The state Game and Fish Department has adopted new rules for the 2009-2010 hunting seasons that will affect the process by which hunters apply and pay for licenses and permits.
Everyone applying for a public-land license or permit or purchasing a license via a private land authorization or the Valles Caldera must first obtain a Customer ID Number. The numbers will be available in early January and can be obtained online at www.wildlife.state.nm.us or in person from any Department office. Each application must be include the Customer ID Number or it will be rejected.
“Growing numbers of people are applying for the license drawing and this will give us better control over the information of each individual hunter,” Department spokesman Lance Cherry said.
The nonrefundable application fee will increase to $9 for New Mexico residents and $12 for nonresidents. The nonrefundable fee had been $6 for both residents and nonresidents.
“The way that works is that the application fee can only cover the cost of the expense of running the drawing,” Cherry said. “We’re losing a substantial amount of money and we have to break even, but we can’t make a profit.”
Cherry said that the application fee may be adjusted in the future either higher or lower depending on the results of this year’s drawing expenses and the increased application fee.
At least one hunter questions that the Department won’t be making money on that fee..
“I think they’re making a killing on that fee,” Nathan Boylan, an Española hunter and taxidermist said. “They told me that they have 100,000 hunters in the drawing, you do the math at $9-per-applicant. You can’t tell me it takes that much money to run the drawing.”
The number of applications may be even higher, since many applicants apply for more than one species. The total number of applications for licenses or permits in the public drawing for the 2007-2008 season, according to the 2007-2008 drawing odds report on the Department’s web site, is over 166,000 if the total number of resident, nonresident and guided nonresident applicants for draw licenses for pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, deer, elk, ibex and oryx are added together.
The other change in the application process is that previously online applicants were not charged the full license fee, but just the nonrefundable application fee. If online applicants were successful in drawing a license, then their credit cards would be charged the full license fee.
Applications by mail, however, were required to send the full license fee with their applications. They were then issued a refund if they were unsuccessful in the drawing.
Beginning with the 2009-2010 season, all applicants, including online, must pay the full license fee up front on applications for pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, ibex, javelina or Barbary sheep. For online applicants, the full license fee will be charged to their credit card accounts. If they are unsuccessful, they will receive a refund.
“The argument was that it was not fair that paper applicants had to pay the full fee up front and online applicants didn’t,” Cherry said. “We’re going to see how that works out this year.”
The deadline for applying for oryx, bear wildlife management permits, population management hunts, and turkey draw permits is Feb. 4. April 8 is the deadline to apply for public land deer permits, as well as elk, pronghorn antelope, ibex, Barbary sheep, javelina and bighorn sheep draw licenses.
New Mexico resident disabled veterans will not be charged an application fee when applying for a deer permit.
The following are other changes adopted by the Department.
• Other changes that will be of interest to hunters from Rio Arriba County are changes in boundaries in Big Game Hunting Units 5B, 51 and 52. Unit 51 has been substantially increased in size and now includes portions of land that were formerly part of Unit 5B lying east of the Rio Chama. Unit 51 also now contains areas of what was formerly part of Unit 52 that lie South of Highway 64 between Tres Piedras and Tierra Amarilla.
• For the 2010-2011 season, hunters who successfully drew an license for pronghorn antelope in 2009 may not apply for a pronghorn license. Anyone who drew a 2009 public-draw Q (Quality) or HD (High Demand) deer permit may not apply for a Quality or High Demand permit and anyone drawing a 2009 Quality or High Demand elk license may not apply in 2010 for a Quality or High Demand elk license.
“This was done to provide better odds and reduce the number of applicants for pronghorn, High Demand and Quality hunts,” Cherry said.
An example of a Quality Hunt that would be familiar to Rio Arriba County hunters would be Deer hunt DER-1-143 in Unit 5B. This hunt is popular with local hunters and Unit 5B lies within Rio Arriba County. It is known for its trophy deer, but only 15 licenses are offered in the drawing. Under the new regulations that prohibit successful applicants from applying in consecutive years, it may increase opportunity for other hunters.
“It could be a good thing, hunter Vicente Romero, of Chimayó, said. “I’ve been applying for that license for years and never drawn one, but I know guys that get it year after year. Maybe I’d have a better chance.”
• Hunters under the age of 18 who have completed their Hunter Education course and were unsuccessful in the public license draw will have the opportunity to register for licenses for Youth Encouragement Elk Hunts online only. These hunts are scheduled at times when students will be on Thanksgiving or Christmas vacation, giving youth hunters the opportunity to hunt while they are on vacation. Information on how to obtain one of these licenses will be available after Oct. 1, 2009, at the Department’s web site.