New Mexico Department of Game and Fish
Media contact: Karl Moffatt, (505) 476-8007
Public contact: Customer service (888) 248-6866
karl.moffatt@state.nm.us

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, June 23, 2015:

Plenty of youth elk hunting licenses for sale

SANTA FE – More than 1,900 youth, antlerless elk licenses will go on sale through the Department of Game and Fish Online License System at 10 a.m. July 8. 

The sale is designed to encourage youth hunting and includes almost 1,500 licenses for hunters using any legal weapon, and 450 licenses for hunters using a muzzleloader or bow.

Licenses will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis, and hunters must be younger than 18 years of age on opening day of the hunt to be eligible. To purchase a license, customers must to log in to their Online License System account at www.wildlife.state.nm.us.

For the first 14 days of the sale, licenses will be available only to eligible New Mexico youth who successfully applied for deer, elk, pronghorn, ibex, oryx, or bighorn sheep and did not receive a license for any of those species or obtain a leftover license.

Beginning at 10 a.m. July 22, remaining licenses will be available to resident and nonresident youth hunters who are eligible to purchase an elk license. Youth hunters who hold any current elk license, either draw or private-land, are ineligible to purchase a Youth Encouragement Elk License. Youth hunters must have a valid Hunter Education number associated with their account before purchasing an elk-hunting license.

Hunters must have a current Junior Game Hunting or a Junior Game Hunting and Fishing license to purchase an elk license. Customers without a Game Hunting license will be directed to purchase one before continuing to the youth encouragement sale.

All purchases will be audited to verify the customer’s eligibility.

Hunters planning to purchase a youth encouragement license must have completed all mandatory 2014-15 harvest-reporting requirements, or their purchase will be rejected in the post-sale audit. The license fee, but not the application fee, will be refunded on a rejected purchase. After eligibility is verified, licenses will be awarded to hunters and will be available to print and view within a few days of purchase. Licenses can be printed from any computer by logging in to an account and selecting “My Purchases” in the main menu.

For more information about the Youth Encouragement Elk License sale, hunting in New Mexico, or for help logging in, please call customer service at (888) 248-6866. Youth Encouragement licenses will not be sold over the phone.

Here is a list of available licenses: