Jump to content
davehc130

Shed season

Recommended Posts

Thoughts?   States around us are establishing a shed season.   Efffect on AZ is people from those states now hit AZ.  DEER AND ELK are pressured from August - April through hunting and shed hunting.  Just when bulls and bucks need to recover from rut and winter people are then in looking for browns.  It would be nice to give them a break a maybe have a shed season open in may or jun.   

 

thoughts?

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I always thought a good idea would be to attach shed hunting to your hunting licence. To remove sheds from forest you would need a hunting licence. This would increase sales, and provide a bigger incentive to not break the rules. If you are caught driving vehicles cross country, on closed roads, or harassing game, then you could lose your licence. 

Having a "season" would be very difficult to enforce in my opinion. There would always be the people who clean up all the sheds before the season starts. I think applying stricter penalties for breaking laws already in place would be better than making new laws.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I myself go up to the Kaibab shed hunting when 90% of the deer are off winter range and back up top. 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

No more laws.  Most units have from 300-1000 tags in that units just for deer let alone on the elk hunts.  After hunting season and sheds drop I don't think those units even have a fraction of that amount of people going in there looking for sheds.  Pressure is minimal.  Just my 2 cents though 

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Ask the local rez shed hunters how that seasonal shed hunting works out????

I just wanna be able to go out in the woods and enjoy what is there and if I find an antler and have the kahones to pack it out then I don't want the law looking over my back....if I wanna let it lay then I can let it lay!!!!

 

  • Like 8

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

In more northern states the deer and elk are much more stressed from winter and pressure can be detrimental.  Our animals in AZ live a pretty leisurely winter and are able to recover just fine, so pressure isn't that big a deal.  Pressure in the fall is way worse with the absurd number of tags given out.

  • Like 7

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Regardless of antler prices, the shed season on San Carlos has more ppl out earlier pushing and moving the elk around, our earliest drops are late January and you can bet there's ppl out there hiking around already for 2 solid months before the season opens, once the season opens those ppl just go out and collect their stash piles if they already haven't brought them out.

The days of finding a couple sets in a bedding area are long gone, sets are harder to match up and like other places you can usually pick up more trash than antlers.

There have been non-members and tribal caught out of season but the court doesn't help our LE much in those situations, basically walk free.

Can't speak for the other side of the River but with at least 4x the elk we have I'm sure it's just as much a circus and I've seen the 9am truckloads of antlers on April 1st up there with my own eyes.

 

DAN

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think it would be better to enforce the laws that keep people from driving off the roads at that time.   I've gone into wilderness zones miles from a road and seen side-by-sides.  

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×