By BEN NEARY
NMWF Conservation Director
Starting next year, New Mexico hunters who take to the field in designated muzzleloader seasons will no longer be able to use scope sights on their guns, the state game commission voted Friday.
The New Mexico State Game Commission also voted on Friday to allow limited public hunting starting next year for the Gould’s turkey, a rare subspecies that lives in the southwest corner of the state.
Thanks to decades of recovery work by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and others, the Gould’s turkey’s numbers have increased enough that biologists supported the game commission’s action on Friday to lift the bird’s designation as “threatened.”
On the muzzleloader issue, the commission voted to approve a new, four-year “manner and method” rule setting regulations on hunting equipment. It also gave final approval to rules governing elk and deer hunting. Earlier this year, it approved rules for pronghorn, bighorn sheep and exotic species.
All the rules specify that hunters in designated muzzleloader hunts may not use scope sights. Hunters may continue to use scoped muzzleloaders in “any-legal-weapon” hunts that are also open for use with centerfire rifles.
Stewart Liley, head biologist for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, told commissioners on Friday that recent improvements in muzzleloader technology have made the guns nearly as efficient as centerfire rifles. If the commission wanted to continue to allow the use of scoped muzzleloaders in designated muzzleloader seasons, he said the commission would have to reduce the number of permits it offers to avoid unsustainable losses to game herds.
“What we’re seeing biologically is that the harvest is going to be unsustainable,” Liley said of the prospect of continuing to allow scoped muzzleloaders during designated muzzleloader seasons.
Liley said he expects that loss of animals to wounding by muzzleloaders may decrease under the prohibition against scoped muzzleloaders. Although scopes allow hunters to hit animals at long range, he said the animals may not give any indication that they’ve been hit so hunters may not follow up all their shots.
Commissioner Roberta Salazar-Henry cast the lone votes against the change on muzzleloaders. She said she was dissatisfied with the game department’s public education efforts on the issue and said she was concerned that 17,000 muzzleloader hunters will find out next year that they don’t have a chance to use their scoped muzzleloaders anymore.
“On the other hand, I’m hearing that the elk population is growing all over the place,” Salazar-Henry said.
Salazar-Henry noted that bow-hunting technology has also improved dramatically in recent years and questioned why that issue wasn’t being discussed together with the restriction on scoped muzzleloaders. “They’re actually hunting in the rut and you’re taking out more big bulls with bows,” she said.
Jesse Deubel, executive director of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, said the group supports the prohibition of scopes on muzzleloaders. He said the NMWF focuses on providing more hunting opportunity for resident hunters. Deubel noted that the game deparment director has authority to provide reasonable accommodation to hunters with documented vision issues.
Brandon Wynn, an Albuquerque hunter, told commissioners that he has extensive experience hunting with muzzleloaders. He said modern scoped versions are as effective as hunting with a single-shot, centerfire rifle.
Joel Gothard, a member of the New Mexico chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, told commissioners he also fully supports the scope prohibition. He said he’s been hunting with primitive weapons since he was old enough to hunt and enjoys the added challenge and opportunity they provide.
Gothard said the recent advent of new technology has ruined the mystique of primitive weapons. “The new muzzleloading rifles are not primitive,” he said. “They are, like the previous gentleman said, they are modern single-shot rifles.”
Under discussion of the new, four-year elk rule, Deubel noted that the game commission has refused repeated calls from NMWF and others to open its Elk Private Land Use System (EPLUS) rule this year. Under EPLUS, the state gives authorizations to purchase elk licenses directly to landowners whose land supports elk. The landowners, in turn, overwhelmingly sell the authorizations to nonresident hunters.
“This commission was originally designed to be a buffer between wildlife management and politics, and apparently that isn’t working at the moment,” Deubel said.
Wynn also expressed disappointment that in the past four years, the game commission hasn’t taken a single hunting license from the number it issues to private interests and brought it into the public draw.
For more information on EPLUS, check out the recent NMWF and NMBHA report on how the state distributes elk licenses, click here: takebackyourelk
Loren Patterson, president of the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association, told commissioners that his organization would like to see more elk harvested in the state. He said cattle operators are seeing their permits reduced because of loss of forage to elk. He said the association hopes the game commission will act to address the problem so his group doesn’t have to bring the matter up to the New Mexico State Legislature.
Liley gave commissioners a briefing on the Gould’s turkey. He said the turkey was listed as threatened in the state in 1974, but said the department’s restoration efforts have been successful enough since then that it would be removed from the list.
The New Mexico population of Gould’s turkey has connectivity with populations in Mexico and Arizona, Liley said.
After the commission voted to remove the turkey’s designation as threatened, it voted to approve a hunting season for the bird next spring. Liley said the state may offer up to five tags for the bird annually in coming years, but said he expects to see four offered next year.
Deubel commended the game department for its work. He said the delisting of the Gould’s turkey, “Is just one example of something that is really incredible and should be celebrated.”