?Our state's hunting traditions are under attack and hunters need to speak up now.
Anti-hunting groups are flooding the New Mexico State Game Commission with comments opposing all bear and cougar hunting. The comments are coming in as the commission is considering a new rule to set hunting seasons and other regs for the animals over the next four years.
The game commission is likely to adopt a proposed rule drafted by New Mexico Department of Game and Fish biologists that will allow continued hunting. The problem is, the anti-hunting comments on the bear and cougar rule are only a warm-up for anti-hunters.
Game Commissioners need to hear from New Mexican hunters! Click HERE to submit a comment in favor of responsible predator hunt programs and the scientific management proposal submitted by game department biologists.
Once the game commission allows continued bear and cougar hunting in this rule cycle, anti-hunters intend to take their case straight to the New Mexico State Legislature. They intend to tell lawmakers that the game commission ignored the public comments it received opposing bear and cougar hunting to support their request that the legislature itself take action.
Two years ago, the legislature narrowly voted to outlaw trapping on public lands. The groups that pushed the bill latched on to the tragic case of a dog that was killed by a poacher's snare in a recreation area that already was closed to legal trapping to make their case. The fact that legal trapping had nothing to do with the dog's death didn't stop the animal-rights activists.
Most hunters aren't trappers. And although the New Mexico Wildlife Federation testified in the New Mexico legislature against the trapping ban, few hunters spoke up against it.
The NMWF expects to see a push from anti-hunters to try to get the legislature in 2025 to outlaw hunting bears and lions with hounds. Again, most hunters don't hunt with hounds, and anti-hunters are counting on continued complacency among hunters to continue their divide-and-conquer strategy against our hunting traditions.
If the anti-hunters are successful in outlawing hunting with hounds, what's next? Outlawing hunting ducks with retrievers? Outlawing hunting quail with pointers? Hunters need to stick together and realize what we're up against. Don't bet that the anti-hunters won't turn their attention to your favorite form of hunting eventually if we don't stand together.
As hunters, we need to oppose the anti-hunters' approach of using emotional appeals to chip away at our state's responsible hunting programs and traditions in the legislature.
Whether or not you hunt bear and cougars – comment on the pending bear and cougar rule. Let the game commission know that you support the scientific management proposal submitted by game department biologists and the continuation of scientific predator management programs in our state.
Now is the time to speak up - comment on the bear and cougar rule TODAY.
