Arizona votes to ban trail cameras

[Mt Al]

Trying to see the overall negative side of this…still trying….still trying…

HA! No negative side unless you're invested.

I love that they banned them and hope they get banned from all public land: FS, BLM and State across the US. I don't care what people do on private land, non of my business.

 

[Mt Al]

Switch too drones I’d guess.....

One of these things is not like the other.

Hope drones for hunting get banned across public land, too.

 

[BBob]

I was there last year for 3 weeks and didnt run into any large posse, but did see quite a few cameras for sure. Didnt have any issues with anyone at all though

What do you mean by "I was there"? The outfitters posse's (or posse's in general) aren't everywhere but on certain hunts and units they most certainly are. From the kids running the cameras to get the data, the glassers on every hill, the road blockers, etc... If you ever land a hunt where they've located a large animal you'll know it and I'll bet it will piss you off with the antics some of them will pull.

 

[BBob]

I'd imagine us AZ guys will just be taking up a new hobby of bird watching with our cameras and if game happens to be captured on them then oh well. Extremely hard to enforce and a lot of gray area in the rule.

You can do what you please but if you've ever attended an AZGFD Commission meeting (or watched a video meeting) you'll quickly see that except for a few rare occasions violations that reach the commission the violator has had hunting, fishing, trapping privileges revoked for 5 years. Once that happens you'll be banned from a ton of partner states. So if you're feeling lucky and want to roll the dice in testing the ruling just know what you are up against.

Edit: 48 partner states in the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact

Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[540-Virginian]

Arizona really is blue now wow. So if i were against this ban, i feel like the whole free press freedom to photograph in public would apply here to make this a mute point. Im an ape though, legal people pick this idea apart please.

 

[Opah]

you got to figure if they see a field camera they are taking it, so ether or it will be an all out band.
I have never used them, so impact is zero for me, except that now we all are on the same ground track and scout

 

[BBob]

Arizona really is blue now wow. So if i were against this ban, i feel like the whole free press freedom to photograph in public would apply here to make this a mute point. Im an ape though, legal people pick this idea apart please.

How did you make the jump that when trail cameras were banned we must be blue? I can tell you lots of very non-blue wanted them gone.

 

[HuntHarder]

How did you make the jump that when trail cameras were banned we must be blue? I can tell you lots of very non-blue wanted them gone.

It's the go-to tactic nowadays. If someone does something you do not believe is right, you call them a commy or democrat.

 

[kentuckybowman]

It's the go-to tactic nowadays. If someone does something you do not believe is right, you call them a commy or democrat.

or a racist, don't forget that one.

 

[Yarak]

I take it AZ doesn’t have a hog problem and doesn’t have anyone who uses cell cams for triggering the doors on hog traps
Cams are very handy tools to have but I imagine there are purists who like putting their ear to the ground to listen and smelling scat to see when a animal passed through a area

 

[Rich M]

It's not an all or nothing approach to technology in wildlife management, like many factors in life as the variables change the management strategies must also change.

Limited water resources really compounds the problem. You will see Utah follow Nevada and Arizona lead with a trail camera ban in some form within the next year.

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Why shouldn’t it be an all or nothing kind of thing. Plenty of guys on here saying Jose has no cajones if he does this or that.

ban it all. Easier to enforce. Tough guys will get it done and others won’t.

yah, it’s over the top but what the heck. Most folks don’t abuse stuff and they are being punished for some obscure reason in that others are taking stuff to extremes. Punish everyone.

 

[HuntHarder]

The animals actually maybe gained a little ground on us hunters, BFD. Every year we develop something that makes hunting easier or more productive.

Rich M. Do you support drones for hunting, airbows or crossbows during archery only? I mean, with all the advances in tech, there has to be a little something in the back of your brain that says, "If we keep up at this pace, our resources are going to continue to dwindle." I am not sure if you hunt here in Az, but cameras are a concern here. It's VERY easy to set cameras out during our summer and figure out what type of animals are in what areas.

 

[Marbles]

Why shouldn’t it be an all or nothing kind of thing. Plenty of guys on here saying Jose has no cajones if he does this or that.

ban it all. Easier to enforce. Tough guys will get it done and others won’t.

yah, it’s over the top but what the heck. Most folks don’t abuse stuff and they are being punished for some obscure reason in that others are taking stuff to extremes. Punish everyone.

Because all or nothing is a logical fallacy, using that approach is to admit an inability (or unwillingness) to create a logical argument.

As you appear to ba a fan of the "all" portion, you must believe those who can afford it should be allowed to hunt with Predator drones and the Hellfire missiles they are armed with while using feeders to draw game out into the open and paying people to put tracking collars on trophy animals in the off season. We could add Wright and Wright to Boone and Crockett, and Pope and Young to consummate it.

 

[realunlucky]

Why shouldn’t it be an all or nothing kind of thing. Plenty of guys on here saying Jose has no cajones if he does this or that.

ban it all. Easier to enforce. Tough guys will get it done and others won’t.

yah, it’s over the top but what the heck. Most folks don’t abuse stuff and they are being punished for some obscure reason in that others are taking stuff to extremes. Punish everyone.

It's not a problem when you don't hunt Arizona that's for sure.

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[Yarak]

Could you explain why trail cams are a concern in AZ ?
This is puzzling situation at best and I never thought it’d be a subject of conversation anywhere much less a legal matter

 

[IdahoElk]

Do hunters use cameras as a way of saying "I was here first" go find another spot?
who wants to hunt a water hole knowing the owner of the camera is likely to walk up?

 

[HuntHarder]

Could you explain why trail cams are a concern in AZ ?
This is puzzling situation at best and I never thought it’d be a subject of conversation anywhere much less a legal matter

Honestly man, a couple of high priority areas created a shitstorm for the rest of the state. Guides really brought this issue to the forefront creating waterholes with literally 15-20 cameras on them. Water is pretty limited here in Az and then you have 15-20 guys constantly checking their cameras, a lot of times bumping deer off the tank or ruining other hunters hunts.
AZGFD also used the fair chase argument. Turns out, purchasing 25 cameras, putting them in the desert and coming back in a week or month is not really hunting. It is the lazy mans way of locating animals and patterning them.
Then comes the ownership of said area with their trailcams on it. Conflicts were becoming a little more common place with guys thinking they own said place because their cameras was there.
In the end, I think the fair chase argument was the biggest determining factor. Tough to argue that cameras do not give a hunter a significant advantage with very little effort.

 

[Yarak]

Seems like man made waterholes are the bigger issue along with people thinking they own them on public land
Sounds like G&F is punishing everyone for a few incidents that are localized to a particular region of the state
FWIW this happens in a lot of states and G&F answers by the “one size fits all” kinda way by punishing everyone for the actions of a few
IMO trail cam are no more than a tool like a rifle or bow
You may see The Who what when where but in the end You have to make it come together and doesn’t always play out which is why it’s called hunting and not killing

 

[HuntHarder]

For sure a blanket fix to a problem that does not exist everywhere. The fair chase aspect I will disagree with you on only because with a bow, rangefinder, binos, atleat you are actually in the field hunting. Az banned cellular cams a couple years back and there was little uproar because hunters felt they were indeed not fair chase.
Waterholes were in deed the major focus of trail cams in this state. Truth be told, I would guess less than 50% of cameras in the state are on waterholes, but they are the ones that are easily visible. You could say that almost any game and fish law is a blanket law.

 

[Rich M]

The last couple of posts bring it out.

1 - It's the guides that are causing the problem.

Ever think that if the guides can't use cameras and intentionally mess with folks hunting over water holes during hunt times, then they'll have their minions or local high school kids sitting out there day after day for $8-10/hr?

2 - Its only the lazy hunters. They use cameras, can't hunt, and should "earn" their animals.

What it comes down to is that there is an "earn your animal", "leave me alone" kind of mentality among the most vocal of hunters. If we should earn the animals and "hunt" properly, why shouldn't we just remove every modern convenience and and let only the smartest & strongest hunt and be successful? Let folks truly earn their animals.

3 - Some guys have expressed that game cams should be banned on private as well as public. They evidently don't own private land. Why should the private land owner be punished?

4 - Let's use some other examples too -
some guys use bait = bad.
some guys use electric bikes = bad.
some guys drive around in SXS ORVs = bad.
some guys shoot too far = bad.
not everyone uses a bow & arrow = bad
There's always something for someone to dislike and complain about.
It is an inherent trait for hunters it seems.

5 - The tomahawk missile thing mentioned above is equivalent to OnXMaps on GPS & Cell Phones. If the NR hunters didn't have the easy ability to know where he was, most wouldn't come. Then there'd be less pressure. If you'd only push to remove GPS and Cell Phones. LOL!

6 - So, we all have public land issues. That's one of the joys of hunting public land.

Yet we have this "push for more hunters" while we have the same amount of state & federal public land to pack em into. LOL! More crap in a bag than the bag can hold. Ah, yes, the joys of public.

7 - Yes, I don't hunt AZ - I'm in FL with our 22+ million folks. The population increases by 800-1,000 people every day. We have the same challenges everyone else has everywhere. Not enough places to hunt, getting drawn for a quota permit (preference points), getting on game, crowded hunt areas, etc.