New Mexico is fortunate in having a tremendous diversity of both upland game and waterfowl, and big game and small game for her people. Importantly, the game resources are spread out through every county in the state.
The state’s richness of bird life is varied and extensive. New Mexico ranks among the first five in the total number of birds found within its boundaries. More than 400 species of birds live within the state. These range all the way from the tiny mites of the bird kingdom, the hummingbirds, weighing less than an ounce, to the great white whistling swan, weighing up to 25 pounds, or the Merriam turkey, which may weigh close to 30. Of the six species of quail found in the United States, New Mexico has four and may possess the fifth, since the mountain quail of the western coast have been introduced into this state and still occur on the west slopes of the Sacramento Mountains near Tularosa. Five species of doves found throughout the state from the highest coniferous forest down into the scorching heat of the creosote desert are the Inca dove, ground dove, mourning dove, white-winged dove, and the bandtail pigeon, all of them close relatives. Of these, only two, the mourning dove and the white-winged dove, are commonly hunted as game species.
An unexplained and precipitous decline struck the bandtail pigeon about ten or twelve years ago, from which it apparently has never recovered. Although hunting was undoubtedly part of the pressure exercised against these birds, it in no way accounted for their sudden and dramatic decline in numbers. This decline may gradually be reversed, since more and more of these birds are being seen. It is well known that animals with a high reproductive capacity can endure much heavier losses to their population than can those with low or very limited reproduction, such as the bandtail, which normally lays only a single egg. The mourning dove, on the other hand, lays two eggs at a time and may raise as many as five or more broods in one year. Take this one step further with the scaled or Gambel quail, which may lay up to 12 or 15 eggs, and it can readily be seen that the population of bandtail pigeons can never endure the losses that the much more prolific mourning dove and quail can. The same might be said by comparison of elk and deer. Elk do not bear their first young until their third year, and then the cow may not bear young but alternate years until her seventh or eighth year; by that time she has begun to decline in vigor; in her total life she may not produce more than four or five calves. The mule deer, on the other hand, start bearing at the age of two, with their first birth normally single; from then on, twins are usual for the rest of the doe’s life. Thus, deer have a considerably greater reproductive potential than do elk or bighorn sheep, which have one young at a time.
The fleet-footed antelope of the open rolling plains is another example of fairly high reproductive capacity, since they breed earlier than do deer and normally bear twins. Antelope are confined to the more open country where their prodigious running ability and marvelous eyesight stand in good stead in protecting them against their natural enemies.
The wild turkey, classified by law in New Mexico as big game, is found throughout the mountainous areas of the state, not excepting some of the desert ranges. New Mexico is one of two states fortunate enough to possess three of the five forms of the wild turkey known to the United States: the Merriam turkey, found in the higher elevations of the mountainous areas, usually the ponderosa forest; the Rio Grande turkey, confined to the watercourses of the eastern plains; and the fairly rare Mexican turkey, found in the Animas and Peloncillo mountains of extreme southwestern New Mexico. In Hildalgo County these mountains are actually largely Mexican in both flora and fauna. Some of the rarest, most beautiful birds of North America are also found in this area and nowhere else in the United States with the exception of southeastern Arizona.
Our most abundant game bird, the mourning dove, is found in every county of the state and nests from the coniferous forests of the north and the higher mountains of the south clear out into the plains where there is not a tree in sight for miles. Doves are extremely adaptable and very prolific. They provide the finest kind of sport shooting and are avidly sought, particularly by shotgun enthusiasts of the eastern and southern parts of the state.
Scaled quail are found throughout New Mexico, being absent only in elevations above 7000 feet. Even there, they periodically occur but are ordinarily driven back by winter snow. Gambel quail are found throughout the river courses of the Rio Grande Valley, the San Juan Valley, and the southwestern watercourses. The Mearns’ quail is found in the southern half of the state in the higher mountain elevations, whereas the bob-white quail occupies the grassy rolling sandhills of the eastern counties where it is commonly found together with scaled quail.
Quail hunting is one of the most popular sports in New Mexico and many thousands of hunters can hardly wait from one season to the next. New Mexico is in the heart of the scaled quail country and provides some of the finest shooting to be had anywhere.
Migratory waterfowl, while not considered abundant, are not uncommon in this state, known more for its aridity than for its rivers and lakes. The two main fly ways are the Rio Grande Valley and the Pecos Valley, with the Pecos Valley being somewhat ahead in total numbers.
Ducks commonly found in New Mexico in abundance are teal, both green-winged and blue-winged as well as the lesser-known cinnamon teal, mallards, widgeon, pintails, gadwall, scaups, canvasbacks, redheads, and other species.