zslayer

Anywhere that has access to the foothills for the whitetail season has waaay more pressure now. Locked gates that allow foot access only and typically had 0-1 vehicles parked now have 4-5. I two have seen way too much hunters trash left at camp sites from previous hunts and spent time gathering it all up and burning it after it had even blown all over and stuck into nearby trees! what I worry about as well is this new closure will push most of the hunters to Kings Anvil and Elk Horn so now how long will it be before they get tired of all destruction and opt out of the program as well. They are going to receive 3-4x the amount of people now.

Some roads have easements and cannot legally be posted. Most of them are private and posted with orange post and big signs! Santa Margarita ranch has also hired armed security! They are driving a white Toyota Tacoma that says Santa Margarita ranch security on the door. Was also notified that they have cell cameras to notify the security. game and fish came buy camps to explain and notify everyone about the closure and to let everyone know he’s making sure nothing is posted illegally but also notifying everyone that they are prosecuting. game and fish officer told me they opted out of the program because they have had too many issues with trash being left at camps, fences cut, gates left opened which could be illegal traffic as well but the final straw was a group of hunters camped next to some of their corrals and the cowboys were gathering cattle and asked the hunters to move their camp and the hunters refused and got into an altercation with the cowboys.

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.