Kiabab anterless

[truehunter]

I cant believe Game and fish is increasing the amount of anterless tags in the kiabab. As long as they are still offering anterless on the kiabab the herd will never come back.

[brian390]

I haven't looked at what they're doing with the doe tags up on the kaibab for next year. But if they're increasing the doe tags, I think that it will affect the deer herd in a negative way. Ever since they have been trying to kill the doe off up there, the deer hunting hasn't been the same.

[123456]

I react opposite to this news. There are waaaaayyyy too many does in 12a. It is suppose to be a trophy hunt and during the rut, it is not uncommon to see forkies and 2x3's with over 20 does. There is no competition for does in 12a. Hopefully they thin the herd and get back to managing like a trophy unit. I would be willing to bet that their buck to doe ratio is over 1:20 in 12a. By far the highest in our state.

[mpriest]

Personally I am glad they are increasing the tags. I thought is was such a shame they reduced the tags to only 75. This is such a great opportunity to get youth hunters involved with the sport by providing them with a hunt that offers such a high probability of success. 14 years ago this was my first ever big game hunt. I picked up a left over tag because they were offering 1000 tags for the kids. I'm not saying they should offer 1000 tags still but I feel they were doing themselves a disservice by only offering 75 kids the opportunity to hunt and share in the same experiences we all do.

[DesertBull]

One of the best hunts they offer. A lot of fun.

[Xman2000]

+1 for more doe tags!I 123456 , priest and Desert bull are right .I had the privelidge last october to go hunting in 12a and have to say there were does everywhere it seemed like almost around every tree! Plus it is a great opportunity for the youth to harvest one Kaibabs greatest resources and as long as it is only a youth hunt I really see no beef.Really there is no shortage of Does there I think Game and Fish have learned alot from thew past and are manageing the herd correctly. Its alot of work ,science and effort to keep herds from over populating not to mention its still a youth hunt it does not mean they will harvest a Doe I have herd of many youth not harvesting a Deer and still had a blast in Gods country!!

[truehunter]

interesting.... I guess I just rely on what my dad has said that the kiabab would be no joke to pass up 4 pts on the side of the road because you were going for that 30 incher. and ever since they offered doe tags in the late 70s they killed the herd and now the herd has never been the same. Wonder what transporting the does to other units in az would do to help the spread the great genetics to other areas in az. I agree on getting juniors involved but why not with elk?? plenty of elk tags. Just deer populations in az and across the west for that matter are hurting.

[Seldom Drawn]

I was on that hunt with my grandson last year and we saw 17 different herds of does ranging from 6 to 21 deer in a herd.

we were only there 2 and 1/2 days.I think they could use a little thinning out.

 

Seldom drawn

[Outdoor Writer]

and ever since they offered doe tags in the late 70s they killed the herd and now the herd has never been the same.

 

And long before hunts for only does began, every Kaibab hunt was an ANY DEER hunt. IOW, a tag was good for either sex. I know, because I hunted there almost every year during the 1960s and into the 1970s when tags were still first-come, first served.

 

There are plenty of deer on the Kaibab even now. In fact, in some areas, there are probably too many. Perhaps for some the "trophy" quality isn't what they prefer, but the hunting is still good.

[brian390]

I agree with you truehunter.

[HuntKaibab]

I was fortunate to draw the antlerless hunt 4 times while I was a junior and I can say every hunt was a blast, its a great hunt for getting kids interested in big game hunting.