The additional permits came about when the judge rejected a motion for temporary relief filed by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, which left Arizona scrambling for a way to complete the draw in time for hunters to receive their tags before the first season opened in August and still comply with the judge's order. The solution the Arizona Game and Fish Commission came up with was to provide all the applicants who struck out on the draw because of the 10 percent nonresident cap with another opportunity to draw a permit without the cap restrictions. The permits are all for units north of the Colorado River.
Deputy Director Steve Ferrell said that a one-time increase in permits will not significantly affect wildlife resources and that the additional permits would affect only a relatively small percentage of the hunt units, specifically 42 of 165 elk hunt units and nine of 108 deer hunt units. In terms of raw numbers of animals that may be true, but since the hunting units in question are some of the best trophy units in Arizona, the trophy hunting prospects in those units might be affected for some time. As for hunters who applied for permits to hunt bighorn sheep, buffalo, antelope, turkey and javelina, they were not affected by the ruling because it only mentioned elk and........(continued)
