I'm going to New Mexico in February to try my hand at barbary sheep hunting, and I'm trying to find a definitive source for determining public roads there. I've found in the past that onx (as much as I love them) occasionally incorrectly shows private roads as public in Wyoming, so I'm hoping to find a source to cross-reference the roads that appear public on onx. Haven't been able to find it on a county road dept website yet. Thoughts?
NM public road info
- Thread starter madtom
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ImBillT
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Double post
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ImBillT
Well-known member
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- Oct 29, 2018
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On the NMG&F website there is a link to an app called Carry Map. The app lets you upload various maps. BLM has created a map for NM. It’s kinda slow, and lack a satellite view. Its topo is lower res than OnX. However, it is superior to OnX in some ways showing some pretty interesting layers, and labeling various state parks that simply show up in the blue “state land” color on OnX, it shows some areas that were closed to hunting that OnX failed to pick up on, and I trust it more for roads. It’s a real shame that it’s so slow. Once you download the map you don’t have to have to have WiFi, but for some reason it’s faster when I’m connected to WiFi even though it still works in airplane mode. Go figure.
When in doubt, call G&F, the GW, or the county sherriff’s department. They were helpful to me. You will probably encounter gates accross county roads with signs that read “private property no tresspassing”. Often times if a rancher owns the property on both sides of a CR he will gate it, and somehow that’s legal in NM, but they can’t lock it. The sign is scary, but you can drive down the CR, you just can’t get off of it. When I encounter those, I make a call to an agency if I have service just to be sure. Once inside, you may be be asked where you’re going, and told that there isn’t public land down that road and that there is great hunting somewhere else. You may even be told you’re tresspassing, which is when it’s nice to have made a recent call to an LEO. There are lots of wonderful people in NM, but if you cover enough ground, you’ll meet the opposite, and he will take advantage of the very ambiguous situation they have going on.
When in doubt, call G&F, the GW, or the county sherriff’s department. They were helpful to me. You will probably encounter gates accross county roads with signs that read “private property no tresspassing”. Often times if a rancher owns the property on both sides of a CR he will gate it, and somehow that’s legal in NM, but they can’t lock it. The sign is scary, but you can drive down the CR, you just can’t get off of it. When I encounter those, I make a call to an agency if I have service just to be sure. Once inside, you may be be asked where you’re going, and told that there isn’t public land down that road and that there is great hunting somewhere else. You may even be told you’re tresspassing, which is when it’s nice to have made a recent call to an LEO. There are lots of wonderful people in NM, but if you cover enough ground, you’ll meet the opposite, and he will take advantage of the very ambiguous situation they have going on.
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