I will be in you fine state from mid Jan thru Feb. Will be at Socorro for 2 weeks, then all of Feb in T or C. Is Percha state park off limits to hunting? It looks like a good spot for some photos. I have been to NM twice for photography thanks.
Bird numbers are down at BDA. The refuge has failed to make a feed crop for the past 3 years. My neighbor bought a ton of corn to feed the birds just so they would not starve. The refuge has been in the paper, (front page) looking for farmers to farm the refuge land. The local farmers have all said no and now they are having meeting as far away as Roswell. The BDA stopped crop rotation and now the soil is used up. The BDA wants corn but when they did crop rotation and grew alpha, corn and other grains the soil was healthy.
The paper says there are 1000's of birds but the locals know different. I live one mile from the BDA and from what I see the goose and crane numbers are at least 30% low. Still great fun to watch the cranes. I hope to do some goose hunting this coming weekend. If you know some of the back roads, there are lots of photo ops outside of the refuge.
questions? Phone me 505 412-3732. Good spotting, Jim
Yes, the refuge tells the farmer what types of corn he may plant and what herbicides and pesticides he can use. I talked to the local farmers that used to farm the refuge. They say all the refuge wants is corn, but instead the refuge should use crop rotation. Farming only one type of crop wears the soil out and makes the bug and weed problems much worst. It does not help that the refuge changes managers often, every new manager has different ideas on what they want done. The local farmers know what works, instead the refuge tried to bring in different farmers. The birds lose the much needed food. The Benardo refuge north of Socorro is state run and does not have these problems.
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