IA Born

The winners are posted every day on the NWTF-Arizona Facebook page and on the NWTF Arizona webpage (https://nwtfarizona.org/store) Here are the winners so far, though: Early Bird Winner- Liberty Centurion 24 Gun Safe: Nick Adamson 11/24 Winner-Remington 700 VMT 22-250: Rodger Brubaker 11/25 Winner-Ruger 10/22 with Scope 22LR: Todd Duke 11/26 Winner-Ruger 36 357: Rachel Mulcaire 11/27 Winner-Winchester SXP Hybrid Hunter: Gerald Kahl 11/28 Winner-Ruger American Go Wild 308 Win: Cookie Nicoson 11/29 Winner-Savage 116 Th XP 338 Win: Glen Dickens 11/30 Winner-Rock Island Baby 380ACP: John Grantham

A friend reached out to me this morning, inquiring about youth bows for her 11 year old daughter. I put all four of her kids through Hunter Ed up here in Flagstaff. The four oldest love hunting and archery, but her 11-yo daughter is on the bubble. Rather than investing in a brand new bow, they're being smart and looking for a used bow for her. She mentioned Quest (Centec NXT?), but I'm not overly familiar with that bow. Her kids all shoot Diamonds, which is what I'm most familiar with since both my kids shoot Diamonds. Any way, if anyone is looking to unload a good, used youth bow, let me know so I can pass that info along to my friend. Thanks!

"I just want to fill my tag, put tasty meat in the freezer for us, and get out of this stupid heat." That's what Jacob said to me when he decided to go after a smaller deer than planned on the opening day of his deer hunt Friday. We both love chasing Coues whitetail in SE Arizona, but hunting in 87 degrees in November is horrible, especially when shade is limited. Shortly after a post-lunch nap in a small piece of shade, I glassed up a group of deer going to water across the valley. I got Jacob's attention and let him know there was a fork and a goofy-looking spike in the group of 5-6 deer. That's when he said the above quote, referring to the fork. They came down to 350 yds, but circled back up to 400 yds. Jacob got lined up, adjusted his scope accordingly, and missed slightly right. It happens. We attributed it to buck fever/operator error. The bucks kept walking uphill away from us and bedded behind two rocks just under 500 yds from us. We kept an eye on them and our friend joined us to glass, bringing much-appreciated ice-cold drinks. We watched the bucks fidget and twitch for a couple of hours and then realized the one rock was actually the spike's body behind some grass. Jacob asked, Carl encouraged, and I gave Jacob the thumbs up for a 500-yd shot. He's put the time in behind his rifle and I know how comfortable he is. He took the shot, and missed wide right again. The fork eventually stood up and walked to the left of the spike, standing perfectly broadside. That's when we found out his scope got bumped off somewhere between his last practice session and his hunt. He shot at the fork at 5:05pm and dropped the bedded spike cleanly. We celebrated and laughed at what just happened. Somedays, I'll take luck over skill, although I know Jacob has the skill. He's a way better shooter than I am. We hustled across the valley, tagged Jacob's deer, took a few quick pics, field dressed the deer, and hiked back to camp by headlamp. As I was carrying all of the meat, I realized I was glad he harvested the smaller buck. My pack was somewhere between 60-70lbs, including meat and all my gear. Then Jacob cooked us Coues tacos for dinner! Friendships were solidified, and the love of chasing Coues whitetail in SE Arizona grew stronger. What an adventure. Now to give the new grinder its first workout and work on a scope before Jacob's next hunt. It turns out that, between his last practice session and his hunt, two ring scews had come almost a full turn loose. It made me realize just how lucky we were and it taught me a valuable lesson about checking all aspects of all gear much more regularly. \

Surprisingly, I didn't deer hunt when I lived in Iowa. I went back in 2011 and shot a great buck on a family farm. It took two of us to get it in the back of my truck and I boned out 125 lbs of meat! I'll take packing a Coues any day! That's awesome! I dropped Jacob's skull of to a euro place Monday. This makes me eager to get it back!

Thanks Big Tub! I can never get them straightened out, no matter how many times I try! Much appreciated!

As a matter of fact, you are correct. "Dad, I told you I was dead on him, calm and steady! My heart was racing like crazy, but the rifle was steady!"

I've told the story before, but its always worth repeating. On November 11, 1967, my dad's company (C/1/503/173d Airborne), reinforced by half of another company and known as Task Force Black, left their laager sight in search of NVA that had been wreaking havoc on another company (C/4/503/173d Airborne). That morning, the 200 men of Task Force Black walked into a horseshoe-shaped ambush orchestrated by two battalions (somewhere between 600-1000 soldiers) that was quickly closed off, completely surrounding my dad's company. He was among the first wounded, but kept on fighting until he was wounded again and had to receive medical treatment. An NVA soldier got close enough to throw a grenade into the wounded "pile". A young PFC named John Andrew Barnes III threw himself on the grenade saving my dad and his buddies. My dad held John in his arms as he died. C/4/503 fought their way through enemy lines to reinforce TF Black and keep them from being overrun. At the end of it all, TF Black sustained 150 wounded, 23 killed, 25 untouched, and 2 missing in action. PFC John A. Barnes III was awarded the MOH for his actions. Veteran's Day was rough in our house with the memories and flashbacks. As much as I miss my dad and would give just about anything for one more fishing trip with him, especially now that I have two kids of my own who like fishing, I'm glad his war and pain are over. Some pics of him in action (He's the skinny guy with his shirt off in most of the pics)...

https://www.arizonamountaininn.com/ I also just texted my TKD instructor about her place. And I just remembered another friend with a rental in Williams.

Tony is correct with that information. We instructors have a huge backlog of students needing the course. As long as the youth have completed the online portion of a class, their field day is waived for a year. No, you don't have to have the course completed to apply for the hunt; just completed prior to the hunt starting. If you know you're kid will be hunting, I highly recommend getting them through a class as soon as they turn 9 and not waiting until they get drawn. I've lost track of how many calls and emails I've gotten along the lines of: "My kid got drawn and now I need you to put on a class for us before his hunt starts next week." And I've had some parents get downright mean and nasty at me when I tell them I'm not available to organize a last-minute course. Only once have I fired back unprofessionally, and that was after the mom made it personal.

I've got a 78 F150 Custom 4x4 with the 351M that my dad bought brand new. Still have the original bill of sale in the glove box. Amazing what he paid vs what that type of modern truck goes for now. He gave it to me when I turned 16 and it was my daily driver until 2002. I got it running again and then it sat when my mom was diagnosed with cancer 7 years ago. I'm pretty sure its the fuel pump, I just need to get the time to get under there. Its been so long since I've done all my own work and I'm hoping it will come back. For parts and stuff, I've used Bronco Graveyard and National Parts Depot. Anyone in Flagstaff want to help me get that great truck running again?

I've shot lots of pistols over the years, and I keep coming back to my 1911s. I had three for a long time and I kept telling my wife I need one more so that each of us in the family has one of their own. "Why do we each need our own 1911?" "Zombie apocolypse!" "Good point". Our NWTF chapter up here in Flagstaff recently gifted me an NWTF commemorative 1911 for all of my work running our chapter. I now own four 1911s! YESS!!!

Friendly reminder to get your 31-Day Gun Raffle tickets before the Nov 10 early bird deadline for a chance at a great gun safe!

Junior streaking through the woods again?

Update on the calendar incentive: If you buy a calendar through our chapter, you will be entered into a separate drawing for a $400 Sportsman's Warehouse gift certificate!

Link to buy online is up! https://www.naznwtf.org/shop

That's right. Next road up. I couldn't remember which road it was on. Been on both several times. Was it originally a sign for a cattle operation?

Off Hwy 64. I FR 320.

Fyi, just saw this posted. Looks like conditions have improved enough to open the burn scar mostly up. From what I gleaned, recreation sites (developed camp grounds) still closed. https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd806614.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3XB-2CB7RNkPk9yerjVCYX3GKbTk2L8x0C6x1D2m3pam8gNyFW_fjwjaw

There are a few good ones and everyone has their favorites. I use Coconino Game Processing for all of my stuff I don't do myself. Dennis is great.

Hey Mike, MH did change their packaging. We picked up a couple for Jacob's deer hunt in November and the packaging had been changed. And I can keep an eye open here for whatever you want. We have an REI and Sportsman's Warehouse with easy access. Can get what you want/need and ship it down.

Our NWTF Chapter in Flagstaff is raffling a Canyon 65-quart cooler We have less than 30 chances left for a great Canyon Cooler. Get your chance at a Canyon Pro 65 qt cooler now! Only $10/chance and only 70 chances sold! We use the money we raise for habitat improvement projects, wildlife research funds, Hunter Education, and getting youth outdoors, including helping sponsor youth turkey hunting camps. https://www.naznwtf.org/product-page/canyon-cooler-raffle

Its far from a lib/hippie angle. Most every colleague I work with in the condor recovery program are die-hard hunters and far from liberals. And I can provide you all the peer-reviewed science papers on the lead poisoning/eagle issue you want from reputable scientists.

I texted my condor recovery program colleague at AGFD a little while ago regarding the disposition of the gut piles. Its an excellent question that I should actually know off the top of my head. They are taken immediately to either the Kanab or Flagstaff landfill and buried immediately, so as to not have them available for consumption by anything. To everyone who has made the switch, even if for that hunt alone, or packed out gut piles, I want to say THANK YOU! It may sound cheesy, but you guys and gals are truly my conservation heroes. The lead poisoning goes way beyond condors, though. Every year, 1000s (yes, thousands) of other raptors, including bald and golden eagles, are lost to the same lead poisoning as condors. All kinds of other scavengers, both mammal and bird, are killed by lead poisoning from bullet fragments every year. I was asked to take over the condor recovery program for our office because I hunt and use/understand nonlead bullets in all of my hunting rifles. My predecessor was neither and didn't think highly of hunters, especially those who didn't use non-lead ammo. That's not me. One of the biggest arguments I ever hear is that copper bullets don't expand on small game. My son shot his first buck last October (Coues) at 375 yards with 140gr Barnes TTSX in his 7mm-08. The exit wound was at least two inches diameter at that distance. Last January, he shot his javelina using my M1 Garand, loaded with Barnes 150gr VOR-TX ammo at 75 yards. The exit wound was softball sized. Both small-bodied animals with gaping exit wounds, indicative of full expansion, no matter the velocity. Anyone that is ever traveling through Flagstaff and wants to talk condors, conservation (in general), and non-lead ammo, just hit me up and I will buy the coffee (quit drinking 7 years ago November). All I ever do is present the science as we know it and encourage you to do your own research after that to make your own informed decisions. No judgement, no name-calling; just a good discussion about how we, as hunters, can truly be the ultimate conservationists (and free coffee for you at a good coffee shop). In something related, everyone is (or should be) aware that the EPA has set lead levels for what constitutes lead poisoning in humans. The following is the abstract of a study that was published in 2009 regarding lead fragmentation in the venison we eat. Keep in mind that lead poisoning is considered cumulative and builds up in our bodies over time and that several studies have documented lead fragments in game carcasses through x-rays over 20 inches from the point of impact. If you are interested in the whole article, I will gladly send it to you. Again, this is not intended to start an argument or even a debate; just to merely present some data and, hopefully, get people to think about the issue. I would like to point out, again, my offer for a good cup of coffee. Hunt et al.: 2009 Lead Bullet Fragments in Venison from Rifle-Killed Deer: Potential for Human Dietary Exposure "Human consumers of wildlife killed with lead ammunition may be exposed to health risks associated with lead ingestion. This hypothesis is based on published studies showing elevated blood lead concentrations in subsistence hunter populations, retention of ammunition residues in the tissues of hunter-killed animals, and systemic, cognitive, and behavioral disorders associated with human lead body burdens once considered safe. Our objective was to determine the incidence and bioavailability of lead bullet fragments in hunter-killed venison, a widely-eaten food among hunters and their families. We radiographed 30 eviscerated carcasses of White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) shot by hunters with standard lead-core, copper-jacketed bullets under normal hunting conditions. All carcasses showed metal fragments (geometric mean = 136 fragments, range = 15–409) and widespread fragment dispersion. We took each carcass to a separate meat processor and fluoroscopically scanned the resulting meat packages; fluoroscopy revealed metal fragments in the ground meat packages of 24 (80%) of the 30 deer; 32% of 234 ground meat packages contained at least one fragment. Fragments were identified as lead by ICP in 93% of 27 samples. Isotope ratios of lead in meat matched the ratios of bullets, and differed from background lead in bone. We fed fragment-containing venison to four pigs to test bioavailability; four controls received venison without fragments from the same deer. Mean blood lead concentrations in pigs peaked at 2.29 mg/dL (maximum 3.8 mg/dL) 2 days following ingestion of fragment-containing venison, significantly higher than the 0.63 mg/dL averaged by controls. We conclude that people risk exposure to bioavailable lead from bullet fragments when they eat venison from deer killed with standard lead-based rifle bullets and processed under normal procedures. At risk in the U.S. are some ten million hunters, their families, and low-income beneficiaries of venison donations."

Sounds good. Let me know which one you want to trade.

If we could figure out how to make it work between Flagstaff and Queen Creek, I'm open to it. I won't be down there anytime soon.