Arizona ban on trail cams

phorwath said:

That could be a pretty good system.

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I wish I had time to tell you how the AZGF took over the Kaibab plateu management from the US goofball Wildlife Agency that decimated it. Maybe another time for that one. Lunacy....

If you have ever been to the Arizona strip you would know why they want to ban them you never go to a water hole that doesn't have 10 cameras at it or more.

horsefor4 said:

If you have ever been to the Arizona strip you would know why they want to ban them you never go to a water hole that doesn't have 10 cameras at it or more.

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People will do anything to get that strip buck. The world knows about that phenomenal hunting ground.

Could be as easy as this..
No guides or persons working for guides can place a trail camera on public lands with intentions of profiting from taking of said animal of any season.....
In Oregon while I was guiding it was illegal for me to have a client and camp on blm or fs lands....
Could hunt it..but not camp on it..but any other person could camp practically anywhere....of course that was nearly 20 years ago...

Cell cams still can be regulated differently than std cams similar to drones etc. This is completely different than a cam that requires you to remove the SD card. Yes, can they be perceived as you now know what is there but so what? You still have to hunt! I killed a buck off public land last year that scored 156+ but didn't use a cell cam since we know how many cams are stolen. I "old schooled" him. I cleared bare spots on the ground where I felt were his entry points to his bedding area. I got track info that showed his direction and yes I actually used black thread to time him up. So no cam but I altered his environment. Unfair advantage? Its all in your own perception. I shot him with a muzzleloader with BH209 which is not BP but high performance replacement powder, used a non muzzleloader bullet, 250 gr FTX with Sabot coated with moly. Where is the "line"? Any hunting abuse of any means does not require painting ALL users as same as those who abuse any hunting means. Deal with specific abuses and abusers.

Do you not see the same philosophy over AR's? This is the same discussion when slug guns rifled barrels came out, then it was shotgun sabots, compounds first came out, releases on compounds, when crossbows came out, scopes on muzzleloader's, sabots in muzzleloaders, laser rangefinders, ad nauseam.

Everyone has their OWN perception of what is fair chase which is why the "E" word is banned on this site as it should be.

Will there be abuses of any hunting means? Yes, there will always be someone rationalizing their actions for whatever reason.

You don't throw the whole barrel out over a couple rotten apples. Cull the bad ones and let the good ones prosper.

Barrelnut said:

Interesting. Was thinking about states like Texas where game feeders are the norm and using cameras to see what bucks are coming to the feeders is common. In texas it's almost like a game management plan for private land where they cull deer etc. Also, seems like came cameras would be almost mandatory for keeping track of wild pigs etc.
I guess the last thing you need on the Arizona strip is a bunch of deer feeders and cell phone wire game cameras though...

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We don't hunt deer in Texas for the most part...we sit in a box next to a feeder and kill them when they come to get a snack. It's like stalking someone in the Jack in the Box drive thru...

Barrelnut said:

Guess we'll just have to learn to recognise sign and tracks again. Just kidding. I don't use them much as I tend to hunt on large tracts of public land with roaming animals. But I see nothing wrong with them at all.
Do they allow deer feeders on private land in Arizona?

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You can not use feeders or bait in the state. Most hunting is done on public land.

I live in Arizona. We hunt a few parts of the state. One of the areas we hunt is loaded with cameras, most of them are guides. One guide put out two pallets worth one winter 2-3 years ago and they check them regularly. I have mixed emotions, I have a good friend who has 8-10 cameras out and I really enjoy the pics he gets, oddly enough a guide found that area 3-4 years back and now there are cameras all over And the crowds during hunting season are considerably more. More and more animals of size are getting harvested by teams working for Guides, once a big elk or deer shows on a camera the onslaught begins. It usually ends up being the guy with the money to hire these guides that work like this that gets to harvest those animals. My buddy did take one buck that grosses over 230+ and was an absolute giant at one point, he hunted him for 9 years before taking him in the archery season, amazingly nobody else found the buck and he had that area to himself. The buck in his prime is absolute giant, well over 270, he has 11,000 plus pictures of that deer and I hope someday he shares the story. Cameras are a useful tool, at what point are they being used too much, I don't know and don't pretend to say. I don't know why the Arizona Fish and Game are leaning towards banning them and I'm not sure where I stand on the subject, it's fairly complicated when you look at all sides. Sadly, if they end up banning them I'd wager many of these guys will leave them out in the more remote areas giving them an even bigger advantage. Just my thoughts.

So I hunted unit 9 for elk this year in Az and every water hole had about 20 cams on it. It was ridiculous. I agree with some type of reg to control the use of these during season. Maybe allow them to be used during off season or something. It's just getting out of control here anyways. Same during my Coues deer hunt. Water holes were blanketed with trail cams. My opinion varies back and forth on this topic. Seems we should get back to some of our roots and move back towards old school tactics. It's disturbing to me to see that many cams on a waterhole. I've spoke with guides some have well over 100 cams out at times. Kind of takes away the "fair chase" part of the hunt some.

Amen to that!

That's totally unenforceable.

We need more regulation...don't worry, Biden will fix it.

A total ban would redefine scouting.

On private property I see no issues...however, I do like to have trail cameras for the purpose of security....On private property if I find someone trespassing and I have it on camera, its much proof of the infraction than by word alone...

This is for the birds....next they will ban other things...If folks want fair chase, they may as well just hunt with a knife and spear (which some do).