RepoRteR Winter 2016 Sportsmen dunned for $1 millionthenewmexicosportsman.com/wp-content/uploads/Winter-2016-online.pdfare our best hope for keeping rare spe-cies off the federal endangered

New Mexico hunters, anglers and trap-pers will pay a whopping $1 million to the State Land Office this year for access to State Trust Land.

The State Game Commission ap-proved the deal in November. Commis-sioners protested but agreed to pay the fee – a five-fold increase over the amount paid last year. Only Commissioner Ralph Ramos voted against it.

So what do sportsmen and women get for their million dollars? Not enough, said New Mexico Wildlife Federation President John Crenshaw.

“This was little more than highway robbery, and we got held up by our State Land Commissioner, Aubrey Dunn,” Crenshaw said. “One million dollars

was an exorbitant demand, but Mr. Dunn knew he had sportsmen over a barrel. We had no choice but to keep open millions of acres that many of us have used for generations.”

The new agreement, which takes ef-fect April 1, 2016, does expand camp-ing, though not as much as NMWF and a few other sportsmen’s organizations had hoped. In a letter to the Game Com-mission and Dunn last August, NMWF had asked for unrestricted camping for licensed hunters.

As of early January, Game and Fish

was still negotiating with Dunn’s office over where camping will be allowed. It could be as few as five or six addition-al areas, or as many as 20, according to Game and Fish Director Alexa Sandoval. The new areas will be posted online be-fore hunting begins.

Perhaps more important to many li-censed hunters, anglers and trappers is better access to State Trust Lands. In the past, some tracts might have five or six legal access points, but the lessee would

Winter 2016RepoRteR

New Mexico Wildlife Federation

Morning mist reflections, Hopewell Lake

Chris Fresquez of Española was fishing at Hopewell Lake with his family on a misty morning this summer when he captured this amazing photograph – truly New Mexico at its finest. The judges in our 2015 NMWF Photo Contest thought it stood out for its composition and airy feel, and awarded Chris our top prize. For all of this year’s Photo Contest winners and runners-up, see Pages 8-9. And it’s not too early to think about the 2016 contest – send your entries to [email protected].

Sportsmen dunned for $1 million

D. W. CritchfieldSpecial to New Mexico Wildlife Federation

It was a gorgeous blue-sky day in the Bootheel, Feb-ruary 1 and opening day of javelina season. My pickup was low on gas by the time I got to Deming, so I pulled in at the first filling station. I men-tioned to the old man who ran the place that I was fixing to hunt ja-velina.

“Javelina are good eatin’,” he told me, “if you know how to cook ‘em.”

Naturally I was curious, so I asked how javelina were supposed to be cooked, but he confessed he didn’t know. I also asked about places to hunt javelina. He wasn’t able to tell me much about that either. Only that Black Mountain was said to be a good area.

I thanked him for the tip, then drove into town to look for a place to eat.

A subtle warningIt was the first time I ever set out to hunt javelina in

the Bootheel. It was also the first time I ever heard the lowdown on eating javelina – that they’re “good eating

if you know how to cook ’em.”That statement has a nice ring to it, like a true West-

ern saying. There was only one problem: how to cook ‘em was an open question. I sure didn’t know. Nobody else did either, for all I could tell. It looked to me like there was only one way to solve the mystery.

But first, I needed to get myself a javelina. Then I could figure out for myself exactly how to cook ’em. I had a hunch the first part – getting a javelina – was not going to be easy.

The Bootheel region straddles nearly 1 million acres of public and private land. That’s 1 mil-lion acres of desert, littered with more than a billion dark, amor-phous rocks. It is a lot of rocky ground to cover with a .30-30 and a pair of 7x35 binoculars. From a distance, javelinas look just like

dark, amorphous rocks. Finding a javelina was shaping up to be a bigger problem than figuring out how to cook one. I was at a loss where to start.

Narrowing the prospectsAt first glance the Bootheel appears to be a waste-

Bootheel javelina – Mystery quarry proves tricky to find, but tasty in the end

By Joel GayNew Mexico Wildlife Federation

Shortly after the State Game Commission in Novem-ber agreed to spend a record $1 million for access to State Trust Land, it also turned down federal grants worth nearly $10 million over the next 10 years that would help pay the cost of managing nongame species.

After ranchers and the oil industry came out strongly against a Department of Game and Fish planning docu-ment that is required to get the federal grants, the Game Commission sided with special interests and voted against getting the additional funding.

It was a financial one-two punch to those who pay the bills at the Department of Game and Fish – licensed hunters and anglers. The two Commission decisions mean sportsmen and women will have to shell out near-ly $2 million more this year and every year going for-ward to get the same level of service they have in the past, which will inevitably lead to license fee increases.

New Mexico Wildlife Federation Executive Garrett VeneKlasen slammed the Commission’s decision to kill the State Wildlife Action Plan and thereby turn down grants that in the last decade provided $14 million to manage nongame species and to help keep those species

See “Dunn,” Page 13

Inside: • Patience pays off for 69-year-old hunter – Page 4

• Good luck or good karma yields monster buck – Page 5

• Taos teen wins national award – Page 14

See “Javelina,” Page 6

Commission gives special interests nod over science

Rally aims to derail publicland transferscheme

See “Science,” Page 12

See “Rally,” Page 3

New Mexico hunters and anglers have come a long way since the New Mexico Wildlife Federation was formed a cen-tury ago. Our wildlife populations have bounced back and, for the most part, are thriving. We have a system of wildlife management that, theoretically at least, works on behalf of everyday hunters and anglers rather than special interests. Land and wildlife managers are begin-ning to understand the importance of landscape-scale habitat work to protect our watersheds.

But there remains a looming threat to the very future of our hunting and fishing tradition in New Mexico – the potential loss of more than 20 million acres of na-tional forest and BLM lands.

Powerful anti-public lands forces con-tinue to push their radical agenda, in-cluding the idea of transferring national public lands to individual states. In New Mexico, these forests, streams, moun-tains and plains – which are currently owned by and open to all Americans – would fall under the control of one per-son, the Commissioner of Public Lands,

NMWF Outdoor Reporter • Winter 2016

by John Crenshaw, PresidentNew Mexico WIidlife Federation

New Mexico Wildlife Federation will be at the Legislature full time again this year, leading off with our second Rally for Public Lands on Thursday, Jan. 21, to firmly re-establish New Mexicans’ deep-seated opposition to any giveaways or massive sell-offs of National Forest, Bu-reau of Land Management or any other federal lands to the state or to private inter-ests. Come join us and make it even bigger than last year’s.

But first some good news:

Game and Fish Depart-ment Direc-tor Alexandra Sandoval tells us that fewer than 10 percent of the department’s staff positions are vacant – a remarkable change from a 24 percent vacancy rate in December 2012.

With new game wardens now in their districts and others in training, the war-den force is down to a 6 percent vacancy rate. Three years ago, 25 percent of the warden and 27 percent of the biologist

positions were open, retirements and res-ignations were outpacing recruitment, and New Mexico salaries for wardens had the abysmal distinction of being the lowest in the West.

NMWF lobbied legislators and game commissioners to call attention to the salary and retention problems, but credit where it’s due: The turnaround came af-ter agency administrators fought hard to

bring salaries for wardens – and biologists, IT specialists and other em-ployees – up to competi-tive standards and launched intensive re-cruiting ef-forts that are paying off.

If the Gov-ernor’s Office and Legisla-ture concur, the Depart-ment could

add another 10 district game wardens and two computer tech specialists. The law enforcement slots would be dedi-cated to district-level warden positions. NMWF will actively support the neces-sary budget increase.

We will also support proposed legisla-tion to consolidate the $5 Habitat stamp

and $4 Habitat Manage-ment and Access Vali-dation stamp into a sin-gle $9 fee simply add-ed to the cost of game hunting and combina-tion game hunting and fishing licenses. Simpli-fication is good.

And some bad news: I’ve attended State

Game Commission meetings since the mid-1970s and seen both vi-sionary leadership and disappointments, but I have to rate the Com-mission’s killing of the Statewide Wildlife Ac-tion Plan – and the $9 million-plus in federal dollars that would have funded it over the next decade – as the single most discouraging vote I’ve witnessed.

The rejected plan was a comprehensive and meticulously scientific document summarizing the status of 455 nongame species within New Mexico, including the rarest of the rare. And it sent the pe-troleum and agriculture industries into unwarranted fits.

While seeming to accept industries’ warnings that the plan would inevitably lead to federal endangered species list-ings and regulatory strangulation, the Commission ignored clear wording in the document that SWAP “is a planning,

not regulatory, document without force in law.” It further notes that Con-gress initiated the grants program in 2002 as a “proactive and collab-orative means to avoid species becoming listed as threatened or endan-gered.”

The Commissioners – four of whom have been on the job for four or more years – also overlooked the fact that the original 10-year nongame plan, called the Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation

Strategy, was launched in 2005. It’s simply an earlier

version of the same document they re-jected in November, yet has been work-ing under their own watch without draw-ing their attention and certainly without cratering the economy.

There may still be a chance for correc-tive action, and we hope the Commission takes it. But as things stand, the Depart-ment will have to use sportsmen’s and women’s dollars to fund programs that are our best hope for keeping rare spe-cies off the federal endangered species list. If some do get listed because of this travesty, the petroleum and agriculture industry representatives who persuaded the Commission to kill the plan deserve to live with the results.

Page 2

President’s Message:

Mixed news for hunters, anglers going into 2016

The Outdoor Reporter is a quarterly publication of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, a nonprofit organization working to protect the rights and traditions of New Mexico hunters and anglers since 1914. For more information or to join NMWF, visit www.nmwildlife.org. To advertise in the Outdoor Reporter call (505) 299-5404.

New Mexico Wildlife Federation staff

Executive Director Garrett VeneKlasen Operations Director Ric Armstrong Conservation Director Todd Leahy Communications Director Susan Torres Outdoor Reporter Editor Joel Gay Sportsman Coordinator John Cornell Sportsman Coordinator Max Trujillo Chief Financial Officer Karla Castle Office Manager Susan Calt

New Mexico sportsmen protecting our outdoor way of life since 1914Opportunity • Habitat • Youth

(505) 299-5404 • www.nmwildlife.org121 Cardenas Drive NE, Albuquerque NM 87108

John Crenshaw

Por John Crenshaw, PresidenteNew Mexico Wildlife Federation

New Mexico Wildlife Federation será en el tiempo completo Legislatura de nuevo este año, en la apertura de nuestro segundo “Celebracion de Tierras Públi-cas” el jueves 21 de enero, a la firmeza restablecer profunda oposición de los ciudadanos de Nuevo Mexicano a los ventas masivas de National Forest, Bu-reau of Land Management o cualesquiera otras tierras federales al estado o a los in-tereses privados. Ven y únete a nosotros y hacer que sea aún más grande que el del año pasado.

En primer lugar, la buena noticia:Department of Game & Fish Direc-

tora Alexandra Sandoval nos dice que menos del 10 por ciento de los puestos de personal del departamento están va-cantes - un notable cambio de una tasa de vacantes del 24 por ciento en diciem-bre de 2012. Con los nuevos guardas de caza ahora en sus distritos y otros en formación, el alcaide la fuerza se ha re-ducido a una tasa de vacantes del 6 por ciento. Hace tres años, el 25 por ciento de la guardia y el 27 por ciento de las posi-ciones biólogo estaban abiertas, las jubi-

laciones y renuncias fueron superando a la contratación, y los salarios de Nuevo México para guardias tuvo la distinción de ser el abismal más bajo en el Oeste.

NMWF presionó a los legisladores y los comisionados del departamento para llamar la atención sobre los problemas de sueldos y retención, pero el crédito donde es debido: El cambio se produjo después de que los administradores de las agencias lucharon duro para llevar los salarios de los guardias - y biólogos, especialistas en IT y otros empleados - a las normas de competencia y esfuerzos lanzados reclutamiento intensivo que es-tán dando sus frutos.

Si Gov. Susana Martinez y la Legisla-tura coinciden, el Departamento podría añadir otros 10 distritos guardas de caza y dos especialistas en tecnología infor-mática. Las posiciones vacante de las fuerzas del orden se dedicarían a posi-ciones alcaide a nivel de distrito. NMWF apoyará activamente el aumento del pre-supuesto necesario.

También apoyamos la legislación pro-puesta para consolidar los precios de los $5 Habitat Stamp y $4 Habitat Manage-ment and Access Validation stamp en una única cuota de $9 simplemente aña-

dido al coste de la caza y la caza de com-binación y las licencias de pesca. La sim-plificación es buena.

Y la mala noticia:He asistido a reuniones de la Game

Commission desde mediados de la déca-da de 1970 y visto tanto el liderazgo vi-sionario y decepciones, pero tengo que calificar el asesinato de la Comisión del Statewide Wildlife Action Plan - y los $9 millones o más en dólares federales que habría financiado que durante la próxima década - como el voto más desalentador solo he sido testigo.

El plan fue rechazado un documento amplio y meticulosamente científica que resume el estado de 455 especies nativas (que no cazamos ) dentro de Nuevo Méxi-co, entre ellos el más raro de los raros. Y envió a las industrias del petróleo y la agricultura en una rabieta injustificados.

Si bien parecía aceptar las adverten-cias de las industrias de que el plan con-duciría inevitablemente a especies lista-dos en peligro de extinción federales y estrangulamiento regulador, la Comisión ignoró redacción clara en el documen-to que SWAP “es una planificación, no normativo, documento sin fuerza en la ley.” Además, toma nota que el Congre-

so inició el programa de becas en 2002 como un “medio proactivo y de colabo-ración para evitar convertirse en especies listadas como amenazadas o en peligro.”

Los Comisionados - cuatro de los cu-ales han estado en el tablero durante cu-atro o más años - también pasa por alto el hecho de que el plan “nongame” origi-nal de 10 años, llamó a la Comprehen-sive Wildlife Conservation Strategy, fue lanzado en el año 2005. Se trata simple-mente de una versión anterior de la mis-mo documento rechazaron en noviem-bre, sin embargo, ha estado trabajando bajo su propio reloj sin llamar su aten-ción y, desde luego, sin la formación de cráteres de la economía.

Todavía puede ser una oportunidad para la acción correctiva, y esperamos que la Comisión toma. Pero tal como están las cosas, el Departamento tendrá que usar dólares de los deportistas y las mujeres para financiar programas que son nuestra mejor esperanza para mantener especies raras de la lista de especies en peligro fed-eral. Si algunos no estar en la lista debido a esta parodia, los representantes de la in-dustria del petróleo y la agricultura que persuadieron a la Comisión para matar el plan merecen vivir con los resultados.

Noticias mixtas para deportistas de entrar en 2016

“If some [species] do get listed because of this travesty, the petroleum and agriculture industry people who persuaded the Commission to kill the plan deserve to live with the results.”

Follow us on Facebook! www.facebook.com/nmwildlife Page 3

whose sole responsibility is to make a profit off those lands through sale, trade, development or lease.

Think it can’t happen? Think again. Both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate have passed resolutions in support of this transfer of our heritage, and many of the 2016 presidential candidates say they do, too. All it would take is for Congress to pass legislation and the president to sign it and tens of millions of acres of national public lands would begin their transition to private control.

Hunters, anglers and all other public lands users need to speak out loud and clear against this greedy scheme. Sportsmen’s organizations are holding rallies all over the nation, including in Santa Fe on Thursday, Jan. 21.

Please join your fellow public lands users at the State Capitol (Roundhouse) at 2 p.m., and tell our elected of-ficials to KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY PUBLIC LANDS!

It is crucial for sportsmen and women to show up and speak out. Take a day off work – tell your boss you’re sick (from the thought of losing our national forests and BLM lands).

So bring a friend, bring your kids, bring your parents, but plan to attend. If you need help with transportation, call us at (505) 299-5404.

Continued from Page 1

WE WANT YOU at our Public Lands Rally!State Capitol

BuildingSanta Fe

Thursday, Jan. 21, 2 p.m.Questions? (505) 328-8789

Public lands still under radical threat of transfer

Public lands users in Las Cruces should be happy to know that Rep. Bealquin (Bill) Gomez has switched sides on the question of transferring millions of acres of national public lands to the state of New Mexico.

Last year, Gomez and others on the House Agricul-ture, Water and Wildlife Committee voted in favor of House Bill 291, which sought to establish a “federal land management study commission.” Although the bill’s supporters, including sponsor Rep. Yvette Herrell of Alamogordo, called it “just a study,” it was widely seen as a way to justify the transfer idea to Congress.

After winning approval from its first committee, however, the bill ran into stiff opposition from sports-men, among others. It was tabled by the House Judi-ciary Committee.

But after the legislative session, when the New Mex-ico Wildlife Federation informed the constituents of both Rep. Gomez and Rep. Bobby Gonzales of Taos that the two were among those who supported House Bill 291, Gomez told NMWF he is actually on the other side.

“I am completely against the transfer of public lands to any other organization, especially the state, as there is no way the state can afford to take over the cost be-

ing covered by the federal government,” he wrote in an email. “Just think how many good paying jobs are being provided by the Forest Service, the BLM, the National Park Service, etc.”

In addition, Gomez noted, transferring millions of acres of national forest and BLM land to New Mexico would likely eliminate the Payment in Lieu of Taxes – millions of dollars that go directly to the counties most affected by national land ownership.

NMWF President John Crenshaw said he was glad to see Gomez on the same side as sportsmen and other public lands users. “All our state legislators should see this the same way Rep. Gomez does – that transferring these lands to New Mexico could bankrupt the state.” he said.

New Mexico’s budget has tumbled as oil and gas rev-enues have fallen, Crenshaw pointed out. “If we had to pick up the cost of fighting another Las Conchas Fire or Whitewater Baldy this coming summer, it would be devastating not only to the forest, but to our schools, roads and other services funded by the state. We sim-ply cannot afford to manage an additional 20 million acres.”

Las Cruces lawmaker switches sides, joins sportsmen on public lands issue

New Mexico sportsmen and women have been 10 for 10 in the last three legislative sessions in helping de-feat bills that, either directly or indirectly, supported the idea of transferring millions of acres of national public lands to state control.

The bills ranged from outright demands that Con-gress hand over some 20 million acres of national for-ests, BLM and other lands sportsmen and women use to memorials – which are merely legislative “suggestions” – that the transfer scheme be studied.

As of early January, when this issue of the Outdoor Reporter went to press, however, no bills regarding the transfer of public lands had been pre-filed by legislators for this session. That doesn’t mean there won’t be any – legislators’ deadline for filing is Feb. 3.

But it’s also possible that legislators have seen their previous efforts crumple under the combined opposi-tion of hunters, anglers, hikers, campers and others who use and appreciate national public lands just the way

they are – public.“It would save everyone a lot of time and effort if

those who support this cockamamie idea of turning over our national forests and BLM lands to the state would simply give it up,” said John Crenshaw, presi-dent of New Mexico Wildlife Federation. “There may be a small constituency that supports the transfer, but the vast majority of Americans understand the value of keeping public lands in public hands.”

Sportsmen’s organizations nationwide have joined to-gether to oppose transfer legislation, among them the National Wildlife Federation and all 49 of its affiliates, Trout Unlimited, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Na-tional Wild Turkey Federation, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Boone & Crockett Club and others.

The transfer movement persists, even after numerous studies by individual states have shown that some trans-ferred lands would have to be sold immediately simply to pay for the additional cost of managing them, and the

rest would have to be drilled, logged, mined or grazed at far higher rates in order for the state to “break even.”

In New Mexico, any transferred lands would likely come under the control of the State Land Office, where one individual has ultimate authority over the decision to lease, trade, sell them off or close them to public ac-cess. Since 1912, past Land Commissioners have sold off about one third of the 13 million-plus acres of fed-eral lands originally given to the state.

“Sportsmen are tired of fighting this battle over a ri-diculous idea – that the state could do a better job of managing these lands than the feds,” Crenshaw said. “But we will not let down, or back off, or give up on our duty to make sure these lands stay in the public domain.”

. . . Rally crucial for sportsmen


Ernie Gay spent about 20 years trying to locate tro-phy elk for his rifle and bowhunting clients, then an-other 20 trying to find one for himself. He hunts public land only, and while his 69-year-old knees aren’t what they used to be, he likes roadless areas because that’s where the big ones are.

Gay knows his hunting years are limited, so imagine his surprise this fall when he finally took the bull of his dreams – an 8x7 monster a hair under 403 inches when measured green.

“It was just one of those things,” he says modestly. “I guess it was just my turn.”

Gay (no relation to NMWF Communications Direc-tor Joel Gay) grew up in Lordsburg but spent his sum-mers in Alpine, Ariz., where his parents had bought a golf course. When he was old enough he took over the family business, which meant he was free every fall to hunt elk.

Back then, in the 1960s, there weren’t many bow-hunters, but Gay said he liked the challenge. And soon enough other bowhunters were asking for his help on both sides of the Arizona/New Mexico border. “I was about the only archery guide available up there and peo-ple started gravitating to me,” he said. His guiding busi-ness never got too big. “For me it was more just a love of hunting.”

But about 20 years ago Gay moved to Santa Fe, drop-ping his guide business and instead focusing on the restaurant business. (One of his new contacts was La Fonda Hotel, where he eventually became fast friends and hunting buddies with Lane Warner, who writes the “Chef’s Corner” column in every issue of the Outdoor Reporter.)

By then Gay had either killed or helped find dozens of big bulls, and since he didn’t need a lot of meat, he didn’t need an elk every year. So he gave himself a tar-get for his future hunting adventures: “I had my goals set on 380 bull or nothing – I just wanted a big trophy for myself,” he said.

Since then he’s hunted in New Mexico, Arizona, Col-orado and Utah, with a few trips to Montana, just look-ing for that big bull. “I’ve never pulled back the string until this one,” he said. “I’ve passed up a lot of bulls, but I stayed true to my goal.”

Gay still keeps horses, and now that he’s retired he spends a lot of time horseback, just looking. “All sum-mer long I ride two or three days a week, just looking around,” he said. “After about July I start looking for large bulls in Arizona, but I always try to get a tag in Catron County,” which is his way of being wily: Catron County contains all or part of seven GMUs.

He has roamed all over the Gila backcountry, but about three years ago started seeing bulls in some un-likely places, he said. This particular unit doesn’t have a lot of elk, “but it has some big ones.”

Last fall he and a hunting partner both drew the same unit, though Gay drew the second bow hunt and his buddy drew the first. Gay said he had scouted the area thoroughly beforehand, and three days before the first hunt spotted a monster bull across a canyon, maybe a mile away.

“I could see him moving like he was bugling, but there was no sound.” When he rode closer, he discovered why. “He was only growling and chuckling,” not bugling the typical long, high note Gay was expecting.

But he was big. “I knew he was a good bull – the one I wanted.”

Yet when his friend start-ed hunting, he and Gay spent three days looking but couldn’t find the monster. “I was a little discouraged,” and his buddy ended up hunting lesser bulls. When the hunt was near-ly over, a Las Cruces couple came into their camp and mentioned something along the lines of: “You should have seen the bull we saw.” Then they said it wasn’t re-ally bugling, just growling and chuckling.

When Gay’s hunt started, “I passed up two or three pretty good bulls the first three days.” On the fourth day he sat in a promising saddle at sun-up, but climbed about 150 yards higher as the morning wore on.

“As soon as I went up I heard this bull right down where I had been 15 minutes earlier. I took off running down the hill, and told my buddy, ‘Whoa, stop, I smell him – he’s gotta be close.’”

Gay dropped into a 3-foot-deep sandy wash sur-

rounded by thick brush, and started walking. Suddenly a huge bull stepped out of the wash just 10 feet away. “I was in the wash and he was on top, and about 12 feet up in the air all I see is rack. He’s just a monster. He’s big-ger than 380,” he told himself.

Finally, after 20 years of looking and not finding, Gay said he pulled his bowstring, hoping the elk would keep walking out into a shoot-ing lane. Then it stopped. “I think he sensed my buddy. He twirled around and was within 3 feet of me – it almost made me flinch.”

The bull dropped back into the draw but Gay couldn’t see him through the bushes. Then, at about 10 yards, the animal

got tangled in some brush. As it worked itself free, Gay worked into position. It was quartering away, and when it stopped again at about 15 yards, Gay fired through a gap in the brush that perfectly framed the bull’s vitals.

“I had a 24-inch window straight into his lungs,” he said. “That arrow was gone the second he stopped. I didn’t see it hit, but I heard it and I knew I hit him good, and I knew I hit him in the lungs.”

Yet when he and his partner started looking a half-hour later, they found torn-up ground but no blood. They followed the tracks for about 80 yards, Gay said, and finally spotted a stream of blood. Twenty yards far-ther was the bull, laid over and dead.

“Holy mackerel,” Gay recalled saying, “he’s 20 inch-

es bigger than I thought.” In fact, the green score was 402-7/8 – more or less what he’d been hoping for all these years. After drying, the Pope & Young score was 399-7/8. “He’s just a toad.”

A lifetime of careful, calculated elk hunting had just paid off, he said. “I don’t just hunt. I find an animal and I hunt it,” he said. “It all came together this year. I kinda served my time, and it all came together right then.”

Over the years his buddies have razzed him about passing up big bulls while he dreamed about a 380-inch-er. His response was simple: “You’re never going to kill a 380 if you kill a 350 instead.”

While the elk met all his trophy criteria, it represent-ed much more to Gay, he said. “I’m getting older and running out of time. But I still took this bull about 2 miles into a roadless area and walked in.” Being 69 and world-wise, he walked back out and got his horses to do the heavy work.

But his trophy is a good example for everyone whose knees are creaky and whose hair is going gray. “Hunt-ing keeps me in shape,” he said. “That’s why I do it.” Gay had a heart stent operation about 10 years ago, he said, when he weighed 280 pounds. He’s now closer to 180. “I’m in better shape now than I was at 58.”

Even with a 400-class bull under his belt, Gay said he will continue to apply for New Mexico elk hunts. “I might lower my standard a little bit now,” he laughed. “I may settle on a 340.”

He also said his sights have shifted. “I may try to get a 120-inch Coues,” he said. That’s a tall order, given how hard it is to bowhunt deer in southwestern New Mexico, but Gay said he’s game. “You just have to get close enough…”

Page 4

Longtime bowhunter Ernie Gay of Santa Fe waited 40 years for the bull he always wanted. His patience paid off this year in the Gila region when he harvested a bull that measured a hair under 403 inches green, and 399-7/8 after drying. Ironically, the bull came off public land in Catron County, which has voiced strong support for transferring the Gila National Forest to state control. (Photo courtesy Jim Armbrust)

Patience pays off with 400-inch,backcountry public land bull

“It all came together this year. I kinda served my time, and it all came together right then.”

– Ernie Gay


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It was opening morning of deer season in northern New Mexico – on a tract of public land “on or near” Rio Grande del Norte National Monument – and Bruce Richardson of Chimayó was driving back for breakfast when he spotted something suspicious about 120 yards off the road.

“I saw a big gray log on a steep hill-side, and it had a bunch of branches sticking out of it,” he recalled. A quick look through the binoculars confirmed it was a legal buck.

He had scouted in the area a week ear-lier and seen a buck and several does. “I was looking for them.” Then he noticed that “big gray log.”

Richardson rolled his truck a little far-ther down the road and over a hill, load-ed his rifle and walked back for a better look. “I’m a meat hunter so I didn’t study the antlers at all. I figured it was a nice 10-point.”

When he raised his scope, “the cross-hairs were dancing all over the place and then they just settled into place,” he said. The buck was bedded down when Rich-ardson squeezed off a round from his .243. He watched the deer rise and back up into the brush, then lost sight of it. He moved a little and looked, moved again, then again. “Finally I got to the point I could see the gray log again, and then I could see the branches.”

It was only when he walked up to the downed animal did he realize what he had. “I went ‘Holy moly – this is the deer

I’ve been dreaming about.’ This deer just had it all. I had never looked at his ant-lers before, and when I did, I didn’t know what to do. I was in shock for days. The locals said they hadn’t seen a deer like him in many, many years.”

With a single shot, Richardson took the mule deer of a lifetime with a green score of 225 1/8. Officially it had 17 scorable points, but with the lesser points that would hold a ring it was a 10x10, he said. The outside spread was an impres-sive 31 ½ inches.

“I’ve been dreaming about that deer for a long time, and wore out dozens of pairs of boots looking for it,” Richardson said. “It was the deer of a lifetime, but it was probably the easiest deer I ever killed.”

Although it wouldn’t make Boone and Crockett, Richardson said he doesn’t much care. After hunting for more than 40 years, he approaches each hunt with humility and with respect for the animal, and in this case believes his success was in the cards. He spotted the deer lying quietly just off a road that other hunt-ers regularly drove on, and was thinking more about breakfast than a trophy.

“Why was he there? Where do you find a deer like that? I think he was waiting for me,” Richardson said. “He offered himself. He honored me with the gift of his life.”

Now, Richardson said he has been able to “introduce” an amazing animal to the world. “To be blessed with such a gift,

Bruce Richardson of Chimayó (right) was in the right place at the right time and took this 225-inch muley last fall. It’s likely the buck spent much of its life in what is now Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. (Photos courtesy Bruce Richardson)

Good luck or good karma? Either way, big buck fulfills hunter’s lifetime dream

Richardson said his northern New Mexico buck looked like a “big gray log” with a “bunch of branches “ when he spotted it on a hillside. Once he got up to it, he learned why – the rack was 30-1/2 inches wide and had 17 scorable points.

I believe you need to live an ethical and responsible life all year long. Younger, disrespectful or less ethical hunters may

never see a deer like that. I think that af-ter so many years, maybe I earned that gift. He’s been eatin’ real good, too.”

Large tracts of protected land, like Rio Grande del Norte National Mon-ument, serve hunters and anglers in many ways, and the value will only in-crease as time goes on.

Migratory wildlife such as elk and deer need both winter and summer ranges and refuge to thrive. High road density, heavy vehicle traffic, subdivi-sions and other development takes a heavy toll on the overall health of our wild ungulate herds.

A case in point is the San Juan Basin, once known as some of the best mule deer habitat in the West. Fifty years of oil and gas development has turned the basin into one of the nation’s largest

energy producers, but mule deer that rely on the area as wintering grounds have declined as a result of the habitat fragmentation. Middle Mesa near Na-vajo Lake is a prime example of this phenomenon.

Rio Grande del Norte National Mon-ument has never had that level of in-dustrial development, and now it never will. There is an adequate road system in the monument, and those roads will remain, but monument status will en-sure that the area between San Anto-nio Mountain and Ute Mountain and from the Colorado border to Taos will never be fragmented any further.

Protected landscapes good for game, hunters, anglers


land of rugged mountains, extinct vol-canoes and desolate plains. But zoom in for a closer look and it is something else entirely.

The desert, teeming with flowering plants and songbirds, is home to an abun-dance of rabbits, deer, quail and coyotes. Every sandy draw and cactus patch will tempt the hunter with good prospects for finding javelina. What I needed was some way to whittle the possibilities down to one or two good areas. So I asked around.

Black Mountain“Black Mountain” was the place to go

to find some “pigs,” they said. I heard it from the old-timer at the filling station, from the waitress at the café, from the bag boy at the grocery store. The advice on Black Mountain popped up just as often as the advice about javelina being good eating.

But the brag about Black Mountain seemed a bit thin because it was always second-hand. The story typically went something like this: “Well sir, I don’t hunt javelina. But my neighbor and his buddies like to hunt Black Mountain, and they always bring back some pigs.”

Something else bothered me, and it too left me with the sneaking suspicion that Black Mountain was not all it was cracked up to be. Without exception, no one who suggested Black Mountain could tell me how to get there. The loca-tion was yet another mystery to add to a growing list.

Snipe hunt?Bootheel residents must get a good

laugh out of steering javelina hunters to-ward Black Mountain because the south-west corner of New Mexico is chock-full of them. You couldn’t squeeze in any more Black Mountains without spilling some into Arizona.

If hunting Black Mountain was a joke, I wondered, could the mystery about cooking javelina be a joke, too? Sooner or later someone was bound to tell me,

that you cook javelina the same way you cook carp: “Nail some javelina to a board, prop it by the campfire, roast until golden brown, then throw the javelina in the fire and eat the board. Ha! Ha! Ha!”

But that never happened. No one ever told me how to cook javelina. Not even in jest.

Of course I will never know if the ad-vice to hunt Black Mountain was truly intended as a practical joke. But I did find out one thing. It is no joke when they say javelina are good eating… if you know how to cook ’em. I had my doubts at first, but there really are some good ways to cook javelina. Well, one at least.

The Bull Cook recipeMy first hunt was a bust. But since

then, every other year or so, I have brought home some javelina meat. Ex-perimenting with recipes eventually led me to one that is pure magic.

Credit goes to George Leonard Herter and Berthe E. Herter of Waseca, Minn., as adapted from their classic “Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices” (with thanks to “Grandpa Colorado” who gave me the book for Christmas.) The first recipe in the book is for corned venison, but best of all is the Herters’ version for corned javelina.

It calls for some preliminaries and preparation, but there is no mystery to it. The whole process breaks down into five simple steps. Each step is easy to fol-low and well worth the effort. Plus, you will get home with your javelina in prime condition.

New Mexico game regulations do not require hunters to save the meat from ja-velina. That is the biggest mystery of all, because to me, corned javelina is a rare

delicacy – a dish to be served up and sa-vored on special occasions. Corned Javelina (a.k.a. Corned Beast)

Step 1. Get the fixingsOn your next javelina hunt, pack along

a five-gallon bucket with lid, 2½ cups of Morton Sugar Cure and some pickling spice. Country grocers often stock Mor-ton Sugar Cure. City grocers often don’t. Keep the sugar cure and the spice sepa-rate until you are ready to use them.

Step 2. Skin the gameJavelina should be skinned as soon as

possible or the meat can become gamey. Step 3. Make the brinePut two gallons of water in the bucket

with 2½ cups Morton Sugar Cure and one tablespoon powdered spice extract, which comes packaged with the Sugar Cure. Or alternatively, add three table-spoons Mixed Pickling Spice. I prefer to add both, putting the pickling spice in a small cheesecloth sack so it flavors the brine without getting stuck to the meat. This makes enough brine for one javelina – up to 20 pounds of dressed meat.

Step 4. Cure the meatSaw the carcass in half lengthwise, and

cut it up like you would a chicken for fry-ing. Cut the pieces small enough to fit in a crockpot or pressure cooker. Discard any bloodshot meat. Place the meat in the brine, cover the bucket, and cure the meat for 14 days at approximately 38 de-grees. Every third or fourth day turn the meat and stir the brine. Keep the meat submerged by weighting it down with a china plate or glass lid.

Maintaining the ideal temperature of 38 degrees is not difficult in New Mexico in the winter. At camp keep the bucket outdoors in the shade. When you get home place the bucket in an unheated garage, basement or storage area. If the

temperature is warmer than 38 degrees it will not affect the end result at all – just add ½ cup salt for every 10 degrees. At the end of the 14 days, cook what you want and freeze the rest.

Step 5. Cook the meatPlace the cured meat in a crockpot and

cover with water. Add ¼ tsp. ground cin-namon, ¼ tsp. ground cloves, 4 tbsp. soy sauce, three bay leaves and one medium-size onion (sliced). Pepper to taste, but add no salt. Slow cook four to five hours. If the meat is from a tough old boar use a pressure cooker and cook until tender.

Enduring mysteryThere is no shortage of bull in the

Herters’ “Bull Cook” recipe book, but rest assured, when it comes to javelina the Herters got it right. Javelina are good eatin’, if you know how to cook ’em. So the next time you draw a tag, grab a bucket and some fixings, head for the desert country of southern New Mexico and bag yourself some good eating.

While the trick to cooking javelina is no longer the mystery it used to be, the finding the elusive critters is an endur-ing mystery. Fortunately there are many good places to hunt in southern New Mexico.

And who knows, Black Mountain might actually be a good area. I could not tell you for sure, nor exactly how to get there, but I’ve heard the locals always bring home some pigs….

D.W. Critchfield has spent the last 55 years hunting, fishing, trapping and sur-veying in New Mexico. Recently retired from surveying, he, his wife Judy and their retriever Charlie live outside Hyer, a ghost town in southern Santa Fe County.

Page 6

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. . . Javelina – worth the effort to find and cookContinued from Page 1

Javelina inhabit most of southern New Mexico and are a fairly common sight – unless of course you’re hunting them. Mark Spiess photographed these in the Bootheel last year.

Author D.W. Critchfield at hunting camp.


Back taxes on ‘landowner tags’ could trip up E-PLUS, A-PLUSby Joel GayNew Mexico Wildlife Federation

Elk and antelope hunting in New Mexico could be in for a major shock depending on whether landowners enrolled in the E-PLUS and A-PLUS programs can con-vince the Legislature to give them a tax break.

Some landowners who receive elk or antelope autho-rizations have threatened to quit the two hunting pro-grams if, as currently required, they must pay gross re-ceipts taxes on their business of selling the authoriza-tions. If they do quit the programs, it could mean less hunting on private land and make it harder for the De-partment of Game and Fish to manage elk or antelope numbers.

Unfortunately, there’s no quick and simple way to transfer unused “private land” tags to the Big Game Draw. It would take a major overhaul of the E-PLUS and A-PLUS programs, which Game and Fish officials say could take years.

(New Mexico Wildlife Federation has been urging the State Game Commission to revamp both E-PLUS and A-PLUS since at least 2010 and to increase the percent-age of elk and antelope hunting opportunity that goes to New Mexico residents through the Big Game Draw.)

Last year the state Taxation and Revenue Department sent letters to hundreds of landowners enrolled in E-PLUS asking for unreported and unpaid gross receipts taxes on the sale of elk authorizations going back six years. According to the Albuquerque Journal, land-owners were also allowed to do “managed audits,” which would require them to report their gross receipts for up to seven years and pay the back taxes within six months, in which case the penalties and interest would be waived. About 120 ranchers had signed up by mid-December, TRD Secretary Demesia Padilla told legislators during a meet-ing of the interim Revenue Stabilization and Tax Policy Committee.

As New Mexico elk hunters know all too well, landowners enrolled in E-PLUS have seen their share of elk licenses in-crease steadily over the years, while public draw hunters have seen their share decline. As of last year, E-PLUS received half of all available elk hunting licenses as au-thorizations, which they can sell, trade or not even use. In 2002, E-PLUS received just 35 percent of all avail-able licenses.

But if the authorization is sold, the landowner is re-quired to pay gross receipts tax on it. Some do, Padilla told the committee members in December. But “com-pliance is under 50 percent,” she said.

Somebody who had been paying their taxes tipped TRD about the half who aren’t, she said, launching TRD’s investigation. Ranchers at the committee hear-ing testified that they and many of their peers didn’t

know the sales were subject to the tax. Padilla noted, however, that the law requiring it has been in effect for 19 years and that many ranchers have been complying with it all along.

It isn’t clear how much back taxes are owed, how many landowners are in arrears, and who else might owe back taxes, such as tag brokers who buy authoriza-tions directly from landowners. The Tax and Revenue

Department had not responded to a list of questions from New Mexico Wildlife Federation as of early January.

But the tax letters prompted fury among some landowners. At the Nov. 19 meeting of the State Game Commission in Roswell, Rep. Candy Ezzell, a rancher who in the past has received dozens of antelope authorizations, said she was not happy about the elk autho-rization back-tax demand. She also said if it were extended to antelope, she would no longer allow hunting on her ranch.

“We are doing everything we can to get this stopped,” she said. “Unfortunately, it is only growing momentum.”

It appears she may be correct. Although TRD is initially targeting elk authorization sales – the largest in terms of numbers and revenues – Padilla indicated that her agen-cy would also be looking at antelope and deer hunting tax receipts.

Department of Game and Fish Director Alexa Sando-val later told NMWF that other landowners have said they may quit accepting authorizations, also, and that if too many dropped out it could cause management concerns.

The Revenue Stabilization and Tax Policy Commit-tee met to consider proposed legislation to exempt land-owners from gross receipts tax when selling authoriza-

tions or other access fees to their land. Padilla said that even if passed, the legislation would not be retroactive and would not relieve ranchers from paying back taxes already owed.

At the hearing, Gerald Chacon of the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association supported the exemption, calling authorizations “compensation for damages.”

That’s not what Game and Fish regulations say, however. The E-PLUS Rule specifically says that elk authorizations are given out to “landowners who pro-vide meaningful benefit to elk and accept elk on their properties….”

There is no mention of compensation for damages. In fact, there is a separate program under which landown-ers can apply for aid in preventing and alleviating dam-ages – to buy materials for elk-proof fencing, for exam-ple. But a landowner must choose – they either get elk authorizations or depredation assistance, but not both.

The New Mexico Wildlife Federation opposes any tax exemption for landowner authorization programs. Elk and antelope are a valuable public resource, and the public should be compensated for providing that re-source to private individuals.

“The sale of landowner authorizations is a multi-mil-lion dollar business in this state, and it’s only fair that all businesses pay their share, including those in the business of selling landowner authorizations,” NMWF President John Crenshaw said. “More than a hundred ranchers have already recognized they’ve been out of compliance and are addressing the problem like good business people should. In the future, all ranchers can tack the gross receipts tax onto the price of the autho-rization, like Secretary Padilla said they can and as all other New Mexico businesses already do.”

The tax squabble underscores the need for the Game Commission to reopen the E-PLUS Rule and rein it in, Crenshaw continued. “This program was created de-cades ago to solve a problem that no longer exists – to encourage the expansion of elk herds all over the state. But times have changed and E-PLUS is way out of date. It needs a major overhaul, and this question of tax liabil-ity is just one of many reasons to give it one.”

The percentage of elk tags – a resource held in trust for all – that has gone to private ownership has risen steadily over the years to 50 percent, leaving just 50 percent for public draw hunters. Now some landowners who receive elk authorizations want a tax break so they don’t have to pay gross receipts tax on them. (Photo courtesy NMDGF)

“The sale of landowner authorizations is a multi-million dollar business in this state, and it’s only fair that all businesses pay their share ... ”

– John Crenshaw,NMWF

1435 Route 66 www.sandiatrailer.com (505) 281-9860 Edgewood, NM 87015 [email protected] (800) 832-0603

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It’s not too early to enter the 2016 New Mexico Wildlife Federation’s

PhotoContest!

Send us your best photos of hunting, fishing or wildlifein New Mexico and WiN CaSh PrizeS!

email your entries to [email protected] or call (505) 299-5404 for more information

NMWF Outdoor Reporter • Winter 2016Page 8

New Mexico Wildlife Federation

2015 Photo Contest winnersThe entries get better every year, making this year’s NMWF Photo Contest the best yet. Our judges thought the 2015 entries were fun and focused, making it difficult to decide when it came time to awarding winners. Thanks to everyone who sent in their hunting, fishing and wildlife photos. The overall winner, by Chris Fresquez of Española, is on Page 1. Here are the top shots and some of the runners-up in the Best Hunting, Fishing and Wildlife categories.

Best FISHING Christine Martinez of Albuquerque didn’t waste a lot of energy taking her prize-winning photo last summer at Fenton Lake (left), giving it an attitude our judges appreciated – they particularly liked her toenails.

Chris Fresquez of Española, who won top honors this year (see Page 1), also submitted this one of his grandson, 3-year-old Jayden, waiting for a bite on the shore at Hopewell Lake.

Below is 2-year-old Marcus Gurule, son of Mario Gurule of Albuquerque, reeling in for all he’s worth at Tingley Beach. Marcus has been fishing since he was 3 months old and this summer landed his own trout – four times!

Best HUNTINGJoe Atencio Jr. of Las Cruces framed this dramatic photo after a successful deer hunt in GMU 52 with hunting buddy Troy Fowler. That’s Joe in the photo. Our judges loved the light, the background, the setting – ¡puro Nuevo Mexico! – and awarded him first prize.


Best FISHING Christine Martinez of Albuquerque didn’t waste a lot of energy taking her prize-winning photo last summer at Fenton Lake (left), giving it an attitude our judges appreciated – they particularly liked her toenails.

Chris Fresquez of Española, who won top honors this year (see Page 1), also submitted this one of his grandson, 3-year-old Jayden, waiting for a bite on the shore at Hopewell Lake.

Below is 2-year-old Marcus Gurule, son of Mario Gurule of Albuquerque, reeling in for all he’s worth at Tingley Beach. Marcus has been fishing since he was 3 months old and this summer landed his own trout – four times!

Best HUNTINGJoe Atencio Jr. of Las Cruces framed this dramatic photo after a successful deer hunt in GMU 52 with hunting buddy Troy Fowler. That’s Joe in the photo. Our judges loved the light, the background, the setting – ¡puro Nuevo Mexico! – and awarded him first prize.

At right above, we thought this photo by Laura Naranjo of Albuquerque, which shows Marshall Maez and his grandson Pierce during a cow elk hunt, spoke volumes about the hunting tradition. Great shot, Laura, and a strong runner-up! Below that, longtime NMWF Photo Contest winner Jeff Young of Sandia Park submitted this one of his sons Canyon and Cody packing a buck out of the Sandia Mountains in the fading light of day.

Best WILDLIFE Heidi Childers of Las Cruces caught this elk herd grazing near Ruidoso last winter to win top honors for Best Wildlife photo. At right, Mary Lee Dereske of Placitas was in the right place at the right time to catch a blue heron in flight, which our judges thought was a close runner-up.


Sportsman of the Quarter

Eight questions for Jerry Burton

A lot of retirees stay as far away as possible from their previous work. Not Jerry Burton. After 30 years work-ing to protect wildlife and habitat as a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Jerry jumped into volunteer work when he retired and continues working today on those same issues on behalf of sportsmen and women statewide.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the feds would hire someone like Burton, who grew up hunting upland game, trapping and fishing the ponds, lakes and streams of the upper Midwest. He spent much of his career working with threatened and endangered species such as the Apache and Gila trout. But he wanted to remain involved after he left the service in 1995, and soon was working with Ducks Unlimited, then New Mexico Trout, where he is currently president.

As both a biologist and an avid sportsman, Jerry has seen from two sides just how important healthy habitat is for hunters and anglers. He also knows that the fu-ture of hunting and fishing lies with the next generation. And by extension, he understands the crucial role that adults play in passing on our experience, knowledge and enthusiasm to kids.

Now 75, Burton has been a driving force in habitat protection projects for trout and waterfowl in New Mex-ico, and a strong advocate for providing opportunities to get kids outside and involved in hunting and fishing. It is our honor to call Jerry Burton of Albuquerque our Sportsman of the Quarter.

NMWF: Describe your background in hunting and fishing: when and where did you start, with whom?

BURTON: I grew up in Oshkosh, Wisc., where my dad was a gung-ho fisherman. He and I would fish to-gether. My grandmother had cottage on a lake and I used to go there every summer for a couple weeks. My uncles all fly-fished and we would go out toward sun-down and fish for bluegills.

While growing up, we ate a lot of fish, but we only ate certain fish – walleye and yellow perch. The white bass and channel cats I caught I sold down at the tavern. One day I brought home a huge smallmouth bass and my dad said, “If you’re going to fish, fish for something we can eat!”

I started hunting with friends for deer, ducks, pheas-ants and grouse. The county I grew up in had more wa-ter than land, and it was a tremendous duck hunting area. They sold more duck stamps in that county than in the entire state of New Mexico.

NMWF: Name a highlight in all your time afield, a particularly special day.

BURTON: I’m a gung-ho bird hunter. Probably the highlight of all my time out was hunting one time in the mountains of western North Carolina. My German shorthair went on point and the birds flushed. With the first barrel, a ruffed grouse came down. With the second barrel, a bobwhite quail. And I never moved my feet. I will never forget that.

NMWF: Describe your ide-

al outdoor experience – where would you go, when and with whom? What makes that place so special?

BURTON: It would have to be hiking into the moun-tains of New Mexico and finding good trout spots. Some of the best places I love to go have wild fish – none of them with missing dorsal fins or caudals that are all beat up or pectorals that are just stumps.

The survival method for all fishes in the Southwest was that when the droughts come, they must have a can-yon with water to get into. That’s why the Rio Grande silvery minnow got in trouble – because after all the dam building upstream, the fish could no longer get up into Cochiti Canyon. That’s where they would go when the river below Albuquerque would go bone dry.

Trout are the same way. There’s one place up in the Carson National Forest where when crossing a little bridge, I would say “this is the stream we are going to fish.” The people I’m with will usually look down and say, “There’s no water in the stream.” But then I drive to where a canyon started and there would be running water, and then as we would hike deeper into the canyon

there would be beautiful stream with wild trout in it.

NMWF: How, when and why did you get involved in conservation work?

BURTON: I first started working with trout in the mountains of western North Carolina. Then I transferred to the Pacific Northwest and worked with salmon. I’ve al-ways enjoyed going some-where where I could learn something new, and eventually I transferred to the Southwest and started working with en-dangered species. In fact, I was the biologist who listed the sil-very minnow (as endangered). I listed it and then I retired.

But even when I was work-ing I belonged to various conservation groups. After I retired I got involved with Ducks Unlimited, and one year was the Albuquerque Chapter chairman. Now I’m president of New Mexico Trout. I’ve always felt that sportsmen should give back. We’ve been so fortunate.

NMWF: What’s your highest conservation priority these days?

BURTON: It’s simply to get kids involved. We have a problem in this country – the traditional family seems to be no more. There are so many young kids that nev-er had the opportunities like I had, to learn to fish and hunt. My highest conservation priority would be to have programs to get kids hooked. That first trout that kid catches – I don’t care if it’s 6 inches long – it’s the big-gest trout that kid will ever catch. He’ll never forget it.

New Mexico Trout has been working with Valles Caldera National Preserve to introduce kids and adults

to fishing. This year we’re talking about doing an ad-vanced program on fishing mountain meadow streams. And we’re hoping to use a big stock tank near the check-in station to hold stocked trout, which will be open for kids-only fishing.

We also work with various local schools at Tingley Beach teaching the kids about fly-fishing. I especially like to show them how to tie flies.

NMWF: What can the average New Mexico hunt-er/angler do to help make our our outdoor traditions continue?

BURTON: Be involved. Join an organization. Take your kids – and your neighbor’s kids – out with you. I just read something about the number of hunters and anglers dropping nationwide, and it’s kind of scary. We just have to get more kids and women involved.

NMWF: What more could state and federal wildlife and land management agencies do to protect those tra-ditions?

BURTON: I’d like to see the feds have more science behind what they’re doing now. Even when I was with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it had gotten to the point we could no longer hire the best biologists and field people. We had to lower our standards to meet our em-ployment quotas. We were beginning to get people who didn’t have a good science background.

NMWF: What’s your favorite fish or wild game recipe?

BURTON: There’s nothing like the way we used to cook walleyes at home. We gutted them, cut their heads off and chunked them, then rolled them in egg, dipped them in flour seasoned with just salt and pepper, and fried them bones and all.

“I’ve always felt that sportsmen should give back. We’ve been so fortunate.”

– Jerry Burton

Jerry Burton has worked to protect New Mexico waters for years, both as a professional biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and, after he retired, as a volunteer with Ducks Unlimited and New Mexico Trout.

Follow us on Facebook! www.facebook.com/nmwildlife

The village of Questa’s new stream restoration project along the Red River is creating more

thanjustanexcitingplacetofish,hike,picnicandenjoyotheroutdoorpursuits.It’spart

ofalarger,community-drivenvisiontostrengthenahealthyRedRiverwatershedand

developrecreationasasourceofeconomicvitalityandhopeforQuestaanditsneighborsin

northernNewMexico.TroutUnlimitedsalutesthevillageofQuesta,withthankstotheQuesta

EconomicDevelopmentFundboard,Chevron,theU.S.ForestService,theNewMexicoDepartment

ofGameandFishandallwhosupportedthisexcitingvision.Go to www.questa-nm.com to learn more.

Photo: Nick Streit

Questa, New Mexico

Page 11


. . . Science trumped by special interests, for nowoff the endangered species list.

“This was wildlife politics at its worst,” VeneKlasen said. “Our Game Commission is supposed to manage all wildlife – especially our native species. This Commission caved in to special in-terests at the expense of everyday hunt-ers and anglers. We are now being asked to foot the bill to manage wildlife that all New Mexicans expect to be managed professionally and scientifically. A cen-tury ago, Aldo Leopold wanted to get the politics out of wildlife management. This is exactly the reason why.”

By now, everybody knows about the $1 million access fee charged by Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn – an in-crease of $800,000 over last year. Dunn has already said he thinks $1 million is not enough, and has suggested that $5 million per year might be appropri-ate. Game Commission members com-plained about the fee hike, but approved it 5-1 – only Commissioner Ralph Ramos voted against it.

Less well known is the federal grant the Game Commission turned down. It’s money the Department of Game and Fish has received every year for the last 10 years, largely to keep species off the endangered species list – an expensive proposition for wildlife managers, land-owners and businesses.

Around 2002, Congress could see the value in keeping species off the endan-gered species list, and created a new program to help manage so-called non-game species – species that are not usu-ally hunted, trapped or fished. To qualify for the grants, each state had to write a comprehensive management plan for their nongame species and submit it to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. New Mexico wrote and approved a plan, and since then has received some $14 million through the State Wildlife Grants pro-gram. Funding has come, in part, from the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Last year, the USFWS asked states to resubmit their wildlife plans in order to keep getting funded. The Department of Game and Fish spent months – in an exhaustive public process – revising its State Wildlife Action Plan, or SWAP. It enlisted the help of Department biolo-gists, but also got input from the New Mexico Environment Department, State Land Office, University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Ser-vice, BLM, the Army Corps of Engi-neers, and other public and private stake-holders. The full report runs 372 pages.

The new SWAP aimed to identify the distribution and abundance of species of wildlife, in-cluding low and declining populations – called Spe-cies of Great-est Conserva-tion Need. It also identified the location and condition of key habitats and assessed problems that might adverse-ly affect those species. And last, the plan identified actions to help keep those spe-cies and their habitat off the threatened or endangered species list.

Matt Wunder, the Department’s Chief of Conservation Services, explained the new document to the Game Commis-sion in November. Submitting the SWAP “enables the department to remain in the driver’s seat (for) planning and trying to implement conservation with the idea for stalling the need for federal listing,” he said. The idea has always been to pre-vent “the federal government coming in and imposing restrictions and driving the bus,” he continued. “This helps us do the

planning, implementing and it helps us stay in control.”

The document is a resource to help guide management decisions, Wunder said. It does not have regulatory power and cannot be used to force anyone to do anything.

Yet that’s what the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association, the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association and others told the Commission they feared – that the SWAP will be used to strangle business.

Randall Major of Magdalena, the southwest regional vice president for the cattle growers association, urged the Commission not to pass the plan. “It’s too broad to be effective and it will hurt agriculture,” he said.

Caren Cowan, representing New Mex-ico Cattle Growers Association as well as another group that supports trans-ferring national forests and BLM lands to individual states, said there are “too many species in it. There’s too much neg-ativity.” She noted that the plan, which does address more than 400 species, in-cludes “10 species or so that somebody just thinks needs to be on there…. Well you know there’s a lot of us that think

they don’t need to be on there. So we just think the document is overbroad and it needs to be much refined and brought back in a much smaller form.”

Rep. Candy Ezzell, a Ro-swell rancher and chairwom-an of the pow-erful House Water, Agri-

culture and Wildlife Committee, didn’t mince words. “In my opinion it is all in-accurate information. It is – in my opin-ion again – anti-agriculture all the way.” She, too, noted the total number of spe-cies of greatest conservation concern. “Give me a break,” she said, aiming her comments at the Department. “If you’re getting funding for having more species listed, you’ve done a damn fine job right there.”

All seven commissioners echoed those statements and more. Commissioner Beth Ryan, a Roswell oil and gas attor-ney, suggested the Department go back

to the drawing board.“I do like the idea of taking federal

money that is not sportsman money and putting it into identifying some species that are real concerns and doing some real work to increase the numbers in our state that we have control over,” she said. “I’m thinking, what’s our top 10 here and focus on those.”

Commissioner Bill Montoya of Alto, a former director of Game and Fish, agreed with Ryan. “The department has spent considerable time and I appreciate that and I respect them so much for what they’ve tried to do here, but I can’t sup-port the document,” he said. “I, like oth-ers here, can’t trust the (U.S.) Fish and Wildlife Service, but then also the Bu-reau of Land Management and the For-est Service.” He too called for the plan to focus on a smaller number of species. “Make it easier to deal with,” he said.

Chairman Paul Kienzle pointed out that Game and Fish is not required to have the State Wildlife Action Plan. “None of us go to jail if we don’t approve this,” he said. “If we don’t get the money, we don’t get the money.”

With that, the Commission voted down the SWAP and approximately $900,000 a year for the foreseeable future.

While commissioners were hammer-ing the plan, however, they failed to ask a key question: What are the consequenc-es of rejecting this plan and the federal grants?

“They acted without knowing whether they were killing all or some of the re-search and habitat work the grants paid for, whether agency staff would be reas-signed or even laid off and contractors dismissed,” VeneKlasen said.

“They didn’t ask whether state stat-utes required the Department to continue to do all or most of the work, and if so where the money would come from.”

And while echoing the cattlemen’s and oilmen’s dread of federal endangered spe-cies listings, he continued, “The Commis-sion didn’t ask whether their vote might actually trigger that very thing.”

The vote against SWAP and the loss of nearly $1 million a year for the com-ing decade means sportsmen will now foot the entirecost of managing nongame species. Game and Fish Director Alexa Sandoval told NMWF that past federal grants paid for most but not all the cost of nongame management most – some 65 to 75 percent, depending on the program.

Regardless, the Department will have to use sportsmen’s dollars to make up the

missing federal money, because those species must be managed, regardless who pays for it.

After killing the SWAP, commission-ers also asked Sandoval whether U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service might give an extension, giving the Department time to rework the document. Sandoval said later she planned to meet with the USFWS in January to see whether an extension was possible. If so, she said, Game and Fish could try to revise the wildlife plan to meet both the federal grant requirements and the needs of “all our constituents” without “alienating anyone.”

NMWF was extremely disappointed in the Commission’s decision, VeneKlasen said. The vote to kill SWAP ignores sci-ence and places special interests above those of the vast majority of New Mexico residents. “The Commission essentially jerked the rug out from under their own staff biologists in the process,” he said.

“This Commission has shown where its allegiance lies, and it’s not with the license-buying public. It’s with powerful landowners, grazing lessees and energy companies, who deserve a voice in the discussion but should not be able to dom-inate it,” VeneKlasen continued.

“How can we possibly manage our diverse native wildlife – all wildlife in New Mexico – without having a sense of what’s out there and what threats there are? This decision sets the state up to have numerous species placed on the en-dangered or threatened species list be-cause they refuse to take reasonable, pro-active steps to prevent it. And they don’t even need to spend state money to do so.”

Decisions like killing SWAP will backfire, VeneKlasen said. “The public is getting sick and tired of a small group of political appointees ignoring the best interests of science-driven wildlife man-agement and habitat of New Mexico. Proactive niche habitat management is a smart, preventive measure to keep spe-cies from becoming threatened or endan-gered. Ignoring this fact will ultimately put the Department in a reactive, crisis management situation because they fail to have long range, science-driven man-agement goals.

“Furthermore,” he said, “improving habitat for native nongame species nearly always enhances habitat also used by the very game and fish that sportsmen and women pursue. This vote shows why we need to reform the Game Commission to ensure better representation of the pub-lic, not special interests.”


“How can we possibly manage our diverse native wildlife ... without having a sense of what’s out there and what threats there are?”

– Garrett VeneKlasenNMWF

Gila trout are among the “species of greatest conservation need” in the State Wildlife Action Plan, which aims to keep the fish off the endangered species list. (NMWF file photo)


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NMDGF refills top posts, almost at full staffing

. . . Dunn gets his demand, but how much next year?

The Department of Game and Fish is undergoing a slow-motion reorganiza-tion that is changing the agency from the bottom up.

Director Alexa Sandoval, who took the reins after Jim Lane resigned in late 2013, said NMDGF is filling out again after years of employee attrition and turnover. There is new blood at the highest levels and a steady flow of fresh recruits in the field. It’s not a major reorganization, she said, but added that she is excited to see Game and Fish changing shape.

In the last year, Game and Fish lost Deputy Director Dan Brooks and As-sistant Director R.J. Kirkpatrick to retirement.

Donald Jaramillo, who came up through the ranks as a game warden, has taken over as Deputy Director, replacing Brooks. He is now in charge of field op-erations, including law enforcement.

Jim Comins, who most recently was the Northeast Area Manager in Raton, took Kirkpatrick’s place as assistant di-

rector and will manage all the resource divisions – basically the biologists.

Rounding out the agency directorate is Assistant Director Chris Chadwick, who manages the support divisions such as administration, human resources and the like.

When Sandoval was hired as direc-tor in early 2014, Game and Fish had an overall employee vacancy rate of 24 percent. By late 2015 that had fallen to just under 10 percent, and only 6 percent in the critical area of field operations – game wardens.

Since Bill Richardson was governor, Game and Fish has had a tough time keeping fully staffed, particularly with game wardens. A hiring freeze blocked efforts to refill some positions. When that finally lifted, low pay scales limited recruitment.

At times in the recent past, one out of four game warden positions was va-cant – which prompted some members of the Legislature to propose permanently

eliminating several of the positions. But thanks to recent efforts to increase

wages and an aggressive hiring spree – all of which were supported by New Mexico Wildlife Federation – Sandoval said the law enforcement division is finally just about full. And vacancies throughout the chain of command are opening spots for entry-level wardens.

Game and Fish has submitted a bud-get request for the coming year of just over $40 million, including funding for 12 new positions – 10 of them game wardens.

New Mexico Wildlife Federation will be at the Legislature again this year, standing up for full funding of the De-partment of Game and Fish and blocking efforts to tap various funds that are sup-posed to benefit sportsmen and women, such as the Off-Highway Vehicle Safety Fund.

“We’re glad to see the Department coming up to full strength,” said NMWF President John Crenshaw. “The hunt-ers and anglers of New Mexico deserve no less.”

open just one or two. Now, according to Sandoval, every legal access point will be marked with a new sign and be re-quired to be open during an open season.

Game and Fish officers this fall have been locating and mapping access points on State Trust Lands and will put the in-formation online. The Department will buy new signs for each access point, and the State Land Office has agreed to post the signs, Sandoval said.

Going forward, Game and Fish will be “far more interactive” with the State Land Office regarding locked gates, she said. If a hunter finds an illegally locked

gate, the first step is to contact ei-ther the State Land Office or Game and Fish. If Game and Fish can’t get the land-owner or the SLO to open it, wardens will be al-lowed to cut the lock.

And access is not just for big game hunters, Sandoval said. Anyone who

is legally licensed for an open season – dove, quail and waterfowl hunters, as well as trappers – have legal access to State Trust Land.

One unexpected benefit of this year’s negotiations will also improve sports-men’s access. It turns out that licensed hunters can legally access open State Trust Land both before and after legal shooting hours – they are not limited to daylight hours, as had widely been be-lieved and publicized. Sandoval said the daylight restriction has never been a part of the access agreement.

It’s too early to know how much Dunn will charge for access next year – he holds office until the 2018 elections. Dur-

ing negotiations this fall he talked about charging up to $5 million.

But even if he charges $1 million in future years, Sandoval said hunters and anglers can probably expect a license fee increase within about five years. If a fee increase is required, it will be because prices of many things – from fish feed to salaries – has risen, but the million-dol-lar bill from Aubrey Dunn doesn’t help.

If Dunn demands $2 million or more for next year’s agreement, however, all bets are off. Even the Game Commis-sioners who voted for this year’s lease fee signaled in November they may not be able to swallow anything more than $1 million.

Game and Fish Director Alexa Sandoval

Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn


Key conservation program gets three-year extension

New Mexico sportsmen were relieved to see in early December that Congress has agreed to extend the Land and Water Conservation Fund for three years and provide at least partial funding for one of the na-tion’s most im-portant conser-vation tools.

Although the extension keeps LWCF alive and function-ing, NMWF Ex-ecutive Director Garrett Vene- Klasen said it was disappointing that a small group in Congress had forced its will on the American people and hobbled a popular program that has protected public lands and provided outdoor recreation oppor-tunities for thousands of communities since 1965.

“It is a shame that Congress had to resort to a temporary fix rather than re-flect the longtime, broad-based support LWCF has had and permanently reautho-rize the program,” VeneKlasen said.

“The pressure is still on Congress to permanently reauthorize and fully fund LWCF, and hopefully that can occur be-fore the current extension expires. This program provides important conserva-tion and recreation benefits to all Ameri-cans. We can’t permit a few extreme members of Congress to destroy LWCF and rob Americans of the deal Congress made with them when this program was

initially signed into law in 1965.”Since the LWCF was created with

strong bipartisan support 50 years ago, it has been one of the nation’s most impor-

tant conserva-tion programs. In New Mexico, sportsmen have benefited great-ly from LWCF funding for a wide range of projects, from boat ramps and shooting rang-es to improve-ments in our national forests

and the purchase of Valles Caldera Na-tional Preserve.

Yet efforts earlier this year by Reps. Rob Bishop of Utah, Steve Pearce of New Mexico and others successfully blocked another bipartisan effort to permanently reauthorize LWCF.

The December agreement, however, re-jected efforts by Bishop and others to hob-ble LWCF under the guise of “reform.”

“This short-term extension is not per-fect,” VeneKlasen said, “but it would have been far worse without the strong support shown by most of New Mexico’s congressional delegation.”

“Senators Tom Udall and Martin Hein-rich have been outstanding supporters of LWCF, as have Reps. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Ben Ray Lujan. They know how critical LWCF is to all New Mexi-cans and we greatly appreciate their ef-forts in getting this three-year extension.”

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“We can’t permit a few extreme members of Congress to destroy LWCF .... “

– Garrett VeneKlasen,NMWF


A Taos High School senior has par-layed his interest in hunting, fishing and wildlife habitat into a national award that could catapult his career in the sciences.

Daniel Romero, who was one of the original students to enroll in the Land Ethic curriculum at Taos High sponsored by New Mexico Wildlife Federation, was named in December as the nation-wide winner of the 2016 Conservation Achievement Award, bestowed by the National Wildlife Federation. The NWF board selected Daniel after seeing his study on the Red River trout restoration project near Questa.

Although he grew up hunting and fish-ing around Taos with his family, Daniel said his science classes at Taos High – and specifically teacher David Gilroy – have opened his eyes to the importance of protecting the land and water.

“I didn’t realize how much the river ac-tually affects us every day,” he said.

Daniel heard about the Red River res-toration project through Gilroy, who sug-gested he take the opportunity to study the river before and after the work was done. He visited the stream before work began in 2015 and took measurements such as depth, width, flow, the distribu-tion of rocks and sediment and location of eddies. He went back after the initial work was completed and did a compari-son study, and this spring plans to go back yet again and see how the restora-tion work has affected trout habitat.

Daniel was exposed to the importance of river habitat and water quality through Gilroy’s class, and through the NMWF Land Ethic curriculum offered as an elective and taught by Rich Schrader. Gilroy and Schrader also helped Taos

High students start a science club, the Taos Tiger Salamanders, that focuses on eco-logical restoration and river monitoring.

Winning a national award says a lot about the value of conserva-tion education at Taos High, Schrader said. “To me it says that our program provides a powerful way to focus youths’ attention on public land and pro-tecting wildlife habi-tat.” The Land Ethic curriculum in particu-lar, Schrader said, “re-ally gave him a way to focus his energies that are constructive to-ward wildlife habitat protection and the im-portance of public land and water access.”

Schrader has worked with students from Questa, Taos and Bel-en, and said Daniel is one of the best. “He comes early to every class and stays after. He seems to have a passion for wildlife and doing outdoor work.”

The Land Ethic cur-riculum, paired with a strong hands-on sci-

ence class, is exactly the kind of high school experience that could launch stu-dents into important conservation work in the future, either as a profession or as citizen scientists, Gilroy told NMWF in 2014.

“This is how a lot of people get start-ed,” he said, and was speaking from ex-perience. When he was growing up in Taos, he had similar studies that inspired him to get a college degree, but also to come back to teach science and pass on his love of the land to his students.

Daniel told NMWF in 2014 that Gilroy

and Schrader had showed him the value of protecting the land and water around Taos. He grew up hunting and fishing in Carson National Forest, “but there is a lot I didn’t know until I got into this class.”

Daniel has been accepted to study at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas next fall. He’s hoping to con-tinue studying science and one day to be-come a geologist. This summer he is in-vited to the National Wildlife Federation meeting in Estes Park, Colo., to receive his award.

Page 14

NMWF Affiliate of the Quarter

AWF: A century old and still going strong

Taos teen earns national notice for Red River study

Editor’s note: This is the first of a series on affiliates of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation. Any organiza-tion that stands for the same basic principles as NMWF – protecting wildlife, habitat and our outdoor way of life – is eligible to become an affiliate and enjoy a wide variety of benefits. Our most recent affiliates are New Mexico Youth Conservation Foundation and River Source – look for stories on them in future issues of the Outdoor Reporter. For more information on becoming an affiliate, contact us at [email protected].

A century ago, sportsmen and women were busy or-ganizing and creating “game protective associations” all over the state, from Silver City to Carlsbad to Taos. By 1916 these local groups coalesced into the New Mexico Game Protective Association, which eventu-ally would change its name to the New Mexico Wildlife Federation.

A hundred years later, some of those original asso-ciations still exist. At least one meets every month, and continues to work in the tradition of its founder, Aldo Leopold. The Albuquerque Wildlife Federation is the oldest affiliate of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, and as such deserves recognition as our first-ever Affili-ate of the Quarter.

Kristina Fisher, newly elected president of AWF, said she isn’t surprised the group continues to thrive, “just because over its history it’s drawn such enthusiastic vol-

unteers, from Aldo on through to today. Throughout its history, the Albuquerque Wildlife Federation has drawn people who are energetic, enthusiastic and passionate about the work we do.”

In the early days, AWF focused on advocating for the creation of wildlife refuges and establishing better wildlife management laws and enforcement. Over the last 30 years or so, Fisher said, the group has worked primarily toward habitat restoration.

The heart of AWF’s work is, well, work. Every month from March through October the group musters for a weekend work party. During the summer, the parties

are overnight affairs, giving volunteers and members an opportunity not only to repair and restore wildlife habi-tat, but to enjoy the great outdoors. Work projects range from erosion control to elk/cattle exclosures, from the San Mateos to the Valles Caldera.

AWF has about 65-70 dues-paying members, but around 100 volunteers will turn out to work over the course of a year, Fisher said.

Beyond habitat restoration, one of the group’s goals is to connect people to their public lands.

AWF has been a strong supporter of New Mexico Wildlife Federation and its aims over the years, and Fisher said the relationship is important. “Some of the same issues that Aldo Leopold and his peers were fac-ing a century ago continue to be relevant today,” such as access to public lands and ensuring the state’s habitat continues to support healthy populations of wildlife.

“We would not have the wildlife populations and pro-tected public lands that we enjoy today if it were not for the efforts of Aldo Leopold and others a century ago,” she said. “We need a strong network of groups like AWF and the New Mexico Wildlife Federation to identify the critical issues we face and work together to address them for the sake of future generations. Be-cause there are so many forces pushing in the opposite direction.”

To learn more about Albuquerque Wildlife Federa-tion, go to abq.nmwildlife.org.

Albuquerque Wildlife Federation continues to call its monthly newsletter “The Pine Cone,” a name Aldo Leopold began using for the newsletter he sent when he was supervisor of Carson National Forest.

A cooperative, community-driven effort to improve fish habitat and fishing on the Red River, involving the village of Questa, sportsmen, businesses and state and federal agencies, provided a golden opportunity for Daniel Romero to conduct his “before and after” research. (NMWF file photo)

Taos High School senior Daniel Romero used his high school science class and the NMWF Land Ethic curriculum as the starting point of his award-winning research on the Red River. (Photos courtesy David Gilroy) Daniel with his parents at the Taos High science fair where he unveiled his project.


Chef’s Corner

NMWF Inbox

Dunn should look elsewhere for real moneyBy Garrett VeneKlasen and John Crenshaw

Commissioner of Public Lands Aubrey Dunn last fall successfully bullied the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish into paying $1 million for sportsmen’s access to state trust lands this year, and has touted the $800,000 increase over last year’s access fee as a big score on behalf of our public schools.

Education is indeed a vital priority for this state, but Dunn is playing penny ante poker here. That $800,000 is no massive windfall for our schools; in fact, it hardly registers. Based on SLO figures for the previous fiscal year, schools would get only $485,000 after operational costs and distributions to other beneficiaries are taken out – enough for about eight returning teachers’ salaries and benefits. New Mexico has more than 22,000 teachers.

And the $1 million itself is only 0.14 percent of the Land Office’s $739.5 million revenues in FY 2015, bare-ly a rounding error.

If Dunn is sincere about boosting trust lands’ reve-nues, he needs to stop low-balling and go all in to tap substantive revenue streams that would truly profit the trust’s beneficiaries. Here are some suggestions:

Throughout the access lease negotiations, Dunn’s mantra was about collecting “fair market value.” He plans to appraise trust lands’ hunting values, citing pri-

vate land market values for comparison. He also held up Colorado’s high fees for trust lands hunting to support increases here.

What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.Colorado’s trust lands grazing fees average $11.88 per

animal unit month (AUM), a figure derived from ap-praisals of private land market values. Dunn recently raised New Mexico fees to $4.80 per AUM, which is nowhere near fair market values. If he raised rates even close to Colorado’s market values he would garner a whopping $20 million annually – now that’s meaning-ful benefits for our schools, kids and hospitals.

The lion’s share of SLO revenues, though, comes from extractive industries. It would take nerve to tackle changes there, but there are big gaps between current rates and fair market values that could mean real money.

Our Legislature capped oil and gas lease rental rates at $1 per acre per month in 1931—a significant amount then, but only six and a half cents in today’s dollars. (And $1 is the maximum; rentals in large areas of New Mexico are only 25 cents.)

Meanwhile, industry-friendly Texas’ rentals start at $5 and jump to $25 after three years. Federal rates start at $1.50, go to $10 in some circumstances, and will soon be ramped up again.

Surely it’s past time New Mexico brings its 85-year-old oil and gas rental rates up to curreent fair market

values. As it stands, our children, teachers, hospitals and institutions are missing out on millions of dollars.

And how about oil and gas royalty rates? Oil-loving Texas collects 25 percent. New Mexico’s rates are as low as 12.5 percent in exploratory areas and 18.85 per-cent in most proven production areas – rates the Legis-lature last visited 30 years ago.

Last but not least are flaring and venting of natural gas. The Bureau of Land Management is in the process of mandating the capture and use of vented and flared product. The State Land Office should follow suit. Imagine the benefits if this squandered product went to market – royalties for the trust beneficiaries, profits in producers’ pockets, and curbing a massive carbon load.

Commissioner Dunn has repeatedly said he’s behold-en only to the trust beneficiaries – not to hunters, ranch-ers, the petroleum industry or anyone else – and will pursue fair market values for all trust land resources. We suggest he put his money where his mouth is. Roy-alty and rental adjustments on new leases, for starters, would yield millions of additional dollars but take legis-lative action and demand bold leadership.

The question is: Will Mr. Dunn walk the “fair market value” talk where it would have a measureable impact?

Garrett VeneKlasen is executive director and John Crenshaw is president of New Mexico Wildlife Federation.

By Lane WarnerSpecial to New Mexico Wildlife Federation

By now you know that I am an absolute fiend for using everything from the fish and game I harvest. It’s hard enough to get outdoors and actually catch something, so I say “bring it all home.” Or just about everything – even I have my limits.

One of the most overlooked parts of duck hunting is the heart. I suggest you keep the hearts all season in a bag in your freezer, and about the time the Superbowl rolls around, break ‘em out, cook ‘em up and enjoy this amazing salad. And just a reminder, shoot them big ol’ drakes and leave the suzies alone if you can....

Lane Warner is executive chef at La Fonda on the Plaza in Santa Fe, and an avid public lands hunter and angler.

Spinach Salad with Sautéed Duck HeartsServes 81.5 lb. duck hearts, soaked in salt water for ½ hour,

then rinsed clean and dried2 cups hot bacon dressing¼ cup roasted piñon8 hardboiled eggs, sliced2 ounces olive oilKosher salt and fresh ground black pepper1 lb. spinach, baby or regular¼ cup flour

Dressing¾ lb. bacon, small diced½ cup onion, small diced3 Tbs. sugar2/3 cup cider vinegar2 Tbs. dry mustard

Method for dressingIn a one-quart sauce pan add the bacon and place

on medium high heat; cook until about half done and then add the onions. Cook this until the bacon is crispy and the onions are lightly browned. Reserve ½ cup of bacon fat, set aside and keep warm.

Return pan to heat and add the sugar, cider vinegar and dry mustard; bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the bacon

grease and there is your hot bacon dressing; set aside and keep warm.

Trim the top off each duck heart, maybe 1/16 inch; this is where the fat is. Cut them in half. While you heat the olive oil in a 12-inch saute pan, season the hearts with kosher salt and black pepper. Lightly dust them in flour and then place them into the hot oil. Cook quickly until medium rare and GB&D (golden brown and delicious) – this will only take 3-4 minutes. Remove the hearts from the pan and set aside, keeping them warm.

Now it’s time to make your salad. In a large bowl add the spinach and hot bacon dressing and toss.

Place spinach on plates and top it off with hard-boiled egg slices, toasted piñon and those tasty little duck hearts. Enjoy!

By Benjamin N. Tuggle, Ph.D.

Every kid should have a creek. I had mine, a little silver rill that spilled through my grandma’s farm in central Georgia. Through the mystical chords of memory I can hear the wooden clack of her screen door closing behind me as I high-stepped it toward the freedom of the fields and woods. It was as joyful as eating ice cream on a hot day. The world was mine to discover and own then, an open book, the pages yet to be written 50-some years ago. Discovering turtles, fish, oaks and brambles all made their mark on my future. Knowing nature steered me down a path in biology and toward a career in conservation.

Not every child can have a creek, of course. And in this time when our pop-ulation is increasingly urbanized, the opportunity for youngsters to immerse themselves in nature is increasingly dif-ficult. Couple urbanization with the fact that children typically have a highly reg-imented schedule and you can see that

engagement with the out-of-doors is not always the norm.

Life without an appreciation for nature should be a concern for all people who love the out-of-doors, and I have tried to promote the appreciation of nature and conservation whenever possible. To that end, the first crew of young adults has just completed their rotation in the newly established Middle Rio Grande Urban Conservation Corps, a partnership of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service and Bu-reau of Indian Affairs.

The Corps is a group of young people ages 15 to 18 who for 12 weeks worked on projects in the Albuquerque area. They planted pollinator gardens; built erosion control structures; maintained hiking trails; and gave conservation and recreation presentations at YMCAs and community centers. The program was much more than a job – each teen was guided by a mentor who works in the conservation profession. One weekend per month through November, partici-

pants acted as ambassadors at scheduled events. These young people were em-ployed in their own backyard, the middle Rio Grande Valley – rich in cultural and natural history – at the intersection of di-verse biomes and peoples.

Based on feedback, it seems that the Corps’ budding conservationists likely acquired something essential to appre-ciating nature: a natural resource stew-ardship ethic. I expect many Corps par-ticipants to come back next summer, and ultimately my hope is they will apply for summer internships between college se-mesters to work in the conservation field, and eventually become future conserva-tion leaders.

I consider our support to the Urban Conservation Corps an investment in young people just as conservation of natural resources is an investment in the future. The 15-year-old of today is a de-cade from a grown, mature, societally immersed and gainfully employed adult. No matter if they choose a trade or pur-sue academics, it’s most important that

they come away from the Corps experi-ence with a better understanding of na-ture with an appreciation of what is all around them. Most of all, they under-stand that they can affect its future by acquiring a sound stewardship ethic.

My creek inspired me to pursue con-servation as a profession. By enabling our Middle Rio Grande Urban Conser-vation Corps participants to experience synergy with nature such as I did at my Grandma’s creek, they will better under-stand that stewardship of natural things is simply an instinctive part of the human experience. And perhaps nurturing that conservation instinct will inspire them to become better citizens, appreciate our natural resource heritage, and potential-ly become the conservation leaders of tomorrow.

Dr. Benjamin N. Tuggle is the Region-al Director of the U.S. Fish and Wild-life Service’s Southwest Region based in Albuquerque. To learn more visit www.fws.gov/southwest.

Stewardship of nature is part of the human experience

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But we can’t do it alone– Join NMWF today!

Since 1914 NMWF has stood up for New Mexico resident hunters and anglers.Here’s just some of what NMWF has done in recent years:

• Lead efforts to raise resident draw quota to 84 percent: 3,000 more tags EVERY YEAR• Instrumental in overturning the Terk injunction: more bighorn tags for New Mexicans• Held the State Game Commission accountable to the public• Worked to maintain hunting and fishing in our new national monuments• Exposed the backroom deal to trade away White’s Peak• Helped maintain hunting access to 43,000 acres in Chaves County• Kept sportsmen informed about issues that matter

NM hunters and anglers, Who has your back? The New Mexico Wildlife Federation, that’s who!

Documents

RepoRteR Winter 2016 Sportsmen dunned for $1 millionthenewmexicosportsman.com/wp-content/uploads/Winter-2016-online.pdfare our best hope for keeping rare spe-cies off the federal endangered