A. It is unlawful for any person:
(1) who hunts or fishes and takes any game mammal designated in Paragraphs (2), (3) or (4) of Subsection A of Section 17-2-3 NMSA 1978, any game bird or any game fish to fail to transport the edible portions of the meat obtained to the person's home for human consumption or to provide for the human consumption thereof under any commission regulations pertaining to exportation, transportation and donation of game;
(2) who wounds or may have wounded any game mammal designated in Paragraphs (2), (3) or (4) of Subsection A of Section 17-2-3 NMSA 1978 to fail to go to the place where the mammal sustained or may have sustained the wound and make a reasonable attempt to track the mammal and reduce it to possession; or
(3) to take or kill a bighorn sheep, ibex, oryx, Barbary sheep, elk, deer or pronghorn antelope outside of the legal season or without a valid license, which taking or killing results in waste of the animal. Waste of the animal consists of removing from the animal only the head, antlers or horns or abandoning any of the four quarters, backstraps or tenderloins of the carcass. A violation of the provisions of this paragraph is intended to be separate from and cumulative to any other violation of Chapter 17 NMSA 1978.
B. Violation of Paragraph (3) of Subsection A of this section is a fourth degree felony pursuant to Section 31-18-15 NMSA 1978, and violation of Paragraph (1) or (2) of Subsection A of this section is a misdemeanor pursuant to Section 17-2-10 NMSA 1978.
History: 1953 Comp., § 53-2-7.1, enacted by Laws 1977, ch. 70, § 1; 2017, ch. 38, § 1.
The 2017 amendment, effective June 16, 2017, made it a fourth degree felony to wastefully take or kill certain big game, defined "waste of the animal", and made it a misdemeanor to hunt or fish certain game animals and fail to provide for its consumption or to wound a game mammal and fail to make a reasonable attempt to track the mammal; in the catchline, added "Unlawful taking of big game"; designated the previously undesignated introductory clause as Subsection A and redesignated former Subsections A and B as Paragraphs A(1) and A(2), respectively; and added a new Subsection B.
Structure New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 17 - Game and Fish and Outdoor Recreation
Article 2 - Hunting and Fishing Regulations
Section 17-2-1 - Commission powers.
Section 17-2-2 - Game to be protected.
Section 17-2-2.1 - Artificial wildlife.
Section 17-2-3 - Protected wildlife species and game fish defined.
Section 17-2-4.1 - Jaguar to be protected.
Section 17-2-5 - Adoption of regulations; effective date.
Section 17-2-6 - Game and fish management areas; closed lakes or streams; notice.
Section 17-2-7 - Unlawful hunting or fishing.
Section 17-2-7.2 - Landowner taking; conditions; department responsibilities.
Section 17-2-8 - Unlawful taking of big game and waste of game.
Section 17-2-9 - Jurisdiction of magistrate court.
Section 17-2-10 - Violation of game and fish laws or rules; penalties.
Section 17-2-10.2 - Game and fish penalty assessment; payment.
Section 17-2-10.3 - Game and fish penalty assessment; license revocation.
Section 17-2-10.4 - Game and fish penalty assessment revenue; disposition.
Section 17-2-11 - [Witness testifying for state; evidence not to be used against him.]
Section 17-2-12 - Refuges; firearms on; prohibited; exceptions.
Section 17-2-13 - Songbirds; trapping, killing or injuring prohibited.
Section 17-2-15 - [Horned toads; killing, selling or shipping from state unlawful.]
Section 17-2-17 - [Storage of game or fish.]
Section 17-2-18 - [Menu as evidence of possession of game or fish.]
Section 17-2-19 - Enforcement of game laws; powers of conservation officers.
Section 17-2-20.1 - Seizure and forfeiture; property subject.
Section 17-2-20.3 - Penalties.
Section 17-2-22 - Sale of evidence in cases of appeal.
Section 17-2-23 - [Reports of seizures and sales.]
Section 17-2-25 - [Game or fish in possession of passenger; carrier exempt from liability; seizure.]
Section 17-2-26 - Civil liability.
Section 17-2-27 - [District attorneys to prosecute and defend actions under fish and game laws.]
Section 17-2-28 - [Indians hunting off reservations; hunting on reservations; application of laws.]
Section 17-2-31 - Use of artificial light while hunting prohibited.