18,000 new elk apps

[Couesnut]

Eliminate the OTC Dec. Archery hunts. Stop competing w/ Dec rifle hunts, Too many people in the field already, the deer never get a rest.

Make Jan. archery a draw.

[ThomC]

How about eliminate rifle hunting, it is not fair to the deer.  They get shot 1000 yds away.  

[creed_az_88]

40 minutes ago, Couesnut said:

Eliminate the OTC Dec. Archery hunts. Stop competing w/ Dec rifle hunts, Too many people in the field already, the deer never get a rest.

Make Jan. archery a draw.

Those are legit fighting words. 

[sambojenkins]

35 minutes ago, ThomC said:

How about eliminate rifle hunting, it is not fair to the deer.  They get shot 1000 yds away.  

Whether it be 20 yards or 2000 yards I don’t think the deer will see it as fair

[dustin25]

1 hour ago, Couesnut said:

Eliminate the OTC Dec. Archery hunts. Stop competing w/ Dec rifle hunts, Too many people in the field already, the deer never get a rest.

Make Jan. archery a draw.

Worst idea of all time. On any topic. Obviously you’re not a resident bow hunter.

nonres should be a draw though, that’s an idea I can get on board with

[Flatlander]

Before we start pitching out solutions and ways to screw nonresidents... we should probably define the problem we are trying to solve.

[dustin25]

Free for all otc nonres archery tags is a clearly defined problem

[n2horns]

We need to pave more forest roads so that the teslas, prius and other non 4x4 vehicles can failry compete in the game chase.

[Flatlander]

19 minutes ago, dustin25 said:

Free for all otc nonres archery tags is a clearly defined problem

Please define that problem with data.

[GreyGhost85]

i agree that they need to do something to limit the NR OTC tags but if the numbers that flatlander produced a while back are correct, the larger issue is the amount of resident archery hunters. The first step for G&F is mandatory harvest reporting. there is absolutely no way for them to have an accurate idea of how many deer are actually being killed every year. Success rates on rifle hunts have likely skyrocketed in the last 10 years. Success rates for archery deer have probably largely stayed the same but the amount of deer killed by archery hunters has likely skyrocketed as well 

[trphyhntr]

5 minutes ago, Flatlander said:

Please define that problem with data.

How many days did you archery hunt this year 

[dustin25]

4 minutes ago, Flatlander said:

Please define that problem with data.

The amount of out of state hunters that I’ve personally seen out there has absolutely skyrocketed in the last several years. No doubt about it. I’d say at a minimum 5 fold. That’s all the data I need.

[Flatlander]

5 minutes ago, dustin25 said:

The amount of out of state hunters that I’ve personally seen out there has absolutely skyrocketed in the last several years. No doubt about it. I’d say at a minimum 5 fold. That’s all the data I need.

And how do you know these people were non-residents?

[Flatlander]

9 minutes ago, trphyhntr said:

How many days did you archery hunt this year 

5

[dustin25]

8 minutes ago, Flatlander said:

And how do you know these people were non-residents?

Liscense plates from states not Arizona, and talking to some of them. Multiple have told me that they were turned onto coming here by tv/podcasts etc because it’s otc and there’s not much else out there In January, especially compared to hunting coues in relatively amazing weather. From what I’ve seen it has become a problem here in southern az, and I feel it’s unfair to residents. There’s a reason you can’t buy premium otc tags virtually anywhere else especially as a non res