Prism,
There is a stipulation that if any of the herds are below objective that the archery spike hunters can only shoot a spike, No Cows! That will help some. As a hunter, I would prefer these hunts be spike only, no cows. The reason for this hunt was to eliminate some bulls. If it were only spike only, I believe the archery pressure would be negligible.
For those who think that spike hunters during archery season do not affect the outcome of your hunt, you should try it. It makes for a more difficult hunt to be sure. I have hunted LE Manti and Wasatch archery and it was tough. I got it done, but could have easily not too. Talk about unfair.
LE tag for archery to hunt with everyone and there dog or a rut rifle tag? O well. We will try to improve what we have and get over it.
Buck,
I truly do empathize with you on the cuts the rifle hunters have had to make. Times have changed for the worse for the thunder stick. On the flip side, if we still had unlimited rifle tags we would have no deer. When herds start declining like the Mule deer have, something has to give. It will and should always be the weapon which inflicts the most damage to the herd. This is because the DWR relies on funding from liscences. They have no choice but to sell tags that will do the LEAST damage to the herd. That takes enticement and fluff to get guy's to switch. It sucks and may not be "fair", but it is the best compromise between the deer and the ever important mighty Dollar. Unfortunately it pits hunter against hunter and we fight and bicker over "overcrowding" and who hunts longer instead of uniting to try and find the solution and fix to the problem. I for 1 hope that sonner than later the attention is turned to the DEER herd and instead of spending 5 seconds on it at the WB meeting, they back off the elk and make Deer a PRIORITY!!!!
Have a great day!
Chad