Hunting in Lincoln National Forest

Overview · Last reviewed October 2026

Unit 34: The Home Unit

The Sacramento Ranger District of Lincoln National Forest covers the mountains around town. The ground climbs from desert foothills and piñon-juniper canyons up to mixed-conifer forest at roughly 6,500–9,500 feet. Cloudcroft sits in Game Management Unit (GMU) 34, and it’s the local hub for lodging, fuel and supplies.

Unit 34 (Sacramento Mountains) covers about 1,700 square miles, including Cloudcroft, High Rolls, Mountain Park, Sunspot, Weed, Sacramento, Mayhill, Elk, Timberon and Piñon, plus Alamogordo and Tularosa at its western edge. It also includes the strip of Lincoln National Forest that runs inside the McGregor Range co-use area. New Mexico issues hunting licenses by GMU — always check which unit a license covers. Official unit maps and boundary descriptions are at wildlife.dgf.nm.gov under Hunting > Maps.

Paperwork First

Licenses and the Draw

New Mexico’s wildlife agency is now the New Mexico Department of Wildlife (NMDOW) — formerly called Game and Fish. Buy licenses online at onlinesales.wildlife.state.nm.us, by phone at 888-248-6866, or from licensed vendors.

• Basic requirements: a Game-Hunting License. Hunters 18 and older also need a Habitat Management & Access Validation; hunters 17 and younger need a Hunter Education or mentor-youth number.
• Big-game draw: most elk, deer and other big-game licenses go through the annual draw, which typically closes in mid-to-late March. Some licenses are sold over the counter — check the current rules for each species.
• Seasons change: dates, bag limits and rules are updated every year (deer and elk on multi-year cycles). Read the current New Mexico Hunting Rules & Info booklet at wildlife.dgf.nm.gov under Publications, and watch NMDOW news releases for rule changes, draw results and emergency closures.

Ground Rules

Where You Can Hunt

• Lincoln National Forest is open to hunting under state rules. Get the free Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) to see which roads are open, and check fire restrictions before you build a campfire. Don’t shoot within 150 yards of a residence, building, campsite or developed recreation site.
• Private land: a lot of Unit 34 is private ranch and timber land — you need the landowner’s permission.
• Mescalero Apache Reservation: state licenses aren’t valid on tribal land, which has its own permits and rules.
• Maps: use the NMDOW GMU maps, the Forest Service MVUM and a GPS land-ownership app to keep track of boundaries.