This ruling immediately affected this season's drawings in Arizona. To resolve the problem of noncompliance, Arizona's Commission immediately approved 805 extra permits for this year's deer and elk drawings. The result was that nearly 760 more nonresidents (who were not selected in the initial drawings) ultimately received permits and benefited directly from this decision. Furthermore, although the big game species initially impacted by the decision were deer and elk only, next season you can expect the sheep drawings in Arizona to be administered without the nonresident cap on permits as well. The antelope drawings have never had a nonresident quota applied, so the recent rulings did not alter the way those drawings will be conducted.
It will be interesting to see what happens next in the other states. Already, plaintiffs in the Arizona suit have appeared before the Nevada Game Commission requesting that they conform to the Ninth Circuit Court decision. They were summarily turned down, so they filed suit against the State of Nevada. Since Nevada imposes even more discriminatory restrictions against nonresidents than those already ruled illegal in Arizona, another court decision in favor of nonresidents was assumed. Apparently, the Nevada........(continued)
