In communities where they occur, American badgers (Taxidea taxus) play important ecological, economic, and conservation roles. Central to understanding of badger ecology and management are estimates of badger population status. However, few studies have compared methods of detecting badgers for population surveys. I compared searches for burrows and diggings, live-trapping, and the use of automatic cameras at scent lures, bait stations, and anthropogenic permanent and temporary wildlife water sources in the Chihuahuan Desert of southern New Mexico. Searches for confirmed badger burrows and diggings yielded 0.14–0.88 detections per kilometer of transect. Badgers were trapped in 1.6% of trap-weeks. Percentages of camera-weeks in which badgers were detected included 12.8% at scent lures, 5.6% at bait stations, 54.5% at permanent water sources, and 13.3% at temporary water sources.