The remnants of a historic fire season followed by devastating monsoons could have a major impact on the upcoming hunting season in New Mexico.

Hunters normally focus all their attention on trying to capture their prey. But this year, anyone in the forest must also be on the lookout for flash flooding.

“At least for the next month or so, that is going to be the concern because there has been a good fair amount of rainfall in those areas, especially with the Gila and then over across the border in Arizona,” Scott Overpeck, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service, told KOB 4. “All that water is going to flow into the Gila river and flow downstream. So that’s really where the concerns come in and people need to be careful.”

Some hunters are concerned that because some areas might not have access due to the fires and flooding, too many hunters will be crowded into areas that are available. Local hunter Tony Armijo took to Facebook to express his concerns.

“Squeezing everyone into a small open area of the unit which was not affected will have a lot of people stepping on others' toes which leads to a safety concern,” he said in a Facebook post, quoted by KOB 4.

Due to the potential for overcrowding, some hunters want to know if they’ll be reimbursed for any hunting tags that are not used. The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish told KOB 4 that tags will be reimbursed if any hunting units close down this season.

Meanwhile, the preparation for hunting season is picking up. 

“We definitely see an influx,” Jackson Harris, manager of the Los Ranchos Gun Shop, told KOB 4. “The units in New Mexico are so large that the portions that have burns and burn scars, typically, you still have plenty of other areas in that unit to do your hunting, and it doesn’t totally affect a lot of it. So some units, obviously are more harmed than others.”