At the State Game Commission meeting July 2 at the Heron Lake Visitor’s Center, a group of spectators waited patiently for their turn to speak. When the time came, they came forward one by one to address their concerns to the Commission.
Many were small landowners from Los Ojos or Los Brazos, and they all voiced similar concerns over the damage their irrigated fields sustain from elk in Big Game Hunting Unit 4. Los Ojos landowner Gilbert Martinez said his hay crop is almost non-existent.
“Right around the (Los Ojos) hatchery, I’ve seen 200 elk in a 100-acre field,” Gilbert Martinez said. “I almost can’t cut it.”
Martinez said large landowners in Unit 4 want to decrease bull elk hunting to increase the quality of the trophies. But that won’t benefit the small landowner, he said.
“It will just compound the problem,” Martinez said. “We’ll just get more elk in our fields.”
Landowners in New Mexico have two choices when it comes to elk grazing on their property. They can make a depredation claim detailing the damage and the state Game and Fish Department will help them seek solutions, such as building a fence.
The other means of seeking compensation is through the E-Plus system, which issues hunting permits to landowners to purchase either a bull elk, cow elk or either-sex archery license. However, they must agree that they want elk on their property and cannot make a depredation claim.
Therefore, landowners must choose between participating in E-Plus or filing a depredation claim.
Since there is no separate state fund for depredation, however, help may take a while to be provided.
“I had one permit and I gave it up,” Los Brazos landowner Eloy Olivas said. “Game and Fish said they could help me, but there was a seven-year waiting list — no money.”
Commission Chairman Jim McClintic answered Olivas.
“Believe me, we take these problems very seriously,” McClintic said. “We want to put a big effort forward to come up with something. We know how frustrated you get coming here and nothing gets done. We need solutions that benefit both sides.”
Better Hunting,
More Money?
The large landowners’ position was presented by Aaron Jones, of Associated Landowners Against Resource Mismanagement (ALARM). ALARM claims that the quality of hunting in Unit 4 has declined, although Jones did acknowledge that small landowners suffer extensive damage from elk.
“If there are only 200 elk in Unit 4, it wouldn’t surprise me if they were on those ranches because they have food and water,” Jones said.
Jones submitted a 13-page statement from the Association, which claims the quality and the viability of the elk resource has been in serious decline since the mid-1990s and is now in critical condition. The Association’s document included a letter of support from Jicarilla Apache Nation President Levi Pesata.
The Association calls for an immediate reduction in the harvest levels of both cows and bulls. But they would also shift the balance toward small landowners, with large ranch owners sacrificing more permits than their small counterparts.
“If we don’t take care of the little guy, it doesn’t work,” Jones said. “It’s an economic issue for the Chama area.”
The Association’s document states that elk hunting in Unit 4 contributes an annual revenue of $7 million to the regional economy. Increasing the quality of the elk hunting would make the small landowners’ permits, which they can sell to outfitters, more valuable, it states.
Landowner Henry Ulibarri, owner of Henry’s store in Tierra Amarilla, pointed out that Unit 4 is unique in that it is nearly all private property. Small landowners have different priorities from the out-of-state trophy hunters who patronize the larger ranches, he said.
“The small ranch holder could care less about the antlers,” Ulibarri said. “The trophy hunter could care less about the meat.”
As the meeting approached the lunch hour, a figure seated in the back tried to get commissioners’ attention.
Prax Rivera, of Los Ojos, 70, said his 30-acre field of hay is raided by elk during the night. He has lost 600 bales, Rivera said.
“At $5 a bale, that’s $3,000,” he said. “I have a fixed income and when you lose something like that, it hurts.”
Rivera’s damage report was taken by Department Northwest Area Chief Brian Gleadale.
After lunch the meeting resumed, but the crowd had thinned noticeably and the issues in Unit 4 were not brought up again. As the meeting broke up, Gleadale, who had met with outfitter Art Martinez June 26 in Santa Fe to discuss a similar problem in Units 6C and 6A, summed up the feelings expressed at both meetings.
“Same issues, same concerns,” Gleadale said. “Anywhere you have small landowners growing crops, you’re going to have it.”