Hunter success %

[DesertBull]

Does anyone know how G&F determines the success rates they publish each year?

 

I know they send out the survey cards after the hunts, but is that how they determine the success ratio?

 

I don't understand why they do not require a hunter to return those cards. If they are going to spend the money to print and mail them, make them mandatory to return or set up a website for each hunter to report their hunt.

 

It's bad enough that their methods of counting animals are suspect, to say the least, but their method of determining how many animals are being killed is just as bad. They use those success rates in their formulas for issuing tags the next year.

 

If it were me, I would make the survey mandatory and if you don't turn it in, you don't get a tag next year.

[az4life]

Desertbull

 

good question? I think that the card is the basis.

 

I am sure they have a formula, but who knows how accurate it is.

[bchoitz]

Maybe they should use those cards to track individual hunter success rates, and those that never get an animal anyway should be issued a tag every year, and those that always get an animal should be given tags only every 3 or 4 years.

 

[Really I'm kidding here!]

 

Maybe not, but I don't think they should make it mandatory to fill out the survey cards. I would think that most hunters would return them anyway, and I think that people are less likely to be honest when the reply is traceable to them.

 

I think that given the resources the department has, the cards that get returned are adequate to determine hunter success rates, and those units that require more close scrutiny such as the Kiabab have check-in stations for successful hunters. Still, I am sure there are some hunters who do not remember to check in thier successful harvests.

This goes for bear, cat, etc...

 

Short of rounding up all the animals in a given area and counting each animal or tagging them, you can never really get an accurate count, but the methods used seem accurate enough given that geat herds are not starving in the winter.

 

What would be better is to remove cattle from the national forests and allow the deer and elk herds to expand the carrying capacity of the range.

 

I guess I'll keep sending in my survey cards, answer them honestly, and not worry too much about what others do with their cards.

 

Bret

[DesertBull]

It's been proven that their counting methods on the Kaibab were very inaccurate.

[25-06]

I always fill out them cards And I also look forward to lettin them know how the hunt was...Like this year, I had someone glassin from there rifle scope at me again for the secound year in a row They will here about this once again