October Game Commission Re-Cap

The NM State Game Commission hosted their most recent meeting at their new Albuquerque office. The meeting began with the grand opening of the new office complex which is located just south of Paseo Del Norte and west of the river in a very nice location along the Rio Grande valley. The meeting was very short and focused mostly on the changes to the Manner and Method Rule. There was also an update on the Dept.’s legislatively directed stakeholder meetings regarding the Trapping Rule.

SUBSEQUENT DISCUSSION ON POTENTIAL CHANGES TO MANNER AND METHOD RULE
 
The Dept. provided an update on their proposed changes to the Manner and Method Rule. The Rule has been open for public comment for the past month and according to the Dept. the public is supportive of most of the items being proposed. The Dept. received some public comments opposing the caliber restrictions as well as their proposal to allow shooting from the road.
 
The Dept. received the most opposition to their proposal to extend the restrictions as it relates to “use of aircraft”. It should be noted that the opposition to the rule change did not come from the hunting industry but from the aviation industry. A high number of pilots attended the Commission meeting to voice their opposition to the wording in the rule indicating that the language was so vague it would create unintended consequences for recreational aviation.
  
The Dept.’s final proposed changes to the rule will be posted to the public register next week and will likely be approved by the Commission at their November Commission meeting in Roswell. If you wish to voice your opinion on any of the following proposed changes, please email [email protected] before Oct. 18th.
 
Proposed Rule Changes

• Sporting arms – Remove caliber restrictions from elk, bighorn and oryx. Make any centerfire .22 caliber or larger legal for all big game. Allow any sporting arm for cougar and javelina.
• Arrows/Bolts – allow small game hunters to use more appropriate points for their game. Remove the steel requirement from broad-heads.
• Bait – allow the use of scents except for bear hunting.
• Barbless lures or fly – Allow the use of soft plastic as an “artificial” component in making lures and flies for fishing in special trout waters.
• Restricted muzzleloaders – Allow any full-bore diameter bullet or patched round ball. Allow any black powder or equivalent propellant regardless of whether it is loose or pelleted.
• Snagging – Changed to prohibit the action of snagging vs. the accidental hooking of a fish anywhere other than the mouth.
• Spear fishing – Allow spear fishing from above the surface of the water on waters where it is allowed (lakes and reservoirs).
• Game taken by another – Allow for the temporary transfer of game parts for the purpose of transportation and/or processing.
• Sale of parts – Allow the sale of additional legally harvested parts (primarily rendered bear fat and furbearer parts).
• Shed antlers – All shed antlers collected in violation of criminal trespass, a closure or while driving off road on public land shall be seized.
• Possession of wild turkey – Already prohibited under retention of live protected species.
• Captive wildlife permits – Imported wildlife which is listed on the directors “species importation list” as group 2 (wild species generally ok to import with permit), 3 (restricted or invasive species, allowed but more restrictions) or 4 (dangerous or highly invasive, generally not allowed in) must have proof of legal importation regardless of who now owns it.
• Shooting from the road – Allow hunters to shoot from just off of the road surface when no right of way fence exists. If a right of way fence exists they can rest at least half of the firearm on that fence if it is a two or less lane road before shooting. If a right of way fence exists and the road has more than two lanes of traffic they must get beyond that fence before shooting.
• Harassing wildlife – Make it illegal to harass protected species except while legally hunting or in depredation situations.
• Use of aircraft – Make it illegal to scout or locate game from the air Aug 1 – Jan 31 annually. This will not impact any other activity, such as recreational flying, flying for agricultural purposes or flying for real estate purposes.
• Driving off road & closed road – Allow driving off-road on private land with written permission.
• Mobility Impaired – Clarification of language. In the current rule a “handicapped” license is used when it is actually a mobility impaired license. Also requires the MI hunter to designate who their assistant will be for the hunt if they have one.
• Proof of sex and/or bag limit – Allow hunters to keep either the head or the external genetalia attached to most female animals they harvest as proof of sex. Would also require javelina hunters to take the head of their javelina from the field as proof of harvest.
• E-Tagging – Hunters will have to immediately access department’s e-tagging app after killing their animal. App will provide an e-tag number, CIN and date of kill. Hunter will have to write all of this info on durable material (flagging or tape) with permanent ink and attach this durable material to the carcass and antlers/horns.
• Physical tag - Require javelina hunters to tag the head of their kill. No other changes.
• Sale of licenses – Prohibit the sale of draw or over the counter licenses.
• Dogs – Allow hunters to use up to 2 leashed dogs to help blood trail wounded game. Eliminate the requirement that they be registered with the department.
• Use of bait – An area must be free of bait for at least 10 days prior to hunting. Prohibit bait stations as starting points for releasing bear or cougar dogs on a track.
• Hunting captive big game – Prohibit hunting within game proof fences except when licensed as a Class A park.
• Contiguous deeded land – Allow a landowner who wants to hunt their entire deeded property (as long as it is all contiguous) for most big game to do so despite the fact that their property extends into adjacent GMU’s where the season dates, bag limit or sporting arm are different. Landowner must show proof of ownership and request this permission annually from the local department office. Unit wide, ranch wide or unitized properties are not eligible.
• Collars on game animals – Prohibit anyone from putting a collar or electronic tracking device on any game animal.
• Use of traps or snares on upland game or migratory birds – Prohibit the capture of upland game (squirrels, grouse, quail etc) and migratory birds (ducks, geese etc).
• Trotlines – Allow anglers to mark their trotlines using only their CIN.
• Spear and Bow fishing – Prohibit the lethal take of any fish species which has a length requirement since undersize fish cannot be released unharmed.
• Bullfrogs – Prohibit the possession of and use of bullfrogs while fishing.
• Baitfish – Allow commercially packaged and processed dead fish to be used as bait in any regular water in the state. Clarified what is allowed.
• Limit on angling hooks – Remove this law.
• Possession of live fish – Prohibit the moving of live fish from one water to another.
• Chumming – Allow chumming in all regular waters statewide. Still illegal in a special trout water.
• Closed areas – Remove this section. Contradicts what is open.
• Boats and other floating devices – Simplified, standardized and consolidated.
• Crossbows – Remove this section. This was repetitive. Crossbows are legal for all muzzleloader and rifle hunts and are legal during bow hunts by an MI card holder.
• Penalty Assessments – Removed those listed for violations which are proposed to no longer be illegal.
• Seizure – Relocated this paragraph to a single location at the end of the rule.
• Special Accommodations – Require hunters who have a director approved accommodation to carry a copy of this in the field.

 
SUBSEQUENT CHANGES TO THE REVOCATIONS RULE 
The Dept. gave an update on their proposed changes to the revocations rule. Most of the changes will help clean up the language and simplify the rule. The Dept. has not received any public comments regarding the proposal.
 
The Dept.’s final proposed changes to the rule will be posted to the public register next week and will likely be approved by the Commission at their November Commission meeting in Roswell. If you wish to voice your opinion on any of the following proposed changes, please email [email protected] before Oct. 18th.
 
Proposed Rule Changes

• Objective – Remove repetitious language. Add language for failure to appear in court.
• Definitions – Add Certificate of Compliance, HSD (human services department), Notice of Intent, and Privileges. Amend Respondent, Revocation, and Suspension.
• Criminal Revocation Categories and Points – Remove repetitious language. Add 20 point violation (apply for military discount when not eligible). Move “hunt/fish/trap on private land without written permission” from 10 point violation to 17 point violation. Add “turkey” to “exceed bag limit”.
• Administrative Revocation Categories and Points – Remove repetitious language. Add 20 point violation (insufficient funds/stop payment).
• Timeframe – Remove repetitious language. Add language to allow commission to set a timeframe for violations not listed.
• Revocation and Suspension Procedures – Add Notice of Intent. Add language regarding exceptions to those categories the commission votes on. Clarify language.
• No Hearing Requested – Clarify language. Remove repetitious language.
• Rights of a person Requesting a Hearing – Lengthen timeframe to be consistent with other timeframes.
• Rules of Evidence – Remove “magistrate” and add “court of competent jurisdiction” because adjudications can come from different courts.
• Final Decision of the Commission – Lengthen timeframe to be consistent with other timeframes.
• Judicial Review – Simplified language.
• Wildlife Violator Compact Suspension and Revocation – Add “Notice Procedures” and “Hearing Procedures” as they were not previously in this sub-section.
• Suspension – Add language for “Failure to Appear in court”.
• Parental Responsibility Act – Simplify language. Add Notice of Intent. Remove most portions of “Hearing Procedures” as they are the same as under “Revocation and Suspension Procedures” in 19.31.2.11.
• Failure to Appear and Failure to Pay Penalty Assessment or Civil Damage – Simplify language. Add “Failure to Appear” language. Remove most portions of “Hearing Procedures” as they are the same as under “Revocation and Suspension Procedures” in 19.31.2.11.

 
DISCUSSION OF POTENTIAL RULE CHANGES TO TRAPPING 
The Dept. provided a very short presentation regarding the results of an ongoing initiative to bring together “stakeholder groups” to discuss areas of agreement regarding trapping in NM. The stakeholder meetings were a result of a legislative request made back in 2017 by Senator Pete Campos to bring organizations from both sides of the issue together to discuss areas of middle ground. Apparently, the only area of middle ground that was discovered during the stakeholder meetings was to establish mandatory trapper education.
 
Unsurprisingly this agenda item turned out several activists who used the public comment segment of the meeting to express their anti-trapping sentiment. NMCOG was not one of the organizations originally included in the stake holder meetings and thus is unaware of the discussions that have taken place between the groups over the past year. The Commission provided assurance that anything that was discussed in the stakeholder meetings has not yet led to any official request for rule changes.
 
ODDS AND ENDS
 
During the meeting the Commission also approved the Dept.’s depredation and nuisance abatement report, the revocation of licenses for individuals who had an excess of 20 violation points, and the Biennial Review of the State Listed and Endangered Species. The Dept. did not recommend any changes to their existing list of threatened and endangered species nor did they receive any public comments regarding the document.
 
Special Commission Meeting November 8th, 2018 – Albuquerque, NM
Regular Commission Meeting November 30th, 2018 – Roswell, NM