NM G&F

10/24/02

NEW MEXICO BEAR SEASONS SET

PORTALES, N.M. - Bear hunting in New Mexico will be restricted in some areas for the 2003-04 and 2004-05 hunting seasons. The State Game Commission made the changes during its October meeting in Portales.

Most bear management units will be open Aug. 1-29 to hunting with dogs and any legal weapon. All bear units will be open Aug. 30-Sept. 22, archery only and no dogs. Most units will reopen Sept. 25-Nov. 15 to dogs and any legal weapon.

The exceptions to these include: The state wildlife management areas open to bear hunting will be open Aug. 1-31, any legal weapon, permits issued through a drawing; Units 8 and 14 will be open only during the archery season and again between Oct. 15 and Nov. 15. In Units 8 and 14 dogs must be used during the Oct. 15-Nov. 15 period and only male bears may be killed.

The commission reduced the bag limit in all units to one bear.

Big Game Units 8 and 14 include the Sandia and Manzano mountains of the Cibola National Forest. Sprawling urban communities in those mountain ranges are reducing bear habitat and the Department of Game and Fish has trapped a record number of nuisance bears in those communities this summer and fall. Citizens have expressed concern that hunting is further damaging the population and the commission responded to those concerns with these reductions in hunting pressure.

The Department of Game and Fish will continue a three-year study of bears in Units 8 and 14.