Officer’s Log

July, 2020

  • 29 July

    Becoming a conservation officer

    A Q&A with Lieutenant Brady Griffith The Department of Game and Fish is always on the lookout for qualified men and women to become New Mexico conservation officers. Lieutenant Brady Griffith, who started out as an officer with the Department 14 years ago, is responsible for recruiting and training conservation …

September, 2019

  • 27 September

    A Day in the Life of a Conservation Officer

    Lobato guides hunter education graduates on a youth pheasant hunt he organized. -NMDGF

    Meet Corporal Jacob Lobato, Roswell Supervisory District The morning was just beginning and the heat was setting in as I climbed into the front seat of Corporal Jacob Lobato’s truck. The dispatchers’ calls were already coming across the radio. Spring had recently started in southeast New Mexico. It was time …

June, 2019

  • 13 June

    Conservation officer assists disabled hunter

    During a wildlife complaint call in 2017, Sergeant Andrew Armendariz of the Roswell Supervisory District provided information about huntingv opportunities to Richard Cole, a handicapped, mobility-impaired (MI) hunter from Alamogordo. Cole, a military veteran whose left leg was amputated above the knee, was tasked with fueling 12 ships as a …

  • 13 June

    Salvaging roadkill

    Conservation officer assists family with harvesting meat from roadkill Getting dispatched to deal with injured or road-killed wildlife such as a deer or elk is fairly common in my district, an area in northwestern New Mexico that spans from the Arizona state line east to the community of Thoreau and …

April, 2017

  • 13 April

    Albuquerque wildlife calls

    Memorable Albuquerque wildlife calls. NMDGF photo, New Mexico Wildlife magazine Spring 2017 Vol60, Num1, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish.

    Memorable Albuquerque wildlife calls Nuisance wildlife calls can fall into a variety of categories: urgent, entertaining, painstaking, frustrating and “I have got to see this.” New Mexico Department of Game and Fish personnel who spend time in the field will at some point experience a myriad of calls and may …

October, 2016

  • 28 October

    Live and learn

    Captain Andrew Gray places an ear tag onto a tranquilized bear he captured in Watrous. As Gray can attest, even younger bears are built for a life in the wild. They are powerful and possess formidable teeth and sharp claws. New Mexico Wildlife magazine, Fall-Winter Vol 59, Num 3, NMDGF.

    Don’t ever wrestle a bear. Doesn’t matter how big a person might be and how small it is, just don’t do it. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. It was spring 2008 or 2009 when I was the Las Vegas Supervisory District sergeant. You’d think I’d remember not just the …

August, 2016

  • 15 August

    Bull elk or cow elk

    Left: Bull elk grow and shed large antlers each year. Made of bone, as antlers grow they are protected by a fuzzy-like skin known as velvet, but by late summer the antlers have hardened and the velvet is rubbed off or falls off. During the spring the antlers drop and the process begins anew. Photo by Dan Williams. Right: Cow elk do not have antlers. Photo by Zen Mocarski. New Mexico Wildlife magazine, NMDGF.

    To suggest people are passionate about wildlife might be an understatement and attempts to dispel preconceived notions might be considered blasphemy. Such was the case with a man at the New Mexico State Fair. It was mid-September and the state fair was in full swing. I was assigned to work …

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