It is up to the Attorney General and the state legislature as to what they will decide. They could eliminate all of the non-resident tags as well as the outfitters pool in the public draw since almost all of the landowners tags go to outfitters and non-residents. That would mean residents would get 100% of the public universe tags. That isn’t anything I would want to see but if you read the letter from the state legislators to the Attorney General, that seems possible along with the elimination of E-Plus unit wide tags.
New Mexico public draw
- Thread starter Gila
- Start date
Timberline001
WKR
Found the outfitter
Yeah. I am sure they are gonna eliminate all NR tags, outfitters, and LO tags. Come on man.
Found the outfitter
Michigan resident. Always DIY
Who took the time to learn the state and meet some great friends doing so.
Hunt almost every year there and love the place.
There would literally be no funding for nmfg, not to mention that most of the legislators are either ranchers or beholden to them.
Grandma has a better chance of growing ball’s and becoming grandpa than that happening.
Actually they are issued to residents that choose to sell them to nr’s. They could easily choose to keep them or only sell to residents. Maybe you should look into fixing e-plus. All those tags in the public draw would seriously help r’s draw odds more then 6%.
Maybe if the state was ran better and not a dirt poor shithole, the residents could afford tags. Utah and other states I’ve hunted in sell a pile of vouchers to residents.
If it weren’t for the hunting and hatch chilies it’d have no redeeming qualities.
I’ve hunted it every year for the last decade and still haven’t found a town or place I’d consider living.
cal30_sniper
WKR
This is just devolving into ranting incoherently at this point.
Found a link for the letter sent by legislators to the Attorney General:
TreeDux
Lil-Rokslider
This could be a good discussion, hopefully it’s not too far gone. There’s a few things at play here. Residents are mad ostensibly because they only get 88% of lottery tags. I very much understand being unhappy about waiting years to draw an elk tag at home but resident odds aren’t going to change much by gaining another ~ 2%.
For myself, a NR that can’t swing a LO tag, and prefers to DIY this would increase the number of tags available to me. It would depend on the specific unit (if those rules remain the same) but broadly speaking the DIY NR tag pool would increase by about 4%. I can get behind that. Folks that want to use an outfitter could still do that, you just wouldn’t be forced to.
We are left with a big room that has two elephants standing in it. One of those elephants being unit wide landowner tags. The other being a piece of legislation introduced by politicians whose stated goal is to increase resident drawing odds. It’s hard to see how they appease residents while actually increasing the allocation dedicated to nonresident hunters so I do fear a devil in the details.
For myself, a NR that can’t swing a LO tag, and prefers to DIY this would increase the number of tags available to me. It would depend on the specific unit (if those rules remain the same) but broadly speaking the DIY NR tag pool would increase by about 4%. I can get behind that. Folks that want to use an outfitter could still do that, you just wouldn’t be forced to.
We are left with a big room that has two elephants standing in it. One of those elephants being unit wide landowner tags. The other being a piece of legislation introduced by politicians whose stated goal is to increase resident drawing odds. It’s hard to see how they appease residents while actually increasing the allocation dedicated to nonresident hunters so I do fear a devil in the details.
I’ll repeat this again
Residents get 84% in the draw
Resident Guide Pool is 10%
Residents have the same opportunity as NRs to use this guide method
Non Resident Pool is 6%
Landowners that receive tags can keep, sell, trade or do whatever they want with there tags in exchange for access, habitat improvement and to offset damage.
Again New Mexico residents have the EXACT same opportunity to purchase these or develop relationships as anyone. In fact they have a leg up as they actually live there. It’s not tough. I can give folks examples if they’d like.
These numbers are static. It’s not like residents are getting less tags.
Not all of these tags go for insane prices. I constantly have found tags that cost less than what Non Residents pay in Utah or Wyoming for the cost of their license.
Why are landowners with some skin in the game for allowing access and habitat improvement not allowed to make some cash in such a poor state ?
But most importantly
Any improvement in draw odds would be so minimal would it be worth reducing the help wildlife receives through this program. I would wager that odds on some units will actually get worse.
Residents get 84% in the draw
Resident Guide Pool is 10%
Residents have the same opportunity as NRs to use this guide method
Non Resident Pool is 6%
Landowners that receive tags can keep, sell, trade or do whatever they want with there tags in exchange for access, habitat improvement and to offset damage.
Again New Mexico residents have the EXACT same opportunity to purchase these or develop relationships as anyone. In fact they have a leg up as they actually live there. It’s not tough. I can give folks examples if they’d like.
These numbers are static. It’s not like residents are getting less tags.
Not all of these tags go for insane prices. I constantly have found tags that cost less than what Non Residents pay in Utah or Wyoming for the cost of their license.
Why are landowners with some skin in the game for allowing access and habitat improvement not allowed to make some cash in such a poor state ?
But most importantly
Any improvement in draw odds would be so minimal would it be worth reducing the help wildlife receives through this program. I would wager that odds on some units will actually get worse.
TreeDux
Lil-Rokslider
Residents in NM are guaranteed at least 84%. They generally exceed that as they did in 2025 and appear to have done in 2026 with 88%. That’s where the ~2% comes from. From what I’ve seen most years the outfit pool stays closer to 6%. And that leaves the 6% for non-guided NR hunters. But it’s worth noting that pool is guaranteed nothing except that they cannot exceed 6% and it could easily fall under that.
We’re both saying that residents are not well positioned to see any significant gains in tag allocation whatsoever. But for me the proposal to increase my pool to 10% is significant and barring a glaringly obvious reason not to I would support that.
Regardless of how an individual feels about LO unit wide tags that is a part of the conversation with valid points that can be made on both sides.
We’re both saying that residents are not well positioned to see any significant gains in tag allocation whatsoever. But for me the proposal to increase my pool to 10% is significant and barring a glaringly obvious reason not to I would support that.
Regardless of how an individual feels about LO unit wide tags that is a part of the conversation with valid points that can be made on both sides.
You are on the right track but it isn’t only about the percentage of tags allocated. It is also about the number of tags put into the public draw to begin with. There are two big game “universes” private vs public lands. The public draw is for public lands only. A disproportionate amount of tags make it into the public draw. A rather high amount of the pronghorn, deer, elk tags go into landowner authorizations that are mostly sold to the highest bidding non-residents over the counter with no quota, either sex. Ranches within E-Plus Primary management zones are allocated ranch only or unit wide tags. New Mexico is rather unique in that the state gives elk tags to landowners instead of money for public hunting.
Eliminate land owner tags that are transferable, get rid of the outfitter pool and split the tags 90% to residents and 10% to nonresidents. That would effectively double resident odds and triple nonresident DIY odds. The landowner/outfitter pool in NM getting access to 55% of the pie is nuts and problem #1.
Montana has figured it out with their block management program why don’t you go ask them? Selling preference points to non-residents is one way. Raise non-resident license and tag fees for sure. Levy a 25% or better habitat fee on all guided hunts. Those are just some examples to work with. The money is out there. Not all landowners want to allow public access. And not all of the landowners that get elk tags now would even qualify for public hunting access programs anyway. Ranchers who want to book hunts with draw tag holders could sell trespass for what ever price they want. Plenty of smart people here who will come up with the money if the state legislature forces them to. The resident vote will demand that they do so.
Maverick1
WKR
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2013
- Messages
- 2,804
When did Rokslide turn into the 24 hours of a burning campfire?
Stop the nonsensical back and forth bickering.
Stop the nonsensical back and forth bickering.
Just with elk tags your talking 10m + in lost revenue to nmfg, that’s 20% of fish and games budget.
How about lost outfitting jobs? Lost use permit fees, lost sales tax revenue?
Do you have an actual tangible solution, or just an idea.
And no I’m not going to ask MT.
Montana has its own issues with regards to elk management.
Candidates’ messages:
Senator Marin Heinrich, D-N.M. shared KOB 4’s report on X, calling for changes to the system.
In his statement on social media, Senator Heinrich wrote “It’s gotten harder and harder for New Mexicans to draw a tag. That’s not right. Something has to change.”
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland issued the following statement on the issue:
“As New Mexican hunters find out their big game draw results today, it’s important to recognize the amount of hunting licenses that are going out of state,” Haaland said. “New Mexicans deserve better access to hunting on our public lands, but the current program takes thousand of elk hunting opportunities and allows them to be sold to wealthy out of state hunters. As governor, I’ll work to increase responsible and sustainable hunting opportunities so New Mexicans can continue to practice our hunting traditions.”
Sam Bregman, who is also running for the Democratic nomination, responded with his own statement.
“There are real concerns with the current system that need to be examined. New Mexicans deserve fairness, transparency, and reliable access to our public lands and wildlife and as Governor, I’ll make sure we deliver that,” Bregman said.
www.kob.com
Senator Marin Heinrich, D-N.M. shared KOB 4’s report on X, calling for changes to the system.
In his statement on social media, Senator Heinrich wrote “It’s gotten harder and harder for New Mexicans to draw a tag. That’s not right. Something has to change.”
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland issued the following statement on the issue:
“As New Mexican hunters find out their big game draw results today, it’s important to recognize the amount of hunting licenses that are going out of state,” Haaland said. “New Mexicans deserve better access to hunting on our public lands, but the current program takes thousand of elk hunting opportunities and allows them to be sold to wealthy out of state hunters. As governor, I’ll work to increase responsible and sustainable hunting opportunities so New Mexicans can continue to practice our hunting traditions.”
Sam Bregman, who is also running for the Democratic nomination, responded with his own statement.
“There are real concerns with the current system that need to be examined. New Mexicans deserve fairness, transparency, and reliable access to our public lands and wildlife and as Governor, I’ll make sure we deliver that,” Bregman said.
4 Investigates: Debate grows over New Mexico's Big Game Draw as change is on horizon
More than 290,000 people applied for New Mexico big game tags this year, one in five applicants got good news on Wednesday.
www.kob.com
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