Mesa resident Shane Wixson hasn’t hunted a deer or an elk in Arizona in two years.
It’s not because he hasn’t tried to get a hunting tag — a requirement needed to hunt big game in the Grand Canyon State. Wixson, a former hunting guide, applied but was unable to get a tag to hunt either deer or elk since 2023, he said.
The Mesa resident helped scout roads, watering holes and hiking trails to determine where the animals like to be at a certain time. He was a hunting guide for an outfitting company from 2017 to 2019.
