Santa Fe New Mexican <br>
by Jessie Deubel
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In a state known for its rugged landscapes and abundant wildlife, New Mexico’s elk management system stands out for all the wrong reasons.

The recent release of the second Take Back Your Elk report sheds light on the persistent issues plaguing the system and underscores the urgent need for reform.

One glaring problem highlighted by the report is the disproportionate allocation of elk licenses, favoring those with deep pockets over ordinary residents. New Mexico’s Elk Private Land Use System (EPLUS) allocates a significant portion of licenses directly to landowners, with a staggering 75% of these licenses ending up in the hands of nonresident hunters. This not only raises concerns about fairness but also undermines the principle of equal access to our state’s natural resources.

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Jesse Deubel, Executive Director @ the New Mexico Wildlife Federation discussing the longstanding problems with our elk tags system. The Game Commission and the EPLUS system and other issues have New Mexicans not getting anywhere near the amount of tags that they should.

<b>The Elkshape Podcast </b>
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Episode with Jesse Deubel, the executive director for New Mexico Wildlife Federation and Ray Trejo. Both guests are passionate elk hunters who reside in New Mexico, we are extending the conversation of how New Mexico continues to support the privatization of elk hunting. If you are a regular blue-collar elk hunter, resident or non-resident, this is an important podcast to educate yourself on how the North American Model of Conservation is being ignored by the state of New Mexico.

Demand that the NM Attorney General investigate the legality of the EPLUS system
Submit Your Concern HERE

For more background and to research the extent of NMWF's calls to action through the administrative process, listeners can read more about the issue at the following link. The New Mexico Wildlife Federation has spent decades exhausting any and all administrative remedies.

<b>By Jesse Deubel</b>
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The New Mexico Wildlife Federation encourages all New Mexicans to contact their local state senator and state representative and express support for reforming elk hunting in our state. Learn more about the issue at takebackyourelk.com.

<b>By Ryan Callaghan, The Meat Eater </b>
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The New Mexico Wildlife Federation and the New Mexico Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers (BHA) published a bombshell report last week slamming the state’s Department of Game and Fish for “privatizing elk hunting opportunities.” The conservation and hunting groups claim that the state is favoring landowners, outfitters, and non-resident hunters in how it hands out licenses, and resident public land hunters are getting left out to dry.

The report outlines license allocation data obtained from the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish through a public records request. According to the report, the Department stonewalled the request until the state’s Attorney General ordered the records to be made public. The Department claims the delay was due to a conflict in state law between the Inspection of State Records Act and the Public Records Act.

Whatever the reason for the delay, both sides agree on the top-line number: over 35% of the state’s elk licenses end up in the hands of non-resident hunters.

<b>By Jesse Deubel, Albuquerque Journal</b>
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Problems with New Mexico’s elk management system go far beyond the information presented in Alaina Mencinger’s Sept. 25 report, “Frustrated landowners sue state over damage caused by elk.”
Mencinger reported on ranchers suing over New Mexico’s so-called EPLUS system — Elk Private Land Use System. I agree with the ranchers quoted that New Mexico’s system of elk management is broken, but for different reasons.

New Mexico’s wildlife belongs to all the people of the state – not just to landowners and not just to the wealthy. Yet EPLUS privatizes our elk and even privatizes thousands of public land hunts. No other state allows this.

<b>By Robert Knott, Santa Fe New Mexican</b>
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A new report says the state’s current system of granting elk hunting licenses favors the wealthy and out-of-state residents over New Mexicans.

“New Mexico’s unfair system of allocating elk licenses is destroying our state’s cherished hunting traditions,” says the report by the New Mexico Wildlife Federation and the New Mexico Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.