NM New Minimum Age to Hunt

[Felix40]

This probably isn’t important to too many people here but I’m mad so I can’t help but post it up.

Sometime in the last few months the NMDGF Commission decided they wanted to change the minimum age to buy a hunting license. Before this year there was no minimum. They just required that youth 10 and under take an in person hunter ed course. Without any public comment or even informing their staff, they changed the minimum age to 9.

My son shot his first elk in December. He was excited about applying for deer. He turns 9, 4 days after the application deadline. So without public comment or any kind of announcement, NMDGF locked all accounts of anyone under 9. Now I’m going to have to tell him that we can’t do any of the stuff we usually do. He can’t even buy a license to squirrel hunt. I talked to several game wardens and none of them can cite the new reg. They all have been told different things about what the new rule is too.

The age minimum is less of an issue to me than the back door stuff where there’s no public comment and now my son’s opportunities have been taken away.

I’m sure very few people here will care as much as I do but here’s the email addresses for the Commissioners and Director.

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Michael.sloane@dgf.nm.gov

 

[Felix40]

I got a little more clarification on the new rule. The Commission was supposed to have a meeting to discuss requiring youth 10 and under have completed in person hunter ed in New Mexico. They will no longer recognize other states or online hunter ed for kids 10 and under. The meeting got cancelled for some reason but the Director Mike Sloane decided to enact the new rule on his own very quietly.

I actually don’t have an issue with requiring in person hunter ed for these younger kids but they should have made some announcement about the change. My son took an online version during Covid and now it’s not valid. We don’t have a lot of time to get enrolled in a class before the draw deadline. If I hadn’t spent all day trying to figure this out they never would have told us about the new rule.

There’s one class scheduled in the county we live in and only 12 spots available for it. When registration opens we just have to hope we are fast enough. I expect there will be a lot of kids who arent able to hunt because they didn’t have time to get into a class before the draw deadline.

Edited because I got the “correct” info now.

 

[MikeDeltaFoxtrot]

Sounds like someone might hire a lawyer and run to court, but that of course costs money.

 

[butcherboy]

Sounds like NM politics at its finest. I don’t have a problem with a minimum age to be able to hunt at 10 years old. I think way too many dads are getting their kids shooting big game animals at too early of an age. You can still take them on your hunts to keep them interested, rabbit hunting, coyotes, fishing, etc. I took hunters ed when I was 10 and didn’t actually hunt for myself till I was 11. Tagged along with my dad and older brothers on their hunts.

Did they get rid of the mentor youth program? I also thought the minimum age and hunter ed rule change was originally for nonresident youth hunters?

 

[flathead#2]

Yep, NM govt. hard at work.

 

[Danomite]

Thanks for posting this and for doing the research. I have an 8 year old son that this affects. I’m going to contact the Commission, though it will probably fall on deaf ears.

 

[roadrunner]

New governor = new game commission = new director.

One can always hope for the land of make believe I guess...

 

[Yoder]

If you can't get him in to the class, I would get a tag for myself. Bring one rifle and let the kid shoot and keep my mouth shut. Honestly, what does it matter as long as you tag it and do everything else legal? We have mentored youth hunts in my state that work the same way. F them.

 

[ShakeDown]

I shot my first deer in NM at 9. What a bummer how this was handled.

 

[dtrkyman]

The American way, gov. over reach!

 

[CMF]

If you can't get him in to the class, I would get a tag for myself. Bring one rifle and let the kid shoot and keep my mouth shut. Honestly, what does it matter as long as you tag it and do everything else legal? We have mentored youth hunts in my state that work the same way. F them.

This^
If I were a nm resident, that's what I'd do. There's no age in MS, 2 of my kids got their first deer at 8, and the other at 9. My daughter could have got one at 6 or 7, but we just never got the right opportunity.
I think it should be up to the parents to decide when they're ready, every kid is different.
I'll have to see if my 10yo qualifies this year, he won't be 11 until April. He actually drew a NM elk tag this past year, but we didn't get one. He was super excited for the hunt since his brother got one in NM when he was 11(profile pic)with a muzzy.

 

[butcherboy]

I guess I have a different take on it. Like I said earlier, no problem with having a minimum age requirement. Watched a video the other day of a 6 year old boy that shot a really nice bighorn sheep in NM. Dad set him up, worked the bolt for him, put the bullet in, closed the bolt, safety on. When the shot was ready the dad then took the safety off for him. The kid did make a nice shot but had no reaction. No excitement, no smiles, nothing. Dad kept asking him if he was excited and the young boy would just “yeah” and that’s it. He didn’t fully understand what he was doing or what happened.

Watched a game commission meeting from earlier in the fall where they first started addressing the hunter safety issue. They showed a graph of the ages of kids that put in for hunts. It ranged from 3 years old to 18 years old. They investigated the 3 year old one and it was legitimate! A 3 year old, seriously?! We all know who the hunter was. All done for the YouTube fans and instafame clicks.

Kids need a goal to strive for like the day they get to take Hunter safety and go hunting. I believe UT and CO have a minimum age requirement as well.

I hate the politics in my state and dislike the current idiot governor. We had a republican governor before her and she might as well have been a liberal democrat.

I think 10 is a good age but I’m not opposed to it being 8 either but that has to depend on the maturity level of the kid.

 

[Felix40]

I guess I have a different take on it. Like I said earlier, no problem with having a minimum age requirement. Watched a video the other day of a 6 year old boy that shot a really nice bighorn sheep in NM. Dad set him up, worked the bolt for him, put the bullet in, closed the bolt, safety on. When the shot was ready the dad then took the safety off for him. The kid did make a nice shot but had no reaction. No excitement, no smiles, nothing. Dad kept asking him if he was excited and the young boy would just “yeah” and that’s it. He didn’t fully understand what he was doing or what happened.

Watched a game commission meeting from earlier in the fall where they first started addressing the hunter safety issue. They showed a graph of the ages of kids that put in for hunts. It ranged from 3 years old to 18 years old. They investigated the 3 year old one and it was legitimate! A 3 year old, seriously?! We all know who the hunter was. All done for the YouTube fans and instafame clicks.

Kids need a goal to strive for like the day they get to take Hunter safety and go hunting. I believe UT and CO have a minimum age requirement as well.

I hate the politics in my state and dislike the current idiot governor. We had a republican governor before her and she might as well have been a liberal democrat.

I think 10 is a good age but I’m not opposed to it being 8 either but that has to depend on the maturity level of the kid.

We could argue back and forth about a minimum age all day. Every kid is so different that it’s hard to make a rule that’s perfect for everyone. 9 isn’t terrible but the way they tried to do this without the commission approving it or putting it out there to the public is messed up. It took me 4 days to get a legit answer on why my kid couldn’t buy a license.

Another issue I have is that he was able to elk hunt in December but the new rule basically said he’s not good enough now. So the day he was “striving for” when he took the hunter ed test online and was able to get his first hunting license would have been taken away. No game hunting license means no small game either. He has been talking nonstop about how the shot went down and how he can’t wait to deer hunt. He burns through .410 ammo faster than I can find it to buy. Definitely not a kid who doesn’t care.

I think allowing kids who are mature to bypass the minimum by taking a class and showing they understand things is fair. That’s why I don’t think the rule change would be that bad but they need to put out a public statement and allow parents more than a month to get their kid in a class. These classes are two full days and a parent has to go with them. Getting time off on a specific weekend with a month notice can be hard.

 

[Felix40]

I did get an update on this deal. They removed the age limit to buy a license for now. The commission is meeting again sometime in March to discuss it further. If they pass the rule change it will give kids like 1 week to find a class or just not hunt. I would encourage folks to ask them to wait to enforce the rule until 2025 so we can have more time to get into classes. Just my opinion.

 

[CMF]

I did get an update on this deal. They removed the age limit to buy a license for now. The commission is meeting again sometime in March to discuss it further. If they pass the rule change it will give kids like 1 week to find a class or just not hunt. I would encourage folks to ask them to wait to enforce the rule until 2025 so we can have more time to get into classes. Just my opinion.

I emailed them.

Kids need a goal to strive for like the day they get to take Hunter safety and go hunting. I believe UT and CO have a minimum age requirement as well.

I think 10 is a good age but I’m not opposed to it being 8 either but that has to depend on the maturity level of the kid.

By the time they're 10, the majority of kids are already on cell phones, getting into sports and other things. Having a tag in their pocket earlier means parents are more likely to get them in the field and into hunting earlier even if they don't fill a tag. I spent 6 days with my 10yo on his elk hunt, and 8days with my 13yo mule deer hunting nm this year. Neither killed, but we had a great time and they got good experience. If my kids wouldn't have drawn, we'd have no NM tags this past year.

 

[butcherboy]

I agree with you Felix on a lot of your points. Definitely garbage the way G&F went about this. I think a minimum age would be good if they changed it and say starting in 2025 and then grandfather in all the kids who already have a hunters education card.

My son went through the mentor youth program because we couldn’t find a class near us to take. Next year when he was 10 he took the online course and I sat there with him through the whole thing. He didn’t draw a single tag in 2023 so we were extremely lucky to get him a youth encouragement tag in about 1 second online before they all sold out. Good program there but it’s a joke because they are gone so fast and only have them for a few units. He didn’t get one on this hunt either. Lots of snow and no elk. Very nocturnal and a full moon.

 

[cuerro viejo]

I thought kids could do the on line NM hunter ed class?



edit-Hunters 10 years of age and older have the option of earning their New Mexico hunter education certification completely online. Courses are entirely online and the certification is recognized in all 50 state—

 

[butcherboy]

I emailed them.


By the time they're 10, the majority of kids are already on cell phones, getting into sports and other things. Having a tag in their pocket earlier means parents are more likely to get them in the field and into hunting earlier even if they don't fill a tag. I spent 6 days with my 10yo on his elk hunt, and 8days with my 13yo mule deer hunting nm this year. Neither killed, but we had a great time and they got good experience. If my kids wouldn't have drawn, we'd have no NM tags this past year.

Age of kids hunting is a slippery slope. All 3 of my kids are in sports but they also like to hunt and fish because I took them out with me doing those things. They couldn’t hunt big game but we did rabbits and coyotes. We fished in ponds and lakes. Then graduated to streams and rivers. We shoot rifles and bows year round. The interest will always be there if we as the parents help to keep it there. Doesn’t mean we focus solely on hunting or sports. Like it was said before. Each kid is different so activities have to change for each one. I know because I almost lost my son to going hunting because I pushed him harder than I should have. Found out he was scared of the recoil of a rifle so I had to drop down from my 270 to a 25-06 and had him shoot off a led slead first. Went to normal shooting off a tripod after that and all he wants now is his own “big” rifle. Lol I took him out 4 days on my archery elk hunt last year and he loved it. He wasn’t holding the license but he got to experience everything about it.

What I’m more concerned about is the lack of tags actually available for youth only. The other problem is drawing those tags on a regular basis. I can’t afford to buy landowner tags, even for a cow elk. I also wish the youth hunts weren’t happening at the same time as a regular hunt. They each should have their own time.

 

[Felix40]

I agree with you Felix on a lot of your points. Definitely garbage the way G&F went about this. I think a minimum age would be good if they changed it and say starting in 2025 and then grandfather in all the kids who already have a hunters education card.

My son went through the mentor youth program because we couldn’t find a class near us to take. Next year when he was 10 he took the online course and I sat there with him through the whole thing. He didn’t draw a single tag in 2023 so we were extremely lucky to get him a youth encouragement tag in about 1 second online before they all sold out. Good program there but it’s a joke because they are gone so fast and only have them for a few units. He didn’t get one on this hunt either. Lots of snow and no elk. Very nocturnal and a full moon.

That’s exactly how mine was able to get a cow tag. Super lucky to get a tag for our home unit where elk are everywhere. I think there were 7 tags left when I checked out. Killed one 2 miles from the house.

 

[roadrunner]

Before anyone says there are plenty youth opportunities if you just look and plan, it isn't always that simple.

Beyond popular belief, not everyone has "unlimited" funds, time, or ability to chase youth opportunities from wherever.

Many rely on their home state. Without the chance to go for big game and fill a tag, the interest can be easily lost.