Moving to New Mexico

[Ground Hunter]

Moving in a few weeks to Santa Fe.  Any help on the hunting situation there would be great.  Thanks
I also fly fish so I’ll post something on the other site.
Doc

[DeerSpotter]

About six years ago I had an opportunity to hunt elk in New Mexico. The man that I was going to go with had some kind of owners land tag. He claimed that they cost  $1500 apiece. But he got them for $1500 for both.  Our hunt  was going to start out in Colorado. He got all excited about the New Mexico land tags.  

I backed out of it when it started costing more.  But I've heard some good stories about elk hunting in New Mexico.  If you are resident it should be a lot cheaper.

There's got to be someone on here that knows something about the elk and the deer hunting in New Mexico.

I hope your plans workout well

Carl

[zwickey2bl]

I lived in SW New Mexico for over 10 years. Have also hunted Chama area. There is a lot of great hunting in NM. Elk especially. Deer hunting  is a little spottier, but good in places. Millions of acres of public land that is huntable, but elk tags are by GM unit, so you have to know where you want to hunt, or be willing to travel to where you want to hunt. I don't know much about hunting the Santa Fe area specifically. New Mexico puts out a pretty useful game proclamation every year that has a lot of good info about hunting opportunities. Get one of those and read up for starters. Also get you some U.S. Forest Service maps of areas you want to hunt, they are very useful and quite detailed. Of course a lot of that is available online, but I'm old-school and still like a big old detailed map spread out in front of me.

Hope you enjoy your New Mexico move. My wife is a NM native and we go there as often as possible. Still have lots of family and friends there. It's got it quirks (esp the politics) but all in all has a lot to recommend it. I love the views, the wide-open spaces, and the abundance of public land. And the food. Green chile may be the most perfect thing God created to eat with game meat.

 

[jess stuart]

Lived here all my life.  Plenty of different animals to hunt antelope, deer, elk, mt. lion, black bear, rocky mountain big horn sheep, desert big horn sheep, turkey free range orxy, auodad, turkey.  Deer we have whitetail (very few) coues whitetail and mule deer.  
Now for the fly in the soup so to speak.  You have to draw a tag for most of those species and odds are slim on some.  Do some research on units and draw odds which will help your odds.  

Southern part of the state has more BLM land, they north has much more private so access can be a little harder.  Plenty of National Forest both north and south.  

You should like the climate and the clear skies.  Good luck on your applications.  

Forgot about Ibex and Javalina.

[San Juan Slim]

As a New Mexico native, but a relative newcomer back to the state (as I was gone for about 48 years before returning 3 years ago), I can say that the quality of hunting in New Mexico is excellent.  I drew a once in a lifetime White Sands Missile Range oryx tag and killed a nice oryx (rifle) the first year I was able to apply.  The next year I drew an archery deer license and saw plenty of elk but no shots at deer.  And finally this year I drew an elk license close to home and killed a beautiful 6 point bull with my bow.  

I apply for just about everything available and so far I'm very pleased with the hunting opportunities, just not the license availability, as they are not easy to draw.  We don't have a strong (if any) bowhunter organization and we certainly don't have a traditional group (that I'm aware of).  I spent most of my life in Colorado and they have two wonderful bowhunter groups, Colorado Bowhunters Association and Colorado Traditional Archers Society.  It would be nice to have similar groups in New Mexico, but our population is much smaller than Colorado.

Santa Fe is where NMGF is headquartered so you should be able to visit there and get some tips on where to apply and what to apply for.  There is also a great Public Lands Center south of Santa Fe that sells all the maps you could ever want for NM.  You should enjoy our state--lots of diversity--from high mountains to warm deserts and everything in between.  Happy Hunting!

Mike

[mahantango]

I envy you. I spent a week in Santa Fe a few years ago when my nephew was living there and it quickly became one of my favorite places on Earth.

[Ground Hunter]

Thanks all.  This will be a great new experience.  Doc

[Ray Hammond]

I hunted the Gila public land draw tags twice and had great hunts both years. Killed a colossal bull by my standards the first time- and chased an even bigger one for the entire hunt the following trip but could only get within 40 yards. Awesome hunting lands...beautiful stars at night, cougar, mule deer, mountains, the Continental Divide, and more.

[bucknut]

From my experience it is easier to draw units to the north. However, the terrain is much rougher and elk are more prevalent but The trophy quality is not near what it is in the lower units. Beautiful country throughout. I really loved the Red River area.

John

[snag]

No preference pt. or bonus pt. system in place. So everyone starts out the same. Seems fair enough. But it also means that if the dice doesn’t roll in your favor it could be years before you draw a tag. You could also hunt in Colorado while waiting for that instate tag.

[Ground Hunter]

Snag, that’s kind of my plan.  Still a lot to learn.  LOL. Thanks

[highcountry]

NM is a great place. Don't forget the Rez to the west of Santa Fe. Hunting and some good fishing. Years back I use to shoot some Trad shoots there. Meet some super people. Not sure if they still have Trad shoots on the Rez. The Navajos were attempting to bring it back, less new new tech archery. Milt Been out of Durango/Wildcat Archery would bring his wagon of goods out. Flyfishing north of Sante Fe is awesome(in the summer).Have fun!

[Jon Stewart]

Wife and I spend our winters in New Mexico and it is a great state to visit.  If it wasn't for family I would move there myself. Wife and I went up to Santa Fe for a few days and spent the day in Chimayo, N.M. where there is a Catholic church which is considered a healing mission church. Wife and I went to Mass there and spent the afternoon looking at church relics.

The rest the of time while in N.M. we hunt for Indian artifacts (private land only) and make some nice arrowhead finds. I would suggest that you keep your head down when roaming around as you never know what you will come across.