OTC Arizona archery

[Idahohillboy]

All good information here I am non rez and the hardest thing to see is a unit you love close before you even got a chance to hunt it. Again the December guys are not as selective in my opinion. Get rid of sitting water on otc archery all together and make a 3 points or better rule ditch the quota. I think going archery draw rez and non would tale a lot of dabblers out of the field. I can draw a rifle tag every year and go hunt archery too.

Again the AZF&G pushed these tags on the non rez and it got out of hand. But rez or non rez we have to stick together as a collective. I hunt low density desert units and have seen no population improvement due to the quotas and just misery of every clown with a bow crowding into the next unit….

Az is one of my favorite hunts of the year. With the hot dry weather and people shooting small bucks on water tanks quota is just getting crushed. Sitting water in a desert hunt is a lazy mans game. It should only be allowed for the over 60 crowd n kids under 16.

 

[HuntHarder]

I honestly do not think anyone could possibly see much of an increase in quality or #'s, in as little time as it's been. Hasn't it only been 2 and half seasons?

As to the point minimum argument, I personally do not believe it would help anything. I actually believe articles like this one that point out all the negatives.
https://fwp.mt.gov/binaries/content...ife/deer-ahm/4h---mdwg-fact-sheet-06-aprs.pdf

Not allowing tank sitting is yet again a very slippery slope on restricting hunting even further. I assure you, many, many large bucks die on water as well, not just small bucks. The majority of hunters would rather ahve opportunity vs. trophy. AZGFD, actually did a survey maybe 5-10 years ago, and the response was opportunity over trophy. Lots of people hunt to eat the meat, and not chase only antlers. We have such a low population of deer, that adults are only able to actually shoot does in very select units. We even had to cut back on the youth doe tags on the Kaibab because that herd is hurting too. I personally pass plenty of deer each year in hopes of something larger, but at the end of the day, I still want the meat for my family. I would feel really bad telling people, they are not allowed to shoot smaller bucks. Legal is legal in my opinion. I also believe spot and stalk is not really that hard in January.

I wonder if AZGFD, could look at maybe splitting up the quota into an early season and a late. Like if said unit has an 80 deer quota, allow 50 on the early hunt and maybe the other 30 on the late hunt. This would ensure you have atleast 1 week to hunt your unit of choice. I could see a problem with potentially a massive over harvest tho. A couple units have the whole quota eaten up on the first week in August. If you put the same amount of people in that unit during January, they would probably exceed the quota by 20-50%. Not having a unit close the next day after the quota is met allows for "extra" deer to be killed. If the quota gets met on Wednesday, that unit will remain open for 7 extra days until next Wednesday. Unfortunately, i think the easiest solution is going to be going to a draw. Not enough resource for the amount of guys that want to pursue it.

 

[dsotm]

Would help if AZGFD stopped paying people like Newberg to promote it

 

[TheAntlerOutlaw]

The quota thing is complete trash I hunt all over southern AZ its a shit show from east to west. I have seen zero
Improvement in buck numbers and quality. Az has always had great bucks and good numbers unless bad droughts hit. In my opinion the whole thing is unecessary. I have otc hunted AZ now for 12 years all over the south east and west end of the state. If you know the history F&G came up with a goal of 20% of the take being archery like over 20 years ago. Since they felt it was being exceeded they imposed these quotas instesd of shutting it down. The demand for archery is way higher now though. All the quotas have done is taken a good thing and messed it up turning it into a rat race. Units over crowding and people on every drinker. I have gone way fown the rabbit hole on this. I must assume Northpark you must be a rifle hunter…. Anyone for the quotas obviously has not regularly archery hunted because it has become more of a shit show every year. I can get behind getting rid of game cams even though they were fun.

If AZF&G want to keep the quotas they need to start it in January and run it with the calendar year of the tag. That would give us a chance to rut hunt in some of the better units for big bucks. They also should adjust it to archery being 30% of the take since bowhunting has completly blown up in the last 10 years due to IG - forums - other things. Get rid of December all together and go back to regular seasons. Everything would be fine. I am confused why any hunter wants someyhing taken away but if I was to take something from hunters it would be scopes on rifles call me crazy. Big bucks would be

All good information here I am non rez and the hardest thing to see is a unit you love close before you even got a chance to hunt it. Again the December guys are not as selective in my opinion. Get rid of sitting water on otc archery all together and make a 3 points or better rule ditch the quota. I think going archery draw rez and non would tale a lot of dabblers out of the field. I can draw a rifle tag every year and go hunt archery too.

Again the AZF&G pushed these tags on the non rez and it got out of hand. But rez or non rez we have to stick together as a collective. I hunt low density desert units and have seen no population improvement due to the quotas and just misery of every clown with a bow crowding into the next unit….

Az is one of my favorite hunts of the year. With the hot dry weather and people shooting small bucks on water tanks quota is just getting crushed. Sitting water in a desert hunt is a lazy mans game. It should only be allowed for the over 60 crowd n kids under

All good information here I am non rez and the hardest thing to see is a unit you love close before you even got a chance to hunt it. Again the December guys are not as selective in my opinion. Get rid of sitting water on otc archery all together and make a 3 points or better rule ditch the quota. I think going archery draw rez and non would tale a lot of dabblers out of the field. I can draw a rifle tag every year and go hunt archery too.

Again the AZF&G pushed these tags on the non rez and it got out of hand. But rez or non rez we have to stick together as a collective. I hunt low density desert units and have seen no population improvement due to the quotas and just misery of every clown with a bow crowding into the next unit….

Az is one of my favorite hunts of the year. With the hot dry weather and people shooting small bucks on water tanks quota is just getting crushed. Sitting water in a desert hunt is a lazy mans game. It should only be allowed for the over 60 crowd n kids under 16.

The otc archery is the only opportunity for residents to hunt mule deer every year. Most of our rifle hunts require at least 3 points for a guarantee draw. We are not fortunate like those in other states like Idaho and Wyoming where you can get a general tag every year. Also, our deer herds can't bounce back as fast as the northern states due to our dry climate. I agree with you that it is frustrating having a unit you love close and not being able to hunt it. Most of the units I grew up hunting are now only open for the velvet seasons. A possible solution would be for tags to be otc for zones of units (not the whole state) and to have separate tags for Coues and Mule Deer. The non res cap is good imo because our state's population is growing like wildfire and at the end of the day, residents deserve to have an opportunity over non res who have wayy more opportunities in their home states. Curious to see what everyone's thoughts are.... but at the end of the day, everything is always going to be changing and we'll have to adapt.