Non-Typical Solutions

Looking forward to a report on what you find, hopefully you will be able to keep that schedule!

The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) advises hunters who will be heading north to the Kaibab Plateau for Friday’s opening of the archery deer hunt to check the latest forest road closures. The Game Management Units (GMUs) impacted by the Dragon Bravo and White Sage fires include 12AW and 12AE (excluding Grand Canyon National Park), and 12B. A total of 275 hunt permit-tags were issued for any antlered deer in these GMUs through the 2025 fall draw. The hunt closes Sept. 11. For the latest updates on forest road closures and other alerts, including a detailed map, visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/r03/kaibab/alerts. While the Dragon Bravo and White Sage fires have burned about 200,000 total acres, hunting opportunities should not be significantly impacted. The Kaibab Plateau spans almost 740,000 acres — or more than 1,150 square miles — within the Kaibab National Forest. As a reminder, AZGFD typically does not refund hunt permit-tag fees or license fees once an online application has been submitted and deemed valid (A.R.S. 17-332). This applies to circumstances that include emergency area closures due to fires, severe weather, or other natural disasters. AZGFD does offer optional programs, PointGuard and PointGuard Plus. Both allow for the surrender of a hunt permit-tag and possible reinstatement of bonus points if a person is unable to participate in a hunt. PointGuard must be purchased at the time of completing the online application, or prior to the application period deadline, however. The fee is non-refundable. The department also has a tag transfer program that allows for the transferring of a hunt permit-tag to another qualified individual or a nonprofit organization (A.R.S. 17-332). The department reminds hunters to respect forest road closures. Driving around locked gates or barricades is a violation of the law and punishable by fines and possible imprisonment. The Arizona Game and Fish Department receives no general fund tax dollars. The majority of funding to manage more than 800 native wildlife species comes from Arizona's hunters and anglers.

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm&ogbl#inbox/FMfcgzQcpKlNzQGqpMlLfMJLsQdZhhJH

Someone who poaches doesn’t really worry about a 5 year ban on hunting!!!!

Yeah....on the ground that bull looked really healthy, met an untimely death and robbed a tag holder!!!

My wife and I always wonder how long an animal has been dead. There are always so many different factors that come into play. This is a picture of the same bull 4 days later. I was shocked!!! I am assuming that it got picked so hard and fast because it was already split open and easy pickings.............

I have done a ton of thinkin about the blunt force trauma because the only indicator upon initial look was the bubble blood coming out of the eye and I thought......maybe crows already pecked enough to cause that. Now remembering back on my days growing up on a farm I remember bunny bashing and I thought...................what if?????

The interesting part about the blunt force trauma is the antlers were in perfect condition and the closest road is .75 mile away! There were no skint marks on the nose! Pretty mysterious!

I was in unit one and he indicated the bull was tagged in 27!

I always have a lion tag and usually have a bear tag!!!

Thanks for the info, there’s a lot I wish I had known before tripping across this guy!!!🙃

My wife and I had an interesting encounter this past July out hiking. We love getting out and wandering around, if we find an antler Whoo Hooo, if we sneak up on some elk, YEAAAAAAA but in general our philosophy is, if we aren't out in the woods we never know what we might miss. We were up in the Alpine area, decided to go hike an area that we have found that we enjoy, not too steep, deer, elk, turkey and the hope always of seeing a bear. While out hiking this time we decided to take a little different path than normal and this is what we bumped into!!!! After our amazement to finding what appears to be a very healthy dead bull I called Game and Fish to report the find and also see if I could collect the antlers. ( I had no clue what I was getting myself into with regards to the velvet!!!) I also really didn't expect to get the antlers, I have never experienced this type of situation so I was apprehensive. I gave them the coordinates, they asked if I could send them pictures but I couldn't because of cell service, I was surprised I was able to make a phone call, but pictures wouldn't send out, so we went on our way and I sent pictures when we got to good cell service. This all happened around 1:00pm! I was told that Game and Fish was going to send an agent out to investigate and they would get back with me and let me know if in fact I could collect the antlers. My curiosity got the better of me, we went back out there next morning to see if in fact Game and Fish had gone out there. Sure enough they had been out and so had the vultures and at least a bear! Big ole pile of bear crap right next to the carcass. I didn't hear anything from Game and Fish until maybe 4:00pm, the LEO that had gone out to do the investigation informed me I could collect the antlers and where did I want to go to get them. I informed him I was in Alpine and he agreed to meet me at the 191/FS249. So we met there and spent a lot of time visiting, asking questions. He informed us he had performed a necropsy on the bull, looking for possible cause of death which initially he found no cause. He took the skull and antlers to two vets that were camping up by Big Lake and they peeled back the hide on the bulls skull. They found an area that would indicate blunt force trauma to the head. Overall very interesting experience, according to the experts I was too late to really preserve the velvet because it already has begun to slip! I was very impressed with my interaction with Game and Fish. When if there was any way to preserve the velvet at this point, he told me to go home and take a good picture to remember! I forgot about the ear tags. One of the tags was radio traceable. This bull had been tagged approximately 50 miles from where he died!

For years I have used sinking line on my poles for trolling! Most of our fishing is for trout, Big Lake, Nelson, Rim Lakes, Luna! Need to replace the old line but it’s been so long I don’t even know what I am looking for and there are so many options! Any recommendations for replacement line?

Tommy got busted up pretty bad last weekend at the Pioneer Days Rodeo!! Reaching out recruiting prayers for him!!!! Thanks If you do FB this was posted there by family! I texted him late late last night and he still hurting pretty bad! https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1EFt6sEHLg/?mibextid=wwXIfr

https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/wyoming-braces-for-wild-hogs/