knothead

Even if the success rate is about the same percentage as 20 years ago, a lot more deer are being taken in OTC hunts. Way more NR hunters & resident bowhunters today than 20 years ago and we have considerably fewer deer today than 20-30 years ago. Especially mule deer. Personally, I believe the success rate is at least twice that amount especially for NR's. Most NR's that come here are more dedicated to their hunt and hunt for a longer period of time. Most the residents I know that bowhunt during winter only go out one or two weekends a year, if that. I still remember the very first non-resident hunter I ever met in AZ. It was 1996 in unit 6a during archery elk hunt. He was hunting by himself, just killed a cow elk and was gutting it. I thought is was odd that someone would come all that far just to hunt cow elk.

By the way, I support the department 100% for the delay if they are trying to make sure this is an honest and accurate draw process. This is not a good time just to say "close enough". So if they are reading my comments, please take your time and get it right the first time. then send me an elk & antelope tag

G&F has not accepted paper application for a couple years now so there is no manual entry of applications by the department anymore. Adding 18K more applicants should have nothing to do with slowing down the draw as long as the database was large enough to store the data. The delay has something to do with the integrity of the draw. I am guessing they are manually going through each hunt number, the drawn applicants list, looking at their random application # and then comparing if they should have actually drawn.

Since were all just talking about random stuff while we wait for draw results I have one. How about no more OTC deer tags for any NR's? Make everything a draw for them. offer a few tags for each OTC unit or divide the state up into something like 10 zones and each zone has 3-4 units. do something like 50-75 NR tags per zone. Just thinking out of the box.

An additional 1.3 million people in AZ by 2030.

I had Honda's in 80's & 90's switched to Polaris in 2001 when I got a sportsman 400 as a fathers day gift. I still have it and it runs great. I also had a 2005 Polaris Ranger 500 and I now have a 2018 Polaris General. Polaris has always been good to me and never left me stranded. I take care of my stuff and do regular maintenance. I might have stuck with Honda's years ago but they never changed with the times and they just figured people would buy them simply because it was a Honda. Sorry but there are lots of good options out there nowadays. This topic comes up from time to time but it is kind of like Ford vs Chevy vs Dodge. When I was looking to upgrade my side-by-side a couple years ago, I never even considered anything else but a polaris because I have always been 100% satisfied by their products. Good Luck on whatever you decide to get.

Congrats on the weight loss.

Bob, I hate to rain on your success of drawing an early tag with only 3 points back in 1996 parade but that was probably max points back then. Now if you drew it in 2021 with only 5 points that would be quite a big deal.

Just an FYI but you do not have to update your portal account in order to apply for elk or antelope. I think this is a common misconception. A portal account is not even required but encouraged by game and fish. You can still get your all your information by calling the G&F 602-942-3000 number. The only benefit that I was aware of for having a portal account was getting the draw results a little faster. Now, you at least know if you were drawn by having a charge on your credit card so the not having a portal account point is kind of moot. I believe this new portal update is going to allow for a less cumbersome and redundant application process that we currently have. The Nevada system we had 12-15 years ago was so much better than anything G&F has been able to come up with since. I truly believe the IT staff don't even understand how hunting and the application process even works in AZ. I think it would be safe to say that none of them are hunters. I am usually not very critical of the workings of AZGFD and for the most part they tend to be leaders in game management. But when it comes to the application process I am not aware of any state worse than AZ.

I don't have cool video like this but just great memories of an elk sniffing my face at about 3 inches.

I have had discussions with them as late as this week and they said they can refund or give a tag for spring 2021. They sent me a form to fill out and send back in for a refund. The person who sent it to me was Rose Rope. I can't hunt this spring but I am trying to get a spring 2022 tag. I am still waiting to hear back from them.

My experience tells me javelina typically have a 1 - 2 square mile home range and water within that range. With so many water sources going dry they may not be in their typically home range this year. They do get some of their water from the food they eat like roots, succulents and cacti. Looking at the weather forecasts for next couple weeks makes me feel better about the health of our wildlife. Good Luck

That sounds like something I would do.

All I know for sure is that the turkeys I hunt are smarter than me.

Stay north of I-10 and you should be good. The illegals are probably just waiting for the next president to be sworn in and then they can come across and be met with open arms.