Antelope hunt unit 10

[my2cats]

This is a true story that happened to me on September 8, 2010 at 7:15 am in Unit 10 Arizona.

I have applied for an Antelope tag in Arizona unit 10 exclusively for the last 35 years, had accumulated 22 bonus points. 2010 was the lucky year, I had finally been drawn. Scouted for 21 days, found what I considered to be the trophy that I wanted on the wall. The season began and I hunted exclusively for this buck for 5 days and had one sighting and no chance yet. On Wednesday morning I found the buck I was looking for, put myself in position to let him feed over the ridge and would have been on him ready for the kill and of all things to happen an airplane flying very low comes right over the top of me and the Antelope took off running as fast as they can. The airplane then circled the running buck and his 4 does, then chased them farther again still at full speed, circled them again, chased them farther and circled again, never to be seen again. I have no idea how far they chased them but I could no longer see the antelope and the plane was so far away I could barely hear it now. Well I am now mad, I went to the top of the ridge where I found that I got cell phone service and called Operation Game Theif. The operator on the line asked me if I could stay on hold for a minute, "sure", when she came back on the line she informed me that there was no problem but that the Arizona Game and Fish Department was doing their annual Antelope Survey and not to worry about it. I told her that I wanted to speak to an officer asap. The officer called me only after I had called back 10 hours later and again requested to speak to an officer, he said "So I heard you got buzzed this morning".

Long story even longer, I don't care who it was that flew the airplain or what they were doing it was Hunter Harassment and Harassment of game. I want the appropriate people given a ticket so they can answer to a Judge. Am I wrong in this situation? Why are they doing a survey in the middle of a season? Please share your thoughts and expierences...

[Chef]

That sounds like a really bad deal.

Why they do surveys during the hunt season I don't know.

They must know that they have an effect on hunters and their stalks.

I would be livid as well, especially after waiting so long to draw.

 

I also don't know what recourse you have in this situation either.

[bohunr]

Well, at least you didn't have 2 planes collide right over your head and hit the ground 150 yards and 300 yards from your double bull blind!

[SpotNStalk]

Well, at least you didn't have 2 planes collide right over your head and hit the ground 150 yards and 300 yards from your double bull blind!

 

[gotcoues]

UNREAL! I had no idea they do surveys during active hunts. That is the most ridiculous thing they could possibly do. I've yet to draw a goat tag for AZ and gave up on 10 and started applying for "easier" to draw goat hunts. I would be livid if I were you!

[elkhunter]

The purpose of doing a survey during a hunt is so that Game and Fish can actually see the most animals they can possibly find. When is the best time for someone to see the most bull elks or coues bucks? During the rut.

 

The most accurate animal counts occur during the rut stage so that's why they do the animal counts then.

 

its happened to me before but not with pronghorns but with javelina.

 

All I ask of Game and Fish is to be more considerate when someone is actually stalking or watching a particular animal. If they were to fly a plane and see a hunter putting a stalk on a 85 class pronghorn, they should pull away and do the count in that area after some time has gone by without runing a hunter's opportunity.

[gotcoues]

Thanks for shedding some light on why they would do survey fly overs during active hunts. I still cannot support the policy to do so. Premium tags are way too hard to come by to have this going on IMO

[mje1]

No excuse, if it was Game and Fish Id want someones BUTT. Regardless of the size of the animal 85 or 70 thats a once in a lifetime tag for most in this state. I think they wouldnt have a problem finding antelope from a plane the week after the season ends, a majority of them are in open grasslands.

 

Mark

[yumabowhunter]

You are absolutely right on! The AZ Game and Fish are a bunch of bumbleing buffoons. To schedule an aerial count during a hunt is moronic. These hunts dont last very long which means there is plenty of other time to do counts. I personally think the game and fish have been infiltrated by a bunch of tree hugging greenies who dont even want hunters to kill game. They are quite content to take our money and hope we dont kill "their" resources.

 

I know this sounds a little cooky and conspiracy theorist but after my dealing with the state and federal agencies over the past few years I'm really starting to believe it.

 

I would raise heck if I was you.

 

I had the same thing happen in the KOFA national wildlife refuge during a deer hunt two years ago. While sitting on a ridge at sun up the feds chased a ewe throught the mountains finally shooting a net over the top of her and loading her in the helicopter. Would have been a cool thing to watch if it hadnt been in my deer honey hole on the second day of deer season.

[my2cats]

If the counts are done during the rut then the week before and the week after the season would be more accurate. If the Game and Fish counts during the season, then they send out hunter survey cards, how do they know if the antelope was killed before or after the survey was done?

[.270]

there ain't no way to justify that. i don't care what their reason is. pronghorns herd up big time in mid winter. lot better time to do their surveys than to do it during the dang season. another reason to cuss the azgfd. like they needed any more. Lark.

[bwakeling]

Surveys are an essential part of what the Arizona Game and Fish Department does to index populations and make hunt recommendations in a biologically appropriate fashion. If you want to review some of the rationale and process we use, I refer you to the post that Jim Hinkle, who was the Big Game Management Supervisor at the time (he has since retired), made on this website on March 6 of this year under discussion forum/hunting and fishing forum/Coues deer hunting in Arizona/Ever wonder how AGFD does surveys.

 

I just learned of this post via email from Amanda. I was unable to contact anyone in the Region at this time to confirm the report, but the basic observations are plausible. This is the survey period for elk and pronghorn, the Department tries to conduct surveys during the week to avoid weekends and later in the hunt to avoid as many hunters as possible, and circling the herd is plausible because of the need to classify wildlife into age and sex categories.

 

Hinkle's post describes why we need to do surveys when we do, but essentially we need to get the males and females in the visible at the same time, which means we need to survey near the rut. Buck to doe and fawn to doe ratios are critical to understanding available bucks for next year and the likely recruitment. Surveying in late winter makes it more difficult to accurately classify fawns, which are then underrepresented. Trying to avoid hunts can be very challenging. A quick look at the fall schedule in Unit 10 indicates that there is not much available time.

 

Pronghorn seasons

August 20 to September 2

September 3-12

 

Elk seasons

September 10-23

September 24-30

October 15-21

November 26 to December 2

December 3-12

 

Deer seasons

August 20 to September 9

October 8-17

October 22-31

 

Of lesser concern

Sheep season

October 1 to December 31

 

Bear

October 1 to December 31

 

Lion

August 20 to May 19

 

Keep in mind that we have several hundred thousand acres of pronghorn habitat to survey across the state and about 2 aircraft that we can use to conduct these surveys. It is impossible to conduct the surveys that we do without flying during some hunt. We try to avoid this to the extent possible, but sometimes we cannot avoid it. I have heard instances in which the survey may have helped some hunters and those in which it hurt them. We are not trying to create problems for hunters, but we need the data to make the hunt recommendations.

 

I will be out of the office tomorrow on one of our mandated furlough days and at a meeting all day on Monday, but I will try to find out some additional information about this incident.

 

We appreciate hearing of these incidents and we do try to minimize their occurrence. I'll let you know what I learn.

 

Brian Wakeling

Game Branch Chief

[Heat]

Always nice to hear both sides of a story! Good on ya Brian for looking into this matter and responding. Very upstanding if you ask me.

 

I'm very sorry to hear that this happened to you My2! I would be pissed too at first, but in the grand scheme of things I seriously doubt they would have done that if they had any idea you were on the herd. Either way, I'm sorry to hear of your misfortune and I really hope you were able to find another nice buck and get it done.

 

Nick

[Chef]

Interesting topic.

I too can't help but think that winter range surveys would be easier and not interrupt a hunt.

Although I'm willing to sacrafice a rut hunt for a winter range hunt. Just for me of course!

[.270]

a guy waits 35 years for a tag in this state and the bunnycops come in with a airplane and buzz off all the goats. makes sense to me. what are ya gonna do in sheep season? naybe some of that helicopter herding? there isn't any way you can justify this action, so quit trying. Lark.