68OLDS

Good point, was sort of thinking that as I was typing the post.

I don’t quite understand it either. I don’t see it being THAT MUCH more of a burden. She said more data could be good, and could be bad. I would argue more/better data in would give better results out. Someone mentioned the Navajo nation survey approach. You don’t complete your survey, you aren’t eligible for the draw the next year. I am not sure how that would look but it can’t be too difficult to put in place. It sounds like azgfd is happy with where they are on harvest statistics.

I actually am a biologist Thom. ASU, class of ‘06. Conservation Biology. More importantly we are all sportsmen and wildlife is held in the public interest, as you know, following the North American model. We all have a right to a fair discussion. We voice thoughts and concerns for what is in the best interest of the wildlife resource in AZ.

100% agree just search “arizona OTC deer hunting” on YouTube and you’ll see how popular az has become with out of state hunters. My brother Ran into some hunters a few years ago Michigan I believe saying that they heard about Arizona’s OTC particularly unit 27 in the Local magazine and hunting publications. These outside influences are definitely not helping things here at home.

What do you mean? hunted unit 27 for 3 weeks this last January OTC season. I estimate the ratio of NR:res hunters I saw was about 2:1.

The azgfd program manager said last night they do not want to put additional regulatory burden upon hunters by going to a mandatory Harvest reporting. One of their rationales was this would deter people from hunting and reduced overall hunter recruitment. She also stated that the current 20-50% survey response rate was statistically sufficient to account for accurate harvest data. take it for what it’s worth. Not sure I believe any of that but that is their position on the subject.

I would like to see the NR OTC archery hunt eliminated 100% instead of going to a draw system for 2a/2b/2c/27. I would also suggest a reduction in the season length for unit 27, no august hunt and going from all month in January to 15 days. That is what I will be proposing in my email to the DEPT.

It was a fairly well prepared, mostly they just presented the current hunt guidelines and how they plan to meet those as flatlander has mentioned here. They did say they would post it after it was presented so you can still watch it online. I posted the link a few threads back.

I’ll go one step further. Being a guide you probably won’t agree with me, but I would like to see the NR OTC opportunity eliminated altogether.

The big game program supervisor, Amber Munig, provided some numbers last night during the presentation: general deer draw permit tag hunts average 50% hunter survey response OTC deer tag hunts average 20% hunter survey response She Stated that a 50% response rate was acceptable statistically to rely upon for accurate harvest data.

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Yes you are correct. The guidelines are the driving force behind the hunt recommendations. But I Will disagree on the point of having limited input by making our voices heard. There are multiple solutions to achieve the same end result and still work within the confines of the prescribed guidelines. For example, the current guidelines state archery OTC harvest shall be less than 20% overall. This is One of the main reasons mentioned last night during last night’s webcast for the proposed changes. one solution, or compromise for azgfd to consider would be to eliminate the almost 5k non resident otc tags that were issued, Using last years data. now on the flip side of the coin, I am all for strong wildlife management that will benefit the populations as a whole over time. I do think these changes will help especially taking pressure off the mule deer populations during peak rut times.

***MAJOR CHANGES*** proposed to archery deer OTC hunts this year and January 2022!!!. Got caught up in all the fuss over the elk draw and totally missed on this announcement. I know there are quite a few fellow bowhunters on this forum. Many units in December are being recommended to close and the biggest change of all, GMU 27 archery would 100% draw only. Proposed changes can be found at: https://azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/archive/2021-Fall-Hunt-Recommendations-as-of-3-29-2021.pdf It's late notice but you can still provide comments via email at AZHuntGuidelines@azgfd.gov. There is a webcast at 6PM tonight to provide public input. The webcast, which begins at 6 p.m., can be viewed at www.azgfd.gov/webcast.

Great points and a very solid argument. Interesting to see many folks in support of the changes here.

For those who miss the webcast, it will be recorded and available to be viewed at https://www.azgfd.com/Hunting/Guidelines/. Additional comments can be emailed to AZHuntGuidelines@azgfd.gov i don’t think they have posted it yet...and thank you for your service to the public

All I’ve got to say is make your voice heard, no matter what side of the issue you may happen to be on. The fact that they are seeking public comment and interest on this issue is encouraging. Now there will be a large contingency that will argue it won’t matter one way or the other since they will do what they want, and they may or may not be right about that. There were about 170 people on the live webcast tonight. They did provide a little bit of background and reasoning behind these changes. I won’t go into detail but basically the three main points are continued drought, Continuing decline over the last few years of buck/fawn to doe ratios, And greater than 20% overall OTC harvest in many units across the state( many units in northern az). They showed a couple of Graphs relating to over the counter sales based on resident versus non-resident. It appears that non-residence accounted for about 4500 OTC tags last year. They also presented a graph showing overall deer harvest and percent success rate. Bottom line, They will be publishing the new rags in late May or early June and these recommendations will be adopted at that time for the fall hunts. Make your voice heard and send your comments to them at AZHuntGuidelines@azgfd.gov

Best bet, ask them directly. These are all valid points. www.azgfd.gov/webcast 6pm

Glass half empty or half full. Plenty of folks on both sides of the coin on this one. Webcast starts at 6pm tonight...

I hear you and I 100% see both sides of the issue. As others have commented, unit 27 for example, is heavily hunted in the August and January OTC hunts. It is not a guaranteed hunt same as any other hunt, but you tend to see many folks in that unit running around. I was in there this past January for 2 weeks and yes the amount of NR hunters was remarkable. I don’t know how to feel either, primarily being an archery hunter first and rifle hunter second. I do feel it will help the deer population overall which is a good thing. I like the idea of restricting NR OTC tags and maybe even taking them away fully, I am not sure yet how that would look. As some have stated, I do believe it is only a Matter of time before the OTC tag is phased out in favor of a draw system. I am interested in watching the webcast tonight and finding out the reasoning (hard data/facts) as to why the DEPT is considering these changes.

https://azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/archive/2021-Fall-Hunt-Recommendations-as-of-3-29-2021.pdf

https://azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/archive/2021-Fall-Hunt-Recommendations-as-of-3-29-2021.pdf

Haha yes my little bro texted me the picture of the regulation proposals. they announced this on the 18th. A little late to the game as usual. Are you planning on commenting at all? I see you positing on here a lot so figured you would voice any concerns to them.

Sorry looks like we had 3 postings at the same time on this topic.

I just posted on this as well. Unit 27 going to draw only is a big change. I know a lot of guys who will not like this one bit. Can provide public input on webcast and via email.

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