AZ Game&Fish Coyote Hunting Viewpoint

Originally Posted By: soggydogFine! I'll just move to Arizona. I'm sick of the rain anyway.

Be sure you have an inside job
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I was doing house construction in Salem and made that move to Phoenix 16 years ago.....in July. I lasted 3 days building houses....I thought I was going to die.

It might be a dry heat....but moving from 86 to a dry 114 sucked
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I would NOT like to see night hunting for predators in AZ. One reason is the law enforcement conflicts it would create for LE officers to prevent poaching big game at night. Currently in AZ, it is a violation to pursue big game at night with a spotlight with the means to kill an animal readily accessible. A person does not have to kill a big game animal to be cited for doing it. If night hunting of predators was allowed, that would be used as an excuse to cover other activities. Poachers could not be cited until after they killed a big game animal at night. LE officers would lose a very useful tool that prevents poaching animals before they are killed.

There are other ways to decrease the predator population in AZ without night hunting. For example, allowing year around hunting seasons on other predators in addition to coyotes. Extending the length of the trapping season. Having more predator contests in the summer where the weather is suitable.
 
Gee,I wonder why several other states are able to manage night hunting vs poaching?Either Arizona has an overabundance of lowlife, poaching hunters who can't be trusted at night or lazy F&G officers that aren't smart enough to tell the difference between poachers and hunters? Hmmm
 
Originally Posted By: azmastablastaGee,I wonder why several other states are able to manage night hunting vs poaching?Either Arizona has an overabundance of lowlife, poaching hunters who can't be trusted at night or lazy F&G officers that aren't smart enough to tell the difference between poachers and hunters? Hmmm

I was going to make the point that states that allow night hunting/spot lighting don't seem to have a significant problem with it. Fursniper's concern is fine in theory but I question its validity in reality. If it ends up as a problem it can always be restricted within WMAs/forests or on a county level.
 
I think we are losing more big game animals from poor shots from rifles and bows during season and coyotes than to poachers. Arizona seems to take the side that its not SAFE to shoot at night. I guess cause you can't see as far as your bullets go. In the regs they say "In general, if you can see well enough to shoot safely, you are legal."

So I think they might actually have some common sense behind this law.... Maybe

Hey if you can hunt class III in Texas at night their ain't no reason AZ hunters shouldn't be able to hunt at least at night. Even California lets you. That's pretty bad. Unless they changed.
 
Most of the states that allow night hunting seem to have larger quantities of big game than those that do NOT allow night hunting, IMHO. I don't believe night hunting improves big game numbers, but we just can't take the risk of loss in areas with depressed populations.
As much as I'd LOVE to hunt predators at night, I think the law in NM is justified.
Mark
 
Quote:I would NOT like to see night hunting for predators in AZ. One reason is the law enforcement conflicts it would create for LE officers to prevent poaching big game at night.

I believe AZ DOES allow night hunting, but not for coyotes (skunk and raccoon?). That kind of negates the whole LE/poaching argument right there.
 
Originally Posted By: mark shubertMost of the states that allow night hunting seem to have larger quantities of big game than those that do NOT allow night hunting, IMHO. I don't believe night hunting improves big game numbers, but we just can't take the risk of loss in areas with depressed populations.
As much as I'd LOVE to hunt predators at night, I think the law in NM is justified.
Mark

NV doesn't exactly have a large number of big game. You don't hear about there being a problem with people poaching at night here.
 
I live in north central AZ. Yes, we do have more than our share of poachers and habitat destroyers. There is common ground to safe predator hunting at night. AZ does not allow hunting from a motorized anything. If you are driving or parked and spotlighting, you're busted. Get off the road, over the highway fence, away from your quad. If you’re shooting down the road, you’re busted. Let’s strengthen that laws we have. It should read - if you’re driving and have a firearm or bow that is ready to fire, you’re busted. If you’re off road or driving on posted private land that you have NO written permission, you’re busted.

AZG&F could change the law to allow for spotlighting predators. The law could read - spotlighting in the field while in the active pursuit of predators. We have plenty of land, so we could increase the distance to an occupied dwelling to 2 miles at night without written permission. Sound travels better at night. I don’t want to be woken up by shooting at 2:00 am. If you're cow chirping, you're busted.

We already have morons that drive up from Phx, unload their quads at the highway, ride 5 miles down a dirt road, shoot everything in sight ¼ mile from my home, break beer bottles, and think they have had a wilderness experience. No offence to ethical hunters on this forum. I’m talking about morons who are unlicensed and think the earthen dam of a waterhole is their quad trail. We need some new laws.
 
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