I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
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Sen. George Muñoz
Sen. George Munoz, D-Gallup, says that New Mexico has the lowest ratio of hunting licenses that go to residents in the Rocky Mountain West and he wants to change that, according to a news release sent out Tuesday. Muñoz is considering drafting legislation for the January legislative session to guarantee that a greater proportion of hunting licenses go to New Mexicans.
New Mexico currently guarantees just 78 percent of hunting licenses allocated through the big game draw to residents of the state, compared to the 90 percent or more that other western states such as Arizona, Montana, Idaho and Utah all guarantee, the release says.
“We’ve all heard from local hunters who are unable to use their own public lands and are hindered from continuing the tradition of hunting that has been handed down to us from previous generations,” Munoz was quoted as saying in the release. “But when we do go out in the field, we see many license plates from other states—residents are being pushed aside and it is not right.”
Munoz has developed a website and a survey to gather input from hunters and others interested in the issue at www.newmexicohuntingsurvey.com. Munoz will use the poll to help refine legislation to improve hunting opportunities for New Mexicans, the release said.
“It’s time to start treating our resident hunters better in New Mexico,” Munoz said in the release. “I have looked at drafting legislation that would allow more opportunities for in-state hunters.”
The ratio of licenses that go to out-of-state hunters isn’t a new issue, with local hunters complaining that between the way the state doles out licenses to hunt certain species of wild game and its decision to distribute a certain number of tags to out-of-state hunters, local hunters are left out in the cold.
