Proposed fall, spring hunt recommendations for 2022-2023 available for review

[maximus]

https://azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/archive/AZ-Hunt-Recommendations-Fall-2022-and-Spring-2023.pdf

Pardon my ignorance, what is the Threshold? if is what i think if you harvest 40 deer in august in unit 23 will be closed in decmeber and january?

[wish2hunt]

5 hours ago, maximus said:

https://azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/archive/AZ-Hunt-Recommendations-Fall-2022-and-Spring-2023.pdf

Pardon my ignorance, what is the Threshold? if is what i think if you harvest 40 deer in august in unit 23 will be closed in decmeber and january?

That’s how I read it. Took away a lot of deer tags.

[bigbuckfever]

6 hours ago, maximus said:

https://azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/archive/AZ-Hunt-Recommendations-Fall-2022-and-Spring-2023.pdf

Pardon my ignorance, what is the Threshold? if is what i think if you harvest 40 deer in august in unit 23 will be closed in decmeber and january?

How will they know the number without mandatory reporting??? (I haven't seen a new requirement for it to be mandatory, -am I missing something?)

[creed]

Hope the guys pushing for quotas are happy. Those archery kill numbers are pretty restrictive. Gonna hurt outfitters 

[ForkHorn]

Gonna hurt outfitters?  You must have misspoken and meant outfitters are hurting your average Joe.

A lot of tag reductions which isn't necessarily a bad thing but it just got a lot tougher to draw tags.

 

The format of having January at the very end of the archery timeframe and not the beginning means that for a lot of units there will be no more chasing mule deer in the rut with a bow.

 

[creed]

I didn't misspeak. I am in total agreement they hurt average hunters. I would like to think this is going to make it harder for an outfitter to book a nonresident hunter when they don't know if a unit is going to be open or not. I didn't see it but there was also a cap of 10% of total tags allocated to nonresidents discussed earlier. I am hoping that is still a go. The areas I hunt in the Dec/Jan hunts have been overrun with guided NR hunters the last 2-3 years. Maybe this slows it down. If it doesn't the "average Joe" is screwed again.

I am not sure I like the quota system but something needs to be done. I would have preferred to see a draw but with the huge influx of people, drought, loss of habitat, predation and hunting pressure the desert mule deer herd needs some help.

[ForkHorn]

Well said. I agree.  I think the quota system is a compromise for everyone. We'll see how it works out.

[PineCountryHunter]

I would assume that mandatory reporting with be included in final regulations and required but we all know what happens when you assume

[zslayer]

What about e-tags?  I have heard of AZGFD going to e-tags eventually?

[forepaw]

Amber Muniq did a good job explaining, and answered most of these questions, at yesterday's AGFD Commissioner's meeting.   I think the biologists are doing a pretty good job trying to thread the needle with both known and unknown data, and the 800# gorilla, long-term mega drought.

Not sure if you can go back and still watch the video but they should have the minutes available within a few days.

 

[forepaw]

PHOENIX — The Arizona Game and Fish Department’s proposed recommendations for deer, turkey, javelina, bighorn sheep, bison, bear, mountain lion, population management, and limited-entry permit-tag hunts for fall 2022 and spring 2023 are available for review at www.azgfd.gov/huntguidelines. 

The hunt structures and recommendations were formulated based on the hunt guidelines approved April 1 by the Arizona Game and Fish Commission.

All questions or comments about a particular game management unit or hunt can be emailed to AZHuntGuidelines@azgfd.gov. The public also is invited to call any of the department’s regional offices statewide and ask to speak with a game management biologist. No formal presentations are planned. 

The proposed hunt recommendations will be presented to the commission for its consideration during a public meeting April 15 at department headquarters in Phoenix. The agenda will be posted at www.azgfd.gov/commission. 

To learn more about the hunt recommendations and hunt guidelines processes, visit www.azgfd.gov/huntguidelines.

[creed]

What are limited entry hunts? Are these those special tags they threw out there last year?

 

If so they've added elk, antelope, and turkey.

[rkv09]

Ya that is how I read it. Not sure why you would want to hunt coues with a rifle on August first. Not even close to being done growing their antlers. 

[forepaw]

I don't know but suspect you're right.  

It does appear the dept. plans to cap NR OTC at 10%.  

Not sure what the final version will look like, and maybe I am not reading it right, but something is happening.

 

[creed_az_88]

The meeting is no longer visible on the game and fish website. I'm not shocked at this point, but I am disappointed that they have gone through with changes to the current otc archery structure without compiling data from MANDATORY harvest reporting first.   Did anybody that watched or attended the meeting happen to hear what will happen to the guys who tagged out in january of 2022? Will I have to wait until August of 2023 to hunt again now that they seem to be including janaury as part of the previous hunt year? Am I reading that part right?