Early Archery Deer Hunts

[wildwoody]

wow

[bwakeling]

Thanks for the great ideas. Here is a little feedback.

 

We haven't completely resurected the fruit salad hunts. But archery elk hunters in our best turkey units can now purchase the companion turkey tag - check to see if your elk unit is one of those. Our deer populations are not at levels they were at when the archers could hunt elk, turkey, and deer at the same time, so we are a little reluctant to go there right now.

 

Archery doe hunts were also offered at a time when we far more deer than we do now. Again, we are reluctant to go there just yet. We would like to see deer populations rebound substantially first.

 

Brian Wakeling

Game Branch Chief

[Coues Stew]

Everybody should take the next week off of hunting! (for the antler growth of course not all the traffic I had to fight this weekend )

[wildwoody]

wait till next weekend, pure kayiouse

[Johnny cash]

A few years ago I started a thread about how I passed a buck who was potentially a hundred inches who wasn't done growing and I got creamed by all the so-called meat hunters (which i think is a cop out of people that can't harvest trophies because they can't keep their finger off the trigger which is understandable) I got the same response "I don't eat the antlers"and the meat taste the same to me.. crap ..but anywho like the person that started this thread I do take pride im packing out my game and taking care of the great tasting coues deer meat but I also take pride in the game of working hard to harvest a mature trophy buck I like the way they look and taste in my house.. here's my two cents and my solution is how about we give these "meat hunters" a week and a half to themselves to shoot em a nice young doe in August to get them out of the way of trophy hunters if they truly don't care for antlers and start the trophy hunt in September and give them a week and a half or so to go after fully developed deer so i dont have to cringe every year seeing the balled up sweet bucks takin early... anyways think about game and fish... Thanks

[DesertBull]

You would then have to push the archery elk hunts back a week or two in units that have deer and elk. That pushes the early rifle elk hunts back....so on and so on.

[DesertBull]

How about a draw only, early archery deer tag in unit 37A or B? Please?

 

[Johnny cash]

No don't change the dates just give the meat hunters the first part and give the trophy hunter the latter part of the original season dates

[wildwoody]

so the hunt wouldn't change but you would determine when you hut during the 3 weeks , or have 2 seperate the hunts?

[GotBowAz]

Please ask F&G to move the deer hunt out another week, even more importantly please ask them to move the Archery Elk hunt out one more week as well. The bulls don't get really cranked up until the last week of September. Best time to be in the field as far as I'm concerned. Otherwise don't change a thing. I don't want to see the archery deer season either shortened or to overlap archery elk just for another week of horn growth.

 

My 02

 

GBA

[Johnny cash]

Two separate hunts

[Becker]

You guys crack me up! How come nothing is ever good enough the way it is ??? Hunt how and what you like and be happy for the other guys that are successful. Our state is so diverse in the ranges that the species all live in there is NO way you are going to make it perfect for everything and everyone! If they did change it there would be just as many comments and complaints wanting it changed back!

 

It didn't matter whether or not that deer was FINISHED for my Brother in Law. He shot his absolute biggest deer EVER!!! He is so tickled with himself it might as well have been a new world record. Would it have grown a little more. YEAH Does it matter to him NO. Again TO EACH HIS OWN. We know what the deer IS what it WAS going to be. It is all the same deer in the end. Even if he would have shot it right after it shed. Still the same deer. One mature big heavy short pointed deer that wasn't going to blow any the official record books out of the water. So really what does it matter. It BLEW his personal record out of the water and it was an older age class buck, and thats all I care about. A HAPPY SUCCESSFUL HUNTER and an old buck. END of story!

[creed_az_88]

Well said Becker.

[CouesBuckhunter]

/>A few years ago I started a thread about how I passed a buck who was potentially a hundred inches who wasn't done growing and I got creamed by all the so-called meat hunters (which i think is a cop out of people that can't harvest trophies because they can't keep their finger off the trigger which is understandable) I got the same response "I don't eat the antlers"and the meat taste the same to me.. crap ..but anywho like the person that started this thread I do take pride im packing out my game and taking care of the great tasting coues deer meat but I also take pride in the game of working hard to harvest a mature trophy buck I like the way they look and taste in my house.. here's my two cents and my solution is how about we give these "meat hunters" a week and a half to themselves to shoot em a nice young doe in August to get them out of the way of trophy hunters if they truly don't care for antlers and start the trophy hunt in September and give them a week and a half or so to go after fully developed deer so i dont have to cringe every year seeing the balled up sweet bucks takin early... anyways think about game and fish... Thanks

The worst thing to do would be to open a doe hunt. Seriously? Our deer populations are horrible as it is. And especially in augugs when the does have dropped or are going to drop. That's a waste of one or two fawns. Moreover, potential future fawns. That would really drop the population more so. This is az not Louisiana where the deer are everywhere.