By allowing a few more bighorn rams to be hunted, state legislators hope to raise at least $800,000 to help the species grow stronger.
The House of Representatives tonight voted 66-1 to increase from two to four the number of bighorn permits that will be auctioned or raffled to moneyed hunters.
State senators approved the bill last week. It now goes to Gov. Susana Martinez for her consideration.
The stakes are high. A hunting permit for one bighorn once brought $190,000 at auction, according to the state Department of Game and Fish.
Sen. William Sharer, R-Farmington, sponsored the bill to expand the program to four permits.
In addition to the money raised in New Mexico, a matching contribution from federal taxpayers should add a few hundred thousand dollars to the program, Sharer said.
All the money will go toward state conservation efforts to increase bighorn sheep populations in New Mexico.
Desert bighorns have been a success story in New Mexico, going from the brink of extinction to stability in 31 years.
They numbered about 70 when the state added them to the list of threatened and endangered species in 1980. Sharer said the desert bighorns now have a population of more than 700.
The desert bighorn’s recovery marked the first time that conservation efforts succeeded well enough to remove a species from the state’s endangered list.
Rocky Mountain bighorns also live in New Mexico.
Hunting of desert bighorns will not be limited to the auction approved by legislators.
The Department of Game and Fish this year will issue 16 licenses for public hunts of desert bighorns. That is an increase from one public license last year.
Drawings will determine which hunters get the licenses.
Hunting licenses for 24 Rocky Mountain bighorns also will be issued this year, a department spokesman said. That is a decline of one license from last year.
Sharer’s measure to increase the number of special permits is Senate Bill 33.
