I have been looking through my Hunter Ed stuff, somewhere I have some doc on the draw process and even remember seeing a spreadsheet on the tag breakdown. I will share it once, or if, I can find it.
Doesn't really matter anyway, we can slam each other all we want on these boards and it won't change a thing - G&F is going to do whatever the commision rules on. Here is a report from a guy on a local board that was at the last commission meeting. Instead of slamming each other we should be more worried about the 'Bunny Hugger' impact to all states.
"As I expected, there was a lot of time fighting off the anti-hunting groups today! Earth First had a lovely selection of FREAKS with piercings and mohawks, who looked like they hadn't bathed or changed clothes so far in April.... There were about a half dozen or so of them that were pretty antagonistic and made G&F very nervous about what types of militant stunts they might pull while they were there. Also in the house was the ever present representative from The Arizona Animal Defense League, or something like that, who is on a multi-year mission to diminish our lion hunting seasons.
She successfully had the lion hunt cut back last year by adding language about not hunting spotted kittens, or females with spotted kittens. Once that was passed, she continued on her long-term agenda and convinced the Department to recommend that lion season be closed for three months of the year to allow and encourage breeding/birthing. The Department actually recommended in their written recommendations that this should be done. I can't believe the Department is just marching down this path each year to slowly taking each of the next steps towards closing lion hunting just like Kalifornia.
She stood up and told that Commission that she appreciated this recommended season change, and that "it was a good start in the right direction" and that she would be "back next year to extend the closure for even a longer period of time. G&F seemed to have no problems with that whatsoever! I couldn't take anymore and asked to speak. I pointed out that we just couldn’t allow the anti-hunting groups to gain ground each and every year and expect that we are going to be able to stop them. I said that even with unlimited lion tags for all of history, Arizona continues to take about the same amount of lions each and every year for decades. That means to me that populations are stable, and management is working. Also, that the time period of the closure she was requesting only has a historical kill of only about 8 female lions per year, and many of those might not even be having kittens in any given year. The closure for three months to save probably a half-dozen or fewer female lions that might have kittens would have NO biological impact whatsoever, so why do it? This was not a decision based on any biological need. It is completely political. There was absolutely no science to support this change and therefore NO reason to give in to the anti-hunters!
For my comments, Commissioner Hernbrode berated me that “these groups love wildlife just as much as I do” and that I was “doing a disservice to these groups and myself “ by saying such things about them…. It did seem to spark some discussion among the commissioners, however, and although it kept looking like it could go either way (moreso that it would get passed!), and there were 4 or 5 votes taken before getting a majority, the commission eventually left the season alone for this year! We could VERY likely lose this one next year, though. Oh, and by the way, our new commissioner (who hasn't taken office yet) was sitting in the audience right along with the anti-hunters, talking and exchanging phone numbers with them..... She seriously scares me!
We lost the whitetail December permits issue. Two commissioners said that the $15,000 survey done by the ADA was not based in science, and really only represented the small minority of serious hunters that would take the time to take such a survey (6,500 respondents). Dick King, ABA liaison, asked why the Commission backed off on the changes to elk with a nearly identical survey and similar number of respondents, and the same Commissioner berated him as well! They never really answered his question.
WE DID WIN THE ARCHERY DEER season length issue however. Deer season will open around December 15 (a week earlier than originally recommended) and stay open until January 31!
All other seasons for other species stayed as recommended, with little discussion at all. The only other minor changes of which I can think were to the junior deer permits and to the early October general hunts. The early general hunts had been recommended for lengthening from 4 to 10 days, but were pulled back to 6 days when approved. Juniors lost 300 doe permits on the Kiabab (taken down to 100 from 400), but the permits were later replaced with buck permits taken from other general hunts around the state."
