Dec. rifle hunts

[kaibabkiller]

Looks like the G and F is going to add a few Dec. rifle Muley tags for units 23, 7 and 27.

[jefftrucker12]

cant imagine what the draw %%% will be

[200"mulie]

me either but i will put in for 27!!!!! fyi so there is one person

[elkhunter]

I'm sure unit 27 draw odds will be similar to early rifle bull hunts and the kiabab/strip hunts

[elkhutnaz]

wife is sitting on 8 points I know she will be in for these!

[donniedent]

Not quite sure why they would do that. I think maybe its because the success is so low. 17a and b on that recomendation as well. The goofy thing is that they recomended 17a open up for dec archery as well. That means there will be rifle hunters and archery hunters in there at the same time. That makes zero sense to me. Deer numbers are down all over the state, they continue to spend tons of money on the kiabab and the strip, I just don't get it sometimes. I hope everyone takes a serious look at our new org because we want to see the deer herds EVERYWHERE in az get the attention they deserve. These old squeeky wheel orgs that only care about certain areas need to stop being oiled!

[azhunter85]

i hope they dont do this!! they are crazy why would you wanna hurt the herds that much. a dec rifle hunt in a couple of those units could be really bad decision. .....

[Big Browns]

Dec 27 would be a Awesome Hunt, but a terrible management idea! These Hunts will really hurt those unit's. I cant beleive that G&F is even thinking about it. Just my 2 cents.

 

Adam

[Brian27]

I dont know about game management and all that but I miss the good days when I was a kid. We always tryed to hunt 23 and 27 in December because my Dad has always had to work long hours during the early hunts. It will be nice to have a good hunt to put in with him again. I dont have that work schedule but my 2 brother now joined my Dad so unless i want to hunt the border units every year I have to go alone or with inlaws.....

[DesertBull]

I dont know about game management and all that but I miss the good days when I was a kid. We always tryed to hunt 23 and 27 in December because my Dad has always had to work long hours during the early hunts. It will be nice to have a good hunt to put in with him again. I dont have that work schedule but my 2 brother now joined my Dad so unless i want to hunt the border units every year I have to go alone or with inlaws.....

 

Isn't it 25 freakin tags?

 

I'm all over this and stand behind it 100%. We are always whining about the anti's not letting the professionals manage the herds then piss and moan when they do. A lot of people on this site acted like the G&F dept kicked their grandma when they started reducing the December WT tags down to the current low levels, now we are acting the same way when they actually add Dec tags.

 

And archers and rifle hunters have been hunting the December whitetail tags together for decades and it has not been the cluster than some claim this mule deer hunt will be.

 

You might have missed this part of the hunt recommendations -

 

Antlered mule deer and any antlered deer permits are

recommended for a decrease of 1,071 statewide.

[308Nut]

I think this a great management strategy. Think about it. Older bucks will be targeted during the late hunts. Most of the really old bucks in many units die of old age or predation. Since many of the older age class mulie buck are nearly un-killable during early general seasons, most hunters in the general season settle on average bucks 1-4 years old. The old ones die naturally and the young ones get cropped before they get old. No wonder the deer population and trophy potential is hurting. Targeting older age class bucks helps take the pressure off the younger bucks. If hunters killed every 8 year old deer in every unit every year without killing immature bucks, there would be more 8 year olds the next year. And the next year etc....Killing mostly immature bucks in a given unit does nothing for the quality of deer. They need these late hunts in conjunction with LESS general season tags or have horn restrictions such as at least 3 (maybe 4) points on one side. Sure everybody would hate it at first. 10 years down the road everybody would be praising AZGFD. The trophy potential would be awesome.

 

Just my .02$

[Big Browns]

+1 for point restriction!

[ronaldo]

I dont know about game management and all that but I miss the good days when I was a kid. We always tryed to hunt 23 and 27 in December because my Dad has always had to work long hours during the early hunts. It will be nice to have a good hunt to put in with him again. I dont have that work schedule but my 2 brother now joined my Dad so unless i want to hunt the border units every year I have to go alone or with inlaws.....

 

Isn't it 25 freakin tags?

 

I'm all over this and stand behind it 100%. We are always whining about the anti's not letting the professionals manage the herds then piss and moan when they do. A lot of people on this site acted like the G&F dept kicked their grandma when they started reducing the December WT tags down to the current low levels, now we are acting the same way when they actually add Dec tags.

 

And archers and rifle hunters have been hunting the December whitetail tags together for decades and it has not been the cluster than some claim this mule deer hunt will be.

 

You might have missed this part of the hunt recommendations -

 

Antlered mule deer and any antlered deer permits are

recommended for a decrease of 1,071 statewide.

 

 

 

I kinda thought the same thing..Whats the difference between 250 WT tags, which is down to 25 now, or 25 MD tags in DEC? So its ok for WT, but not for MD. I like it. Dont care for permitting archery hunts either.

 

Ron

[ronaldo]

I think this a great management strategy. Think about it. Older bucks will be targeted during the late hunts. Most of the really old bucks in many units die of old age or predation. Since many of the older age class mulie buck are nearly un-killable during early general seasons, most hunters in the general season settle on average bucks 1-4 years old. The old ones die naturally and the young ones get cropped before they get old. No wonder the deer population and trophy potential is hurting. Targeting older age class bucks helps take the pressure off the younger bucks. If hunters killed every 8 year old deer in every unit every year without killing immature bucks, there would be more 8 year olds the next year. And the next year etc....Killing mostly immature bucks in a given unit does nothing for the quality of deer. They need these late hunts in conjunction with LESS general season tags or have horn restrictions such as at least 3 (maybe 4) points on one side. Sure everybody would hate it at first. 10 years down the road everybody would be praising AZGFD. The trophy potential would be awesome.

 

Just my .02$

 

 

 

Good points here ..

Ron

[Snapshot]

There are remote spots of unit 27 that some old bucks may have never even been shot at, or seen, for that matter.

 

I have put in for unit 27 exclusively since the later 1970's. It is always my first and second choice. I have seen a RADICAL drop in mule deer and permit numbers in the last 25 years. There used to be thousands of tags between 2 hunts. Not anymore. The whitetail seem to be doing well, but the mulie numbers are not even close to what they used to be.

 

I would figure a December hunt with 25 tags would see at least a 50% success rate, if not more. The junior hunt always gets first crack at some good bucks in October. Some of the wise old bucks in the Eagle Creek area just boogie over to the Tribal land and hide out.

 

I like the idea of it, if there is survey data that would support the extra harvest? I know the competetion for the tags will be fierce.