SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)--Springtime paintball hunts could help spook elk out of greening meadows, where they're eating grass that cattle ranchers intend for their herds.

The New Mexico Game and Fish Department figures paintball sniping--which apparently would be a first for public wildlife management in the United States--would be a nonlethal way to keep elk from the greener pastures.

Game and Fish gets complaints each spring about too many elk on U.S. Forest Service land where cattlemen have permits to graze cows, said R.J. Kirkpatrick, the department's wildlife management division chief.

State law allows ranchers to kill elk that threaten alfalfa and other crops on private land. On public land, Game and Fish tries to address complaints with nonlethal techniques, such as trying to spook the elk with noisemakers. When that doesn't work, the department can turn to population reduction hunts.

Kirkpatrick got the paintball idea after watching a televised paintball competition. He said Game and Fish could have paintball hunts during April in a few areas where the complaints are the highest, including portions of the Jemez and Sacramento mountains.

"All we are trying to do is disrupt elk," he said. "There's plenty of forage available on ridgetops or in the timber. It's just easier or handier in the meadows. We're reducing the conflict at the time the conflict mostly happens."

Currently, anyone caught trying to tag an elk's backside with paintballs would be cited for wildlife harassment.

Kirkpatrick said Game and Fish would have to change its regulations to allow for the limited paintball disruption hunts. The department would also have to talk with the Forest Service and get approval from the state Game Commission.

Lisa Jennings, executive director of Animal Protection of New Mexico, said paintball hunts wouldn't address what she believes is the underlying problem--that elk winter range has been swallowed up by cattle ranching.

"We're happy they're trying to be creative," Jennings said. "But the real issue is, elk don't have access to what traditionally has been a very important part of their food source."

Date: 4/21/05