Deer Changes
Over the past two decades, deer populations generally have declined in numbers. Weather has not been favorable, as we’ve seen predominately dry winters and intervening summers of spotty rainfall. These dry conditions were not conducive to favorable habitat conditions. While deer populations declined, rural Arizona was changing as well. The public became increasingly excluded from more places as development continued to limit access. Restricted access was fueled by landowners’ fear of vandalism, littering and lack of respect for private property. As access to public lands became restricted, the gateways that remained open became more crowded. The cycle continued with other landowners restricting access, and soon our hunts became more crowded even though we had fewer hunters in the field than we did two decades ago. As some deer populations increase we may have no place to put more hunters.

When it came to revising deer seasons, we started with a blank calendar and built a structure that achieved our goals. We wanted to increase the number of people who can go hunting this fall and make it more enjoyable for those who are lucky enough to get drawn. Here are the results.

We created a series of seven-day deer hunts without overlapping season dates. This means the only deer hunters afield with you are those with the same tag that you have — there will not be hordes of whitetail hunters competing for space during your mule deer hunt and vice versa. Data showed that hunters took to the field an average of two to five days regardless of season length. In the past, a 10-day season allowed you to hunt a second weekend, but that second weekend (or your opening day) overlapped with another season. Hunters also have been complaining about juniors-only hunts coinciding with other hunts. This new season structure gives juniors their own season so parents can concentrate on their children’s experiences.

In southeastern Arizona, an additional early whitetail hunt was added to spread permits temporally and reduce hunter density. Now there are three early hunts plus a late-December hunt during the rut. The permits from last year’s two early hunts were distributed among three early hunts this year, reducing the number of hunters afield at one time. In units that can support more buck harvest, we are able to let more people go hunting and still have fewer hunters afield during the hunts. This change was not implemented in central Arizona to avoid elk season conflicts; plus, hunter crowding is less of an issue in that part of the state.

The new structure creates more weekends of hunts. Will more hunting days negatively affect deer populations? Think about this: With fewer people afield at one time, hunters may not feel as compelled to hunt the backcountry. A deer trying to hide on opening day may be better off with fewer hunters around for more weekends. Research has failed to demonstrate any decrease in deer population productivity due to increased disturbance.