stratify hunts

[Coach]

I'm not sure if what you are proposing matches what has happened to deer hunting in 24A, but that unit has been ruined, IMO. When I first started learning how to hunt in AZ, unit 24A had one coues hunt - about 475 tags all in late December. Maybe I was just lucky, but I drew that tag 4 out of 5 years applying. It was an awesome hunt.

 

Today, 24A allows 300 Mule deer tags between Nov 15-24, 325 coues tags Oct 25 - Oct 31, 375 more tags Nov 1 - Nov 7, another 375 tags Nov 29- Dec 8, and only 50 in the Dec 13-31 hunt.

 

That equates to 1075 coues tags between October and early December, pre-rut with only 50 tags during the rut. If this is the model for stratifying, I want no part of it.

 

As others have mentioned, unit 1 allowed the biggest allotment of early bull archery tags ever this year, and Cluster **** is an understatement.

[654321]

11M has a stratified hunt give it a whirl

[Coues79]

Stratifying hunts.....

 

-Cow hunters out of the equation during archery bull hunts.... they hunt earleir in September.

 

-Split the allotment of archery bull tags between two hunts in September. Keep the same number of tags just make two archery bull hunts in September.

 

Less hunters in the woods equals greater opportunity plus greater quality of hunt. With stratification that means greater draw success theoretically. Two archery bull hunts per unit during the rut means folks have to decide between putting in for the two hunts per unit OR one unit and another. So between a guys favorite two units, there are 4 archery bull hunts to decide on. The number of tags have stayed the same just more hunting opportunity. Real similar to NM structure.

 

I want it.

[mc68]

Want to clear up a couple things. Muledeer33 I am pretty sure they rotate the early hunts between 1,27&3C. On the 3rd year each unit will have the muzzleloader hunt. Also, I agree about 1 & 27 this year being cluster but it happened the same exact way in 3C after the fire over there. Coues79 explained the system very well and I just honestly want to know what fellow sportsman think about it. Please try and keep the G&F bashing out of it...

[creed]

I have been a proponent of stratifying hunts for a long time.

 

Split them up. I got in from 5BS last night. It was a good hunt and I was into elk all the time but had several occasions where I either inadvertently busted into someone else's set up or they into mine. Some spots had guys crawling all over them. I could get away from the crowds but had to get into some areas that I wasn't that familiar with and had fewer elk. In many ways the quality of the hunt would increase with fewer hunters.

 

Another issue that I ran into was the Forest Service and their stupid 30 foot camping rule. Nearly all the spots were taken a week before the season, some spots even longer. If they should ever decide to actively enforce this a stratified hunt would help.

[muledeerarea33?]

Again, thanks for clearing it up for me. I suppose my question now is why do they rotate the minimal # of rifle tags between the units but still give out lots of archery tags every year for every unit mentioned?

[Hornhunter247]

Nm already does this and it's awesome! Now I'm thinking that most of you don't understand that the G&F issues tags based off harvest objectives right? If there was very low hunter success last year or very good survival rate, the tag numbers go up. So with that said, they would have to offer more tags in the earlier hunt to compensate for the lower success rates.

 

And I totally disagree with less hunters=more success, you can stick a bad hunter in a unit with nobody else and their still not going to have any better odds. Just like really great hunters consistently kill great animals on very busy hunts.

 

I'd love to see AZ do this, as I love hunting pre-rut bulls!

[shanehamblin]

There is no way for g&f to know what the success rate is because they have no mandatory harvest report. They have no clue how many bulls get killed.

[Outdoor Writer]

Where can I buy one those calculators that create something out of nothing?

 

 

Two archery bull hunts per unit during the rut means folks have to decide between putting in for the two hunts per unit OR one unit and another. So between a guys favorite two units, there are 4 archery bull hunts to decide on. The number of tags have stayed the same just more hunting opportunity.

[mc68]

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Where can I buy one those calculators that create something out of nothing?

 

Two archery bull hunts per unit during the rut means folks have to decide between putting in for the two hunts per unit OR one unit and another. So between a guys favorite two units, there are 4 archery bull hunts to decide on. The number of tags have stayed the same just more hunting opportunity.

[mc68]

Confused by your comment Outdoor writer. I'm guessing you didn't understand what he said? Now instead of only 1 choice per unit you will have 2. This doubles the amount of choices you have to put in for therefore the frequency that you get drawn CAN increase and it reduces the amount of hunters in the field at the same time.

[elkaholic]

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO stratify hunts . !

[mc68]

Elkaholic you seem to be on the fence with this, j/k. Can I ask why you don't like the idea?

[Becker]

The problem I see with this theory is that if they would break the hunt into two you would not see the number of tags split in two. They would add some to each hunt. Say for example they have 400 now. If they split it they would prob put 275 per hunt thusly adding an additional 150 tags all together.

[ThomC]

The problem is overlap. You also have deer & antelope hunters/seasons out there. There is not enough days in the fall for every hunt. The underlying problem is overpopulation. I keep repeating this but nobody wants to hear it.