Looking to relocate. New Mexico or Texas as of now

[Felix40]

What do you mean OTC sheep? Aoudad?

Yeah

 

[NMJM]

To your question, is it feasible to draw a resident elk or mule deer tag every year in NM? There are plenty of web sites that will tell you the odds of that in each unit. I will say it is possible but very unlikely in a good unit. The units where you can consistently draw every year as a resident are very tough units where success is very unlikely. Draw odds are better with muzzleloader or archery but rifle tags in decent units are tough to draw. If you do choose to move to Albuquerque remember to budget in getting you vehicle stolen every 2-3 years in a good neighborhood.

 

[Cactus kid]

Like those Texas dall sheep??? Can you imagine paying to shoot one of those?

I have heard of a land owner trying to sell Texas dall hunts for the same price as a real dall

 

[Cactus kid]

Not at all. The same family has had that lease since 1992, they are happy and their funds are always paid 2 years in advance..

Just giving you a hard time. I’m not as funny as I pretend to be and it definitely doesn’t translate well on the internet

 

[Yoder]

I lived in Albuquerque in the early 90's and it was scary then. With the open border for 4 years I can't even imagine what it's like now. It's a shame, it's a beautiful place. Lots of cool stuff to do outside. I think Texas just sucks. Too hot, congested and no public land. I would never move back there.

 

[chasing_animals]

I have lived in both states in the past 5 years. NM is absolutely beautiful and there is ample public land to be found. You can definitely hunt deer and elk most years as well as hunting opportunities that hardly exist anywhere else in the US (oryx, ibex, and aoudad). Furthermore, the food in NM is far superior. However, with a wife and a kid I would never desire to move to ABQ. The crime is no joke and violence rates are high. NM education is dead last and the economy is not much better. I did not hunt much in Texas except for dove and coyotes. But with how much better the economy is I would save $1500 and head out west every fall.

 

[butcherboy]

Does NM have its problems? Absolutely. So does every state and every big city. Albuquerque has a crime problem because of gangs, drugs, illegals. It’s a small city compared to others and because of this the crime rate is higher vs the population. The governor is an idiot and so is the state legislature. The state is beautiful, food is amazing and most people are friendly. To say everyone is drunk most of the time is completely false. Saying you need to budget for a new car every 2-3 years is false as well. Just think of the thousands that live there and never have a vehicle stolen and no crime is committed against them. If you frequent the bad areas then bad stuff will happen. Stay clear of I40. Don’t put those stupid stickers on your vehicle advertising that you hunt and fish. Rio Rancho is a nice place to live. Northeast mountains are good and have gated communities. The state is governed by the idiots and leftists in the Rio Grande corridor. The rest of the state is pretty conservative.

Hunting is great if and when you draw a tag and there are places you probably could draw often but those units are not the best.

I won’t be leaving anytime soon and hope for a better political climate and influence someday. Best advice I can give is to visit wherever you want to be and then decide the things that are more important for you.

 

[D_Dubya]

Move to Texas, make enough to pay for a NM landowner tag every year, get a deer lease within two hours of where you live. San Antonio is nice, decent job market, excellent coast/bay fishing 2 hours away. If you make decent money (and are willing to spend some) there are plenty of deer leases are available. Same for Austin but worse traffic.

Houston is a nasty cesspool of miserable hell on earth but plenty of good paying jobs, fishing and waterfowl hunting nearby. DFW/metroplex is nearly as bad as H-town but not as humid.

 

[Mojave]

Ok.

Here is my experience. As a resident of both places.

ALBQ sucks. It's a bigger city, with really decent food, high crime, and is fairly high cost if you live north of town and commute in. Which most gringos with a decent job do.

No you will not draw tags for deer, elk, oryx, sheep, ibex whatever every year. You will be lucky to get a tag or two every other year. Some years I got 3, two years of the 5 that I was a resident I got none. Some good tags all rifle were in the mix.

There are landowner tags that most ranchers will not sell to residents.

Texas is a hunting lease situation. The Texas public draws will give you a hog or javelina hunt on Texas public land every 3-7 years rifle, and maybe once ever 5-10 years you will draw deer or exotic. The youth hunts are exceptional. New Mexico youth hunts are also exceptional.

Leases can be $2500-$50,000 per family or per shooter depending on what the ranch is like and what is included. $10,000 buys a super nice lease, if it works out it might be a family lease.

I think there is a couple of post about Texas ranch hunts. This is what I would do.
1. Put in for every Texas hunting drawing.
2. Watch the classifieds on the TExashuntingforum.com for deals on hunts.
3. Talk to WTA or another agent about cancellations in Texas

Would I pick Texas or Albaq. Neither!

 

[traildust]

Large chance of your new company having a lease and vendors taking you hunting.

Texas has public, as does every surrounding state.

West Austin’s pretty but whole town is liberal,
NW SA is also pretty, closer to coast, but economically not as strong as other two.
NTX is most cost friendly but 8 hours from coast, but closer to Western states, strongest economy

Houston is the closest thing to Hell, in Texas. Never ending traffic, 100% humidity and 110 days@ 100% humidity, only positive is is close to coast if you like to fish and duck hunt

There is not a positive to living around Houston!

 

[Wprinkle]

Just giving you a hard time. I’m not as funny as I pretend to be and it definitely doesn’t translate well on the internet

LOL but true story, when I was a kid the previous hunters brought a east coast guy. We ran Rambouillet sheep with the cows back then. We had three bucks in a trailer and the guy wanted to shoot one, my grandad jokingly said "sure" for some absurd amount and the guy agreed. Went to his truck, got a rifle and was gonna actually shoot it in the trailer.... some people amaze me.

 

[displacedtexan]

Does NM have its problems? Absolutely. So does every state and every big city. Albuquerque has a crime problem because of gangs, drugs, illegals. It’s a small city compared to others and because of this the crime rate is higher vs the population. The governor is an idiot and so is the state legislature. The state is beautiful, food is amazing and most people are friendly. To say everyone is drunk most of the time is completely false. Saying you need to budget for a new car every 2-3 years is false as well. Just think of the thousands that live there and never have a vehicle stolen and no crime is committed against them. If you frequent the bad areas then bad stuff will happen. Stay clear of I40. Don’t put those stupid stickers on your vehicle advertising that you hunt and fish. Rio Rancho is a nice place to live. Northeast mountains are good and have gated communities. The state is governed by the idiots and leftists in the Rio Grande corridor. The rest of the state is pretty conservative.

Hunting is great if and when you draw a tag and there are places you probably could draw often but those units are not the best.

I won’t be leaving anytime soon and hope for a better political climate and influence someday. Best advice I can give is to visit wherever you want to be and then decide the things that are more important for you.

It's real high per capita.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

The crime in Albuquerque really is no joke. A few years ago, my dad was walking into a convenience store and some shit bag was doing a grab and run for beer, he slapped the door open hitting my then 73 year old dad in the face and knocking him to the ground. He's also been in more than one car crash because some other shitbag didn't think red lights were meant for them.

 

[butcherboy]

Yes, it’s higher per capita. Less people vs more people. Compare a town of 300,000 vs one with 3 million. Same amount of crime for every 100,000 people. Which one is going to show a higher crime rate? The smaller town obviously.

Car crashes because someone runs a red light isn’t counted as a violent crime. Heck, I was hit in Walmart just a few days ago. I was backing up just fine with no one around and a car cut through a parking space and flew by me hitting my back bumper with the side of her car. No damage to me at all and it was obvious she didn’t have insurance and she stated she was driving her brother’s “ride”. Anyone familiar with NM knows this scenario all too well.

 

[displacedtexan]

Yes, it’s higher per capita. Less people vs more people. Compare a town of 300,000 vs one with 3 million. Same amount of crime for every 100,000 people. Which one is going to show a higher crime rate? The smaller town obviously.

Car crashes because someone runs a red light isn’t counted as a violent crime. Heck, I was hit in Walmart just a few days ago. I was backing up just fine with no one around and a car cut through a parking space and flew by me hitting my back bumper with the side of her car. No damage to me at all and it was obvious she didn’t have insurance and she stated she was driving her brother’s “ride”. Anyone familiar with NM knows this scenario all too well.

So you clearly don't understand per capita...

It's high in Albuquerque, because there's a whole lot of it.

Your excuse because of the size is nonsense.

 

[butcherboy]

So you clearly don't understand per capita...

It's high in Albuquerque, because there's a whole lot of it.

Your excuse because of the size is nonsense.

The crime rate is expressed as the number of reported crimes per 100,000 people. It is categorized into violent crimes and property crimes. Last I checked was I think for 2022 or maybe 2023 with NM being number 1 for violent crimes and number 3 for property. Alaska was number 2 for violent crime followed by Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee. Washington was number one for property, Colorado was number 2 followed by NM, Oregon, and Louisiana.

The FBI uses certain elements that affect both the amount and type of crime and one of those elements is population density and urbanization levels. There are many more and NM does fall short in every single one of these categories and so do a lot of other states.

All I’m saying is that for the size of Albuquerque compared to let’s say Chicago, the crime rate is very bad. I never said it wasn’t bad just saying how bad it is for being a small town compared to bigger cities.

 

[Seth]

I’ve lived in DFW and NM… for me and my family, it’s NM. It certainly has its issues, some of which are a bit exaggerated on impact. I felt much less safe in Dallas than I do ABQ.

The big game opportunity for residents is excellent, with other Western states nearby. The public lands, abundant sunshine, and low humidity appeal to us. From deserts to mountains to cultural sites, there are so many areas to explore. Most public schools aren’t great, but there are a few decent ones, good private schools, and several homeschooling coops.

 

[roadrunner]

So you clearly don't understand per capita...

Reread the post...

It's high in Albuquerque, because there's a whole lot of it.

Reread the post.

Your excuse because of the size is nonsense.

Excuse...

 

[swavescatter]

People need to quit defending NM. No animals here. Only criminals.

Go to Idaho or Colorado or Wyoming or Montana. Or better yet, Texas or California.

 

[DKBronco]

Live in TX - no state income tax. Use the $ saved on those taxes to buy a LO tag in NM, or lease ground in TX.