Archery Deer hunts north of the rim in Dec/Jan?

[bowhunter4life]

There is always another side, they also are wanting all archery January hunts to go to a draw. Where there is smoke there is fire. This will reduce overall hunter opportunity by adding more draw of limited tags.

[AZbowhntr]

I would be curious what access would be like. Several of the roads are closed for much of the winter due to the snow and the possibility of damage from driving on them. So there would be a bunch of archery hunters on top of each other in the areas that are accessible. Not that I would be against it.

[111]

I think it would be great to have more units open in Dec/Jan. I sent an email to G&F a couple months ago about possibly adding a few archery draw tags for the Kaibab and Strip in Dec/Jan...Maybe someday...

[brian390]

I'm in favor of this only if they cut some of the rifle tags in the units that this is proposed for so that the quality stays up. Like if theres 1000 rifle tags for a given unit, cut like 100 of them (10 percent) and have like 25 to 50 archery hunters in place of them. With the lower success of the archery hunts this should keep the quality about the same or a little higher in my opinion.

 

You would think that the deer would be in the lower country of these units at this time of year. I'm not sure how bad the roads would be in the lower country of these units like 4a, 3a/3c because I've never been in those units during december and January. Units 9 and 10 have archery hunts at this time of year and the roads seem to do pretty well.

[billrquimby]

I'm all for more December/January deer hunts (and here's where I need to duck), but only if they are for rifle hunting. It's a no-brainer. Simply move 100 rifle tags from earlier rifle hunts in those units and issue them for December/January.

 

Bill Quimby

[Flatlander]

I'm all for more December/January deer hunts (and here's where I need to duck), but only if they are for rifle hunting. It's a no-brainer. Simply move 100 rifle tags from earlier rifle hunts in those units and issue them for December/January.Bill Quimby

The success in dec/jan would be much higher, and therefore removing 100 tags in Oct/Nov would translate to around 50 tags in Dec/Jan. This means less "Opportunity" (and revenue and everything else that goes with it). It can be done, it just doesn't translate 1:1.

[billrquimby]

That remains to be seen. Bucks are more are more active and visible during the rut, of course, but midwinter hunts at that elevation bring decreased availability because of road closures and bad weather. I propose an experimental hunt: Eliminate 100 tags from the regular seasons, issue 50 rifle tags for those units, and determine what happens to total harvest. Bowhunters have plenty of places to hunt deer in January. Why shouldn't rifle hunters have that option also? Bill Quimby

[HuntHarder]

Because rifle hunting is cheating!! In all seriousness, a trophy rifle hunt would be a good thing, if the # of tags were right. I would think about maybe starting considerably less than the amount taken away from regular hunt and judging future hunts based on mandatory reporting #'s from said hunts. Without Mandatory reporting, we are all just pissing in the wind.

 

I wish there was a way to make it to where if you draw blood, your hunt is over. I do not see how they can enforce it, but that would be fantastic. With technology in both rifle and archery improving, I have a feeling that the amount wounded and not recovered is going up as well. If only there was a way to enforce it!! Wait, I got it, we need to hire more officers. Dang it, that costs money. I thought I had it for a second.

[AZ8]

There were January hunts for a few of those units: 4A, 4B, 8, and 9 for 2009, 2010 and 2011. Not sure why they were eliminated. Possibly a three year expirement?