President’s Message
September 2020
I was pleased with the turn out for our August General Membership meeting held at the Chaparral Skeet Club. There were approximately 40 folks in attendance for the Wenner’s Asian hunt report and everyone seemed to really enjoy getting out in some sense of normalcy. Several members commented that they liked it better than the Country Club because they could hear the program better. There’s a couple of pics from this great event attached. Thanks to the Wenners for a great program, Tyler for picking up the food, and Chaparral Skeet Club for hosting us.
The Game and Fish Commission will host a public input “Zoom” meeting on the 23rd discussing proposed changes to the Importation Rule. As I understand right now, this rule change will allow the Director and Staff to approve “importations” without going to the Commission. This will directly affect the release and importation of wolves into the state without Commission approval. You can sign up for this meeting by contacting This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.and asking to join the meeting.
Another issue that we’re looking into is the Colorado Wolf Introduction Ballot Initiative: In November Colorado voters will be asked to vote on whether to allow the introduction of wolves on the western slope of Colorado. This is another example of the enviro group’s desire to manage wildlife based on emotion rather than science. We’ve seen this before and the result has been universally BAD. Wolves don’t check maps and releasing them in Colorado simply means that it will be a matter of time before they move into northern NM and decimate our hunting opportunities there just as they have done in the Gila.
Another initiative that I want to get started is building a pool of youth and Veteran hunters. NMDG&F has a program that allows hunters who have drawn a tag in the state and then realize, for whatever reason, they will not be able to utilize the tag, to donate the tag to a youth or Veteran hunter. Every fall I receive at least a couple of these tags, and then the scramble is on to find a youth or Veteran that would like to go hunting. If you know of a youth or Veteran that might benefit, please take a few minutes to fill out the attached form and return it to me. I will keep it on file and notify them whenever I receive a tag. My email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The September Board and General Membership meeting has been scheduled for the Roswell Country Club on the 24th of Sep. Board meeting at 5:30 and General Membership at 7 PM. This month’s program will be report on my Rocky Mtn Bighorn Sheep hunt in the Pecos Wilderness a couple of weeks ago. I’ve attached a couple of pics of the sheep but I’ll have a bunch more at the meeting. Oh yeah, we’ll raffle a firearm this month also.
Questionaire for Donated Licenses Youth and Veteran
Full Name
Phone
Branch of Service or EMT Service/County or Company (if applicable)
Years of Service (if applicable)
Position(s) held in the military
Hunter Education Certificate # (if youth)
Can you Hunt With a Firearm?
Can You Hunt With a Bow?
Have you Hunted a Deer?
Harvested a Deer?
Have you Hunted a Pronghorn?
Harvested a Pronghorn?
Hunted Elk in the Past?
Harvested an Elk?
New Mexico Resident?
Other Information You would like us to know related to why you want to hunt?
Per the NM Council of Outfitters & Guides:
Nonresident hunters that are contracted are exempt from the 14 day quarantine. Because all outfitter clientele is, by statute, required to be contracted by the business and because under the NM Public Health Order outfitters are clearly labeled as essential as businesses that provided “fresh meat”, “food cultivation”, and food related logistics (pg 3, definition (1), bullet points d, e, & w – NM PHO dated 7/13/20).
What this means for your relatives that will travel from out of state to hunt, I do not know. My philosophy in this instance will be “forgiveness is easier to get than permission” and “what they don’t know won’t hurt them”.
I’m not suggesting that you violate der Fuhrer’s edicts, just saying how I would handle the situation.
We had a very productive July Board meeting at my home. Lots of discussion about the hunts we sold in February that have been impacted by the Cabrona. As most of you already know, all of Africa and most of Europe have been shut down by the Cabrona. I have had several phone calls and emails from our African and European partners and all the news is BAD! For example, South Africa has not allowed “tourism” travel since April. This has severely affected our African partners. Can you imagine no income for a whole year? I am asking any of our Patrons that bought hunts at the February banquet and have been unable to “work it out” with the outfitter, to contact me and let me help. Of course, as a non-profit organization, we don’t want to refund hunts. So if you are having problems, please contact me and let me try to help. My email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
On a more positive note, at the July Board meeting we voted to provide the Chaparral Skeet Club with funding to construct a handicap accessible skeet range and we heard from the NM Wild Sheep Foundation on their efforts to stabilize the Rio Grande Gorge herd of sheep. The Foundation did not request any funds for their effort and we assured them that we would support their efforts in the future.
Also the Board voted to support SCI International’s efforts to ameliorate the Cabrona economic impact with the “Share the Impact” program they have initiated. This program will provide funds for an eclectic group of outfitting organizations world wild. The on line auction that is going on right now https://www.onlinehuntingauctions.com/Share-the-Impact-Outfitter-Benefit-Auction_as66784?vm=0will do great things for outfitters and hunting organizations worldwide. If you want to find a bargain on FIRST class merchandise or hunt, take a few minutes to check out this website.
On a more local effort, I have contacted Kerrie Romero with the NM Council or Outfitters and Guides. This effort is directed towards helping our NM hunters with the Cabrona economic impact. What the board directed me to do was to buy hunts/fishing trips from NM Outfitters at full price to help them through this tough time. We will sell any hunts/fishing trips that we purchase at our banquet next February and the Chapter will hope to recoup our costs at that time. Hopefully, money now to our most seriously affected hunting community will be of some help.
So what about an August Chapter meeting? The Chaparral Skeet Club has made their meeting room available to us and I believe that it will hold all of our Chapter members that usually attend our monthly meetings. We can have a meal catered and Tyler Burnett has stated that he will work on that effort. Anyone that wants to attend a regular monthly meeting at the Chaparral Skeet Club (N of Roswell on Hwy 70) should RSVP to Tyler This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so he can plan the meal. We’ll try to organize a program, the Wenner family has had their Asian sheep hunt program on hold for several months, so something will happen on Aug 27th at the Chaparral Skeet Club. Board meeting at 5:30, general membership meeting at 7 PM.
Last month I said this might be the most depressing newsletter ever. This month I feel that we are making some progress. Dove season opens in 18 days and I’m going Antelope hunting tomorrow. Hope to see pictures of some nice antelope and hear about your dove hunts. Please send pictures as it makes for a much better newsletter.
Sincerely,
RA “Pancho” Maples
President, SNM Chapter SCI
