Lindsey BottsArizona RepublicView Comments

The Arizona Game and Fish Department is updating key hunting guidelines that will set the tone for wildlife management in the state for the next five years.

The process is raising questions among some conservation groups aboutwhat hunters are allowed to huntand how many individual animals can be killed within a given season.

Traditionally, the guidelines review process has been an opportunity to maximize hunting based on hunters’ input. But a coterie ofgroups are hoping theirconcerns about the way native carnivores are managed will also be considered and given equal weight alongside consumptive users.

Three species fall into thiscategory in Arizona: mountain lions, bobcats, and black bears. According to the groups focused on these species, these animals are mostly hunted for sport, with bobcats an exception. Trappers prize their winter belly fur for sale in the fur trade.

“There are a lot of things…