trphyhntr

wow, those are some bigguns. being that i only have 8 bonus points for the strip i'll probably be back next year to give it a try. beautiful country

There has been an average tag increase of general hunts in 36b of 6 - 13 % of the tags depending on the year in comparison to 2007 that consisted of 2 early and Dec hunts ( this year 2012 is about 6%) the average buck harvest has seen an increase of 16 - 31% ( all greater than the total tag increases) with 2009 and 2010 being the best years... yet the majority of hunts through the 3 hunt change remained around 20% meaning all hunts are producing bucks... Does it suck that there are a lot fewer Dec. tags ... I bet that would depend on if you are the guy holding the tag ... if there were still two early hunts with over 1k hunters each like 2007 or 200 Dec tags , those hunters,who are unsuccessful, would complain and still blame G&F ... It is true that in many units the pushing together of junior hunts, Whitetail, and general mule deer hunts creates a lot of pressure and it would be nice to see a bit fewer tags and some interval between hunts, but 36b is a big unit that I have scouted and hunted a good deal of over the last 6 years and during each hunt time and bucks and opportunities were available on all of them. So please share how G&F has limited opportunity in a unit that has seen significant % increases in harvest beyond the % increase of tags since 2007 If your seeing large herds of does down there you need to be looking at the surrounding ranges, the bigger drainages, and the litter thicker stuff and those bachelor herds are around( not right on top of but...) I have seen them in the early, mid and late Nov hunts... sometimes they get broken up for a spell but they seem to get back together Being born and raised in AZ I would love to have it how my grandfather and dad did when I was a kid, but blaming G&F for everything including lack of success is a fracking sell out and in my opinion becoming way to common and getting very old on this site. is the quality of deer that youve seen stayed the same or better now? im not blaming game and fish, ive never set foot in 36b in my life till sunday morning. however 2400 tags seems like a lot for one unit. another question for you since you sound knowledgeable on the subject, if there was 800 tags for the november 9 hunt, how come the tag i got is number 856?

a few? thats insane. i saw the one over there on basszone. but more over 200? holy cow

tell me about it. thats what i kept telling my dad. its a dang shame, appears they use it as a cash cow. never have maintain anything it doesnt look like, didnt see one AZGFD truck down. i would think the genetics are going down hill, are they not? have you guys that hunt there often noticed a decline in quality?

that wasnt us, i talked to those dudes last night and they hadnt got one. we didnt get one, saw a ton of deer but only 1 decent buck that got up in front of me and ran off before i could shoot. we did see a small buck over there that could have been a 2x3 was hard to tell, but this one wasnt injured. watched a dude whack a spike right down there also on monday.

crew cab silverado, you probably saw it parked right before the turn around there on 39a. we were on the hill glassing

diesel right? were you out there yesterday afternoon right?

was down there this weekend as well. saw many illegals, didnt want to interupt my hunt to turn them in but i know those were liberal votes walking across. stumbled on an area right on the border that was so beat down with trails i coudnt believe it. we could hear them talking behind us and i swear i could hear what sounded like a transistor radio. BP told us that hunters reported a group that was being led by someone with an AK. what i find aboslutely amazing is the amount of money we spend to catch them out there in the desert but as soon as they get to the valley its like no one cares and they are legal all of a sudden? i work at a car dealership in mesa and see more illegals everyday than i did down there. but none of our customers come in with AK-47's either. edit: why is the last guy a badass?

was that in 36b as well? honestly my dad saw the 3 smaller bucks, i can only verify seing 1 buck in 4 days and well over 100 does. i was staring under every tree with th 15x's till i was crosseyed and tearin up from looking so hard. im sure i missed a lot because they are that sneaky but i cant think of anything else i could have done besides moving to a whole diferent area of course.

ya i wanted to see a train of them walking a trail like ive seen online but the most we saw were 3 at a time. funniest was when we glassed up one taking a shoot lol. that poor guy has to walk 10 days in the desert and cant even take a dump without someone spying on him. edit: i could not believe how worn down some of those trail were right along the border, you could have rode a mountain bike or a motorcycle down them no problem. makes for some easy walking when you get on those trails too

i hunted in there from monday to yesterday evening and didnt see it. what rig were you guys in?

ya ive heard you guys talk about the bachelor groups on the early hunts. ya, i wanted to move to a completely diferent area to try and change my luck just like your saying. but it was my first time down there and i was seeing more deer than ive seen hunting carp in the kaibab so it was a little hard for me to get away from the area i was in. helped capture a few of these guys. that was a first for me. i glassed up illegals everyday we were there.

look for me i'll be the guy with 2 huge bucks hanging in camp!....hopefully

How many CW members do we have going on this hunt? I've never been down there before but Im sure it will be fun. Not Sure what rig we will be in, but it will be me and my dad with tags.

im fired up. cant wait to get down there. my neighbor hunted there the early hunt and didnt do well. saw lots of does i guess. it will be my first time hunting this area, excited to see some new country

well the record high all time for the month of october in phoenix happened in 1980, and the record high for november was in 1914. global warming for ya

yellowjacket pride! good luck bro, im jealous as can be

whoa! nice quality. i lived up that way for years and never fished that place.

hopefully we all have fun, get monster bucks and no problems.

i thought i read it was legal but you can only use rimfire?

saw 3 groups of carp does this past weekend and none had any bucks with them, not even a little spike or fork horn. are you still seeing the bucks chasing does at all? side note, had about a 20 yard shot at a nice coues and the sucker took off right as i was about to draw on him.

if it's the 3rd time its happened it doesnt sound like it was this guys fault. find a better tank further from the road i guess. why would they stop to talk to you? were you flagging them down?

after seeing a couple posts about the increase in tags and number of deer seemingly decrease, i have wondered for years what it is that they do. besides drive around in brand new trucks, and building new facilities. i know they write tickets to some and stock rainbow trout in certain lakes. i would assume they manage some waterholes? Ive seen the numbers of tags increase for about all species over the last 10 years, as well as the cost of the tags, do we have more deer to hunt now? Im into fishing too, and i noticed that when ever they do a project they ask for donations and people to donate their time, why? and if this increase in tags is just a money maker for the azgfd at the expense of the quality of hunts for us? (no rant, serious question)

thanks for the response brian. for me, your response raises more questions. you mentioned all the different org's that you work with to raise money, and also mentioned grants that some of these org's have secured, and special auction tags and what not. however the response kind of makes it sound like the game and fish doesnt do much conserving on its own and that is left to private organizations who must raise their own dollars. many people are under the impression our tage fee's and licenses go to pay for salaries, brand new 2500HD Silverado's and multi million dollar facilities and little goes back into the wildlife.