Closing units to December archery hunting

[huntlines]

I wanted to post this for a few reasons,

 

First I wanted to make sure everyone is aware of this closure and your not out hunting in one of these units. This is a first for unit 29 that I can remember and it is sad because I love hunting this unit. Unit 34 A is another unit i have enjoyed hunting and most of all in December during the rut. You can be chasing rut crazed mulies one minute and then find yourself in the middle of couse deer rutting. Sad to see this happening.

 

Second I think by posting this and advising all the hunters why it is being done, it is going to lead to people not being truthful about the unit they harvested in. I have already heard people talking about telling G and F they harvested in a different unit so this will not get their unit closed. I have been a big supporter of mandatory reporting of archery harvest for the management of the deer. Now I see where this might backfire or at least lead to misleading information.

 

Here is the link for more information.

http://azgfd.net/art...-December.shtml

 

Good luck to everyone out there, I can't wait for January 1St so I can start hunting again.....

[tcharchery]

They have a sure fire plan though. I see that unit 29 is open again in January, so they must be planning on the herd rebounding in the next 17 days. Oh, but the rifle hunts still go on. Biggest bunch of crap I have ever seen.

[naturegirl]

Either choose to report honestly or don't report at all, but lying about where the harvest occurred is very unethical.

[AZLance]

Either choose to report honestly or don't report at all, but lying about where the harvest occurred is very unethical.

 

The same should be applied to Game & Fish.

[Willyhunts2]

I don't mind it all that much. We have a ton of units open every year for December and January and I like the option of bouncing from one unit to another. If game and fish starts to think they arnt getting accurate archery harvest reports by people lying, the whole archery deer season could go to a draw every year and that would suck.

[Traveler]

Statistically they are comparing apples and oranges, They have two very different means of determining harvest rates. Current practice is pure discrimination against the Archers. Mandatory reporting for all hunters is the answer.

 

This really gets my blood pressure up.

[paul navarre]

Arizona Sportsman's Journal has this issue on its website and answers from AGF. I googled, Arizona deer unit 34 a, Dec archery deer closing

 

ONe might check this out for more info. Paul

[azbow]

It will put more archers in the remaining open units, which will then have more deer killed in those units and thus G&F can then close more units to archery hunting. I sure don't like where this is heading. Unit 33 already has 7 rifle hunts(2 juniors,1 muzzleloader and 4 rifle). More pressure from archery hunters looking to go close to Tucson doesn't help anything.

[huntlines]

Either choose to report honestly or don't report at all, but lying about where the harvest occurred is very unethical.

 

MANDATORTY REPORTAING means you don't have a choice to not report. If an archery hunter refuses to report he will get cited. I agree with Traveler, mandatory reporting for everyone is needed. Rifle hunters don't understand this issue but when they have to report and then their hunts get taken away because of it they will.......

[bowhunter4life]

Either choose to report honestly or don't report at all, but lying about where the harvest occurred is very unethical.

 

MANDATORTY REPORTAING means you don't have a choice to not report. If an archery hunter refuses to report he will get cited. I agree with Traveler, mandatory reporting for everyone is needed. Rifle hunters don't understand this issue but when they have to report and then their hunts get taken away because of it they will.......

 

I agree, we must have mandatory reporting of all big game animals. I still do not understand how AZGFD manadate a 20% cap against archers when it is based on them only receiving, 40% return rate from their survey cards that they mail out? I think if they did mandate mandatory reporting it would change how they manage! It would reduce the number of tags they would sell. The facts would show are many more deer being harvested during all the rifle hunts that they currently do not have to account for.

[muledeerarea33?]

I haven't killed a deer with my bow since the mandatory reporting had been in effect, do they physically check the animal or is it a phone # to call to report? I would think to make it mandatory it'd have to be a physical check, I think a physical check for all deer hunts would be the most accurate way to get harvest reports, although the g&f would have to have stations set up in various places around the state, not just their offices, I'd be happy to "check in" my kill if they had check points. If you have to drive to an office, I don't see very many people doing it.

[huntlines]

I haven't killed a deer with my bow since the mandatory reporting had been in effect, do they physically check the animal or is it a phone # to call to report? I would think to make it mandatory it'd have to be a physical check, I think a physical check for all deer hunts would be the most accurate way to get harvest reports, although the g&f would have to have stations set up in various places around the state, not just their offices, I'd be happy to "check in" my kill if they had check points. If you have to drive to an office, I don't see very many people doing it.

 

When an archery deer hunter is successful he/she MUST within ten days call the number listed in the regs to report the deer harvest. G and F ask for the license number, tag number, unit of kill, days hunted, if any deer were shot they didn't recover, type of bow used, if it was a white tail or mule deer and how many points on each side of the antlers. YES all of that is required and if you forget to answer any of these questions they ask for a call back n8umber so they can get the missing information. This is mandatory and if your found to have harvested and don't report, like posting pictures of your kill on a site like this one, then an officer will show up at your door with a citation. The first year or two of this mandatory reporting they were issuing warnings to people but I am told now they are citing.

 

I also believe if the draw hunts were mandatory they would be surprised to learn how many deer are harvested and not reported via the cards they send out in the mail. No one I know ever filled them out and sent them in or if they did they lied and said they didn't harvest. People are not stupid and know that if the harvest numbers were low more tags would be given out. With the amount of draw tags given now a days and the amount of hunts now being offered, it is no wonder the quality of the deer is so low........ Very SAD.

[cw4192]

May I ask how many of you archer's have STUCK an animal and not recovered it?

[WHALE]

May I ask how many of you archer's have STUCK an animal and not recovered it?

 

6 deer shot 6 deer recovered

 

4 turkey shot 3 recovered

 

1 coyote shot 1 lost

 

what is your point?

[couesaddict]

I agree that mandatory reporting should be done for all hunts. In New Mexico, if you do not fill out a harvest report, you are unable to hunt the next year. I believe that there are a number of archery hunters who choose to shoot beyond their abilities which leads to many wounded deer. An area I have hunted mule deer in unit 33 in the last five years, I have had two friends kill deer that were shot in the hind quarters by archers that would have died. They were both still alive, but barely. I also saw a nice buck running around with an arrow sticking out of its butt. My son killed a deer in the same area this year that was shot by an archery hunter and amazingly was still alive in the late November junior hunt. This deer had a massive wound right below its spine with maggots in it. He might have lived and might have died. The point is that I think Game and Fish needs to manage things closer because probably as many deer are shot and not recovered as are killed by archers. I once spoke to a hunter who said he had wounded nine deer and had never recovered one. I personally love archery hunting, and all hunters should know their limits and never exceed them.