elecshoc Report post Posted April 9, 2012 It would be a complete injustice to the deer population for them not to use all the data at their disposal. Again if they want to get a complete accounting of the harvest they need to have a 100% reporting of ALL the hunting seasons. I know that in Tenn. you must not only report your harvest, you need to take it to the Tenn. DNR. Only after you have done that you can get another deer tag there. If that type of reporting was done here they might get a more complete accounting of the harvest and the final survivability rate at the end of the seasons. Now having said that, I am not saying they need to do this exactly as Tenn. DNR does, just do something similar. That would be tough to do, especially down here. If a guy takes an animal near safford he'd have to loop around tucson or mesa. There's just not enough offices or people to take those kinds of counts and to mention the hunters putting in the additional miles. And I just live a qtr mile from the one here in tucson Even the mandatory reporting is on an honor system. I really don't see how they could make the counts reliable enough even to have them mandatory without increasing they're manpower 10 fold to do so. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ForkHorn Report post Posted April 9, 2012 What may be possible is requiring a survey be filled out and returned. Failing to would make you ineligible for a tag the following season. Wouldn't be perfect though. You'd still have those guys that would check not successful even if they did harvest. Simply out of misplaced paranoia that a successful hunt would ruin next year's draw odds. That said, I think the data would be a much better indication of what really happens and may be beneficial to our big game management. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azslim Report post Posted April 9, 2012 most archery hunters are more experienced and dedicated than the average rifle hunter resulting in hitting the 20% goal G&F established. adding 50 more General tags may result in 5 to 7 more deer tagged at most, you will still have the hardcore rifle hunters that tag out every year, but the bulk of the general tag holders go home without a deer Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tines Report post Posted April 11, 2012 Wouldn't be tough at all. Just make a phone call and report your success or not. They already have an answering service for this and you just leave your info. Same goes for online. Wouldn't be difficult or drain resources at all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
200"mulie Report post Posted April 11, 2012 Well it must be a good guess, maybe an educated guess?!? Maybe they have years of experience doing this? Everyone is a critic and can do it better than the game and fish. With the decline of animal numbers in the state of Arizona We can not go by guesses!!!!!! Everyone should be mandated to report their kills for every species of big game !! This is the only way to effectively manage the game.I have years of experiance im trying to guess the power ball numbers and still haven't won. Exactly! And like i said before all kills should be manditory or else! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
200"mulie Report post Posted April 11, 2012 Why do you think that the archery harvest % has been increasing over the past decade? Do you think hunting over water and using bait should be banned? As a rifle hunter I don't use either method of hunting. I have nothing against archery hunters that use those two methods but I do feel that they greatly contributed to the overall increase in archery success. Just wondered what you guys thought. The fact that there are increasingly more archery hunters every year is IMO the main cause of increase in kills. There is no way of knowing the true # of hunters in any given unit besides draw units (archery) and archery hunters who are successful. I'm sure the G&F can give us the # of OTC tags sold versus the success % by each year as a totall. People gain more experience with each time they go afield. Technology gets better, archers can shoot farther than ever before. While not in my abilities, 80-100yd shots are more common today than they were 8-10 years ago. Sittin water food or bait has no more guarantee than someone sittin a hot trail. James They do somewhere i swear i read it before....the actual otc tags, days hunted, success. Hmmm looks like ill be browsing for awhile. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gonehuntin Report post Posted April 11, 2012 Doesn't this unit usually have left over permits for rifle? Why get rid off archery when you cant even sell all the rifle tags? doesnt make the most sence. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
200"mulie Report post Posted April 12, 2012 Doesn't this unit usually have left over permits for rifle? Why get rid off archery when you cant even sell all the rifle tags? doesnt make the most sence. Some people dont want to hunt it because of the border issue....oterwise i'm sure it would Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bigorange Report post Posted April 13, 2012 They should issue more mule deer rifle tags in 34a. From what I've seen numbers are strong. That would give them the successful archery % they need. Exactly...I don't know how much the archery harvest has grown over time, but last I saw the total muley rifle tag # was 25. So it doesn't take much change for archery to be more than 20%... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bigorange Report post Posted April 13, 2012 It would be a complete injustice to the deer population for them not to use all the data at their disposal. Again if they want to get a complete accounting of the harvest they need to have a 100% reporting of ALL the hunting seasons. I know that in Tenn. you must not only report your harvest, you need to take it to the Tenn. DNR. Only after you have done that you can get another deer tag there. If that type of reporting was done here they might get a more complete accounting of the harvest and the final survivability rate at the end of the seasons. Now having said that, I am not saying they need to do this exactly as Tenn. DNR does, just do something similar. That would be tough to do, especially down here. If a guy takes an animal near safford he'd have to loop around tucson or mesa. There's just not enough offices or people to take those kinds of counts and to mention the hunters putting in the additional miles. And I just live a qtr mile from the one here in tucson Even the mandatory reporting is on an honor system. I really don't see how they could make the counts reliable enough even to have them mandatory without increasing they're manpower 10 fold to do so. Agree...I grew up hunting deer in TN (sitting in a tree stand over a corn field...I'll take spot and stalk out here any day over that ) Because there were so many hunters almost every convenience store had a checking station...even small towns had at least one and often more. It was a good system and they weighed the deer and were able to gather other info about the animals harvested. Last I saw, I think TN went to online reporting and no longer requires in-person checking. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
THE RIFLEMAN Report post Posted May 8, 2012 Take note that these late hunt Archery closures are in units that have lots of reidential/rural ares bordering the open areas , the deer/wildlife are atracted to the food and water sources provided by these areas both incidentally and on purpose..... This makes it atractive for bowhunters to work theses areas.... Many complaints are generated by the residents complaining about the bowhunters ..... All of these complaints must be investigated per the legal proceedures! Xtra work for allready bizie lawmen!......The state is streamling and $$$$ is the bottom line so shutting down a hunt that costs more than it takes in only makes sense everyone of these reports and investigations costs at least $1000.... Lots of folks feed the critters - deer included and they resent bowhunters shooting them and raise a ruckus.... There are lotsa bucks being killed over corn in 34a...Not that I am against this .... Same thing happened up around Payson..... Lotsa feeders out! I say lets just lie about all our reporting , voluntary or manditory - Last year I put down that I wounded 24 deer on my rifle report LOL heck I didn't even hunt! .... AZGFD gets more $REVENUE$ for the rifle tags! So why not add a few here and there - gotta pay for Obamas lawsuiut somehow..... I wouldn't put it past rifle hunters to buy an archery tag and falsley report a kill and several woundings just to make trouble for the bowhunters! Lotsa winey complaining rifle hunters out there that blame the lack of tags on bwhunting! The AZGFD dosn't care about bowhunters so to heck with em .... I think I will just hunt and shoot what and when I want! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
birddogg21 Report post Posted May 8, 2012 Sounds like they should ear tag all the bucks in the unit then sell tags with a number attached to it and you can only kill the buck that has your tag number when your bow hunting! To all my bow hunting brothers out there keep up the good work cause there is no comparison to the feeling that shakes and rattles every nerve ending in your body when you take a buck with your bow! Something you could never feel when you have your rifle strapped to your back! Basicly i'll take this as a compliment for being a successful bow hunter last year!!!!! And know matter what I thank game and fish for all they do!!!!! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
