A wet 2006 means that many Northern New Mexico hunters will have a great shot at a nice Merriam's. Photo by Brian Strickland.

Green-chile cheeseburgers and pink coyotes aside, what would draw the serious hunter to Santa Fe, N.M.? Thirty years ago, the only answer would have been "Mule deer!" True, there were other species. But good populations of such Rocky Mountain game animals as elk or turkey were few and far between.

Today, thanks to improved management practices and favorable weather conditions, the mountains surrounding the nation's oldest -- and highest -- state capital offer quality hunting for virtually every Rocky Mountain game animal.

A case in point is the burgeoning population of Merriam's turkeys. But the best part is that their increased numbers remain relatively unknown to the majority of red-head addicts, even those who live here.

THE PUZZLE
An old turkey hunter I once knew described healthy wildlife populations as the end result of several pieces of a puzzle coming together.

"Give 'em plenty to eat and drink, a place to raise their young without too many humans running around, and you'll get the critters," he often said. And he was right. Nowadays, the problem is finding a place with all the ingredients for good hunting in an area with good public access.

Topping 7,000 feet above sea level, Santa Fe sits on a bench jutting out from the west slope of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. North of town, the foothill country turns very wild very fast, and the coyotes there don't come in pastel shades. The ridges and canyons draining the vast Pecos Wilderness are home to herds of elk, deer, predators of every shape and size -- and recently, large flocks of turkeys.

I say "recently" because turkey numbers are up sharply from a few years ago. But there seems there have always been turkeys in the Santa Fe National Forest, according to archeologists. Excavations in Bandelier National Monument, just west of Santa Fe, have shown evidence of "wild" turkeys that were kept in pens and raised by Native Americans hundreds of years ago. That indicates their presence as well as their importance as a source of food and clothing to ancient inhabitants.

WHERE TO GO?
In recent years, one place where the pieces have really come together is an area about 18 miles north of downtown Santa Fe, known as Borrego Mesa. In Spanish, borrego means sheep. But in the relatively flat area between the Rio Quemado and the Rio Medio these days, you hear a lot more gobbling than baaing.

In May 2002, the Borrego fire burned thousands of acres of national forest land. Beginning in the piñon-juniper forest near the Borrego campground, the fire gradually made its way up into the high country near the Pecos Wilderness boundary.

As mentioned earlier, improved management has had good results on game populations, and this fire was one example. While firefighters protected homes and certain watershed areas, portions of this fire were allowed to proceed naturally through the forest. A late-spring snowstorm extinguished it as it burned slowly through aspen and spruce groves in elevations approaching 10,000 feet.