New Mexico AG concludes setting aside hunting tags for outfitters unconstitutional

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez on Tuesday released a formal opinion that concludes an existing state policy reserving 10% of hunting tags for hunters who contract with private outfitters is unconstitutional and unfairly benefits wealthy, out-of-state sportsmen over local residents. 

The opinion follows a formal request from state lawmakers concerned about a 2011 law that requires the state Department of Wildlife to set aside 10% of hunting licenses in a given year to those who procure professional outfitters, who regularly charge hunters thousands of dollars for a guided hunting tour along with promises of better odds of bagging an elk, deer, bighorn sheep or other game.

Eighteen Democratic state lawmakers, many from rural areas, requested Torrez’s opinion in late April. The lawmakers wrote that they were concerned the “outfitter set-aside” left New Mexico residents “excluded from any opportunity to harvest healthy wild game as big game draw odds worsen year after year for residents.”

Separate from the 10% of tags designated for outfitters, state law requires that 84% of all tags go to in-state residents and the remaining 6% go to unguided nonresidents. Torrez’s office, in an opinion released Tuesday, notes that competition for tags is “intense,” particularly to hunt elk. 

In the hunting season that runs between late 2025 and early 2026, for example, more than 102,000 people applied. The Wildlife Department selected approximately one-fifth through a random draw to receive elk tags. 

Opponents of the “outfitter set-aside” argue that wealthy, out-of-state residents use the carveout to buy access to 10% of the tags, leaving most state residents, including those who hunt to feed their families or for Indigenous cultural practices, with lower odds to receive a tag. 

“For generations, hunting elk on our public lands hasn’t just been a sport in New Mexico. It’s been a way of life,” Torrez said in a statement Tuesday. “That tradition is being sold out from under working New Mexicans. Right now, a broken system lets wealthy out-of-state hunters buy their way to the front of the line while our own families wait year after year for a tag.”

According to a 2024 analysis from the New Mexico Wildlife Federation that Torrez’s office cited, nonresidents received more than 90% of the elk licenses the state issued to those who contracted with outfitters in the hunting season that ran between late 2022 and early 2023. 

Torrez concluded that carving out 10% of hunting licenses for outfitters violates the state’s Anti-Donation Clause, which prohibits state and local governments from giving public funds or anything else of value to private parties without a reasonable return on investment. 

“We’ve always believed the outfitter set-aside is illegal, and we’re pleased that Attorney General Torrez has concluded that in his legal opinion,” said Jesse Deubel, executive director of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, in a statement Tuesday.

Torrez’s determination drew praise from a coalition of New Mexico hunters and tribal leaders, who said the carveout for outfitters has resulted in less food on the table for their families and called on the New Mexico Legislature to increase the share of hunting tags that go to New Mexico residents.

“Hunting has played an important role in Indigenous history and culture for generations,” said Keegan King, an Acoma Pueblo member and executive director of the Native Lands Institute. “It is woven into the fabric of our families and communities, and it remains a living tradition that carries knowledge, responsibility, and connection to place.”

The New Mexico Council of Outfitters and Guides has previously endorsed the carveout and said out-of-state hunters contribute millions of dollars to the state’s economy. Kerrie Cox Romero, the council’s executive director, did not respond to Source NM’s request for comment Tuesday on Torrez’s opinion. 

Torrez’s opinion is not binding, but represents the official opinion of the state’s chief lawyer. Torrez also said he hopes the Legislature changes the law at the upcoming legislative session to repeal or reform set-aside.  

“My office is not going to let an unconstitutional program keep shortchanging New Mexico families indefinitely. If the Legislature doesn’t act, we will look at every tool available to this office, including going to court to stop it,” Torrez said in a statement Tuesday. 

Rep. Nathan Small (D-Las Cruces), who was one of the lawmakers who requested Torrez’s opinion, said in a statement Tuesday that Torrez’s determination “reaffirms what New Mexicans instinctively know: that we deserve fair access to hunting on our public lands.” 

He said the Legislature would take up the issue at the 60-day session beginning Jan. 19.