knothead

My bad. You are correct, I was looking at the early archery NR applicants and they had 18-14 points. Late rifle, I show no NR's with more than 8 points. Still my odds are 23.5% for a resident applying for late rifle 7w. I used to look and G&F bonus reports and calculate odds but I have gotten fat and lazy and been using this service the last 5-6 years. Always figured it was close enough.

That is why I earlier asked what odds report you were using because we have differences. Mine shows that 9 Non-Res applicants drew with 18-14 points.

"4A Rifle Bull and 4B Rifle Bull 3 bonus points" 4a = 19% 4b = 18.9%

I hate to say I told you so.......................but.....................................

"7w Rifle bull" 23.5% according to hunterstrailhead odds for a resident. A hand full of 5 pt people actually fell in the int 20% pass. Good Luck

sold

I was asked to post this by a co-worker. His son got this gun for Christmas from his girlfriend. He is left handed but shoots right handed and she didn't know. The gun is brand new and never been shot. Remington 870 express pump action 12 ga left handed. $325 Call Austin 623-853-6870 peoria

man I wanted that. I started two different messages to you but deleted both of them. I need another gun like I need another hole in my head. I rarely ever even shoot guns anymore but Ruger M77 is my favorite model and .270 is one caliber I do not have but always wanted. My son has a left handed savage .270. Happy to see it found a new home and not mine.

5nRamirez, it looks like you have a lucky hunting shirt.

I hate to say it trphyhntr but you are like the boy who cried wolf to me. I never know when to believe you. If you actually wounded an animal, I hope the ending is a happy one. As far as the light goes I have no experience with that particular light but an extremely bright flashlight has worked well for me.

I applied on Friday with a license that expired today. I just went out this evening and bought a new 365 day license today so I know I will be legit for the draw. I once made a mistake on my sons spring turkey application and entered the wrong license number but he got drawn anyway. I am 99.99% sure they could care less about your license # it is all based on your SS# or sportsman's ID #. A hunting license is just one more way they can verify who you are and you must have a valid one in order to hunt. I noticed when you apply if you bought your license online, up will pop-up a message and tell you must have a valid license on the last day of application deadline Feb. 13th. If you bought a license in the store it does not say anything like this because the system does not know. Lastly, G&F made a huge mistake by going to a 365 day license and not just leave it at the yearly license. So much confusion IMO. My elk & antelope apps are in now I'm just waiting for a couple charges on my card.

I was raised in a non hunting family but I always wanted to hunt from the time I was very young. At least my father liked to camp and we had horses that we would ride in the mountains. My freshman year in HS I had every class except for 1 with a kid who hunted. He invited me along on a rabbit hunt out near pinnacle peak and we have been best friends ever since. That was the fall of 1977. He was the best man in my wedding and I was his. Pretty much everything we learned we learned from mistakes and trial and error. There were three of us that hunted in HS. We would pack up every Friday after school or football game and get back home Sunday around dark. Never killed a dang thing except for dove and quail but we had the time of our lives. Spent most of our time in 17A/B, 20A and unit 10. As much as we hunted we never were all that interested in elk and as a matter of fact the first elk I ever saw was near Clints Wells in 1983. We were mostly archery deer hunters but once we got the elk bug we got it bad.

My friend has been hunting central AZ since last Friday. Still no sign of rut and does are all alone. The bucks he has seen have either been solitary or with another buck. I can't decide if I want to go varmint hunting or deer.

TTT

bump

Anybody else love to hunt javelina but hate to kill them? I love being in the desert this time of year breathing in the cool morning air, sitting and glassing for javelina. I have killed enough of them over the years to know that I do not care for the taste of these animals. I have cooked them so many different ways, given the meat to friends and the last 5 or 6 I paid to get processed and donated all the meat to the adobe wildlife center. I have always described my perfect hunt is to be in a hilltop early in the morning, glassing for a couple hours, locating a herd, putting a stalk on them, drawing back my bow, shooting and then missing. Finally going home with a smile on my face. I now apply for the HAM hunt and we go out but I mostly glass and look for others. Lately our hunt has turned into more of a horseshoe tournament starting around noon. By the way, I am the same way about doves. Like to hunt them but don't like to kill them anymore because I don't like the taste. Anyone else feel the same?

Just talked to someone who is in central AZ bowhunting and he said the bucks he is seeing are by themselves and the does have no bucks with them.

"BTW bark Beatles don't effect antler growth" Never said it did. I was referring to the health of the forest. I do agree fires are healthy but when they are slow, low burning fires. Crowning fires like you get when there is lots of fuel from dead trees is not nearly as good and usually moves too fast and cause lots of destruction.

I sure hope you are right PRDATR. I remember in the early 2000's we had terrible winter moisture and very low snow pack. As a result, the bark beetles were not put in check and they had devastating effects on our forests. I can still remember looking out over the Rim and seeing a forest of red trees as they were dying.

In defense of the NR's using lots of points on what some might say are average units I think they can still have a great hunt here in AZ. I have heard many NR's that have hunted our AZ September elk and they say our average hunts are better than most states best hunts. I have only hunted elk in AZ and NM so I can't say for sure but I will take an average AZ hunt any day over any of the NM hunts I have had in the past. The reason I even commented on the number of points they had is because I hate to think how much they have spent on licenses and application fees over the years and they probably could have drawn the same hunt two or three times in that same time period.

I'm curious to know what odds report applications you are using? I subscribe www.hunterstrailhead.com and I get different numbers. For example, I get odds of 15.2% for a resident with 8 points applying for unit 7W early archery. 9 of the 35 tags available in the 20% pass went to NR's so that really left 26 available for residents. The website now separates resident draw odds from NR odds. They just started this and it is kind of interesting because you see some NR's are blowing big time bonus points on what I would consider middle of the road type units. In virtually every unit I look at odds for NR's are much different than residents. Looks like lots of NR's have decided to bail on holding out for a "primo" unit since they went to 5&5 rule is my guess. No matter....... interesting stuff to look at as you can see patterns and make better informed decisions when applying. I'm guessing unit 7w odds will be substantially different this year as it is the only early archery that starts a week later due to early muzzy the week before. I think 10 points is a minimum to get in on the 20% pass for residents this year. Good luck in the draw to all that apply.

I'm sure there are many hunters that don't know what hunts are going in their unit at all times. The way G&F crams so many different hunts, weapon types and age groups into virtually every week in the fall, stuff like this is bound to happen. When you hear about guys scouting anytime after August 19th I can pretty much bet there is a hunt going on in many of these units. If they are scouting their is a good chance they are impacting the guys hunting. I have a late rifle WT hunt that just opened on the 15th and G&F this year opened it up to over the counter archery deer at the same time. Kind of sucks but what are you going to do?

I thought catfish was the one in red?

53 going

These are my thoughts as well. It is not just a full moon, dry, or wind. We don't have the numbers of elk we had a few years ago. I have noticed a dramatic drop in the quantity of elk I see since 2012. I noticed a decline before that but since 2012 the quantity of elk I see in areas I have been spending time in since the 90's is way down. G&F has been issuing way too many cow tags for too long IMO. If you kill the baby makers it is bound to happen.