Open Sights Only: New Mexico's New Muzzleloader Rule Explained

If you are carrying a muzzleloader in New Mexico this October, there is a rule change you need to know about before you leave home.

For the 2026-2027 season, scopes, red dots and all other optical sights are prohibited on muzzle-loading rifles during muzzleloader hunts. Open sights only. Lighted pins on bows are still acceptable, but if your smokepole wears glass, it is not legal in a muzzleloader season this year.

This is not a small footnote for us. Three of the units we hunt hardest are muzzleloader country, and a hunter who shows up with the wrong setup has effectively lost the hunt before it starts.

Where This Hits Hardest

New Mexico does not run one statewide elk season. Every hunt is a code tied to a unit, a weapon and a block of dates. Some of the best bull country in the state is specifically set aside for primitive weapons, which means there is no rifle option to fall back on.

Units 13, 15 and 17 are the clearest examples. After archery closes, those units run muzzleloader seasons and no any-legal-sporting-arm elk hunts at all. Unit 17 is muzzleloader-only for its October and November gun seasons, and it is also where we take a good share of our larger bulls.

The main muzzleloader date blocks this season fall on October 10 through 14, October 17 through 21, and October 24 through 28, with a few units running later into November. Which one applies to you depends entirely on your hunt code.

What Open Sights Actually Change

Hunters who have only shot scoped muzzleloaders tend to assume this is a minor adjustment. It is not. It changes your effective range, your shot selection and the amount of practice you need.

• Your honest range shrinks. Most hunters who shoot well with a scope at 200 yards are not the same shooter at 200 with open sights. Find your real number on paper before the hunt, not on an elk.
• Light becomes a bigger factor. Open sights are hardest to use in exactly the low light where elk are most active. Legal shooting hours run from a half hour before sunrise to a half hour after sunset, and the far ends of that window are genuinely difficult with irons.
• Your setup has to fit you. Sight picture, comb height and how the rifle sits in your hands matter far more without optics correcting for you.
• Follow-up gets slower. Reloading a muzzleloader takes time, so first-shot placement carries more weight than with any other weapon we guide.

We tell every muzzleloader client the same thing: practice at the ranges you will actually shoot, from the positions you will actually be in. We cover that approach in Practice That Transfers, and it applies double when you have taken the optic off.

If you want to talk through what open sights mean for the unit you drew, contact the team. We would rather sort it out in September than at the lodge the night before your hunt.

Practical Steps Before You Travel

A short checklist for anyone with a muzzleloader tag this fall.

• Confirm your rifle is legal as configured. If it has a scope mounted, it comes off, and you need iron sights that are actually zeroed.
• Re-zero after removing the optic. Your open sights are not zeroed just because your scope was. This is the step people skip.
• Shoot at reduced light. Put a few rounds downrange early and late so you learn where your sights become unusable.
• Bring what you shoot. The two problems we see most often are lack of practice and a hunter arriving with an unfamiliar weapon or load. Do not change either one in the last month.
• Re-check your zero after travel. Rifles get bumped in transit more often than people expect, and confirming it takes ten minutes at our range.

Muzzleloader hunting has always rewarded hunters who get close and take good shots. This rule simply makes that non-negotiable.

If you are considering a primitive-weapon elk hunt in one of New Mexico's trophy units, we have been guiding them for years. See our guided elk hunts, book your hunt, or call (575) 315-6107 and we will help you plan it properly.