Editions: Recent

Department reports desert bighorn survey numbers The Department of Game and Fish conducted the 22nd annual census of the Red Rock Wildlife Management Area (WMA) earlier this year. The Red Rock WMA has served as a propagation facility for desert bighorn sheep since 1972. The facility includes five pastures and …

In February 2019, the New Mexico Legislature passed Senate Bill 228, the New Mexico Wildlife Corridors Act, sponsored by Senator Mimi Stewart and Representatives Joanne Ferrary and Georgene Louis. The Act was signed into law by Governor Lujan-Grisham March 28. The Act directs the New Mexico Department of Game and …

On an early June morning in the Gila National Forest, Department of Game and Fish conservation officers and biologists stop their pickup trucks along a winding dirt road. It’s a quiet, sunny morning; the only faint sound is the whirling of a distant, lone helicopter scanning the landscape below for …

Have you ever visited an outdoor spot where you could sense the importance of the area? No historical marker telling you so. No fanfare. You just simply felt the gravitas? That is the case for me with River Ranch, a new Department wildlife management area near Faywood, north of Deming. …

There was a steady wind whipping through the canyons of southeast New Mexico, kicking dust in the air, the bushes looked like they would fly away at any second. The temperatures did not want to budge. There was no sign of letting up. It was no matter, though; only 20 …

Captures are conducted to accomplish a variety of specific goals, said Nicole Tatman, big game program manager with the Department. “Biologist are looking for some piece of information from the species or herd.” For example, a capture could help biologists investigate why a population of elk is declining in certain …

Collared peccary, better known as javelina, have been a part of southern New Mexico’s landscape since before biologists such as Stokely Ligon and Vernon Bailey started discovering things about them in the early 1900s. The name javelina is derived from jabalina which, in Spanish, means “wild sow.” These medium-sized omnivorous …

Family fun with or without the sun Although sometimes the weather isn’t the most hospitable for ice fishing when the temperature drops to freezing and the wind picks up, with the right planning, preparation and gear, a day of ice fishing can be quite rewarding and fun for the whole …

Certain places in our collective consciousness seem to exist because they have been the subject of books. The Four Corners belong to Tony Hillerman; the Gila River to Rev. Ross Calvin; and the Pecos Wilderness to the legendary conservationist and former director of the New Mexico Department of Game and …