zslayer

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?

So looks like coyotes got to it?

He was probably watching you while you were at the carcass! I once found a fresh lion kill and ran back to my house to grab a trail cam to place on it. When I went back the next day the kill was moved about 30 yards and re buried. I got home and checked the camera and that lion was on that deer moving it 20 minutes after I set the camera, probably watching me the whole time! They will eat off them for a few days from what I’ve seen or till coyotes demolish it.

Has anyone received their spring tags in the mail yet?

I think you’re correct. Listening and communication are two different things. I think it’s advanced “listening devices” like the Walkers Game Ear type devices. We will see though.

How does that compare to last year?

I was hoping today….we will see

Who’s gonna be the first one to ask what happened to those pending change!!?🤣

Probably a second wave this evening.

Is resident deer charge $45 or $50?

Should hopefully get last chance to update cards email on Monday

Wow! This is crazy but doesn’t surprise me.

Does anyone know what the 2024 coues deer rifle season dates will be this year off the top of their head?

Yup, got it! I looked them up. Thanks!

Anyone heard of any possible field day classes planned for central/northern AZ coming up anytime soon? I’ve been trying to get my 9yo into a class and check every Tuesday at 9am and there has not been one class offered yet for central or northern AZ, everything has been in the southern part of the state.

247 is correct, the ethics course is for adults only. You could have your kid take another states test and get certified but would not be able to take the AZ ethics course and receive their bonus point till they are 18.

I was under the impression that by law kids under a certain age (14) or so had to be seen shooting live rounds and safe gun handling in order to receive a hunters safety certificate?

Well that’s too late now. Using the “locate hunters ed field day” they never even showed this class. Probably because it was a in person full class and she’s already done the online portion? I would have still done this class more than likely to get it taken care of.

My last daughter I had take the field day took me 14 months to get her in! I had to call and complain and they got her into a class because she was a non resident and resident kids were priority even though once we attended the class there were several adults attending getting their bonus points.

Great deal! Someone should jump on this one.