zslayer

Here is another issue…..I check the quotas daily just to see how everything is adding up. I have seen several units that are closed for for a couple weeks that will have another deer reported to the quota! Are people not paying attention to the closures? Are people forgetting to report? Is AZGFD paying attention to this and asking questions?

I don’t think this is an issue but could be wrong. If so units like 36c have had a mule deer quota of 5 the past three years. This year it closed in December but the previous years in January. If PITA was using tags to close down units they could close that particular unit in a heartbeat.

Another reason for mandatory harvest reporting for all seasons! Look how eye opening archery alone is.

I agree 💯 on one tag! I agree 💯 on no spotlighting, I think you’re just asking for problems there too. Radios are definitely helpful without a doubt but years like this everyone is sitting water and hammering deer especially mule deer. And there will be more years like this in the future. Only way I can see quotas working is if the department went 💯 across the board with e-tags and units would close within 24hrs. E-tags update immediately unlike others taking 24-48hrs to call in and report a harvest.

I think this is a good thought.

Don’t you loose your points if you draw in 3-5 pass as well? I was under the impression that if you draw at anytime during the initial draw you loose your points? If you draw during the leftover you do not?

Point restrictions would indeed keep the seasons open longer and lower success rates but what would the long term effects look like when you have a big 2x2 genetic and those bucks breeding does every year and they can not legally be shot? I even have a mature set of spike with eye guards sheds from Yarnell years ago. Still one of my favorite set of sheds but absolutely horrible genetics.

I personally do not think point restrictions will work. I think the only thing that can be done is draw across the board unfortunately. Social media and the utube influencers have destroyed the OTC deer hunting in Arizona that we loved so much. Another issue with the quota system is it drives all the hunters to the southern units come January because that’s the only units open. Draw will spread them all out again…..hopefully!

If you put a point restriction to say must have a fork one one side there is still gonna be a ton of forks shot especially when those small forks are typically still with the does year around and wasn’t be found. If you made it 3x or better you could have some giant bad genetic forks running around breeding does every year which I’ve seen some giant mature forks.

This exactly! Could you imagine if say unit 1 was open even the entire August season! The quota system definitely not working closing on Wednesdays. For it to remotely work it would have to be a 24hr notice of closure. Even if unit 1 had a quota of 1 and continued to close on Wednesdays it would make zero difference as of now. But like stated above I’ve been thinking about this a lot as I watched units get shut down quickly, could you imagine if there was no quota and still unlimited OTC tags on how many deer would be taken out of some of these units. Truly is alarming!

But even if you went draw for non resident they would have to make it unit specific otherwise we have the same issue as the quota system. Also if residents get OTC and non residents draw I still see the same issue with quotas. I still think they are gonna have to eliminate the whole quota period! That’s gonna mean draw, gonna have to separate mule deer and coues just like rife I just wonder how they will structure it? I also fear they will give a ton of tags for coues deer since the harvest rates are so low and it’s gonna create a lot more pressure and attention on coues because their will probably be leftovers to begin with so people will pick them up just so they can go hunting.

I agree and the mule deer really pay for it. I’m there there are a lot of people that see their unit closing Wednesday, panic and shoot the next legal buck they see. This whole mandatory harvest report is very interesting though, seeing how fast some units close and just to think in the past it would still be open. Should have been mandatory reporting years ago and rifle should be the same!

If/when they go to draw do you think they will split into 3 separate seasons? A January, August, and December season? Just like we have now to where we can hunt all three on the same tag but in the future you will have to choose?

As the 3rd year of archery OTC data is coming to a close with the new mandatory reporting and quota system what are some opinions on what will happen? I know the new system was first introduced they mentioned 3 years of data to be collected since they really had no idea how many deer were being killed. The quota system is definitely not working for mule deer as many units are going over quota and some almost double! Do you think no changes? Full draw? Draw only for mule deer and unit specific? I’m very curious to see what the future holds.

So looks like coyotes got to it?