katy
Ballagh
I spoke with the President of the Arizona Bowhunters Association last night and was wanting to get the acutal facts as to what exactly is going on out in their state. Here is what he sent to me!
Hello Chad,
To answer your question,"Yes, we and all hunters have taken a huge hit because of the lawsuit". Historically Arizona had a cap of 10% on Bull Elk tags and Deer north of the Colorado River. That meant that up to but not more than 10% of those available tags could go to non-residents.
As it stands today all hunters are on equal ground for those and all other permitted hunts in Arizona except for Big Horn Sheep. Possibly we could now have more non-residents hunting for those prime hunts than residents. They (the State of Arizona) have put a cap of 15% on sheep and hope that that will stand in court if challenged. The reason that sheep were exempted was because they were not mentioned in the USO lawsuit and because there are only slightly over 100 permits issued for sheep and Arizona is hoping that it will not be challenged and if it is that it would stand in court.
I set through 8 hours of meeting with ranchers yesterday, they are pushing very hard for a "Ranching for Wildlife" program that would give ranchers landowner tags to sell. The Navajo Nation has joined ranks with them also as they are all seeing the opportunity to capitalize on the dollar value of Bull Elk in Arizona. It seems like we are being attacked by all sides!
Share with me some of the areas where you are being attacked in Iowa!
This is just not right!
Hello Chad,
To answer your question,"Yes, we and all hunters have taken a huge hit because of the lawsuit". Historically Arizona had a cap of 10% on Bull Elk tags and Deer north of the Colorado River. That meant that up to but not more than 10% of those available tags could go to non-residents.
As it stands today all hunters are on equal ground for those and all other permitted hunts in Arizona except for Big Horn Sheep. Possibly we could now have more non-residents hunting for those prime hunts than residents. They (the State of Arizona) have put a cap of 15% on sheep and hope that that will stand in court if challenged. The reason that sheep were exempted was because they were not mentioned in the USO lawsuit and because there are only slightly over 100 permits issued for sheep and Arizona is hoping that it will not be challenged and if it is that it would stand in court.
I set through 8 hours of meeting with ranchers yesterday, they are pushing very hard for a "Ranching for Wildlife" program that would give ranchers landowner tags to sell. The Navajo Nation has joined ranks with them also as they are all seeing the opportunity to capitalize on the dollar value of Bull Elk in Arizona. It seems like we are being attacked by all sides!
Share with me some of the areas where you are being attacked in Iowa!
This is just not right!