Arizona pushes for low-harvest hunts
There is an undercurrent, cutting across state boundaries, to sell hunting tags while discouraging or eliminating any harvest. Taking this notion to an extreme, here is a comment made by a DWR representative at a Utah Dedicated Hunter meeting in Ogden, Utah – regarding hunter ethics: “if you go into the field expecting to harvest an animal, you are unethical“.
Not long ago, I attended an Arizona Game and Fish meeting, where it was announced that the Department was seeking to issue more tags while moving hunting season dates to low success time periods. This proposed action was flaunted as an effort to recruit new hunters. I am aware of other organizations who collect donations and then use the money collected against the very persons who donated it. Could our game agencies be up to similar tactics?
You have probably had experience with politicians who add new taxes or who increase taxes for some special purpose and then, when such purpose goes away, the taxes stay…. it only gets worse – never better. Well, with game agencies, once they take something away, they almost never give it back. If Arizona takes away over-the-counter archery tags for mule deer, you will probably never see it offered again.