Is New Mexico worth it?

[LopeHunter]

Nothing, except over time people get greedy and just having bonus isn’t good enough. They haven’t drawn thier glory tag they want. So then they get squared and then they get .....

It’s a slippery slope.

Bonus systems that square your points actually see your odds as a new entrant decrease from Year 1 to Year 2. The reason is the high point holders are also squaring so you are losing ground each year for several years though the longer you wait to start then the worse your Year 1 odds are. The turnover of high point holders is slow so they always will be gaining a larger number of ping pong balls compared to you. Well, until they all draw or quit or die.

 

[Blackcats06]

All of this is good advice. I have a lot of hope the new season structure will help odds but little faith.

The way I worded that was confusing. I meant you should apply in Wyoming every year instead of just buying points sense part of Wyoming tag are randomly awarded and you could draw a good tag even if you don’t have the points yet. Sure the random is usually a long shot but so is New Mexico and if you don’t draw in Wyoming you get your money back buy your point and repeat till you have the points to get you in the unit you want. As for New Mexico personally I would not pay the $80+ non refundable (license,app fee,stamp) fees for the slim odds on antelope. In years pass sense it was dirt cheap it would have been worth it to just apply for antelope but now it’s not worth it in my opinion.

Thanks. For the next couple years I'm restricted to one out of state hunt a year so I've been buying points in several states. I live just 2 hours from NM so I kind of don't look at it as an out of state hunt as much

 

[Blackcats06]

If you're only applying for hunts with less than 1% chance to draw, then no, NM is not worth it. For deer, if you're willing to branch out and try areas that aren't the traditional "trophy" units, you can increase your odds significantly. Same with trying different weapon types. I've seen some really nice bucks in units that aren't designated as "quality" units. I guess it ultimately depends on what your personal standard is for a "big buck".

As for antelope, your odds kind of stink no matter what you do. However, this is going to be an interesting year with the antelope hunt changes. Having the tags spread out over more hunts means that the applicant pool will be spread out. With a little luck, you might be able to score on a choice that the bulk of the crowd decided to avoid.

At the end of the day, if the nonrefundable license doesn't bother you, why not play the lottery? Somebody has to win it, might as well be you.

That's one issue I'm having with NM is finding what are the traditional trophy units and what are quality units, outside of their prices. Also can not find any info on population estimates or herd health or anything outside hunter stats that would help me pick a unit

 

[NMGuy]

That's one issue I'm having with NM is finding what are the traditional trophy units and what are quality units, outside of their prices. Also can not find any info on population estimates or herd health or anything outside hunter stats that would help me pick a unit

There are a couple ways to find quality units. You can look at the record book entries for each species, which are on the NMGF website. From there you'll see certain counties that have more entries than others (9 of the 10 biggest typical mule deer have come from the same county). That (in theory) will point you to "better" units. Another way is to look for hunts with a "quality" fee type. There's a column in the regs for fee type (standard, quality, high demand). You'll see some units that only have a quality hunt designation for a certain date, or you'll see other units that have a quality designation for all the hunts. I don't know what the criteria is for designating a hunt or unit as quality, so maybe you can reach out to NMGF for an answer to that. Another resource is a service like GoHunt. I don't know how accurate it is, but their website shows the trophy potential of each unit. Lastly, you could look at the harvest report (also posted on the NMGF website). On the far right you'll see columns for satisfaction rating and average days hunted. This data isn't as clear-cut, but could be used to help make a decision when choosing between different units.

As for population and herd health, I would identify the unit(s) you are interested in, then contact Game and Fish to chat with them about the herd.

 

[ImBillT]

It’s going to be tough to gauge pronghorn there for a few years for many reasons. In the past you would get assigned to a ranch and could hunt both public and private land on that ranch, and all the tags were issued by NMGF. This year private land tags are unlimited OTC, and public tags are only good for public land. GoHunt has a list of units for good trophy potential and includes two units with absolutely terrible public land percentages. Having hunted deer in one of them I can tell you that most of the public is land locked. It’s difficult to say what the results of unlimited private tags will be on trophy potential, but it will definitely make accessing those trophies more difficult in certain units. Basically if you haven’t hunted or spent time in NM it’s going to be tough to guess which pronghorn hunts to apply for until there are a few years worth of data after the changes. The old data will probably have very little resemblance to results under the new system.

I actually like the changes. More hunt codes spreads out the field of applicants a bit, getting to hunt more than just a specific ranch has its advantages and choosing the unit or part of a unit you want to hunt instead of being assigned one is going to be nice as well. Yes there was a slight reduction in tags, but you can’t have everything, and with unlimited private tags you may well see some former applicants buying tags OTC instead of applying. Only time will tell.

 

[Blackcats06]

It’s going to be tough to gauge pronghorn there for a few years for many reasons. In the past you would get assigned to a ranch and could hunt both public and private land on that ranch, and all the tags were issued by NMGF. This year private land tags are unlimited OTC, and public tags are only good for public land. GoHunt has a list of units for good trophy potential and includes two units with absolutely terrible public land percentages. Having hunted deer in one of them I can tell you that most of the public is land locked. It’s difficult to say what the results of unlimited private tags will be on trophy potential, but it will definitely make accessing those trophies more difficult in certain units. Basically if you haven’t hunted or spent time in NM it’s going to be tough to guess which pronghorn hunts to apply for until there are a few years worth of data after the changes. The old data will probably have very little resemblance to results under the new system.

I actually like the changes. More hunt codes spreads out the field of applicants a bit, getting to hunt more than just a specific ranch has its advantages and choosing the unit or part of a unit you want to hunt instead of being assigned one is going to be nice as well. Yes there was a slight reduction in tags, but you can’t have everything, and with unlimited private tags you may well see some former applicants buying tags OTC instead of applying. Only time will tell.

I thought the draw tags were good for public and any private you can gain access too. Are they only good for public land? Or because the private is unlimited that finding access will be next to impossible?

 

[ImBillT]

I thought the draw tags were good for public and any private you can gain access too. Are they only good for public land? Or because the private is unlimited that finding access will be next to impossible?

Draw tags are good on private with permission. In the past, pronghorn tags put you on a ranch and permission was granted automatically, now it’s like a deer tag and you have to acquire that permission yourself. There will be those occasional landowners that allow hunting or trespass through to landlocked private free of charge, but they will be few and far between, and the better the better the pronghorn on their land or the land they control access to, the less likely it is that you’re going to get to hunt it. Leasing to outfitters will be an issue as well. Basically access to private for a non-resident DIY hunter is going to be difficult. I’ve been run off of public by lying landowners in NM, and I’ve been invited to hunt private by benevolent landowners that I’d never met before in NM. Those benevolent landowners let a lot of people other than me hunt though.

Don’t plan to get on private land with a public tag, and if you do, it might be a great piece that no one else thinks they can hunt, but it will more than likely be a piece that everyone in the county is allowed to hunt and due to the new OTC tags will have more pressure than any other public or private. You can forget about access to the big ranches those hunts used to be conducted on.

The reason it’s going to be hard to know where to go is that all of the data is for hunts that were conducted over huge areas that have have now been split into four or five smaller areas. The harvest data, satisfaction ratings and B&C data do not show what new hunt they correlate to, or whether they were tied to public or private land. It’s entirely possible that one ranch was getting 100% harvest rates and the occasional B&C buck, while another ranch within the same hunt had 30% harvest rates and terrible satisfaction, but because the hunt code the data was for included multiple ranches it simply shows an 80% harvest rate and high satisfaction. It’s also possible that every ranch had great harvest and satisfaction, but in one unit, much of it occurred on public and will continue to be accessible, but in the other unit much of it was on private that will no longer be accessible. The data from past years does not show that information. Two of the units recommended by the GoHunt strategy article are horrendous from a land access standpoint and my mind is blown that they made that list. Having hunted one of them for deer I can tell you that it would be very difficult to catch a pronghorn on public there. I was considering using it as my third choice because being so devoid of public land I thought it might have good draw odds for one year and being familiar with the unit I might do better than on a similarly poor unit I was unfamiliar with, then it popped up on GoHunt as a recommendation. If that mention ruins the odds of drawing, then it isn’t worth my third choice, and having been there I can tell you that it dang sure isn’t worth being my first or second choice! I can definitely see how both of those units would be good units if you had access to all of the public and private land on a huge ranch, but being limited to public that’s another story.

Now a very real option would be to investigate what it costs to get on good private land over there. You could forget about draw odds and possibly get a great hunt for less than the ten years of applications it might take you to draw. $65 license, $9 stamps, $13 application fee times ten years is $870. If you could get on a good ranch for less than that and hunt this year I’d call it a smokin deal. It might be less than that or it might be five times that. I really have no idea. Because I apply for deer, elk, pronghorn, and javelina the license fee is really of very little consequence to me.

It looks like there could be some ranch wide agreements similar to some of the elk tags, so some of those ranches may remain accessible to draw hunters, but they are listed in the regs. With all of the changes there will probably be fewer people in the draw this year. A few years down the line it will be easier to figure out where the good hunts are and where the good draw odds are, but the odds overall will probably be down once that uncertainty is gone.

NM is considering a price increase, so there may be a few years of improved draw odds.

 

[Rzrbck918]

I love NMs system. Im late to the game and I have a punchers chance at a really good hunt. Ive heard about the price increases and it will be interesting to see if the mandatory license has an affect on applications; if that is the case, significant price increases could really thin down the apps. My guess is they start gradually increasing app and license prices until they reach a point of diminishing return.

 

[blueridge]

My guess is they start gradually increasing app and license prices until they reach a point of diminishing return.

I sure hope not, but likely.

 

[noharleyyet]

Money money money...why? Coz they can...and we will...

 

[Scott85]

Money money money...why? Coz they can...and we will...

I would also rather leave my grandkids a wall full of mounts and a couple of guns than a bank account overflowing with money. You can't take it with you when you go.

 

[hank4elk]

We had about 100k extra applicants last year in NM. Deh fowd us...
So the non-refundable $ might cut some out.
Tag prices are still very low for residents & they have been getting more from G&F than years before. Like all the cow tags ,unless one gets a LO tag.
There are many changes in numbers of tags for several spieces ,in several units.
Residents are after the LO tag system big time. And winning.
It will be interesting to see how that all pans out this year & in following years ,to see how the odds change.

 

[TLowell02]

We had about 100k extra applicants last year in NM. Deh fowd us...
So the non-refundable $ might cut some out.
Tag prices are still very low for residents & they have been getting more from G&F than years before. Like all the cow tags ,unless one gets a LO tag.
There are many changes in numbers of tags for several spieces ,in several units.
Residents are after the LO tag system big time. And winning.
It will be interesting to see how that all pans out this year & in following years ,to see how the odds change.

I will stick my neck out and disagree with resident tag prices. I just submitted my apps for five species and it cost $500, which certainly is far less than NR pay but still a bit of an eye opener.

Without digging in to the regulation texts, I am curious what residents of other western states pay for their tags? Only other experience for me is Texas which isn't exactly comparing apples to apples.

 

[hank4elk]

I paid about $170 for fishing & hunting lic. & elk & deer in draw. Stupid cheap if you ask me.
....& prices for LO tags & hunts will skyrocket & the residents will whine about that & how they cannot just go where they want when they want with ALL the tags.
Nose snipping at it's finest.

 

[bobbydean]

I think I spent about $220 for elk and oryx. My costs will be with the oryx if drawn. Last time I drew on range, it cost $100 per person for access. I generally bring 2 or 3 guys to help ($300 to $400). Still prefer on range, you see many more animals!

 

[hank4elk]

I am tempted to apply for oryx BD....

 

[bobbydean]

You should, I have been on 3 successful hunts and everyone was a blast. Bring a friend to help load the beast. Especially on range, there are time constraints to get the animal out. My favorite meat animal, delicious.

 

[WildWill]

I will stick my neck out and disagree with resident tag prices. I just submitted my apps for five species and it cost $500, which certainly is far less than NR pay but still a bit of an eye opener.

Without digging in to the regulation texts, I am curious what residents of other western states pay for their tags? Only other experience for me is Texas which isn't exactly comparing apples to apples.

I just gave New Mexico almost $4600 for 4 species and my elk, antelope, and sheep apps all have less then 20% odds most way less. Odds on my deer tag should be good though so there's that.

 

[Blackcats06]

I will stick my neck out and disagree with resident tag prices. I just submitted my apps for five species and it cost $500, which certainly is far less than NR pay but still a bit of an eye opener.

Without digging in to the regulation texts, I am curious what residents of other western states pay for their tags? Only other experience for me is Texas which isn't exactly comparing apples to apples.

In Arizona for residents, its 57 for a hunting/fishing combo, which is needed to apply and non refundable. If drawn, elk is 148, deer is like 57, turkey is 25, pronghorn is 90, sheep is 300. You didn't say what species(s) you were talking about

 

[ImBillT]

For a resident it would be $835 to apply for the highest priced tag of every species. For a non-res it would be $8494. It’s $1498 for a non-res to apply for elk, deer and pronghorn. Most is refundable upon failing to draw in either case.