Otc Deer kill location

[HuntHarder]

Small sample size, but the results of this poll fall more in line with what I was thinking.  There are not droves of dinks getting shot over water.  No doubt it happens, but not really an issue.  The real issue was not actually knowing how many deer were being killed OTC for so long.  Hopefully we can reverse the trend of declining #'s, but I do not think it will be easy or quick.  AZGFD dropped the ball big time by not requiring reporting.  Now we only require it on some hunts or animals.  Seems dumb and should be required for all Big game, with penalties if you fail to.  I would love to see a way to have a physical check station or a requirement to send in a picture with tag punched on said animal.  Stiff penalties if you get caught trying to photoshop or lie.  

  Anyone that has ever sat water knows that despite what MC68 says, it is not a slam dunk.  Animals go nocturnal or have multiple water sources they utilize.  Trail cam ban made sitting water less effective in my opinion.  You used to be able to set cameras up on the sources you knew about and narrow it down to which one was more probable.  Now, you gotta sit and hope you picked right.  I know guys who have tried to kill certain bucks on water and days upon weeks of sitting netted 0 results.  

[northAZarcher]

2 hours ago, oz31p said:

Any talk about success rates with out mandatory havest reporting is worthless 

Even if every unit was 100% successful, there shouldn't be any issues. That was what was determined as a sufficient amount to be removed without causing problems with the rest of the unit population.

[wildwoody]

You would think, but whats the riffle kill ratio's 

[mc68]

@HuntHarder when did I say it was a slam dunk? Do you hunt the deserts of AZ at all? Water is not available everywhere as you imply. It’s actually very limited in most areas. 

[HuntHarder]

5 minutes ago, mc68 said:

@HuntHarder when did I say it was a slam dunk? Do you hunt the deserts of AZ at all? Water is not available everywhere as you imply. It’s actually very limited in most areas. 

Nice job editing your previous post...   Your exact words were "slam dunk."  

Nope, never hunted the Az deserts.  Explain them to me please.   Where did I say water was everywhere?  There are indeed, "multiple water sources" in our Az deserts.  

[mc68]

Lmao, I don’t even know how to edit. 

[sneakem33]

On 1/28/2025 at 10:36 AM, sneakem33 said:

But don't kid yourself, hunting water is a slam dunk given the right conditions...

I was the one that said slam dunk, with the caveat "in the right conditions".  There's nothing that you're going to say that will change my mind.  It's legal, it's a great way to kill a deer in a drought year.  I hunted sixteen days during the OTC, I sat water 3 of those days.  I did not kill a buck, but I was looking for a particular deer, which 90% of the hunters out there do not do.  My worst day I had 46 deer (Yes I count them and keep a log) come to water, even with crap wind those deer would circle that tank trying to water, even though they could obviously smell me.  I could have shot a number of solid coues bucks during those days and gobs of smaller bucks.  Every one of these tanks I hunted I could drive a vehicle right next to without 4WD, probably even a car...

If people weren't into just killing any deer 1 & 27 wouldn't hit the quota in 3.5 seconds...

 

 I know for a fact that one of these tanks had a buck killed off it every day for at least a week....

[HuntHarder]

@mc68 apologies, it was Sneakem claiming a slam dunk.  

@sneakem33 while i respect your experiences, i will say the guys i know that hunt water have different experiences.  No doubt its effective, but so is spot and stalk.  Ive personally taken my last 4 otc bucks within a mile of each other and have gone 4 for 5 on my stalks.  All were "mature" bucks. 

[trphyhntr]

4 hours ago, sneakem33 said:

I was the one that said slam dunk, with the caveat "in the right conditions".  There's nothing that you're going to say that will change my mind.  It's legal, it's a great way to kill a deer in a drought year.  I hunted sixteen days during the OTC, I sat water 3 of those days.  I did not kill a buck, but I was looking for a particular deer, which 90% of the hunters out there do not do.  My worst day I had 46 deer (Yes I count them and keep a log) come to water, even with crap wind those deer would circle that tank trying to water, even though they could obviously smell me.  I could have shot a number of solid coues bucks during those days and gobs of smaller bucks.  Every one of these tanks I hunted I could drive a vehicle right next to without 4WD, probably even a car...

If people weren't into just killing any deer 1 & 27 wouldn't hit the quota in 3.5 seconds...

 

 I know for a fact that one of these tanks had a buck killed off it every day for at least a week....

Coues deer? 

[sneakem33]

1 hour ago, trphyhntr said:

Coues deer? 

Yes.... This isn't monstermuleys.com  😉

 

[sneakem33]

3 hours ago, HuntHarder said:

@mc68 apologies, it was Sneakem claiming a slam dunk.  

@sneakem33 while i respect your experiences, i will say the guys i know that hunt water have different experiences.  No doubt its effective, but so is spot and stalk.  Ive personally taken my last 4 otc bucks within a mile of each other and have gone 4 for 5 on my stalks.  All were "mature" bucks. 

I'm primarily a spot and stalk guy myself, also which is very successful for me personally.  I'm not going to be a hypocrite and say I've never sat water though, I just hate sitting.  Everyone's experience is a little different, I hunt with a bunch of guys that love to sit water, if it hasn't rained in a month, they all kill deer.  If it's wet and they spot and stalk maybe 25% kill.  

Personally, I wouldn't be a bit hurt if they eliminate hunting on water at all.  Might piss some people off, but I just base my opinion of personal experience in the areas I hunt, I've sat water and I honestly felt bad for the deer, to each their own.  I have no doubt there are different situations in different areas, some of the higher elevation, lower density deer areas you would probably not experience that type of success...

I will also say that a number of tanks still have cameras... and enforcement, I've seen exactly 2 game wardens in the last 10 years and only 1 even stopped to check my license.