The Arizona Game and Fish says, “we don’t need money”, nevertheless there seems to be an effort to recruit more deer hunters. Never mind the fact that there are not any “extra” deer for the additional hunters. There aren’t enough deer for the existing hunters (whose numbers are far fewer than that of 20 years ago), much less for new hunters.
When asked the question, “which would you rather have quality or quantity?” many hunters today choose quality – although this should be an unneccesary decision. It’s as if we must have only one or the other, but not both. Mule deer hunters of today are easily deceived by the apparent paradox. We can have our cake and eat it too, but game managers must be willing to make the decision to drastically reduce predators as a prerequisite to abundant deer herds. We can have abundance.
If the Arizonana GnF were to choose abundance, not only could mule deer hunters experience both quantity and quality, but there would be much less difficulty retaining and recruiting hunters. Moreover, the need for more revenue, though cited as unneccesarry, could be dealt with in a productive manner.
For whatever reason, the abundance concept is foreign to game managers. They would rather wallow in the mire of scarcity. So, one might ask, are the recruitment programs a hoax? Or, they really about money? And, what about the money that is being spent on such programs? Wouldn’t the money be better spent on creating abundance. If I had $1000 to spend, would I not be better off spending it to kill predators, or to develop a water source, than to spend it on advertising to recruit young hunters? If the father of a youth gives up on hunting because of repeated poor quantity and quality, then how is his son or daughter supposed to become interested?
The North Kaibab, in Arizona, should have ten times the mule deer that it presently has. When I hunted there last year, I crossed five different sets of lion tracks. I saw and heard coyotes every day. Mule deer were extremely scarce, a sad story for an area with so much potential. Given the situation, the GnF has no business killing does, protecting predators, nor increasing permits, much less recuiting more hunters – and yet they do all these. I am particularly annoyed by the fact that the East Kaibab early hunt permits have been increased by 900 permits for 2007. And yet it is said, “we don’t need the money”.
All archery deer hunters are reminded of a rule that went into effect in 2004. Successful archery deer hunters must contact an Arizona Game and Fish Department office in person or by telephone at 1-866-903-DEER (3337) within 10 days of taking a deer unless the deer has been checked through a mandatory hunter checking station. 
