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News2026-07-08T12:45:50-06:00

NMDOW News

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Game Commission to meet Nov. 7

SANTA FE – The New Mexico State Game Commission will hold a meeting starting at 9 a.m. Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, at the Fuller Lodge, 2132 Central Ave., Los Alamos, NM 87544. The full agenda, and other information, will be available on the Department of Game and Fish website. If you are interested in participating or providing comments, but cannot attend the meeting in person, you are encouraged to pre-register to attend the meeting on the Zoom Webinar platform. For those who wish only to view the meeting, there will be a live webcast on the Department's website. If you are an individual with a disability who needs a reader, amplifier, qualified sign language interpreter or any other form of auxiliary aid or service to attend or participate in the meeting, please contact Darren Vaughan at 505-476-8027 or darren.vaughan@dgf.nm.gov. Public documents, including the agenda and minutes, can be provided in various accessible forms.

Oct 24, 2025|

Hunters encouraged to stay informed and be on the lookout for New World Screwworm

New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Public contact only, Information Center: 888-248-6866, ispa@dgf.nm.gov Media contact only, Darren Vaughan: 505-476-8027, darren.vaughan@dgf.nm.gov New Mexico Department of Agriculture Media contact, Jenny Green: 575-202-4249; jgreen@nmda.nmsu.edu New Mexico Livestock BoardContact, Samantha Holeck, DVM, State Veterinarian: 505-841-6161; samantha.holeck@nmlb.nm.gov SANTA FE – The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, New Mexico Department of Agriculture and New Mexico Livestock Board are encouraging hunters to help prevent the spread of New World screwworm among wildlife, livestock, pets and people. New World screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax) is a foreign animal disease and poses a serious threat. The fly’s larvae infest open wounds, where they feed on living tissue. The New World screwworm (NWS) was eradicated from the United States decades ago, but recent detections in Mexico pose a risk of northward spread. At this time, it has not been detected [...]

Oct 16, 2025|

Keep wildlife wild – Feeding wildlife puts you and others at risk

Most people mean well when they feed wildlife. What many don’t realize is that feeding wildlife is bad for the animals and dangerous for people. It’s also against the law in New Mexico if it creates a nuisance for you or someone else. There are many reasons feeding wildlife is a bad idea and creating a nuisance is just one. Banner: Bears can be attracted to neighborhoods by bird feeders, which should be put away in the spring when bears become active. Feeding Deer Can Attract Unwanted Guests While putting out food for animals such as deer seems harmless, feeding wildlife can do more harm than good because when you attract deer, you are also attracting other wildlife. Deer are the primary prey of mountain lions. Concentrating deer by feeding them can attract mountain lions. The more these predators are around humans, the more they become less [...]

Oct 15, 2025|

New Mexico Fish Art Contest

Here are your 2026 Fish Art Contest Winners! Some of New Mexico's most talented youth artists took part in the first-ever Art of Conservation New Mexico Fish Art Contest, with winners announced last week by the New Mexico Department of Wildlife. The contest included divisions for grades K-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12. The top-three finishers in each division will proceed to the National Fish Art Contest, sponsored by Wildlife Forever. Other categories included the Invader Crusader Award, for artwork featuring a native and invasive aquatic species found in the student's local area; the Mighty Minnow Award, for kindergarten participants; the New Mexico Native Trout Award, for artwork highlighting New Mexico's native trout species — Gila trout or Rio Grande cutthroat trout; and the New Mexico Species of Greatest Conservation Need Award, for artwork that best represents species identified by the Department as being most at risk and in need [...]

Oct 15, 2025|

Working with Bighorn Sheep

New Mexico has a rich wildlife heritage that can be experienced either through hunting, wildlife viewing, photography or by people seeking to connect with the outdoors. Here, you’ll find an array of habitats, from alpine tundra, forested mountains, grasslands, rivers and lakes, to sandstone canyons and the Chihuahuan desert, which is why New Mexico is aptly referred to as the Land of Enchantment. These diverse habitats are home to a species that draws people to New Mexico every year: bighorn sheep. The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish manages bighorn sheep and their habitats on behalf of all New Mexicans to conserve and protect bighorn for their beneficial use and enjoyment across a diversity of interests and activities. The management of both Rocky Mountain and desert bighorn relies on several key elements that contribute to NMDGF’s Bighorn Program, including annual inventory and monitoring of bighorn populations, disease surveillance, [...]

Oct 8, 2025|

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