zslayer

Has anyone received their deer tags in the mail? I would expected to see them by now? I transferred my mother in law’s tag to one of my daughters and the tag came right away but hav not seen the (2) other youth tags we are waiting for.

Okay good! Should be starting to show up then. I thought we typically had them by now but wasn’t sure. We have had so much mail lost in transit lately it’s ridiculous.

Sure seems very similar! I sure can see them being related.

Think we will see results posted today?

I just checked and mine was working just fine and no change 😔

As the 3rd year of archery OTC data is coming to a close with the new mandatory reporting and quota system what are some opinions on what will happen? I know the new system was first introduced they mentioned 3 years of data to be collected since they really had no idea how many deer were being killed. The quota system is definitely not working for mule deer as many units are going over quota and some almost double! Do you think no changes? Full draw? Draw only for mule deer and unit specific? I’m very curious to see what the future holds.

That’s gotta be Kathy!🤣

Kathy! 🤣 she was truly the best! Old school!

I know exactly who you are talking about!!🤣

Great unit! Tons of antelope even after the bad winter kill from a few years ago. How many points did you have to draw that unit?

Nice! That should have been the second round after the declined cards. Still hoping we will see results posted Friday 🙏🏻 but I’m sure it will be next week.

Has there been any late hits for the declined cards yet?

Do you think we will see the results posted by Friday?

I’m surprised only 2 units going to draw for archery draw. I figured they would have addressed the OTC hunts a little better since dang near every unit is going way over quota on mule deer.

Who owns the Santa Margarita?

That’s a very good question! Should be required to hold forest permits just like anyone else that is using public land to make a profit.

Here is another issue…..I check the quotas daily just to see how everything is adding up. I have seen several units that are closed for for a couple weeks that will have another deer reported to the quota! Are people not paying attention to the closures? Are people forgetting to report? Is AZGFD paying attention to this and asking questions?

I don’t think this is an issue but could be wrong. If so units like 36c have had a mule deer quota of 5 the past three years. This year it closed in December but the previous years in January. If PITA was using tags to close down units they could close that particular unit in a heartbeat.

Another reason for mandatory harvest reporting for all seasons! Look how eye opening archery alone is.

I agree 💯 on one tag! I agree 💯 on no spotlighting, I think you’re just asking for problems there too. Radios are definitely helpful without a doubt but years like this everyone is sitting water and hammering deer especially mule deer. And there will be more years like this in the future. Only way I can see quotas working is if the department went 💯 across the board with e-tags and units would close within 24hrs. E-tags update immediately unlike others taking 24-48hrs to call in and report a harvest.

I think this is a good thought.

Don’t you loose your points if you draw in 3-5 pass as well? I was under the impression that if you draw at anytime during the initial draw you loose your points? If you draw during the leftover you do not?

Point restrictions would indeed keep the seasons open longer and lower success rates but what would the long term effects look like when you have a big 2x2 genetic and those bucks breeding does every year and they can not legally be shot? I even have a mature set of spike with eye guards sheds from Yarnell years ago. Still one of my favorite set of sheds but absolutely horrible genetics.

I personally do not think point restrictions will work. I think the only thing that can be done is draw across the board unfortunately. Social media and the utube influencers have destroyed the OTC deer hunting in Arizona that we loved so much. Another issue with the quota system is it drives all the hunters to the southern units come January because that’s the only units open. Draw will spread them all out again…..hopefully!

If you put a point restriction to say must have a fork one one side there is still gonna be a ton of forks shot especially when those small forks are typically still with the does year around and wasn’t be found. If you made it 3x or better you could have some giant bad genetic forks running around breeding does every year which I’ve seen some giant mature forks.