I think the issue here or lack of an issue is that every hunter in ca can buy 2 otc deer tags. We long to live in a state with active game management but unfortunately the system is set up for hunter opportunity. Any time f&g sends out the questionnaire - hunting quality ranks at the bottom over opportunity. Further complicating this the dept is running an R3 initiative to recruit, retain and reintroduce folks to the outdoors so shorter seasons and quotas probably arent a high priority.
I enjoy being able to buy 2 tags every year but wouldn't be sad in the least if seasons were drastically shortened and tag quotas decreased.
My proposed solution-
- Make the otc rifle hunts 5 days long during the last week of sept.
-any further rifle hunts later in the season on a draw.
-Or make the later hunts archery or primitive muzzy hunts.
- issue herd management doe tags as needed(cheap, but help offset the loss from 2x buck tags)
To offset the cost the tag fees will need to go up accordingly
Otc tags will go from $43-$90.( roughly take half the tags out of the pool)
Special season tags will be $180( 25% of the current tags)
Joke to follow: As part of this initiative every deer tag will include a black bear tag for $1. If the bear quota is met and you didnt harvest a bear you pay a $4 failure to harvest penalty
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