HERE'S YOUR CHANCE TO VOICE YOUR OPINION!!!!

[coueskiller]

I was at the meeting in Flagstaff last night and there were alot of things talked about that should have all of us concerned. First off there were only 10 of us there!!!!!! All units except 1, 9, 10, 23 that currently have a Sept. archery bull hunt will now have a Nov. archery bull hunt consisting of 25 permits for the first year and then dependinng on 1st choice applicants for those Nov. hunts the permits will be adjusted accordingly to meet demand. I just can't imagine too many 1st choice apps for a Nov. archery bull hunt. All archery deer hunt units where the archery harvest totals more than 20% of the total harvest will go to draw hunts, units 7, 17A and 12A are just a few that are currenty over 20%. Dec. archery hunt to be removed from some units including 22. They want to make units 6A, 23, 30B, 31 & 36C the "Kaibab" coues hunts with higher buck to do ratios and more tags in the Dec. hunts up to 30% of the total harvest will be allocated with Dec. permits. With all other coues units in the state to receive NO MORE than up to 5% of all whitetail permits in Dec. Archery Javi hunts in the metro units may go to over the counter hunts. house Rock buffalo hunts to go to 365 day seasons. Fall and spring turkey hunts in some units to be offered to Jr's as over the counter hunts. Limited oppertunity elk hunts in select units to be offered as over the counter hunts. All elk units except 1, 9, 10 & 23 will be managed for a bull to cow ratio of 15 - 20 bulls per 100 cows thus allowing the department to offer more oppertunity with more tags and more hunters in the field killing more elk. They told us that the result from this will be a elk herd that has less older age class bulls and that the average size of bulls killed will drop, sounds like AZ is on the path to having a bunch of raghorns just like Colorado. The AZGFD is going to strech the resources as thin as they can and offer as much oppertunity as possible(TAGS) with hunts of lesser quality and in a few years it is going to show in the quality of animals taken. They informed us right off the bat that the main focal point of the department is now quantity NOT Quality except in the few units that will be managed as quality units. We were told once again that none of the changes have anything to do with $$$$$$$......BS!!!! It sounded to me like the days of AZ being one of the top trophy producing states in the nation are all but over, they are going to flood the hunts with as many tags possible to provide oppertunity for people to hunt not to make $$$$$. It seems to me that anybody concerned about oppertunity and quality would have been at the meeting last night but as I said there were only 10 of us there and with a turn out like that it pretty much allows the department to do whatever they want. All you archery deer hunters better get out there and enjoy it this year because next year if you want to archery hunt you may have to be drawn to do so.

 

Later,

Geoff

[Red Rabbit]

Geoff, Thanks for the report.

Did anyone ask how/why the units were chosen to be the alternative management units for coues? Aside from 36C and 23, the units did not strike me as being premier coues units to begin with.

Did anybody object to the Nov Archery elk hunts and bring up the previous time last year in which the season was proposed and defeated?

 

Tonight's meetings June 6 are in Tucson and Prescott:

Tucson, June 6, Arizona Game and Fish Department Tucson regional office, 555 N. Greasewood Road.

Prescott, June 6, Yavapai County Supervisors Office, 1015 Fair Street.

 

 

Doug~RR

[coueskiller]

Doug,

They said the alternative couse units were picked because of the quality potintal in thase units. We did talk about how 2 years ago when they tried the Nov. archery elk tags there was a strong out cry from archers that didn't want to see the tags taken from Sep. and put into Nov. but now they need to provide more oppertunity so they will try it with 25 tags in each unit and see how many apps they get on those hunts and will adjust it accordingly.

 

Geoff

[Red Rabbit]

Geoff,

I guess they could say that any unit has potential, but I would have thought they may have chosen units with a better reputation.

30B??? Wonder if they considered access issues.

6a?- wonder if this is due to the low success in the early seasons. I assume you have hunted 6a like I have once.

 

They probably will not get many first choice applicants for those Nov archery elk hunts. I can see this as shifting more tags to rifle seasons due to the pie allocation formula. Archers lose twice on this.

 

Doug

[DesertBull]

Sounds a combo of huggers and bean counters have taken over the Dept.

 

Sad to say, but it sounds like a total boycott of the G&F dept for at least one season is the only thing that will get their attention.

[Huntn coues]

What does everyone think about changing So. Az whitetail hunts from 10 days to only 7?

 

In other words, eliminating the 2nd weekend of the November hunt?

Don't like it. I put in for the November hunt because I know that I can hold out on the FIRST weekend and if I feel like taking a smaller buck, still have the opportunity to do that in the SECOND weekend. Most of the hunters out there are only able to hunt on the weekends anyways, not to mention some of the juniors that are out there hunting on this two weekend hunt. I mean really, how long can you justify pulling a kid out of school just to go hunting? Weekends are the opportunity for the majority of hunters to be able to do their hunting.

 

 

I like the way the hunts are set up now but I don't mind a couple of the late archery elk hunts they have now.

I am apposed to adding more late november hunts for elk in other units as well as well as the southern units.

 

I have 3 daughters who all hunt and having two weekends to hunt doesn't bother me at all. One is just fine.

I alway's take their entire hunts off from school. Even if they get a deer tag and a elk tag in the same year.

I am lucky right now because they are straight A students and that makes it alot easier to take them out hunting.

Hunting and being with family plays a HUGE part in how kids turn out once they move out so thats one of the ways I

justify taking my kids out of school.

[Coues79]

What does everyone think about changing So. Az whitetail hunts from 10 days to only 7?

 

In other words, eliminating the 2nd weekend of the November hunt?

Don't like it. I put in for the November hunt because I know that I can hold out on the FIRST weekend and if I feel like taking a smaller buck, still have the opportunity to do that in the SECOND weekend. Most of the hunters out there are only able to hunt on the weekends anyways, not to mention some of the juniors that are out there hunting on this two weekend hunt. I mean really, how long can you justify pulling a kid out of school just to go hunting? Weekends are the opportunity for the majority of hunters to be able to do their hunting.

 

 

I like the way the hunts are set up now but I don't mind a couple of the late archery elk hunts they have now.

I am apposed to adding more late november hunts for elk in other units as well as well as the southern units.

 

I have 3 daughters who all hunt and having two weekends to hunt doesn't bother me at all. One is just fine.

I alway's take their entire hunts off from school. Even if they get a deer tag and a elk tag in the same year.

I am lucky right now because they are straight A students and that makes it alot easier to take them out hunting.

Hunting and being with family plays a HUGE part in how kids turn out once they move out so thats one of the ways I

justify taking my kids out of school.

 

I see your point and agree with you about growing up and having the experiences of being out in the field like that. As a teacher however, I have to say that when a student misses a week of school, it sure does put them behind, not to mention all of the in-class learning time that is missed. But, that is after all my opinion. I for one can't justify my kids (soon to be) missing a whole entire week of school due to hunting, and that wouldn't fly with the wife either (it's been a struggle to justify to her that if she's a Cochran, hunting on Sunday is okay .) Hunting is important, and most of the best memories that I can conjure up are of hunting but I just couldn't do that. Hope they keep their grades up to par so you can keep them out in the field.

I still hope they don't take the second weekend out either.

[dave]

I am so beside myself by the DESTRUCTIVE operations of this Department and Commission that I cannot and will not attend their public railroad meeting that was held tonight in Tucson.

 

Funny how the questions read in their survey. The survey was a money deal hiring a professional agency to construct and give them the professional answers they wanted. December of 2005 the ADA spent the money to conduct a survey that was much better than the one the AZG$FD RAILROAD paid for. The first words out of the two Commissioners mouths were that the ADA survey was not random. Those two knew the survey would show what the real hunters wanted and had already planned their reaction to it. They also planned to create their own survey that would serve their desires. Just like a lawyer would do, they crafted a survey that they can tell the Gov. was the most purest, random survey created by mankind. BS.

 

This is the AZG$FD RAILROAD THAT WILL KILL BOWHUNTING IN THE STATE OF ARIZONA!!!

 

What a legacy Director Shroufe and Deputy Director Ferrell will leave.

 

What a legacy Commissioners Hernbrode, Golightly and Mc Lean will leave.

 

How about you Leonard? I know you are reading this? What a legacy you will leave. You can brag that you were the one that discovered a new pie allocation method that was fairest way to give more rifle hunters tags. What a legacy you will leave Leonard. How about our Archery In The Schools program? Why would any kid want to learn to shoot a bow so he can go tromp through snow in November and maybe see an elk track? No, they will be playing paint ball and shooting stuff with real guns. YOU ALL ARE KILLING ARCHERY, THE BEST TOOL TO ALLOW HUNTER RECRUTEMENT AND RETENSION WITHOUT IMPACTING THE RESOURCE.

 

IT IS ALL ABOUT ONLY ONE THING, ONLY ONE THING, ONLY ONE THING...HOW MUCH MONEY CAN YOU GENERATE TO FEED YOUR MACHINE, YOUR CARRIER AND YOUR EGO'S.

 

I am sorry I started attending Commission meetings 5 years ago and had a heart to conserve the hunting heritage of this state.

 

No hunter with a heart for hunting wants to put up with the BS this Department and Commission has handed out.

[jnobleinaz]

What I would like to know is where and why are they coming up with all these changes. Is it wrong to offer good trophy units? I also want to know if the fees are the same for a nov archery hunt vs a sept. they shouldn't be. But in the end I would like someone to come to me with a valid answer and step by step reasoning for all these proposed changes. Most people that are casual hunters do not know that we have been one of the best managed states for wildlife. But just like those guys I know that have trucks that run great stock then they start adding chips and turbos and tweaking their system usually end up with a problem.

[HUNTMUP]

Dave,

 

You said what many of us are feeling and my hats off to you! I agree with you entirely and I feel sick to my stomach to think that no matter what we say it is not going to help. The AZGFD has been pushing this on us for the last several years and it is not going away. Most of us that answered the survey did not take the time to think it out and reacted out of frustration with many of our answers. I do believe that there are a LOT of so called hunters out there that just want to get a tag and not just a good tag once every 5+ years, they feel that they are getting screwed if they do not get a tag every other year if not every year. I for one appreciate what we had here and did not complain about not drawing a Dec. coues tag (by the way I am an Arizona native and put in every year and I have NEVER had a Dec. tag) or only getting three archery bull tags and I am pushing 40 years old! I know what we have and I do not think a majority of the people apply really give a crap about it. I would be interested to see how many people that just want to get a tag are Arizona natives or transplants from Ca. and other strong anti hunting societies. I am not bashing people from Ca. (too much) but I have seen how alot of them conduct themselves while hunting our state. Take a close look at the hunting opportunity and quality of the great state of California because that is what it will be like here...very soon!!!!!