How New Mexico Splits Deer Seasons by Bag Limit

Here is something that trips up nearly every hunter applying in New Mexico for the first time. You will not find a "mule deer season" and a "Coues deer season" in the rules. New Mexico does not organize deer hunting by species name. It organizes by bag limit code.

Understanding those codes is the difference between applying for the hunt you want and applying for a hunt you did not mean to.

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The Codes You Will See

• FAD. Fork-antlered deer, either species. You may take a mule deer or a white-tailed deer.
• FAMD. Fork-antlered mule deer. Mule deer only.
• FAWTD. Fork-antlered white-tailed deer. White-tailed only.
• ESWTD. Either-sex white-tailed deer.
• A. Antlerless.

In the southwestern units, where both species share the same country, the separation is explicit and the dates differ. Unit 23 outside the Burro Mountains is a good example: mule deer archery runs September 1 through 24 and January 1 through 15, white-tailed archery runs September 1 through 24 and January 16 through 31, mule deer rifle runs November 7 through 11 and November 14 through 18, and white-tailed rifle runs November 21 through 25 and December 5 through 13.

Same unit. Four different answers depending on which animal you are after.

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About the Word "Coues"

Hunters call the small desert white-tailed deer of the Southwest Coues deer, or the grey ghost. We use that language too, and we have written about hunting them in Hunting Coues Deer in New Mexico.

But it is worth knowing that "Coues" is not a regulatory term in New Mexico. The state's rules booklet does not use the word. The hunts that hunters think of as Coues hunts are the FAWTD and ESWTD hunts in the far western and southwestern units.

This matters practically. If you go looking for a Coues season in the rules, you will not find one, and if you ask for one by that name you may end up with the wrong hunt code. Apply by the bag limit code and the unit, not by the common name.

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Why It Is Built This Way

Mule deer and white-tailed deer overlap across a lot of southwestern New Mexico, but they are different animals with different populations, different pressures and different management needs.

Managing by bag limit lets the department set separate seasons and separate harvest levels for two species living on the same ground. A unit can be conservative on mule deer and more liberal on white-tailed, or the reverse, without closing the country to everyone.

It also means a hunter has to correctly identify the animal in front of them before shooting. On a FAMD tag, a white-tailed buck is not legal no matter how good he is.

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Telling Them Apart in the Field

At a distance in broken country, this is harder than it sounds, and it is a real source of mistakes.

Coues-type white-tailed deer are noticeably smaller bodied, grey, with a broad white tail they flare when alarmed. Mule deer are larger, with the distinctive large ears, a rope-like tail with a black tip, and a bounding stiff-legged gait rather than a running one.

The tail is usually your best cue at distance. The gait is the next best. We compare the two in more depth in Coues Deer vs. Mule Deer.

If there is any doubt, do not shoot. That is not caution for its own sake, it is the difference between a legal animal and a violation.

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Applying Correctly

When you build your application, be specific about which deer you want and confirm the bag limit code attached to every hunt code you list. Do not assume that the unit you have heard about produces the species you are picturing.

We guide both. Our mule deer hunts run September through mid January depending on the season, and our Coues hunts are in the far western reaches where shots commonly run 200 to 500 yards and hunters cover one to eight miles a day.

Want help making sure your application says what you think it says? Contact the team or call (575) 315-6107. You can also look at our guided Coues deer hunts and mule deer hunts to see which suits you.