Our Anti-hunting Land Commissioner
New Mexico
Well we got what we voted for! Stephanie Garcia Richards' first executive order was to ban "hunting contests" on state trust lands. What's next? Here's one of Richards' quotes from the article:
“The position of the State Land Office under my direction is that all wildlife are sacred and all wildlife play a vital role in our environment. This action does not restrict a rancher’s ability to humanely remove or kill an animal causing harm to agriculture or domestic pets on State Trust Lands. What we are addressing is the blood sport where participants kill dozens of animals without sound justification and play for cash and prizes.”
This may be just the start.
Mike
Loop hole - don't play for cash and prizes...
This is what happens when bona-fide idiots are elected to public office. What happens when you don't move an apex predator away? The prey becomes scarce in that area and they move to other land - USFS and BLM. Let the coyote killing contests begin!
I guess predator population control on a stressed species like mule deer isn’t “sound justification.”
Can we call it a competition instead of a contest?
"Coyote contests" do not ring well with the general public. That's just a fact. I recognize that coyotes (and all species for that matter) need to be managed, but looking folks in the eye and telling them "yep, we need to shoot as many coyotes as possible and give a prize to whoever kills the most" is a tough sell to the non-hunting public. I do believe that these contests put hunters in a bad light.
The problem is that antis just chip away at whatever low hanging fruit they can and coyote contests are an easy one to do away with. This is just the beginning and they will target the next thing they can focus on.
The target will be trapping on state land, it's as good as gone!
Then lions, then bears, then bowhunting
At least there is "very little" state land compared to BLM and USFS, but that's besides the point. Cannot give these people even an inch as they will take a mile every time.
And, at least she can be fired in 2022...
I can't wait to see someone blow up an advertisement for the biggest coyote contest the state has ever seen, but put a disclaimer on it that participants can only hunt on private, blm, or NF. Watch the heads roll! I'm talking TV, Radio, billboards... put it in their face.
That would not be wise ohio. It would just generate outrage and the antis would try to chip away at other lands. Like it or not coyote contests DO NOT resonate with non-hunters. I'm not talking about antis - they're radical kooks never going to change, but non-hunters are the VAST majority of the US and we need to sway them to be hunter-friendly even if they aren't actually hunters.
You have the "right" to toss a dead deer on your roof and drive all over Santa Fe with it, but it's NOT going to help our hunting cause. Neither is posting coyote contests on billboards. We need to show the non-hunting public that we are civilized and not a bunch of blood thirsty barbarians.
She said she would like to see trapping banned in NM too. I don’t care if my wife was running for office as a Democrat (I wouldnt have married her if she was a Democrat) I wouldn’t vote for her . I would never , ever vote Democrat......see what you get.
Aahhhh, NM - the land of stupidity when it comes to politics...
But Carl, if I don’t draw a tag in 2yrs I’m more than blood thirsty! Jk, you’re right and as much as I’d like to see it happen I’m being more facetious than serious.
HDE, its not just politics... we rank high in the worst categories and low in the best.
ohio - I know. NM is 15 years minimum behind the times in everything. Anyone who thinks the Netflix movie industry coupled with renewables as the mainstay in power/energy is a saving grace to NM's economy has been spending a little too much time north in CO...
