neb

Audsley, Thanks but that was my Son who was there with my Daughter for me. I am signed up for the CAT group for the Sierra Vista area and will be down for the rest of the meetings. We are getting more reps in the groups from the Sierra Vista Whitetail club (Chris Sterner- president sterner12345@msn.com) and a rep from the gold prospectors (Huachuca Prospectors Assn.). We are actively trying to get more specific input from hunters and others on specifics of the roads. I am very familiar with nearly all of the roads from Montezuma Pass to the Canelo/west gate area but don't know the roads involved to the north west. We've been hunting ,camping atc. in this area since the early 70's and I went to High School in Sierra Vista. The huachuca Whitetail club is having it's annual banquet at our ranch house near Parker Canyon Lake. Let me know if you have an interest in coming by. Nathan Beneze

I thought I would send a follow up note after my contacts with the Border Patrol today. I called the Border Patrol today and struggled through 3 underlings to get to the “Public Information Officer” (at 520-748-3000) at the District Office of the Tucson District to ask about the BP input and policy/advisement on the proposed Forest service road closures in the Huachucas and access issues for the ranch road. You’d think I was calling to ask if the were seeing Martians....... the P.I.O. said “ I don’t know anything about proposed road closures or the Forest Service plan” and “This is the first I’ve heard about this plan” and several times referred me to the Forest Service for any questions. I left my number with her and asked if she could check on this issue and get back to me. None of the people I talked to would or could give any info at all. The thought that the Border Patrol would not be intimately involved in the closures of 150 miles of roads within 20-30 miles of the Border is mind boggling to me. Maybe I just hit an isolated pocket of incompetence, but of the 4 people I spoke to , none would comment or acted like they knew anything about the proposed road closures. Nathan Beneze

I thought I would send a follow up note after my contacts with the Border Patrol today. I called the Border Patrol today and struggled through 3 underlings to get to the “Public Information Officer” (at 520-748-3000) at the District Office of the Tucson District to ask about the BP input and policy/advisement on the proposed Forest service road closures in the Huachucas and access issues for the ranch road. You’d think I was calling to ask if the were seeing Martians....... the P.I.O. said “ I don’t know anything about proposed road closures or the Forest Service plan” and “This is the first I’ve heard about this plan” and several times referred me to the Forest Service for any questions. I left my number with her and asked if she could check on this issue and get back to me. None of the people I talked to would or could give any info at all. The thought that the Border Patrol would not be intimately involved in the closures of 150 miles of roads within 20-30 miles of the Border is mind boggling to me. Maybe I just hit an isolated pocket of unawareness, but of the 4 people I spoke to , none would comment or acted like they knew anything about the proposed road closures. Nathan Beneze

www.fs.fed.us/nepa/nepa_project_exp.php?project=36560 The Forest Service has proposed closing 150+ miles of roads in the Huachuca Mountains Coronado National Forest. The comment period goes into February and the closures are planned for early 2013. Most closures south of the Huachucas to the border (Unit 35A) are roads that have been present for decades and are used by hunters and Border Patrol extensively. I would encourage anyone with an interest to review and comment on this plan. Absent a dramatic response from those concerned with these closures it will happen. I have been hunting this area since the mid seventies and have seen dramatic closures of access on both sides of the Huachucas from Wilderness designation; Arizona trail closure and administrative blockages by the Forest Service. I would strongly encourage opposition to these proposed closures. Thanks, Nathan Beneze

I'm playing it by the book. All comments are apreciated, thanks, NB

I can't tell from the info I looked a so far. Several roads are listed as "FS restricted", I'm not sure what that means. All of the roads closed for Wilderness and Az. Trail do not allow Border Patrol access. My guess is it would be difficult to close them for hunting and 4-wheelers and keep them open for the BP. neb I spend a lot of time hunting in the San Pedro Riparian Preserve. This area is closed to ALL motorized vehicular traffic so we walk or bike in several miles each way. The access points are all locked and well signed to make it clear that no motorized vehicles are allowed...but what they really mean is no motorized access to hunters unless you have connections. If you are with BLM, boarder Patrol, or Sherriff Department you can get a key. If you have a friend who works for any of these groups you can get a key. If you need to study or photograph birds, you can get a key. It is amazing how many BP agents, BLM employees, and their friends need to work in the area during January, all the while they take their private vehicles and bows to work with them and camo is their uniform. Somehow hunters vehicles must be more environmentally damaging than the vehicles of these other interested parties. I don't mind vehicle access to these areas being shut off, but let's all play by the same rules. Rest assured, if these roads are restricted, it will not be to all hunters, just those who are not well connected. You will be able to still hunt your favorite spots if you are willing to work hard enough to hike in. Once you get there you will be able to share it with the friends, neighbors and family of the chosen few who have been blessed with keys and are able to drive in. What BS. Over the next month I plan to work on getting as much opposition to this as I can. I've been sending messages most of the evening. There were only 5 messages posted this afternoon when I last checked. Hopefully I (we) can get enough to get their attention. Have sent messages to some of the prospecting clubs also as they are blocking about 6 miles of road access to Ash Canyon, one of the Placer gold areas in the Huachucas. Any help in this issue will be gratly appreciated. Thanks. NB

I don't know if we can change it but every comment to them can't hurt. I've been contacting 4-wheeler clubs and some prospecting groups to try to get some opposition. I'll be at the Huachuca Whitetail Club annual banquet on 2/4/2012. Hopefully we can get more comments. Iwas looking at the plans more tonight and it makes me want to puke. EVERY road has some purported enviromental or erosion impact. It looks like all of the "Restricted "roads will not allow the public access. neb

I can't tell from the info I looked a so far. Several roads are listed as "FS restricted", I'm not sure what that means. All of the roads closed for Wilderness and Az. Trail do not allow Border Patrol access. My guess is it would be difficult to close them for hunting and 4-wheelers and keep them open for the BP. neb

www.fs.fed.us/nepa/nepa_project_exp.php?project=36560 The Forest Service has proposed closing 150+ miles of roads in the Huachuca Mountains Coronado National Forest. The comment period goes into February and the closures are planned for early 2013. Most closures south of the Huachucas to the border (Unit 35A) are roads that have been present for decades and are used by hunters and Border Patrol extensively. I would encourage anyone with an interest to review and comment on this plan. Absent a dramatic response from those concerned with these closures it will happen. I have been hunting this area since the mid seventies and have seen dramatic closures of access on both sides of the Huachucas from Wilderness designation; Arizona trail closure and administrative blockages by the Forest Service. I would strongly encourage opposition to these proposed closures. Thanks, Nathan Beneze

Congrats on a really neat buck.

Thanks for the kind words. The first few days gave us great weather and the hunt ended with near horizontal rain,snow and wind but the deer were out in the bad weather. Here are a few more pictures of some Coues we've taken. untitled.bmp

My son, my dentist friend and I had December tags in 35a this year and were able to take some nice deer. my son is a 3rd year student at Uof Arizona college of Medicine and was able to take his best Coues on 12/24/2010 ( he's the young guy in the pictures). We've been hunting the unit for the last 30 years and have taken a few nice deer. Mark (the dentist ) and I took deer on 12/30/2010. I've looked at this site for a few years but never posted till now. The larger of the deer both scored at ~100 points. Over the last 30 + years I have become a hopeless Coues deer fanatic. Neb

[att achment=30035:mw_coues_deer_2010.jpg]] N ew to the forum. These are the Coues we got on the December hunt last month in 35a.

Very nice Buck!!