StickFlicker

Maybe they're waiting for some sleeper unit to finally open up to hunting?! 😉

Thanks for coming back to report how you did, and congratulations on your buck. The other rifle hunter did not actually draw his tag in the bonus round. He drew it completely random just like you did. There is no bonus round tag unless the hunt has at least 5 permits. How were the archery and other rifle hunter's bucks compared to yours?

bojangles, unfortunately that buck was taken after the cut-off date for this particular biennial awards banquet. Award competitions run from July 1 of even numbered years to June 30 of even numbered years. For this banquet, animals entered will be celebrated for those taken from 7/01/21 through 6/30/23. I would expect him to very likely be at the next awards banquet in two years, where there's a very good chance he will be honored as the new state record velvet non-typical Coues. For those that have taken large animals, I encourage you to contact an official measurer as soon as possible to get it (them) entered. The next (7th) edition of the bowhunting record book is being worked on now and is planned for release this next spring at the Pope and Young International Convention in Glendale, AZ in April, 2025. The book will be sent to print later this year. AND DON'T FORGET THE ARIZONA BOWHUNTERS ASSOC./BOWHUNTING IN ARIZONA banquet is tonight in Mesa! See previous posts for payment information, or there will likely be some tickets available at the door. Official Measurers Contact List

Last Call!!! There will be raffles for several guns, bows, optics and auctions for about a dozen hunts! The banquet is this coming Saturday, June 8!! Scan the QR Code in the first post, or click the link below. ABA/BIA Banquet Registration

The banquet is getting closer!

For those that have been asking about the Arizona Bowhunters Association/Bowhunting in Arizona Record Book annual banquet, here it is! It's a few months later this year due to unavoidable circumstances. You can scan the code on the flyer to pay using PayPal. YOU DO NOT need a PayPal account to use the link. You can pay with Venmo, credit or debit card at the link if you choose. See you there!

Goulds ANYWHERE sound fun! One day I'll finally draw one.

I once bought something that had been hard to find, on ebay, and when the guy took it to the UPS store to ship it, the clerk at UPS thought it was cool and the seller sold it to him, after I had already bought it at the offered price on ebay! That pissed me off pretty good, especially when the guy that bought it just did so as a novelty, and I really needed it and had spent a year trying to find it.

For those that took nice animals with a bow between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2024, and want to be considered for the biennial competition (three largest animals in each category win a biennial award plaque), get your animals officially measured and entered ASAP! If you live outside of Arizona, you can submit a photocopy of your P&Y or B&C scoresheet along with the other required items for entry (see link below). Bowhunting in Arizona Record Book

Due to conflicts, it is scheduled for June 8 this year. I believe it will be at the same hotel in Mesa that it has been the last few years. Their Webmaster has had health issues, so it has unfortunately been difficult to post website updates currently.

You might be right, of course, but did you go solely for that purpose (like the handful of guides that act as agents and buy most of these tags did), or would you have attended anyway? I agree it's a bonus to "hope against the odds" that the average guy could buy one of these tags at a banquet, but I don't think that many of these average guys would change their mind about attending if the auction tag wasn't there. Many of these banquets sell-out each year anyway, so a different person would likely just buy the ticket even if they didn't choose to attend. And there is still a strong possibility that some of these raffles will be held at the banquets, as they have been in the past, so you can go buy tickets and watch the drawing in person. Some may not buy online raffle tickets because they have conspiracy theories, but they might buy tickets in person if they could see them go into the drum and watch the actual drawing in person?

The organizations don't get a penny for auctioning/raffling off the tags. All the money goes to Game and Fish, who can then fund various projects with it. As far as attendance at the banquets potentially being down and decreasing the funds raised for any particular organization, the majority of the raffle tags are purchased by a guide that attends solely for the purpose of buying the tag on behalf of one of his rich clients. With a few exceptions, the guide wasn't typically there to participate in the banquet or spend much other money that would then help the fundraising efforts of the organization. Eliminating the auction tag sale at a banquet will likely only remove one or two attendees from any particular banquet, and they weren't going to spend money on anything else anyway.

I responded to you under your other duplicate post under Misc. Coues' Deer.

Congratulations on a great and unique buck! However, you are likely mistaken about it having ever been "ranked the 13th largest" non-typical. If your handle is your name, there is not a deer entered in the current edition with the last name Swenson anywhere near that score in the typical or non-typical section. If you never entered it, it was never "ranked" at any position and the score was never an official score. Also, the minimum for entry to the "rifle" record book for Arizona NT Coues' deer had always been 115, even back in the 1990 edition of the book when yours was taken, and there were more than 13 entries at that time that exceeded the 115 minimum. So, your buck would not have qualified for entry to the record book, although it would have been very close if that were its actual score as measured by an official measurer and it was accepted when you entered it. Just a few years ago, they lowered the minimum down to 107 and only one buck under 115 has been entered since the minimum was lowered. If your buck does actually score above 107, you should have it officially scored and enter it. If you don't, there is really no point in knowing where it "would" rank, if it was officially scored, and if it was officially entered and it was officially accepted at that score. Records of Arizona Big Game

In all the years of looking at the AZGFD website, both the old versions and the current one, their search engine is absolutely 100% worthless!