AZ, I found your link to the Sonoran antelope's plight informative. I had no idea they were in such sad shape. I sure hope they can come back, but its looking pretty bleak.

About the fence jumping, I've always considered the antelope to be very intelligent and thought that their young literally learned how to jump from watching, rather than being a trait that is genetically passed on. We have a lot of antelope where I live and I watch them daily. I live on the edge of town, with lots of small acreages fenced off, so I get to watch them move from field to field without much effort. Some will go through, or under the wires, however most will jump & if one jumps, the rest follow by jumping as well. Maybe the Wyoming antelope can "teach" the AZ ones?

cowgal,

Based upon several forum discussions, the once-a-lifetime-bag-limit on antelope is not receiving much support from the hunters. I expected as much, but wanted to solicit some outside and unbiased opinions here as well.

Sounds like you live on the edge of heaven there in Colorado. Is CO's draws announced in yet? AZ's results are slated for July 29th, but rumor has it the results may be available this Friday, the 15th. We're pacing the floors here anticipating the results. Due to the USO-led lawsuit, non-resident hunters will now have equal opportunity with residents to draw tags this year in AZ. To those that have applied for AZ non-res tags, Good Luck to you.

AZThunder

AZ, the draw tag results are out for CO, and sadly no one in our family drew out for antelope or mule deer - again. My husband and I are going to have to start studying the unit maps & annual reports more closely to figure out if there are some units (hopefully close by) that we may have better luck in. We've always hunted right here close to home and 20+ years ago we were able to hunt antelope and mule deer every year. Now we have to accumulate points to hunt either one.

The area we live in is very popular for elk, mule deer and antelope and the community relies heavily on the influx of NR hunters in the fall. So I'm guessing that's adding into the equation of not being able to draw out in our own backyard.

I personally would not be thrilled with a "once in a lifetime tag" but if a species is that rare, then it seems like the only way to manage the demand for those tags. Since the antelope are on a decline in AZ from multiple factors, they could very well recover and the herds become healthy again, the AZG&F would need to plan for that.

Good luck to you! Hope you draw out!!

cowgal,

Sorry to hear of your misfortune in not drawing any tags this year. The preference/bonus point issue has been another hot topic of debate here in AZ., and many see them as nothing more than "smoke and mirrors". What most fail to understand, is that each time a hunter is unsuccessful, and thus acumulates a preference point, so do the other unfortunate hunters. So in reality, the playing field for draws stays "as level" as it was without them. It's when G&F agencies implement what is called a bonus/preference-point set-aside program, that any noticeable change occurs. For those that may not know what this is, this is where the various state game and fish agencies set-aside a certain percentage of tag allocations to the hunters holding the highest numbers of point accumulations. This includes both resident and non-resident applicants. This year, again as a result of the USO lawsuit, non-residents will perhaps receive the majority of those set-aside tags, as they are the ones who statistically possess the most bonus points due to the historically low numbers of non-resident tag allocations in the first place. AZ raised their pass-perctange set-aside from 10% last year, to 20% this year. I further encourage the AZG&FD to increase these set-asides, as this will expediate and "cycle" the applicants through the draw system, thus bringing up the next highest pool of applicants holding the next highest amounts of preference/bonus points.

On yet another note, the AZG&F Commission just voted down the formation of a newly proposed Conservation Bonus Point. The CBP was devised as a way to reward applicants who volunteered in habitat/wildlife projects, and those who would have qualified, must have enlisted and accumulated 40 hrs of volunteer work in a 3-year period. The Commission voted it down by a vote of 4 to 1. Seems G&F didn't want any part of administrating it, and went so far as to blame the various sportsman Org's of saying "it would deplete their own volunteer forces to work on others". Once preference points are established, the hunting community will continue to create and fabricate multitudes of variations of preference points. AZ currently has in place Hunter-Ed points, regular preference points, and a newly adopted Loyalty point. Where's it ever end? Pretty soon someone will want to create a "I drive a Ford" preference point, or an "I'm a good'ol boy " preference point. None-the-less, I hope the preference points work to you and your husbands advantage in next years draw. All things considered, nothing beats good old fashioned LUCK!

Take care, and I'll be sure to post my draw results when they are released.

AZThunder

As promised, I drew a rifle mule deer tag in Unit 27, and a 12A turkey tag. No lope or elk, but hey, at least I get to hunt this year!

AZThunder

That's great! Glad you drew SOMETHING!!

Having antelope as a once in a lifetime draw is a terrible idea and would likely benefit the out of staters over residents. I could however undrestand having a system like whyoming has for moose where your odds of drawing go up every year you don't draw so that everyone who wants to should be able to draw eventually.

AZ Thunder,

Could you explain to me what this lawsuit is about?

I am of the opinion that residents of a state should have first priority when it comes to drawing tags. To do otherwise, and treat residents and non-residents alike in regards to the draw, favors those with lots of extra money. That's not something some of us have.

Another thing, since this is a legal topic and my response borders on the political, I am of the opinion that the power should lie with the state. Was this a federal lawsuit? If so maybe AZ and a few other states should tell the federal government to "go pound sand" and not abide by federal rulings in matters that aren't a federal concern.

As for "once in a lifetime" tags, I would be favorable with that idea given Arizona's low population of antelope and the current conditions. I have better odds of hitting a hole in one at the game of golf than I do of drawing an antelope tag in Arizona and I don't even play golf. The lack of opportunity to hunt is a detriment to the residents of Arizona. Let the non-residents have the "leftovers" and let the residents get first choice. If Arizona keeps favoring non-residents it won't be long until the hunter pool in Arizona is but a forgotten memory in my opinion. That combined with a worsening economy will kill the future of hunting in Arizona as the non-resident hunters will stop coming as the dollar gets weaker.

Biker