forepaw

Kev I hope your friend is successful with his new shop. Always good to have a choice in where to buy shooting stuff. However, Sierra Vista could do a better job of supporting the existing stores if we had a decent place to shoot. There are thousands of gun owners in this town, and they seem to buy stuff. But then they go out to Dry Canyon or the pit, and risk getting in an argument or having some idiot shooting over their head. Guys have told me they won't go out there by themselves. This is a result of the public shooting range being horribly mismanaged, and mostly a basket case for years. Game and Fish knows about it, but won't do anything. So basically, unless locals want to register their guns on the Army base (I do not), we have nowhere to shoot. If the new gun store owner is serious about staying in business, maybe he or she can launch an effort to recall and replace the current officers and board of directors of the S.V. shooting range. I can pretty much guarantee there will be a lot of support.

I will take it. PM sent.

See and hear them every day. They are all over.

Thanks for the corrections, Based on the way the subject was presented at the commission meeting in Dec.? it sounded like a new program.

This is new this year. Testing the waters.

Deer, elk, antelope - long odds, but premium hunts - now on AZGFD website.

Don't forget about the hunter survey from 15 - 20 yrs. ago that was intended to determine management direction of the department for at least the next generation of hunters. I don't recall the name of the survey, but it was a big deal at the time and considered to be a watershed decision point with respect to what did the hunting community want - a wildlife resource managed for trophy potential (older age class animals, less opportunity), or more opportunity overall? The vote from all of us hunters was pretty decisively in favor of more opportunity. Of course this was before anyone could anticipate the trail cam issue, OHV issue, or Arizona's exploding population. Anyway, some of the others on the forum can weigh in a provide more detail but that is my recollection.

No HATE but discussion always good to try to understand a thorny topic. Remember, the auction tags started in 1984. It was a different world then, different problems, different values, different recent memory of events that seem ancient history now to many of the younger members. Computers were rare. There were no cell phones. The country was recovering from high interest rates and high unemployment, and other problems thanks to the social and economic programs of the Carter administration. The war in Vietnam was a recent memory. The conservation-minded critter groups (mainly ADBSS and a few others) thought that the money brought in by auction would benefit not only the species auctioned, but all wildlife, and would also eventually provide opportunity for all hunters due to habitat improvement, translocation, research on wildlife diseases, better access to public land, etc. This all turned out to be mostly true, since there were so few tags, they were out of reach of almost all hunters. Fast forward to 2024, and raffles look more attractive as they are available to everyone (residents), and don't require justifying why some ultra-rich person was just allowed to buy one of the most coveted tags in the country, maybe in the world. This has become socially unacceptable, and there is some justification for that. The tradeoff is, in return for equal opportunity to acquire a super scarce lifetime tag (which are now more plentiful than ever thanks to the auction system of 40 years ago), we may need to tighten our belts in terms of programs for wildlife (some not all). It is what it is, and history will refresh our memory.

They could have solved this just by limiting auction tags to one purchaser, for one species, every x number of years, or maybe once per lifetime. As it stands now, it will be gone. The elephant in the room, which no one is mentioning is sure, the raffles come close to the auction amounts, but for how long? The auction tags would have been a high demand item among wealthy hunters for years to come, but what kind of support will the current gen. Z kids provide? And the generations coming after, given the financial shape of the country, and looming international uncertainty? Overall not an easy call, but I think it could have been adjusted to allow the auctions to continue in some form. Let's face it, just because someone is wealthy, and maybe a snob, does not mean they don't value a lifetime tag as much if not more than joe hunter. There are plenty of citizen hunters, some right on this forum who I believe, don't put in the effort, are marginally ethical, and for whom getting their story and photo on social media is valued as much as the hunt. I am hopeful that it will work out. I think they only focused on two dimensions of a three dimensional problem.

Sold.

Your rifle and scope combination is GTG. You have a proven cartridge, and a good all round hunting outfit, but a little trickier to keep clean than a bolt action. In order to clean a 99 without chingering up the lands on the muzzle, you need to be very careful with your cleaning rod. You can get a muzzle guide that just fits in the bore, and those help, but if you have any issues with buildup of copper fouling, you will probably need to remove the buttstock and clean from the chamber end. For a quick pass through after a few rounds, a .30 cal. Boresnake might be good to try. The advice included here with respect to shooting from field positions is sound. I would add that you might make or buy a set of shooting sticks. These are very portable, and make all the difference when you are sitting on a hillside trying to line up on a target with knee-high grass or brush. One more piece of advice - see if you can find via interlibrary loan the book by Jack O'Connor "The Hunting Rifle". You may have to buy a copy from Amazon or E-bay, but it has a ton of helpful advice. Read, read and read some more, and don't let the so-called long range guys impress you or intimidate you with 600+ yard shooting. That requires a heavy investment in equipment and practice in order to avoid making a poor shot and wounding a fine animal. Last, when you are practicing, take your time, and let the barrel cool between shots. It is not a target rifle. Make sure you know where the first round will hit from a cold barrel, using the ammunition you plan to hunt with. On an undisturbed, unsuspecting animal, the first shot is generally the best one you will get.

Gila Monster: Facts and Folklore of America's Aztec Lizard Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com › Gila-Monster-Folklore-Ame... Very good read by David Brown and Neil Carmony, for anyone interested. This is probably also available at AZ university bookstores if you live close to one.

This. Or the fire hazard.

Batteries are heavy!

I couldn't agree more. The problem is, in many states, we have too many people who are not paying their share. This shifts the burden to other residents, but also to other US taxpayers in the form of federal funding that could otherwise have been generated locally. Nevada has a much fairer system IMO. There is no personal income tax, but fuel taxes are very high. Everybody bitches about it, but it causes the pain to be spread to everyone who drives (except for EVs). And NV has nicer roads and infrastructure, so at least you feel like you are seeing some results for the higher fuel costs.