Quay county ranchers against antelope move

Area ranchers are at odds with a New Mexico Department of Game and Fish program that is relocating prong horned antelope from Quay County.

Starting on Feb. 26,  Game and Fish officials set up traps in Quay County to capture and move 161 antelope to the Santa Ana Pueblo near Albuquerque and to three areas of Mexico, according Dan J. Williams, media relations director for Game and Fish.

“In the Santa Ana Pueblo area the population had dwindled down to zero,” Williams said. “The antelope are being sent to these areas in an effort to increase and restore the population.”

The Department of Game and Fish had not trapped antelope in New Mexico for more than 10 years, according to Darrel Weybright, big game coordinator for Game and Fish.

“Since that time the population of antelope has greatly increased,” Weybright said. “With that increase the department received requests to herd and remove antelope for the Quay County area near Nara Visa.”

Weybright said that the antelope were herded by helicopter, moved into a corral trap, vaccinated and sedated, and moved into haulers.

“I am against any antelope being taken out of this area,” said Van Robertson, a Quay County rancher. “In fact, there are very few people in this area that wanted this done.”

Robertson said he has tried to maintain and manage the antelope population on his property through hunts.

“I am in the business of hunting,” Robertson said. “Hunting has become a business for area ranchers and they are taking that away.”

One rancher disagreed with the method of herding the antelope, and in particular, by helicopter.

“I did not allow them on my land,” Michael Perez said. “They don’t realize that those antelope will go through fences because of helicopters and I have repaired enough fence in the past because of the antelope.”

Perez attributed the increase in antelope numbers to the DGF taking away hunts several years ago.

“Now, we are overrun by antelope,” Perez said.

Area rancher Jay Cammack said he lost three calves, possibly because they were spooked by the helicopter.

“I contacted the Department of Game and Fish to see if they were flying over my property last Thursday (Feb. 26).” Cammack said. “I found two calves dead in stock tanks and one dead in the middle of a cattle guard. I would normally find one calf in a stock tank once every 10 years. Finding three dead calves in one day, now that is unusual.

Cammack said he has called and left several messages with the department’s Raton office, but has not heard back from them.

“I’m not sure that the helicopter caused the calves’ deaths,” Cammack said. “Something had to spook them though and all three of them several miles apart from each other.”

Despite the loss of livestock, Cammack said he supports the removal of the antelope.

“When I moved here in 1981, I would normally see around 30 antelope on the property of 10,000 acres,” Cammack said. “Now we are looking at numbers from 50 to 200 antelope depending on the group.”