Heat

Highway 67 is closed until late April or May'ish. You can still access the Kaibab Plateau by going past Jacob's Lake to the FS RD 22 or West Side Game Road and heading south. That should take you through a lot of good country if passable. While you have the legal right to access all of the National Forest in the Unit for your hunt, I would strongly encourage you to avoid the roads down by the border with the National Park in spirit of cooperation with the guys who drew what is likely their once in a lifetime opportunity to take a bison. Those roads in case you aren't familiar are the 223, 270, 268. This really is a tiny area in comparison to the rest of the plateau and quite frankly isn't the best turkey habitat anyway. I would be looking for Oak trees and following the snow line if there still is one. Good Luck!

Great stuff ya'll! Thanks for sharing!

That was awesome! I think I've met or hunted with all of those guys, LOL! LOTS of 1 Bird Per Box guys come to Yuma every year for Dove Season. They have made Richard Sprague a rich man!

I've had quite a few of the ones mentioned here and currently running the Cooper ATP. So far, so good. BFG is a darn good tire, just wears a bit faster than I would like for the money. If you are off road enough though they are worth it IMO.

Congratulations Mom and Dad!

Need some help guys on estimating what I might need to be prepared for when I kill a cow bison. My tag is for a mature cow bison so I guess that animal might weigh somewhere between 800-1200 pounds alive. I figure maybe similar to a very large bull elk or a beef steer. I currently have 2 100 quart ice chests and that has been enough for a cow elk or small bull. I know for sure I am going to need either a few more big ice chests or a large chest freezer. If I go the chest freezer route, what size would I need if I was putting boned out meat in it that was not cut and packaged yet? Figure I will be using game bags and some sort of method to keep them separated somewhat. Would a 10 cubic foot freezer do it or should I step it up to something like a 15 cubic foot freezer? I little extra room is fine but I don't want something twice as big as what I will need. Any thoughts from those of you guys who deal with large quantities of frozen meat or who might have messed with a cow bison before?

Thanks for all the responses. I have a pretty good feel now for what is going to be required.

Does anyone know offhand when the last time someone killed a buck on the 6B archery hunt? I know there are some in there but with all that timber it has to be one of if not the most difficult archery pronghorn hunts. When I was still just a kid hunting elk, I remember watching a few bucks chase each other around the waterhole where I was sitting in a tree and thinking to myself it would be hard to hit one of those with an arrow because they never stopped moving, ever! LOL!

" that said, how does having a lot of bonus points help you get a low "random" number? because if it did, it wouldn't be random." One random number for the application plus an additional random number for each group bonus point (which includes the Hunter Education and Loyalty bonus points) is generated for that application. The lowest random number generated for an application is used in the drawing process. An application receives a new random number for each Pass of the Big Game Draw.

The Department operates the draw in 3 rounds. Random numbers are assigned during each round of the drawing. 1st is the Bonus Pass where only those applications with bonus points are considered for tags. 20% of the tags for each hunt ( or species for bison and sheep) are given to those with the most points during this stage of the drawing. If you have more bonus points than anyone else that applied for that hunt number, you get drawn. The computer will look at your first two choices in this round, as mentioned above. If there are less tags in the Bonus Pass remaining than there are applicants in the next point group, then they look at the ones with the most points and then lowest random numbers amongst that point group and gets tags until the entire 20% has been issued. The next phase or the One, Two random pass is where the computer looks at your First and Second choices and the remaining 80% of the tags are available to be drawn. The Department's computer looks at lowest random numbers for that hunt number and the applications the lowest random number get drawn regardless of bonus points, however more bonus points in this round still gets you a better chance to have low random number. The computer will finally look at the 3-5 choices if there are still tags remaining after looking at all of the applicants first and second choices. The applicants with the lowest random numbers for each hunt with tags remaining will be issued tags until there are none left. Non-residents are limited to up to 10% of the tags. A max of half of that can be issued in the bonus pass, with the remain tag up to the 10% cap will be available in the One, Two pass.

Nice to see you on here too Chris! Great job brother!

This is in no way, shape, or form of bowhunting!

Check with Jim Hartsock at Southwest Wildlife Taxidermy. He has a thread on here with some great looking javelina mounts. http://www.coueswhitetail.com/forums/topic/45595-javelina-season-is-near/

I am going to need a ground blind for my bison hunt this summer. My treestand is what I normally take on hunts in the woods but the long hours in the blind that this hunt requires along with the anatomy of the bison make a ground blind a much better choice. I want one that is durable, will keep me relatively dry during heavy rain, and able to shoot both a gun or a bow from without a lot of trouble. Room for two is probably a huge plus but not an absolute requirement. Same goes for one that I can stand up and shoot in, maybe a cool option but not a must. Quality and dependability is the most important feature I am after. I would just go buy a Double Bull but since Primos took over from them, it seems like maybe the quality has gone down based on the reports from current models. The old ones are great but you can't buy them anymore. How about Ameristep or Barronet or maybe the Cabela's models? Any advice from you guys that have used these a lot. I have never owned one so I am basically clueless about them other than what I can read on the net. Thanks for your suggestions! Nick

Thanks for the generous offers and the suggestions and opinions everyone. I guess Double Bull is still king. I'll keep my eye on those and maybe take a closer look at Rhino Blinds too.

I took our family for an AZ road trip and stayed in the WM's a few days. We rented the "Braided Rug Cabin" from Molly Butler Rentals. It was a really nice house. There were others nearby that you could probably rent or maybe one big enough for everyone. The Molly Butler outfit was reasonably priced and the check in and out process was smooth and professional plus their staff was pleasant and effecient. Would recommend to anyone headed up there if you don't want to stay in a campground or hotel.

I don't know if anyone is watching online or not but I am at the Commission meeting in Yuma and the Department staff just reported to the Commission that a handshake deal is done with Navajo and Cholla LLC. Permits will be $80 for everything but antlerless elk which is $50 and $20 for prairie dog. We'll see if it becomes official but the Department seemed pretty confident this deal is done. No mention of any limits.

Hunters Ed or Military discharge papers is proof of training if you don't want to take the class.

Good Luck with the sales but more so Thank You for making such a huge commitment to spread the Good News! God Bless You!

IA Born, if you don't mind asking around that would be nice to hear what they recommend. Thanks!

Check out a Kifaru! Made in USA to order. They have multiple size waist belts and will adjust your pack to fit you. Best pack suspension you can buy IMO. I'm also pretty skinny and have great fit on both of my Kifaru packs. I have a Late Season and a Duplex Frame w/Cargo Panel set up. Both can carry more than I want to with as much comfort as you can ask for in a pack.

Bison_Range_in_Grand_Canyon_National_Park-050714.pdf

I really like that blade! Looks great.

I understand the frustration, no doubt. I'm on your guys' side there, regardless if I would ever step foot on the Big Boquillas Ranch. It's not the fee, its not the cap, its the PRINCIPLE! Limiting hunters to such a degree is simply not right when a large portion of that land is State Trust Land that a hunting license grants you access to. Access for hunters should be reasonable. I think most of us can all agree that what they have proposed is not reasonable. If what I typed here is "liberal" or "PC" so be it! I certainly don't see it that way.

The problem with accessing the public portions is the Checkerboard nature of the land ownership. One section is State Trust Land, the one next to it is Private, so on and so forth so that a true checkerboard pattern is created. You can't corner hop and you can't simply have roads just going to the public and or private. In other words it's a mess! They should be willing to grant reasonable access to the hunters due to the nature of the land ownership. Its obvious that this particular audience does not believe that this new allocation and fee structure that the Ranch set up is reasonable at all, me included!