Mexico during the winter. Liley said biologists recently began tracking 15 mule deer and plan to put transmitters on more than 200 more between the two states.

Bernard Inez, director of the Jicarilla Game and Fish Department, called into the meeting to address the commission. He said the Jicarilla Apache Nation is in full support of reducing the number of deer licenses issued in Unit 2B. He said the tribe looks forward to working with the wildlife department on getting more information about the deer migration.

Speaking after the meeting, Liley said reducing the number of deer licenses issued could result in public land hunters seeing larger deer in the area over time. “Assuming that harvest decreases for the entire herd across all jurisdictions, there’s a chance that harvest changes from New Mexico to Colorado,” he said.

The wildlife commission on Thursday also advanced a four-year plan for elk management. Final action on that is likewise set for August. 

Liley recommended that commissioners reduce cow elk hunts and youth encouragement hunts in the Gila in response to population declines. He said surveys have found declining cow-to-calf ratios and said the herd is seeing a decline in the ratio of mature bulls.

The state reduced bull elk licenses in the Gila by about 25 percent in the last four-year rule cycle, Liley said. The current proposal calls for reducing antlerless elk licenses there by about 30 percent –  a reduction of 278 licenses in units 15,  in 16A, 16B/22, 16C, and 16D.

The proposal calls for ending youth encouragement hunts in the Gila to decrease the late-season cow harvest. The proposal calls for a reduction of 420 youth encouragement hunts statewide, mainly from the Gila.

“The biggest thing is just decreasing the number of antlerless elk tags to correspond with what probably is a decreasing herd,” Liley said after the meeting of the approach to the Gila elk herd. “Decrease licenses on some of the youth encouragement, some of the draw licenses, but we also shifted those hunts earlier in the season when we have lower success rates, so we didn’t have to reduce licenses so much. We looked at about a 25- to 30-percent reduction in cow harvest on that Gila elk herd.”

The commission gave final approval to a four-year rule for management of exotic game species, meaning ibex, oryx and Barbary sheep.

Liley told commissioners that a recent helicopter survey observed 106 ibex, including 40 juveniles, on the Florida Mountains, near Deming. The state has been concerned about the declining population there.

Although the commission adopted a rule specifying permissible hunting permit numbers, Liley said the plan specified the numbers are caps, and said it’s possible zero permits could be issued for any particular hunt based upon further population surveys. 

The plan ended the current practice of setting aside a number of oryx permits for hunters over the age of 70.