Rookie NM Game Commissioner
Blunt About Predator Stance

LAS CRUCES, N.M. —(AP)— There is a perception among many people that mountain lions in New Mexico are vanishing, that their protection must be adamantly enforced.

Bud Hettinga, Gov. Gary Johnson's latest appointee to the state Game and Fish Commission, believes the opposite. He says the state has too many mountain lions and coyotes and not enough deer — the latter are suffering at the expense of the former.

"I want to see an increase in our deer population," Hettinga says. "They're fighting for their lives and losing. Drouth, predators — mountain lions and coyotes — are killing them off."

Hettinga, who was named to the commission last January, stands firm on this and other subjects. "I know it's unpopular to talk about killing coyotes and mountain lions these days, but we have to do something," Hettinga says. "We've got to go back to managing predators."

Environmental activists stopped the federal and state governments from using animal damage control, offsetting the balance, then former Gov. Bruce King's administration "went soft on mountain lions," Hettinga says. "His commission (Game and Fish) put 'em under protection."

Hettinga, whose district covers almost all of southern New Mexico, says there are about 2600 mountain lions in the state.

"You can see 'em in the foothills behind A-Mountain if you look hard enough. I think we have more lions than people realize. Don't get me wrong. I like lions and coyotes. They're a valuable part of our environment, but there too many of them compared to the deer," he says.

Hettinga, a Las Cruces building contractor and framer, says lions kill 64,000 deer each year and coyotes kill a huge number of fawns each year.

"Poachers are a problem, too. I don't know how many deer are being poached, but it's a big number," he says. "We need to crack down on them. We need more field pressure, more officers out there nailing poachers."

Hettinga says lions should be hunted year-round. "The season right now is only three months long. It's way too short. It used to be all year long. The commission meets again in July and August to set next year's hunting seasons. I hope we do something about it," he says.

The 59 year-old commissioner and former state legislator says people interested in wildlife don't get outdoors enough to know what needs to be done and why. "They sit behind their computers in an office in the city instead of being out in the real world," he says. "Maybe I can bring a breath of realism to this commission."

Hettinga has other issues on his agenda. He would like to see more fish stocked in wilderness areas and Roberts Lake, near Silver City, get back to normal. "It's dry right now. They say they are working on it back on track," he says.

Hettinga, who also raises and rides roping horses, is concerned about a new policy initiated by the Forest Service. "They are starting to fence off our streams on each side of the water where there are large concentrations of cattle. To protect the streams," he says.

"They assume animal like the deer and elk can jump over the fences to get water," he says. "But they are reluctant to try, no matter how thirsty they get."

The commission should extend pipelines outside the fences to create drinking facilities for wildlife. "If animals can jump fences, like the Forest Service apparently believes, then why does the Bureau of Land Management require property owners to put antelope gaps in their fences?" he asks.

Hettinga also would like to see more wildlife seminars held in New Mexico communities. "We need to get more non-hunters involved in wildlife," he says. "We have something like 1.1 million state citizens that are completely ambivalent about wildlife. They have only a passing interest."