Volunteer opportunities for hunters
By Sandy Reith, volunteer coordinator, Arizona Game and Fish Department The Arizona Game and Fish Department’s volunteer program provides opportunities for volunteers to participate firsthand in managing Arizona’s wildlife resources. Our goal is to provide you with a congenial and cooperative atmosphere where you can build [...]

Conservation spotlight
Arizona Deer Association
By Domenick Lopano, president
How did your group get started? The Arizona Mule Deer Association formed in 1996. In 2002, we changed our name to the Arizona Deer Association (ADA), to better reflect our interest in conserving and enhancing all of Arizona’s deer populations.
What is ADA’s purpose? [...]

Learn more about: chronic wasting disease
By Jim deVos, research branch chief, Arizona Game and Fish Department Department continues actions to protect deer and elk herds from chronic wasting disease: Hunters asked to assist in surveillance efforts
Arizona wildlife officials continue to be on the lookout for a silent killer of [...]

Ask a wildlife manager
By Ron Day, law enforcement branch chief, Arizona Game and Fish Department
Each year before the archery deer hunt, wildlife managers are asked the same basic question many times in different ways: “Can I carry a firearm while archery hunting?” The answer is—it depends on the type of [...]

Junior hunters
By Anthony King, Phoenix
I was so excited come opening morning this spring for my first turkey hunt. We got up and got to where we needed to be, and I said to my dad, “I see them coming down the hill!” We quickly put up the canvas blind, and [...]

Coues white-tailed deer hunting in Arizona
By Jim Heffelfinger, Tucson regional game specialist, Arizona Game and Fish Department
Coues white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus couesi) are found in scattered populations throughout southeastern and central Arizona. They occur primarily in partially isolated mountains above 4,000 feet.
Cooz or cows?
Early naturalist and army surgeon [...]

Been hunting?
By Gary Huish, Phoenix
For years, I have found javelina in the same area (Unit 35A by Sierra Vista) every year I have looked for them, and this year was no exception. I filled my tag after firing one shot from my Remington Inline .50-caliber muzzleloader, about 30 minutes after sunup [...]

Hunting outlook
By Mark Zornes, small game biologist, and Brian Wakeling, big game program supervisor, Arizona Game and Fish Department

Interested in going after some of Arizona’s abundant small game, such as quail or cottontail? Planning a fall deer or elk hunt? Here are our regional forecasts for these species.
Quail
Hunters [...]

Women who hunt deer
By Sherry Crouch, wildlife planner, and Dee Pfleger, wildlife manager
Arizona Game and Fish Department
For this issue of Hunting Highlights, we invited some of the women here at the Arizona Game and Fish Department who hunt deer to share their stories with readers, as a way of encouraging other [...]

Volunteer opportunities for hunters
The Arizona Game and Fish Department’s volunteer program provides many opportunities for volunteers to participate, firsthand, in managing Arizona’s wildlife resources. Our goal is to provide you with a congenial and cooperative atmosphere where you can build relationships with staff and other volunteers, and gain [...]

Junior hunters
September is the time for parents to prepare for the junior dove hunt at Robbins Butte Wildlife Area, just a few miles southwest of Buckeye on Highway 85. This “juniors only” hunt on Sept. 3—4 gives hunters up to age 17 a chance to pursue doves without adult competition. [...]

Dove hunting in Arizona
By Mike Rabe, migratory birds program supervisor, Arizona Game and Fish Department
Arizona is one of the best places to hunt doves anywhere. We have two seasons here: an early season from Sept. 1–15, and a later season in late fall and early winter that varies a [...]

Hunting outlook
By Brian Wakeling, big game program supervisor, and Mark Zornes, small game biologist, Arizona Game and Fish Department
Interested in hunting archery deer or dove this fall? Lucky enough to get drawn for pronghorn? Here is our regional forecast for these species.
Archery Deer
Statewide, deer fawn recruitment increased for both [...]

Endless possibilities
By Ron Day, law enforcement branch chief
Arizona Game and Fish Department

Each year, time seems to stand still between deadline day and the day I finally find out what my fortunes were in the fall [...]