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The Department of Game and Fish is conducting checkpoints throughout the state this hunting season to collect biological data and to detect wildlife law violations.
Source: New Mexico Game and Fish
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, APRIL 4, 2025
SANTA FE – The Department of Game and Fish is conducting checkpoints throughout the state this hunting season to collect biological data and to detect wildlife law violations.
As a result, the public may encounter minor delays. Department officers may be assisted by other law enforcement agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, New Mexico State Police or county sheriff’s offices.
Please report any wildlife crime or suspected crime that you may observe while enjoying New Mexico’s great outdoors. To report a wildlife crime, please call Operation Game Thief toll-free at 1-800-432-GAME (4263). Callers can remain anonymous and earn cash rewards for information leading to charges being filed. Violations can also be reported online at Operation Game Thief.
Operation Game Thief is a New Mexico Department of Game and Fish program, which pays rewards to citizens who turn in poachers. Begun in 1977 here in New Mexico, Operation Game Thief or a similar program has now been adopted by nearly every other state. In short, Operation Game Thief is crime-stoppers for wildlife. In fact, the program was modeled after the original crime-stoppers program started by the Albuquerque, NM Police Department.
Rewards are:
$750 for cases involving elk and bighorn sheep;
$500 for deer and oryx;
$350 for antelope;
$250 for turkey, bear, cougar, javelina, ibex, barbary sheep, endangered species, small game, fish, raptors and furbearers.
To Report Poaching: Call Operation Game Thief at 800-432-4263 (toll-free)
or
File a secure and anonymous report online:
