COMPLETELY OUT OF CONTROL GREED AND ROBBERY!!!!!!!

[CouesWhitetail]

I am curious if anyone attended the recent sportmens open forum to express your opinions to the dept? How did the meeting go?

[Willyhunts2]

I was just thinking the same thing. Curious to see how many people went to any of these meanings. Before everyone jumps on me, I didn't go and I'm fine with the price increase.

[coueshunter]

The complaints don't surprise me. I was at the meeting with my son and 35 or so other people. I am embarrassed that people don't give time up at these meetings to bring up their concerns. We complain on forums where nothing can be changed after the decisions are made. Get to the meetings and make your voice heard. Chef was there, Ryan jackhammer,Mark Smith and maybe 5 other individual people and the rest of the people were the wildlife organizations. SCG, az elk, az deer, az antelope, etc. The public meetings are where we can really be heard. Allen Taylor

[520HUNT]

The complaints don't surprise me. I was at the meeting with my son and 35 or so other people. I am embarrassed that people don't give time up at these meetings to bring up their concerns. We complain on forums where nothing can be changed after the decisions are made. Get to the meetings and make your voice heard. Chef was there, Ryan jackhammer,Mark Smith and maybe 5 other individual people and the rest of the people were the wildlife organizations. SCG, az elk, az deer, az antelope, etc. The public meetings are where we can really be heard. Allen Taylor

 

I couldn't make it, what issues were raised to the department? And what if anything was accomplished or proposed changes?

[coueshunter]

The department explained the current status on Mexican grey wolf, quail programs, hatchery issues golden algae problems, Florida bass stocking, big game population enhancement areas, and many other topics. There were many times that the audience was invited to ask questions. Nobody brought up tag/fee issues because the department went over all of this in numerous public meetings as well as at many wildlife organization meetings. They also accepted advice/suggestions via email and standard mail. I am not sure what more they could have done. If they don't hear from us before a decision is made, they can't do much. This particular meeting was set up to let us know what is going on. They will continue with the meetings like this, so get to the next one if you can. They also are updating the website to include a "customer portal" that will be interactive and much more user friendly. I was impressed that they are making things easier/ more personalized. Kinda like Facebook each person will have their own home page. They also need volunteers for many wildlife issues. Now is our chance to get involved and make a difference. Allen Taylor

[naturebob]

I think alotta Folks that attend the meetings don't go much to complain about tag costs, but more so are there to talk about quality of hunts and habitat issues , Animal #'s and represent their Orginazations. Who ever did attend. Thank YOU. Like I said before ,they don't listen much anyway.........BOB!

[couesmagnet]

Guys i spent 150 dollars on saturday in gas and lures going after brown trout in one of my favorite honey holes here in our beautiful state. I didn't get a bite or see a fish though. We better raise the fishing license fees also, so we can stock more fish for me to catch. Who's with me!!!

[Guest wdenike]

I think alotta Folks that attend the meetings don't go much to complain about tag costs, but more so are there to talk about quality of hunts and habitat issues , Animal #'s and represent their Orginazations. Who ever did attend. Thank YOU. Like I said before ,they don't listen much anyway.........BOB!

 

 

 

So ya mean it was just like the dog and pony town hall meetings across the country. An effort to make believe they G.A.S.??? Smoothing things over in a concentrated effort to make sure the inmates don't try and run the asylum. Was it a gun free zone also?

 

 

 

 

Take care, Willie

[AZwest16]

I attended the meeting last week. Just like previously posted there were only five sportsman there that did not represent some type of wildlife organization or foundation. It was my first time attending and I was surprised to learn that the five of us were the highest amount of individual sportsman to attend on of these open forums. For G&F in attendance were four out of the five commissioners for the state along with the majority of there command staff. Like Coueshunter previously stated they covered several different topics. The two hours went by fast and I later spoke with one of the command staff members. He mentioned how important it was for everyday sportsman to attend and how they wanted to move the meeting to more of a Q&A so any and all concerns could be brought up. IMO it was a perfect venue to speak your mind as FOUR out of the five commissioners were in attendance. This was my first time attending and I see the importance for us as sportsman to attend these meetings. We can complain all we want over the internet but until we as sportsman come together to voice real concerns in front of these individuals nothing will change.

 

Regan

[520HUNT]

I used to go to every game and fish meeting a few years back. I usually filled out a card and spoke to the commission, but after being ignored and treated with disrespect by the department and the commissioners for over a decade I gave up. I used to know everyone at the meetings, good ole hunters who showed up because they cared and thought they could make a difference. None of those guys I used to go with go anymore... All became frustrated and threw their hands up in the air, and realized they were wasting valuable hunting time by attending these dog and pony shows. The unit managers would privately tell you that they didn't agree with the number of tags the commission was approving, but it still happened. Actually had a commissioner tell me that these meetings were useless, because they had already made up their minds.

 

I still have a bad taste in my mouth from those meetings. I must have wasted countless days and money traveling to Flagstaff, Tucson and Phoenix for meetings. And I'm pretty sure nothing has changed in the last 6 years since I quit wasting my time at these dog and pony shows.

[AZwest16]

520 I understand what your saying and there is probably a lot of truth to it. The only thing I can say back is there has been a lot of turn over in the department and commission over that time. Change doesn't always come fast but if none of us show up there will be a lot decisions made with no input from sportsman whatsoever.