If you wander out into your backyard or one of the mountain trails nearby you may run into a diverse group of indigenous New Mexico wildlife. Coyotes, raccoons, foxes, skunks, and all manner of birds are common in the city of Albuquerque. If you live just outside the city in the Sandia Heights area, you may encounter the occasional bobcat, mountain lion, or even a black bear. Fortunately, attacks by these animals on humans are rare, although they can be dangerous to pets.
We talked to Jesse Deubel, the Executive Director of the NM Wildlife Federation. Jesse has been an avid hunter since he was six, growing up in the Village of La Puebla near Espanola. As a teenager, he became active in the Sandia Crest Bowhunter’s Association. These days he spends a lot of time working with legislation to sustain the biodiversity of New Mexico wildlife.
Jesse told us, “If you’re if you're anywhere in the Sandia Ranger district in this central NM area you're going to be prone to see a lot of coyotes. Obviously, we have strong coyote populations. Also, Bobcats and foxes are prevalent. As far as large ungulates (hoofed animals) we have primarily mule deer although there are some eastern white-tailed deer starting to move in and I've got some trail cam documentation of some of those. On rare occasions, you'll even find an elk. They’re generally coming from the Jemez mountains.”
Of course, being on the Southwest High Desert, there’s bound to be an occasional encounter with a rattlesnake. Jesse told us obviously the ones that a lot of people are concerned about are rattlesnakes and we have no shortage of those in central NM, the two primary species you're going to find here are western diamondback rattlesnakes which can grow very large and Prairie rattlesnakes which tend to be a little bit smaller. The western Diamondbacks are easy to identify because of the diamond pattern on the back of their skin giving them their name right and they also have kind of a raccoon tail patterning as you come to the end of the snake just before the rattles begin, there are alternating bands of red and black stripes now one of the most beautiful reptiles I've ever seen. They're pretty common here but they're also fairly elusive, I mean rattlesnake bites are pretty rare most of the time. When someone gets bit by a rattlesnake it's usually because they're trying to handle it ...they're being irresponsible, for a hiker to get bit is a very rare occurrence.
There is also a great deal of big game hunting in New Mexico, with hunting license fees contributing to the funding of programs that encourage the state’s biodiversity. Some big game species include deer, elk, bear, cougar, pronghorn antelope, Barbary sheep, bighorn sheep, javelina, oryx, and ibex.
To contact the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, call 505.299.5404.