By Ben Neary
NMWF Conservation Director
Starting this fall, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish will issue fewer pronghorn licenses in the northeastern quadrant of the state. Population declines as a result of dry rangeland conditions force the change, department staff told game commissioners Friday in Santa Fe.
Stewart Liley, head biologist with the game department, told commissioners that, beginning in the 2025-2026 license year, the game department will eliminate all female/immature pronghorn licenses from the both the public draw and from over-the-counter sales in game management units 41, 47, 56, 57, 58, and 59.
The department will also reduce hunts for mature buck pronghorn by 20 percent in those game management units. All the affected units are north of I-40, in eastern New Mexico.
In addition to eliminating tags for female/immature pronghorn and limiting tags issued through the public draw, the game department will also reduce the number of over-the-counter tags it will issue for hunting on private lands.
Liley said the game department will cut the number of over-the-counter tags that may be used on private lands by 20-percent below current levels. Private landowners are allowed to sell authorizations that allow hunters to hunt on their lands by purchasing over-the-counter tags without going through the competitive public draw.
Over-the-counter tags for the affected game management units will go on sale this summer, and once the cap is reached, no more will be issued, Liley said.
Pronghorn of both sexes mature quickly and hunting bucks generally won’t reduce overall populations unless the ratio of bucks to does falls below 10/100, Liley said. The buck population in the northeast units remains well above that at 36 bucks to 100 does last year, he said.
However, Liley said the ratio of fawns to does in the NE management areas dropped from 33/100 in 2019 to 22/100.
Fawns require grass cover to survive their first few days of life after birth, Liley said. He said lower rates of precipitation in recent years have led to decreased cover, leaving them more vulnerable to predation.
Commissioner Fernando Clemente, a wildlife biologist who has worked in Mexico, agreed with Liley that pronghorn populations fluctuate widely.
Commission Chairman Richard Stump said he hopes everyone in the state understands what is causing the pronghorn population decline. “It’s a problem,” he said. “Pray for rain.”
The commission also heard a briefing on New Mexico’s efforts to identify and protect wildlife corridors from Trent Botkin, Natural Resources and NEPA Section manager at the New Mexico Department of Transportation. He noted areas around the state that have been identified as having the highest level of vehicle collisions with wildlife where the state has determined that wildlife underpasses and other mitigation efforts are necessary.
The New Mexico Wildlife Federation will support a bill in the legislative session that begins this month to appropriate $50 million for the state’s Wildlife Corridor Fund. This funding is necessary to begin implementation of the state’s Wildlife Corridor Action Plan that was finalized in 2022.
The action plan identified 11 primary hot spots across the state that see elevated incidents of wildlife-vehicle collisions. The new funding will be used to build crossings to protect wildlife and increase motorist safety. The first priority project will be construction of crossings on US 550, north of Cuba.
John Crenshaw, former president of the board of the NMWF, told the commission he had a close call when he was driving with his wife and other relatives and came upon three bull elk standing in US 550.
Jesse Deubel, executive director of the NMWF, told commissioners that New Mexico’s action plan stands as a national model. “What’s important now is that we take some of the planning that we have and move it into implementation,” he said.
In other action on Friday, the commission re-elected Stump to continue to serve as commission chairman. It elected Commissioner Sharon Salazar Hickey to continue to serve as vice-chair.