ForkHorn

Make it a lottery for nonresidents. Get the tag money and the application fee. It seems easily justifiable at this point. Same statewide tag.

Maybe it's already done. How do we know the AZGFD isn't already done updating portals and you probably just didn't get a tag? AZGFD is not known for being slow in situations like this. Haha just messing with you. Fingers crossed you get the tag you want! I'm glad you have been a good sport about the CC hit debacle.

You mean one point? - Assuming Hunter's ED

Yes. It seems illogical to assume that with their history there is no issue - when a litany of people are speculating more than any other year after credit card hits... Typically where there is smoke there is fire. I'm up to like 14 people that I know personally or second hand that put in for these high draw odds hunts. 3 of the 14 can claim a hit. Coincidence? No such thing.

I think that I don't know enough to speculate how they do it, but to assume it was that straight forward seems way optimistic considering their history

I think a problem happened, and they just haven't fixed it yet. Too many anomalies. No such thing as coincidences. IE - it must be a coincidence that the 1% or people that don't get drawn on some of these hunts are all on the same thread

You're assuming that if a problem happened, they could fix the issue fast enough for that to take place.

Triple Ditto. Multiple people (4) with 2 bonus points at a minimum each - and 1st and 2nd choice hunts some of the highest draw odds hunts in the state.

So is it a binocular you want? Or a rifle scope? Thermal? Or night vision? All very different with different price ranges

It's times like this when my deep trust in the accuracy of their process is really strengthened.

They should already be outsourcing it. It drives me nuts. You're telling me the amount of money they have in that department - salaries, tech, etc... They can't figure out how to do it better for a fraction of the cost? If they were really smart, they would find a company that will take a percentage of the draw app fee cost, then they don't even have to carry that money year round. It pays for itself when it happens and the third party is incentivized by speed and efficiency because that's how they would get paid. Then build it back into the cost of the fee which would likely be nominal or non-existent. Lots of new blood needed in AZGFD.

It depends. What takes priority - ergonomics or lightest weight. I chose something else thinking you wanted something that was the lightest but after looking at the choices it seems like you're after a specific ergonomic. Which is great it just depends on what you want the gun to be. Big difference between a 6 lb unscoped gun and a 7 lb unscoped gun. What's the rest of the build?

Nobody at the department should ever build a system for anything. They are a wildlife agency not a tech or software company. But yes every tag should be mandatory reporting. Currently they are just guessing. They make archery mandatory reporting, and base harvest for archery off of a percentage of total harvest, but they literally don't know what the total harvest is. Lol how is that possible? Why is there no accountability for that?

Lol this is more about a broken leg/heart attack by yourself in some deep canyon and need help situation than anything. It sounds like ol Dutchman hunts close to people though if he has roads every 1/4 mile. Luckily for us he is tougher than everyone else and can manage.

I think the data shows it's a lot easier to kill a muley with a bow than a Coues when we are in wetter monsoon years that make sitting water not as effective. Too many younger muley bucks will stand there and try to figure out what's going on - letting people fling arrows at distances they may or may not be competent at Muley bucks killed are either outpacing or matching the Coues killed in units where Mule Deer quotas are significantly lower and Mule Deer numbers overall are significantly lower. (For the most part)

I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. It inevitably opens the door for more of this sort of thing. Kind of comes off sleazy, but at the same time most of that vibe boils down to where the money is actually going - we don't know. Why should a non wildlife management elk tag pay for a redundant job in Phoenix? I wish each tag had a description section for where that money was going. I sure would feel better about buying a central Arizona mule deer tag lottery ticket if I knew all of the money from that tag went to combating the decline of mule deer specifically. AZGFD does a bad job at managing their money more often than not and I hate the idea of giving them more open use money with no accountability. They'll go back to that well often.

Sourdough Pizza in Mesa is top notch pizza.

Mandatory harvest data should be the backbone of their decision making. Instead they choose to guess. But trust them when they tell you the magical archery harvest quota numbers are based off of accurate data. If you want to know how many deer were killed in your favorite unit in the past 5 years - they legitimately have no idea.

An easy out? An easy out is not doing your job and blaming it on someone else. Hunters come and go. Only one agency is charged with managing wildlife. Hunters should be better - but in reality they aren't. That doesn't mean you shrug your shoulders and say "oh well - they'll be better next year." And then continue to make decisions based on bad data.

I'm not sure if you're supporting their data or my jab at them with that statement but you'd be correct either way because neither side can prove they're right and that seems like a problem. So if you're defending them - my jab still stands. Wildlife management is hard because of the nature of having very few tools available to see the landscape of what's going on and they willingly choose to ignore the one they can get some of their best and most accurate data from in favor of a survey with a pretty crappy confidence interval. IE they're guessing. They extrapolate harvest numbers based off of a survey that is not required and has no penalty for lying - with no minimum responses required (if there is a minimum, what happens if it isn't met?) Not to mention are you more or less likely to fill out that survey if you killed? They are probably trying to account for that with an algorithm but it is very unlikely to be based off of a recent study and much less likely to be from AZ. They then take these very imperfect numbers and make HUGE decisions based off of them. Guidelines are literally written where tag numbers change based off of harvest percentage and THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HARVEST IS. They will also claim from their Phoenix armchairs that they are very accurate but meanwhile they have no way of proving that. I have looked at harvest data that I knew was incorrect based off of personal knowledge. (I personally knew of more bucks shot on a hunt than they listed. Ask a wildlife manager the next time you meet one if they think the numbers are accurate. Especially after it forces them to raise tags because of guidelines - and they aren't seeing that make sense on the ground Meanwhile much of the rest of the country has mandatory harvest reporting. They way they currently do things is not the best. Shouldn't we demand that?

3 draw cycles is not 1.5 years. It's 8 months. If you buy it in June for the deer draw it's over with by the elk application in February. Deer/sheep is one cycle, spring is second cycle, elk/antelope is third

It's a money grab. And probably data driven. The average person probably doesn't buy point guard for more than elk or sheep. Point guard was likely purchased selectively by serious guys with lots of bonus points for maybe 2 or 3 species tops. (Elk, sheep, etc) They're getting more money from you now and selling it like a deal. Nobody cares about point guard for Javelina. The biggest deal is the priority positioning and that is wrong. They have no longer made something random and it's now about money that has nothing to do with the price of the tag. It sends the wrong message. And they did an awful job explaining it.

It's not accurate data. It's that simple.

Do you build all the apps on your phone through your personal business team within your company? Or do you buy a phone from people that specialize in making phones, and then buy apps that are specific to the purpose you're looking for? Businesses fail because they don't identify what they do well and focus on it. They manage wildlife. They don't build tech. Find your vertical and live in it. Millions of examples out there. Landscapers don't build their trucks or design chainsaws, etc.

They shouldn't be attempting to do anything internally. They're a wildlife agency not a tech company. They can't remotely compete payscale wise so I imagine they lose talent quickly - not to mention the lack of experience undertaking the sort of projects needed means that they waste money, and end up spending more. Contract everything out. You're a wildlife agency not a tech company. Successful people and businesses partner with others that compliment their weaknesses.