10 day hunts

[OpticNerd]

I didn't think I would miss having them as much as I do but as of now I can only hunt on the weekends. It sure would be nice to have 2 weekends to hunt like before. Just curious if anyone else misses the old 10 day rifle deer hunts?

[Snapshot]

The ten day hunts were always my favorite. Even if a person could not hunt the full ten days, you would have at least two weekends too get out and hunt.

[gotcoues]

More people, more opportunity slammed into a tighter time frame = more money and less success. I liked the choice of long Nov or short Oct hunt. It made good sense to me and you had a choice.

[Shawn]

I was just thinking about this same thing tooday. I dont like the set up now.

[rcdinaz]

I miss the chance to hit two weekends!

 

I wish they would cut the tags back and allow the 10 days. They should charge more for these hunts to make up for the lost tags. You would think this would be easier to manage as well. 300 hunters with a 15% success rate stinks anyway.

[JLB]

I miss those days as well. If you are a working person and can't get too many days off, it makes it very hard to hunt with only one weekend available.

 

I also miss getting a December tag once in a while. With only 50 to 75 tags available now, I am not sure if or when I'll ever get another December tag. Since they reduced the amount of December tags, I have not received a December tag.

 

Anyone else missing December hunts ??????????

[Quagmire]

I miss those hunts too! I was talking about it with my dad and his friend a couple of days ago. It really helps us focus on our hunts without having to rush to tag out and get home for work or school.

[SunDevil]

Scoutm was just saying on our Oct hunt how he mised the 10 day Nov hunts. I am torn because we always hunted the 10 day Nov hunt because we did not care for the limited opportunity/weekend warrior aspect of the 4 day Oct hunt but now that we have started hunting the 7 day Oct hunt we like being out in the middle of the week during the 1st hunt of the season after all the weekend warriors have gone home.

[OpticNerd]

Good to see I'm not the only one that misses the good ol 10 day hunts. I know it's probably never going to happen but I sure hope the G&F decides to bring these hunts back. If not then maybe they can take the 2nd hunt we currently have now and split it into two weekends and postpone the 2nd mule deer hunt a week. For example the hunt would start on a Friday and close 2 days later on Sunday then open back up the fallowing Friday and go until Sunday giving the hunter a total 6 days instead of 7 consecutive days.

[Viper]

Scoutm was just saying on our Oct hunt how he mised the 10 day Nov hunts. I am torn because we always hunted the 10 day Nov hunt because we did not care for the limited opportunity/weekend warrior aspect of the 4 day Oct hunt but now that we have started hunting the 7 day Oct hunt we like being out in the middle of the week during the 1st hunt of the season after all the weekend warriors have gone home.

 

I am also torn. It was nice to have two weekends, and maybe cooler weather in Nov., but I like the better odds of getting a tag every year. The October hunt is usually warm, but we've had pretty good luck with that hunt. As long as you can take time off during the week, after the weekend hunters leave, it is a good hunt. I gave up on a Dec. tag after the change. At least we still have archery.

[IHunt2live]

The GF approved the new hunt guidelines for 2012-2014, can be found online. We all had a chance to comment on the proposed changes. FYI there will be a 10 day hunt during the 3rd or late November Whitetail hunt.

[Week'nd WaRRior]

Hey Sundevil, Week'nd WaRRior here. My name came from my buddies amazed at how I'd do major damage bass fishing during the weekends. I agree the first hunt was a zoo. Down in 36b by Ruby you'd have idiots firing off there rifles at night, hootin and hollering, just plain getting jacked up all night. I found that with the 10 day hunts you could cover the whole unit more, and have multiple places to hunt. And both weekends getting off of work on fridays always seemed to be fine with the bosses, unlike thurs-mon, or mon-thurs now.

[SunDevil]

not sure if New Mexico still does it this way but they use to have hunts that were only during the week. Not sure if they were the first hunt or not but I think they were 5 day Mon - Fri or 4 day Tues - Fri. I would put in for that hunt. odds I am sure would be pretty good. bad thing is that hunters that can and do hunt during the week would be out there with you. compared to now when you rarely see anyone out Tues or Wed.

[200"mulie]

I had 10 days this year

[OpticNerd]

The GF approved the new hunt guidelines for 2012-2014, can be found online. We all had a chance to comment on the proposed changes. FYI there will be a 10 day hunt during the 3rd or late November Whitetail hunt.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I copied and pasted a section of the guidelines that discuss these changes and here it is. Maybe some good news for those who miss the 10 day hunts. Also after reading this it looks like there might be a rifle Dec mule deer hunt for some of the units. That would be an awesome tag but would probably put a hurting on the big bucks.

 

August 27, 2011

COMMISSION ORDER 2: DEER

The Department's Deer Management Goal is to maintain and, where possible, enhance deer populations at levels that

provide maximum and diverse recreational opportunities, while avoiding adverse impacts to the species and its

habitat. Guidelines for both species are grouped into "Standard" or "Alternative" hunt management.

 

Season prescriptions:

1. Hunts will be for "antlered mule deer," "antlered whitetail deer," or "any antlered deer." "Antlerless deer" or

"any deer" permits may be recommended for units where the deer population requires reduction or

stabilization, or when conflicts with other land management uses exist.

2. Separate hunts for mule deer and white-tailed deer will occur in units having adequate populations of both

species of deer.

3. General and muzzleloader deer hunts will occur on standard opening dates. When stratified, a series of 7-day

hunts may occur throughout October and November with all hunts opening on a specific Friday. A

December white-tailed deer hunt will open the Friday of week 50 and continue to the end of the year.

 

The following seasons will be available:

White-tailed or Mule Deer on Friday of week 43 (October 26, 2012 and October 25, 2013)

White-tailed or Mule Deer on Friday of week 44 (November 2, 2012 and November 1, 2013)

White-tailed or Mule Deer on Friday of week 45 (November 9, 2012 and November 8, 2013)

Mule Deer on Friday of week 46 (November 16, 2012 and November 15, 2013)

White-tailed on Friday of week 48 (November 30, 2012 and November 29, 2013)

If only a single early deer season is selected in October or November, the season will run for 10 days.

 

If a white-tailed deer season is offered during week 48, the season will run for 10 days. Antlerless elk seasons

will not overlap with a general or muzzleloader deer season in units with hunts for both species. Season dates

will be selected to avoid such overlaps. If the unit is managed under Alternative Hunt Management, 10-day

seasons may also be used.

If a deer hunt has unissued permits after the hunt has ended 2 out of 3 years after returning to an online

application system, then those tags may be allocated to a December hunt structure the following year.

 

4. A limited amount of December mule deer harvest opportunity may be offered in no more than 10 mule deer

units that have adequate populations with at least one offered in each Region; no more than 40 permits will be

offered per unit except in units that have had a December season structure. A limited amount of December

white-tailed deer harvest opportunity will be offered in most white-tailed deer units. A total of up to 5% of

all white-tailed deer permits statewide will be offered in December.

White-tailed or Mule Deer on Friday of week 50 (December 14, 2012 and December 13, 2013)