GAME AND FISH TO CHANGE HUNT STRUCTURES

[bowhuntinmaniac]

tHE GAME AND FISH dEPT. IS PLANNING TO CHANGE THE HUNT STRUCTURES AND DATES ON MOST BIG GAME IN AZ.

ONE PLAN IS TO TAKE 1/2 OF ALL ARCHERY BULL TAGS AND MAKE THEM "ANY" ELK TAGS AND PUT THEM IN NOVEMBER AFTER THE RIFLE HUNTS.

ALSO, THEY PLAN TO TAKE ALL BUT 50 WHITETAIL TAGS FROM DECEMBER AND PUT THEM IN OCTOBER.

THEIR REASONING IS TO CREATE MORE HUNTING OPPORTUNITIES BUT TO KEEP THE SUCCESS LOW.

IT IS TIME TO GET INVOLVED;

There is a game and fish commission meeting this friday and saturday in Casa Grande that Leonard Ordway (Game Branch Chief) will be presenting the Draft Arizona Game and Fish Department Guidelines and Recommendations for the 2006-2007 Hunting and Trapping Seasons. The meeting starts friday morning at 8:00 am and will be at Francisco Grande Resort - 26000 West Gila Bend Highway, Casa Grande. This item about the archery elk hunts should be presented friday mid morning. This will be the only public meeting that both the game and fish dept. and commissioners will discuss this issue before the hunt set meeting in april. the other regional meeting will only have the dept. there. We need to convince the commissioners because they are the ones that actually give this proposal the ok. Therefore, this fridays meeting is very important for all hunters to attend.

 

2006 Public Hunt Guidelines Meetings

 

January 12, 2006 ? Yuma ? 7-9 pm AGFD Yuma Regional Office ? 9140 East 28th Street

 

January 17, 2006 ? Mesa ? 7-9 pm AGFD Mesa Regional Office ? 7200 East University

 

January 18, 2006 ? Flagstaff ? 7-9 pm AGFD Flagstaff Regional Office ? 3500 South Lake Mary Road

 

January 19, 2006 ? Page ? 7-9 pm Glen Canyon National Recreation Area office ? 691 Scenic View Road

 

January 24, 2006 ? Pinetop ? 7-9 pm AGFD Pinetop Regional Office ? 2878 East White Mountain Boulevard

 

January 25, 2006 ? Payson ? 7-9 pm Payson Police Department conference room ? 303 North Beeline Highway

 

January 26, 2006 ? Prescott ? 7-9 pm Yavapai County Board of Supervisors Room ? 1015 Fair Street

 

January 31, 2006 ? Kingman ? 7-9 pm AGFD Kingman Regional Office ? 5325 North Stockton Hill Road

 

February 7, 2006 ? Safford ? 7-9 pm Graham County General Services Building ? 921 Thatcher Boulevard

 

February 8, 2006 ? Sierra Vista ? 7-9 pm Performing Arts Center at Buena High School ? 5225 Buena School Boulevard

 

February 9, 2006 ? Tucson ? 7-9 pm AGFD Tucson Regional Office ? 555 North Greasewood

 

 

 

 

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[CouesWhitetail]

Please try and attend the meeting(s) if you feel strongly about this. Seems to me the proposal lowers hunter opportunity to hunt during prime seasons for WT and elk. I can't sleep lately due to thinking of how they want to change the seasons in 24A. This year may be the last time I actually draw a dec tag!

 

Here is a link to another thread where there is a list of the proposed changes:

 

AGFD proposed changes

 

 

Amanda

[megahunter6969]

This is horrible, i cant believe they want to keep telling such lies! I SURE HOPE THEY DO NOT MOVE ANY OF THE DEC WHITETAIL HUNTS TO OCT!!! THAT IS THEIR EXCUSE FOR EVERYTHING(THAT IT WILL CREATE MORE HUNTER OPPURTUNITY!) BS!!!!

[Guest Bert]

Lets see if I have this correct. Take ? of the bow hunt for elk and and move them after the rifle hunt in November. Take all but 50 of the December whitetail rifle hunt and put them in October. I think I smell some very creative game management here. They want to keep the revenue and reduce the kill ratio. Think about this. In a few years they can issue more tags for the October and November deer hunt because there will be more deer since less deer will be killed in December. Raising the amount of revenue for the game and fish.Then again I could be full of it.

Bert

[CouesWhitetail]

AGFD is proposing these changes to increase hunter opportunity and also increase revenue for the Dept. I think part of the problem is that they constantly hear people saying "I never get drawn anymore" and so they are trying to find ways to get more tags out there. But of course there are only so many deer and so you have to issue tags that will have less successful hunts so your deer kill doesn't increase even though more people are out there.

 

If enough hunters go to the meetings and say that they are willing to be drawn less often in order to have more chance at getting a Dec tag for WT or Sept tag for Elk, then I think the commission would listen. I have spoken with AGFD personnel who say even just one person making the case for something can change the commissions mind. And of course if 100's of hunters show up to say no, then they will listen. From what I can see, these changes are not biologically necessary for deer mgmt or elk mgmt. The changes are proposed to increase revenue and "hunter opportunity".

 

Please go to as many meetings as you guys can. Stand up and say what you think. If you like the changes or not, at least let them know so they can make an informed decision.

 

Amanda

[CouesWhitetail]

Here are some documents from AGFD regarding the hunt changes.

2006_2007_Fall_Hunt_Big_Game_Guidelines_and_Recommendations.pdf

2006_2007_Small_Game_and_Trapping_Recommendations_12_1_2005.pdf

2006_2007_Dove_Waterfowl_Seasons.pdf

2007_Spring_Recommendations_12_1_2005.pdf

[CouesWhitetail]

Here is the agenda for tomorrows meeting.

Item #8 is the Game Branch Chief's presentation of the hunt changes. Then later in the meeting they will have a call to the public to give comments.

Final051209AgendawithAddendum.pdf

[Rembrant]

Thank you for the information, Amanda.

I agree with you, I prefer quality hunts.

I also agree with you that the game dept is probably responding to public outcry about not getting drawn enough.

Be careful what you wish for.

There is only so much resource to go around. The dept is playing a shell game with management options that will supposedly make more people happy AND bring more revenue to the dept.

We gotta face facts. There are too many people in this state. I used to get drawn for most everything all the time. Now there are more hunting opportunities everywhere (except for mule deer) and I can't buy a tag.

If we're gonna be a squeeky wheel, we should squeek for maintaining quality hunts.

Hows the dept gonna make more money by reducing archery rutting bull hunts?

Everyone in the country wants an out a state archery bull tag.

Weird.

Mike

[CouesWhitetail]

Here is a flyer that a bowhunter sent me. I believe it was done by DesertChristian Archers.

Stop_proposed_elk_hunts.pdf

[DesertBull]

"Hows the dept gonna make more money by reducing archery rutting bull hunts?"

 

1. they are not reducing tags, they are increasing them. Just moving them to a different time of year so no one actually kills an elk.

 

2. They want to charge a NR $1800 for the early tags and the residents $300

 

 

And yes, they want to take the quality hunts we now have in units 21,22,24A & 24B and reduce the December tags to almost nothing, while adding tags in October. Those central unit Whitetail hunts are the last ones we have that you actually stand a chance at drawing every 1-2 years.

 

Seen the odds on a unit 33 December tag lately? It rivals the Kaibab draw odds.

 

They did that to unit 23 last year as a "test the waters" kind of change.

[Rembrant]

Yeah, maybe the 10% non-resident elk tags will still sell even if they are not in the rut.

And maybe I'm just really used to not having a lot of money, because I wouldn't pay a high dollar for a non-res archery elk hunt that is not in the rut.

Arizona's big bulls are a magnet for out-of-staters, but it's the big bulls in the rut (at least in my mind) that is the bonanza.

Seems to me that a money grabbing business would offer the finest product at the highest price - all the time. Right?

Half the equasion here is money, and the other half is maximizing the resource.

I think the dept deserves a little credit for being mindful of the resource and not just grabbing the high dollar.

But I gotta tell ya, the thought of never again receiving an early archery bull tag or a late whitetail tag is really bothering me too.

We better go to some meetings.

Mike

[JVS]

Let's face it, if it generates more $$$, the G&F is gonna do it. They are moving permits to create more tags. Moving the pig tags to fall, which will generate more applicants. Splitting the draw. They say it will give the archery elk and antelope folks time to plan for hunts. Probably a valid point. But why not the deer, buffalo, turkey, etc at the same time? Probably because that would put it in the same pay period! I guess that is OK. My point is...they are looking for our $$$. That is all they want anymore it seems. Man, I have tried for an archery elk tag for 7 years now and still haven't drawn. I'm not alone either. And to learn we are going to lose those tags we have been waiting so long for...What a freakin rip!

 

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the early archery bull and coues hunts were even specified as quality, or high dollar hunts. I think only 5% of tags are going to be high dollar. (Kiabab and early rifle elk tags...) If this is true, we can't credit G&F for giving up high dollar tags to create more hunter opportunity because they aren't planning on giving any high dollar tags up...

[DesertBull]

If you do the math, the 5% rule would easily cover the all of the early archery elk tags and the late December Coues hunts.

 

They are not moving the pig tags to the fall. They want to add another pig hunt in the fall and keep the spring hunts.

[Noel Arnold]

One thing that I have not heard talked about is the fact that we have some people working in the game and fish department that are not hunters. They think that archery elk hunting is cruel. I was helping a friend on a cow hunt last week and came upon a guy from the department that was doing some antelope habitat work.He basically confirmed what I had heard.

Noel

[DesertBull]

There are a LOT of bunny huggers in the G&F department. Don't let anyone tell you there are not.