New Mexico officially bans scopes

[txhunter581]

. Would have been ok with 1X scopes but am OK that they did away with all scopes. And I see 2 front sights with my aging eyes.

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

why ban bowsite? Not as good as rokslide, but its a good forum

PRB and real black only while we are at it. We dont want anything modern right?

In game management you have 2 choices:

1) Limit opportunity.
2) Increase difficulty.

In this instance, they elected to take the road of #2. Maybe if no scopes doesn’t work to help manage, they may go to PRB’s and no compounds next, who knows? The difficulty line is going to be drawn somewhere.

Me personally; I’d rather have the chance to chase more animals every year with a patched round ball and a tradbow than wait several years just for the chance to draw a tag and actually get out.

EDIT: That first quote was the wrong one ugh. Funny comment though!!

 

[FLATHEAD]

I have no problems with a PRB.
'bout as cool as it gets IMO.

 

[FrontierGander]

Love me the patched round ball!

 

[CorbLand]

I am not sure what unit it was but Kuiu just sent out a muzzle elk hunt video, 1st shot was something like 548 yds, he missed only because he didn't compensate for wind drift, the hight of the shot was perfect. The 2nd shot was over 4 hundred and he killed the elk.
I am very sure based on my observations and knowledge of unit 15 in NM the mature bull elk numbers have been pummeled since the onslaught of scoped muzzle loaders.
There is a reason there are typically no rifle hunts during the rut, eventually the predominant bulls are small or raghorns.

Company that sets up rifles/muzzleloaders posted a reel on Instagram of one of their muzzleloaders. Guy killed a deer at just over 600 yards.

 

[jayhawk]

Wonder what a primitive season would look like....sidelock muzzleloaders (no inlines) and longbows/recurves (no compounds) only? Just a thought.

But yeah, NM made the right move here.

 

[JPD350]

Company that sets up rifles/muzzleloaders posted a reel on Instagram of one of their muzzleloaders. Guy killed a deer at just over 600 yards.

It's an amazing thing considering it's a muzzle loaded bullet.

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

Wonder what a primitive season would look like....sidelock muzzleloaders (no inlines) and longbows/recurves (no compounds) only? Just a thought.

Looks like a fun-ass time to me!

 

[CorbLand]

It's an amazing thing considering it's a muzzle loaded bullet.

It is crazy what modern technology has allowed for and been able to achieve. The thing that gets me more than anything is how affordable it has become too. It wasn’t that long ago that the items needed to achieve it were financially out of reach for many and now, many can afford it.

 

[MuleyFever]

The new inlines are extremely accurate with the quality bullets on the market. I was shooting with some coworkers and they were shooting 3" groups at 600 yards with their smokless guns (that one of them made) using BH209. They are every bit as accurate as most off the shelf rifles with factory ammo. The one guy commented that his muzzleloader was the most accurate gun he had, and he shoots and reloads for multiple calibers. I set up a Knight 45cal with a scope for my hunt last year and was quite surprised how accurate it was.

It's an amazing thing considering it's a muzzle loaded bullet.

I think that the fact it is muzzleloaded and engaged in the rifling at ignition is one of the reasons they are so accurate. The bullets they are making now are phenomenal.

 

[jwtx5929]

Well, I guess one of my MLs is going up for sale now

 

[HighUintas]

I'm trying to get my patched roundball flinter finished for elk muzzy in a couple of weeks.

Big ole .58 ball. That ought to work pretty well.

My wish is a few fantastic draw units in every state that allow either stickbow or sidelock cap or flinter ML patch ball only . Matchlock for those nutters who wish to do so.

 

[SwiftShot]

his is what happens when the modern industry touts 500- 600 - 800 yard shots with scoped muzzle loaders.

NM State Game Commission Bans Scopes on Muzzleloaders - New Mexico Wildlife Federation

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... Read more »

nmwildlife.org

This has nothing to do with that. This is about muzzleloader being primitive not just a front loading Ruger number 1 season.

 

[FrontierGander]

In new mexico, that's what it's all about. They took smokeless powder out of muzzleloading season and now scopes. It was getting too easy.

I hunt northern nm now and then, mostly with family and the amount of animals puts Colorado to shame imo.

 

[KHNC]

In new mexico, that's what it's all about. They took smokeless powder out of muzzleloading season and now scopes. It was getting too easy.

I hunt northern nm now and then, mostly with family and the amount of animals puts Colorado to shame imo.

I hunt NM now and then too. I would hunt it every year, but I cant draw a damn tag. And they frown on hunting without one i hear.

 

[FLATHEAD]

I've been applying for NM - Elk for 15+ years and have NEVER drawn an Elk tag (applying mostly MZ). Maybe this will help.

 

[WCB]

no doubt....we shouldn't have any regulations, bag limits, etc when it comes to hunting.

 

[GMB54-120]

I hunt northern nm now and then, mostly with family and the amount of animals puts Colorado to shame imo.

And yet, Colorado has restricted scopes, smokeless and sabots for ages during the ML hunts. Glad to see its working for you.

 

[Fitzwho]

This one hurts a bit. The muzzleloader hunts were already pretty limited tag numbers. The mule deer hunts I like to apply for have 175 and 125 total muzzleloader tags respectively. Where the same units have 2 rifle seasons and almost 1000 and 750 total tags between those seasons. But it's the muzzleloaders that are killing too many deer?

It's a different story on elk in some areas, with some of the muzzleloader seasons occasionally having better dates, but that's not statewide.

Would have liked to see them split the elk and deer muzzleloader regulations. Make elk open sights only and give better dates, like the first Saturday-Wednesday of October statewide. Then leave the scopes for deer, which already had early dates (not helpful) and maybe even reduce tags on a unit by unit basis.

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

This one hurts a bit. The muzzleloader hunts were already pretty limited tag numbers. The mule deer hunts I like to apply for have 175 and 125 total muzzleloader tags respectively. Where the same units have 2 rifle seasons and almost 1000 and 750 total tags between those seasons. But it's the muzzleloaders that are killing too many deer?

I could be wrong because I didn’t research, but maybe they’re going off of harvest rate percentages of the two hunts and muzzleloader harvests are high?

I get it though. It’s like pulling teeth to limit rifle hunts due to the popularity and revenue. It seems like those seasons are the last ones looked at sometimes.