Hunting Banned in Military Zone Southern States

R

redhaze

Active member
I just read in the Las Cruces, NM paper that hunting is banned in the southern "military" zone declared for border protection. Wow.
 
Wow is right. Nearly 110,000 acres withdrawn for at least three years in three southern NM counties. President Wreck it Ralph strikes again...
 
popper43 said:
Go hunting on ground with Military around, no thanks. It's a Gov strip along the border, no need to hunt there anyway.
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It's not just the strip along the border, it's 110,000 acres of what was previously accessible BLM land withdrawn from public use for at least three years. And these things have a way of becoming permanent. The Pres/DoD just took 110,000 acres from you, me, and all other citizens. That's a lot of hunting area no longer accessible. And not to be persnickety, but really, how much "need" is there for hunting? We can get our steaks from Wal-mart, right?
 
Stop the flow of illegals and thus support of those illegals with our tax dollars? Or leave the border section open to whoever wants to do whatever whenever and wherever?
Border control makes sense to me, but, I guess that’s open to opinion for differing legal citizens.
 
The only map I could find showed the land was between Hwy 9 and the border to the boot heel and a narrow. strip along the border around the bootheel. I hunt the area mentioned. I looked at the map and personally think the loss is far off set by the fact that response to people in it can be much more forceful and not have to worry about making a lot of unnecessary stops. I have heard enough radio responses "It's a coyote hunter". There are a lot of wasted time responding to legal land users that could be directed to illegal uses. I was only stopped twice this year but I've been stopped up to six times in one day.

I see what appears to be ground radar, observation posts, response teams along the border. They would be far more effective without me wandering around out there.

As much as I get stopped by the border patrol I have no ill will toward them and I have never had a bad experience with them. Even the time they came.out of the brush guns drawn while I was having lunch deep in the desert we had a nice chat before they left driving a white van does have its disadvantages.
 
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I hunted a 6000 acre ranch bordering the Rio Grande on southern tip for 20 years. One of the few strips of native brush remaining which runs 14 miles to the north from the river. It was a natural corridor for illegals long before the Biden Invasion so border patrol was very active.
Like Erich, never had an unpleasant interaction with them even though I had more than one stand busted up by ground "troops", often supported by Hueys flying low overhead. They were always amicable & professional, even apologetic in doing their job.

I did notice there is a three year sunset on this; just think what coyote hunting in this area will be in three years!!!🥳
 
I doubt that it will be any different,. The total area works out to 171 sq miles or a.5 miles.strip from El Paso to the AZ border, you can call most of that from outside the boundary. It also virtually without any natural water source and with the drought even the cactus are starting to die, most of the BLM land down here has been grazed down to gravel. Three years might be a good rest for the land and a sanctuary to produce game that will have to wander out of it.

It might be nice to some.day go to my daughter's mining claim and spend the night. You can see the border from her claim.
 
Just thinking about this, 110,000 acre is 170 square miles or a patch 10 miles x 17 miles. I hunt patches like that almost every time I go out.
 
In 10 years calling down here I've parked in the zone to call but have never called in the zone as I walked north of the zone to call, I could have parked on the other side of the road and not entered it. I take the border road to Douglas quite often and my daughter's claim is within sight of the border down in the boot heel and I have yet to say "I wish I could make some stands over there right along the border".

There just aren't that many places to call in that zone. As far as I can see there is virtually no impact on hunting other than the fact that they did it and folks feel cheated.

For me it is "about damn time they did something to stem the tide of drugs and illegals".

When I hunt south of 10 I almost always come across abandoned packs and water bottles.
 
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AWS, thank you for FIRST hand explanation of what is actually happening. Stay safe during your adventures. No way I would go within 10 ft of anything I found, down in your area. To much fentanyl, no desire to pass out and die.
 
AWS said:
There just aren't that many places to call in that zone. As far as I can see there is virtually no impact on hunting other than the fact that they did it and folks feel cheated.
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Minimal impact now, but what about when they expand it? I do feel cheated, because these things are incremental. Before WWII there was 1,000,000 acres available to ranch, hunt, hike, etc. in south central NM. Now it's all "access denied" gov't land - WSMR, JER, USDA, NASA. This is just another example of a bulldozer approach to management.
 
Things like White Sands Missile Range, NASA and the others need to go somewhere, it seems they picked some of the least hospitable lands that would have little impact on population, business and agriculture. It's not like they scooped.up.land like the Kaibab or Bob Marshal Wilderness. In fact the only articles I've read about hunting that area take place after it came under government control.

I can't see the border military zone expanding unless we actually have a war on the border and then we're going to be glad the military is occupying that strip. With established border crossing getting stricter and more and more old crossing routes getting closed the remote borders in NM and AZ are looking more appealing to the cartels to get their drugs into the country.


I'm not for closing off lands to recreation, I am for protecting our borders and keeping our citizens safe.
 
Southern AZ, past administrations siimply ceded control to the cartels. They put up nice, large official govt signs on national park lands telling epople that they visit at their own risk & are on their own
 
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