Desert Rut

[Big or Bust]

Our desert deer are cooked. Best thing that could be done for the good of the herd is to shut it down for 5 years then make it all a draw....

[creed]

1 hour ago, Big or Bust said:

Our desert deer are cooked. Best thing that could be done for the good of the herd is to shut it down for 5 years then make it all a draw....

.

I could not agree with you more, but it’s not going to happen because of money and so-called hunting opportunity that a handful of influential people opposed to a draw want to keep OTC.

guess we could blame it all on crossbow hunters

[wildwoody]

funny, don't think were not going to total archery draw. Its already happening slowly. 

[Big or Bust]

I honestly can't believe more people aren't talking about this at least us below the rim. I am fortunate that I average a lot of days with a bow in hand. Honestly, Southern AZ and SW mule deer numbers IMO are about 15 to 20 % of what they were about 3 years ago. This is likely generous. 

This is an example of what the does looked like in the 37s in May 2025. Likely days from death. This pic was taken for drought documentation, not taking of game. 

Numbers were already waaaay down before last years drought. That was just the nail in the coffin. 

[CatfishKev]

1 hour ago, Big or Bust said:

I honestly can't believe more people aren't talking about this at least us below the rim. I am fortunate that I average a lot of days with a bow in hand. Honestly, Southern AZ and SW mule deer numbers IMO are about 15 to 20 % of what they were about 3 years ago. This is likely generous. 

This is an example of what the does looked like in the 37s in May 2025. Likely days from death. This pic was taken for drought documentation, not taking of game. 

Numbers were already waaaay down before last years drought. That was just the nail in the coffin. 

Wow dude that is heartbreaking to see.  

[wildwoody]

fxxk.

[zslayer]

3 hours ago, Big or Bust said:

I honestly can't believe more people aren't talking about this at least us below the rim. I am fortunate that I average a lot of days with a bow in hand. Honestly, Southern AZ and SW mule deer numbers IMO are about 15 to 20 % of what they were about 3 years ago. This is likely generous. 

This is an example of what the does looked like in the 37s in May 2025. Likely days from death. This pic was taken for drought documentation, not taking of game. 

Numbers were already waaaay down before last years drought. That was just the nail in the coffin. 

This is disturbing!  Ans should be brought to more people’s attention!  If they have to cut tags waaaay back or eliminate seasons for a few years then do so!  

[Roofer Billy]

1 hour ago, wildwoody said:

fxxk.

Fxxked up.

[CouesFanatic]

All F&G cares about is money. They don't care about the animals at all. Things will change when they see it hitting their pockets. Every unit has hunts to the max, good luck finding mature animals in any unit, it's getting tougher each year. I feel horrible for my kids and their kids. Seeing what my dad and his dad had for hunting opportunity and quality in the past compared to now is rough. Add 20 more years from now and you will be lucky to shoot anything with antlers. Have you hunted deer in western NM? Thats what AZ is going to. Hunt 12 days to maybe see a dink. 

I spent some time in the 37's this archery hunt. I've never seen that many people there in January. There is 5x the amount of hunters there was just 2-3 years ago. We are headed in a bad direction. Time for a draw across the board, cut these deer a break, they need it. 

[knothead]

So many things going on that are affecting deer numbers.  Predation, Drought, technology, commercialization of hunting, loss of habitat, shooting dinks, 1000 yard shooters, dept issuing too many tags along with other things not mentioned.  This OTC archery reporting has opened my eyes as to how many animals are being killed and its kind of shocking.  As an outdoorsman and a conservationist I think we need to have some serious conversations on how to help our big game animals.  Especially our mule deer.  They need our help before its too late.

[wildwoody]

Don't forget we wound more then we kill. 

[TOBY]

I would be willing to bet half the archery and rifle deer kills are not reported. I am in favor of a unit specific archery tag with a quota, not a draw. A draw for the specific units to aquire the tag that doesnt affect the rifle draw and points would be ok. X amount of tags whether quota is met or not. The bottlenecking of archery hunters as the units close is fning ridiculous. The desert deer need a break for sure. All of the above mentioned plus the poachers are still rampant around the farming communities and freeloaders squatting in the desert and forests. My .02

[zslayer]

What I can see happening is mule deer will go state wide draw by unit specific or block units for sure.   Mule deer are getting pounded a many units going over quota.   But what I fear is coues will stay OTC with caps and with them being low success and high quotas they will not cut the amount of OTC tags and it’s gonna put an enormous amount pressure on them.   Like everyone has said it’s more about money so they will figure out how to keep those funds coming in.   Even if coues went to draw for archery as well they will offer so many tags again because of low success/high populations that it’s gonna create a lot more pressure on them.  If archery coues goes to draw I would guarantee southern units have hundreds of leftovers and even if people have no interest in coues they will pick up a tag just to go hunting.

[trphyhntr]

37s are filled and over quota. There must have been some healthy deer in there somewhere 

[Big or Bust]

45 minutes ago, trphyhntr said:

37s are filled and over quota. There must have been some healthy deer in there somewhere 

That's the irony. The deer that lived are now fat and happy. There's just 15 to 20% of normal.