Hunters gonna hunt. And people who live in remote areas where game is prevalent understand that.
But some hunters are gonna abuse the privilege. And that’s not so understandable for those remote-living folks, many of whom are hunters themselves.
Five residents from the Canelo Hills area met recently with the PRT to express concerns about being overrun with “bad actors” during the Coues whitetail deer season that concluded in December. They said other neighbors share their concerns but were reluctant to speak out.
Among the behavior the residents said they witnessed during the 2025 season:
• A beheaded deer and gut-shot fawn, left in the field
• Mounds of trash and human waste
• Scouting with drones
• Untended campfires
• Overstaying time limits
• Threats and intimidation tactics on private property
• Shooting within a quarter-mile of residences
• Road hunting from all-terrain vehicles
Dave Whitaker, an avid hunter who has lived in the Lyle Canyon area for seven years said, “This year something changed and the traffic was at least two-fold of what it’s ever been, probably more. And the disregard for what I consider ethical hunting practices was kind of rampant.”
The Canelo Hills area is part of Unit 35A, which runs from south of Highway 82 to the Mexico border, from Lochiel on the west to the San Pedro River on the east. It is one of the most popular whitetail hunting areas in the state, with a total of 1,165 whitetail permits issued for four separate rifle hunts in 35A in 2025 – beginning Oct. 24 and ending Dec. 31.
The residents who met with the PRT explained that they are not anti-hunting and stressed that they believe the “bad actors” are a small minority, but that minority grew “exponentially” in the past year due to the sheer number of hunters in the area. The cause for the increased volume is unclear.
Whitaker said he witnessed signs south of Parker Canyon Lake declaring the area to be a military zone and off-limits to recreational use.
“That was a pretty popular area, Jones Mesa, a lot of people hunted down that way, and a lot of it you can’t reach now. I think people that traditionally hunted that way had to come north.”
Arizona Game and Fish Department public affairs community liaison Mark Frieberg confirmed that the number of permits were the same as for 2024 but said the department is not aware of any areas closed to recreational use. “I have spoken to the field supervisor for this area, and we are not aware of any new areas that are closed to hunting,” he said. Frieberg referred further inquiries to the Border Patrol, which did not respond to requests for comment.
The Canelo Hills residents say the overcrowding is compounded by a lack of enforcement by Game and Fish. Game and Fish has 74 game wardens throughout the state, responsible for 76 game management units. Frieberg said there are six assigned to the sector that includes 35A. Whitaker said he has never encountered a game warden “in seven years of hunting here.”
Therein is part of the problem. By and large, hunters are charged with policing themselves. It’s a bit of a wild, wild west.
“Every other state that I’ve hunted in, you’ve got to go to a tagging station, and they have to log it in,” Whitaker said. “I could shoot a deer out here where nobody sees anything, process it in the field, the meat goes in the bags, I can go home without putting a tag on that deer and I could hunt tomorrow. It’s nothing other than personal integrity.”
Frieberg encouraged anyone witnessing a violation to contact Game and Fish’s Operation Game Thief Hotline. But Whitaker said he sent photos after coming across the decapitated deer and killed fawn and never heard back. And the hotline is of little use for nuisance or private property concerns.
“If you’re in trouble out here, you’re on your own,” Dru Montemayor said.
Montemayor recounted an encounter she had with a hunter attempting to use a private road in the Lyle Canyon area. “He asked if he could come in, he started arguing with me,” she said. “I emphasized the fact that we all feel the same way, this is a private road, and you are trespassing. And he took his gun out of the case and put it on his lap. That is intimidation.”
Nora Stewart said when a neighbor of hers asked some hunters not to leave behind trash, “as they were leaving, they shot over her head.”
Sandy Fletcher said this is the first hunting season she abstained from horseback riding.“We rode all over this place last year, I just wore my vest,” she said. “I didn’t even dare go out this year because there were so many more hunters out there. It almost felt overwhelming, overpopulated with hunters, like it wasn’t really safe out there.”
Whitaker said he also altered his usual routine this year. “My son and I hunt several areas on Brushy (Canyon) on a regular basis, and we gave up on it this year on the second day of our season,” he said. “There’s a trail that goes from Brushy Canyon Road up over the hill and down onto Lyle Canyon, it makes about a ten-mile loop, and they were just riding that loop, riding that loop, riding that loop, road-hunting from their rigs.”
The Canelo Hills residents were united in their suggested remedies to the situation: Fewer permits. More enforcement.
“We need ten of them (game wardens), not one,” Whitaker said.
Added Stewart: “I doubt that any of these hunters are ever going to see this article. I’m not asking to speak to the hunters themselves. I’m asking to speak to enforcement, and to put pressure on the officials to do something.”