galiuromulepacker Report post Posted March 9, 2006 I have been reading a lot of discussion regarding the proposed changes to the hunting seasons especially in regards to the 4 day season and fall javelina seasons. Also discussion regarding the ADA Deer Survey. One thing I think is not clear within the discussions and the ADA Deer Survey is how the new 10 Day vs 4 Day seasons are going to occur. Currently in Southern AZ there are three opening weekends of deer seasons during Oct/Nov. The first is the 4-Day wt season and the overlapping 4-Day md season. The second weekend is the 10-Day md season and the third weekend is the 10-Day wt season which overlaps with the last weekend of the 10-day md season. The proposed GF changes are to eliminate the 4-Day season and only have two 10-Day seasons. In Southern AZ this will mean that both 10-Day seasons will have overlapping wt and md seasons together. For example, a 10-day md and a 10-day wt season will open on Friday of week 43 (Oct 27) and then the second 10-day wt and 10-day md season will open of Friday of week 45 (Nov 10). What will this mean? Managers will no longer be able to spread out the deer tags over 3 opening weekends, there will only be 2 opening weekends, meaning more hunters in the field on the opening weekends. More crowding etc and in many of the southern units with the access issues forcing more and more hunters into smaller areas, these changes have the potential to increase the competition for camp sites and hunting areas etc. And what effect will this "hunter density" have on access? In some of the southern units such as Unit 32 and Unit 33 there are a lot of tags in those units. For example, last year Unit 32 had 2400 deer tags (wt/md) during the Oct and Nov seasons. These deer tags were spread over 3 opening weekends. With the new proposed two 10-day seasons, these 2400 tags will only be spread equally between 2 opening weekends instead of 3 opening weekends. So you see, changing the 4-Day season to 10-Day season is not as simple as if first appears. Now on top of the the already crowding issue with hunter density add a few javelina hunters during the opeing deer season weekend. Most of the proposed GF season changes are in the name of improved hunter retention and recruitment? Is increased hunter density during opening weekends and decreased hunter success (fewer hunters having an opportunity to harvest a buck) your idea of keeping hunters interested in going hunting and inticing new hunters to start hunting? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DesertBull Report post Posted March 9, 2006 The New G&F formula for alloting deer tags (More tags + higher prices) - Department man hours needed during hunting season = CHA-CHING!!$$!!$$ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
