FOR YOUR OWN PEACE OF MIND and LEGAL PROTECTION - If you have a license and are planning to hire a guide do these two things:
1. Go to the NM Game & Fish site and confirm that the outfitter who signs your contract and the guides who he claims will be with you on your hunt are properly registered with the state.
2. Ask the outfitter if you will be hunting on public land and if so what kind of public land it is. Then contact the land management agency to confirm that "your outfitter" actually has a permit with that agency to operate on the lands where your license is valid. If you don't get a clear-cut answer from your outfitter about land ownership, use the G & F hunt unit map and compare the area to maps available on line that indicate land ownership status.
Many of the hunt areas include US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and State owned lands. Often those are mingled together and may also be mingled with privately owned land. All the agencies have web sites from which you can obtain phone numbers and/or email contact options. All outfitters on public lands are required to have a permit and to pay a percentage of the fees collected from hunters (or an annual fee) to those land management agenties.
For Forest Service land contact the specific National Forest. Such as the Gila, the Lincoln, the Carson etc. For BLM land contact the office geographically closest to your hunt area. For the southwestern part of the state it is the Las Cruces Office at 575 525-4300. For the southeastern part it's either the Carlsbad office at 575 887-6544 or the Roswell office at 575 627-0272
For State land contact the NM State Land Office at 505 827-5760.
If you have an oryx license valid on the White Sands Missile Range contact Gilbert Villegas at 575 635-9780 for a list of approved outfitters.
There are over 25 million acres of public land (National Forest, BLM, and State) in New Mexico. Most of our hunts are on public land, but that doesn't mean too many hunters. New Mexico hunting for most species is a limited "lottery" system. You apply for a license by early April and drawings are in June. If you apply by mail, you must submit the cost of the license plus a $8 application fee, and a $10 wildlife damage fee. If you don't get drawn, NM G&F sends your money back in about a month, except for the application fee. For most hunts, if you draw a license, you must purchase two stamps, at a total cost of 10 dollars, for statewide habitat improvements and hunter access easements. These stamps are not included in your license cost. If you do not have them already, we can provide them and you can reimburse us, but we must know at least two weeks before your arrival.
You can apply on line this year. Your credit card is charged only the $8 application fee when you apply, then charged the full license fee if you are drawn. The web site is listed below.
Apply on line a couple weeks early so that you have time to recover in case you have on-line problems.
Guided non-residents actually have a better probability of being drawn for most species than do residents or non-guided non-residents. This is because of the 12% allocation of licenses to guided non-residents. If we have given you our outfitter number to use on your application, make absolutely certain that you only apply for hunt codes that appear on this website, or that we have given to you via telephone or email. Most turkey, bear, lion, barbary, and some ibex licenses are unlimited across-the-counter.
New Mexico does not have a hunter orange law. Only oryx hunts on White Sands Missile Range require orange
by order of the Army.
There are caliber restrictions for rifles, pistols and muzzleloaders that vary by species, so read the rule book.
You will find them more than reasonable.
Scopes, sabots and in-line ignition are legal on muzzleloaders for most hunts. Scopes and electronically lighted sights are NOT
legal on bows. Crossbows are not legal. Turkeys may only be hunted with bows and shotguns. There
are, of course, many other laws and regulations governing your hunting in New Mexico, as there are in every state.
You can reach New Mexico Game and Fish at (505) 476-8000. To be mailed information, their number is (800) 862-9310.
You can also get lots of information from their web site, including drawing results, regulations and application
forms, downloading instructions and current information about hunting and fishing in New Mexico. On-line applying for hunts is actually pretty easy. That website is
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