Flatlander

I don’t imagine it took long for them to wise up and get out of the candy cane as it is called.

Last I heard 2/9 shooters had killed bison. And when I was in the park last weekend and this summer the bison were not in the places we usually see them. I think the PS has their hands full.

That first female is a trophy doe!

Great to hear the report and congrats! Looks like you figured out how to hunt the timber. I’d say most AZ hunters shy away from the tall trees, especially compared to hunters from other states. As others have said, I hope your wife is back to 100% ASAP.

Earlier this year I made a public records request for the number of resident and non-resident archery deer non-permit sales. For a couple of years it has seemed like non-resident hunter numbers have been increasing so I decided to see if my suspicion could be confirmed with data. Below are the results: (If viewing from your phone turn sideways) 2018 2019 2020 Dealer sales- RES 20,832 19,890 21,125 Dept sales- RES 4,807 5,120 5,371 Dealer Sales-NRS 1,789 2,188 2,591 Dept sales- NRS 313 395 502

Hermit Cabin would be a sweet place to go find.

https://www.change.org/p/arizona-game-and-fish-department-azgfd-stop-paying-influencers?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_30740623_en-US%3A4&recruiter=848130199&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_term=a209c03415a648489d266094d58620f9

No NR cap on Javelina tags

That early snow may have pushed them into the oaks. When I passed through on Saturday we only saw 5 deer up top where we normally see dozens.

Last year Nash got straight A’s the entire year. As a reward we decided to go hunt antelope in WY. We didn’t have a lot of points so we had to hunt a unit with very limited public land and boy were the bucks skittish. Last night after a one mile stalk via an irrigation ditch this buck decided to go on a runabout and stopped at 150 to get a look at us. Nash made an excellent quartering towards us shot and the rest is history.

Yeah he sent me a text last night. I am sure he will go much faster than I did

Hiked Rim to Rim Saturday. Managed to ride my bike this AM but that’s all I could muster. Walking is hard.

Are you in Yuma? Healys is usually good about shipping.

Healys had it last week

Solid buck and great photo! Congrats to both of you!

For those who are interested, the dealines for submitting recommendations for the 2023 - 2028 hunt guidelines closes on Wednesday 9/1. I finally finished typing up a number of recommendations I have been considering for the past 18 months. Feel free to read what I submitted in the attached file. I'd be interested to see what others think of my suggestions. Keep in mind that many of them propose changes to the actual AAC and can't just be changed through hunt guidelines. If there is something that has been on your mind, now ithe time to speak up and let the department hear your voice. AG Hunt Guideline Recommendations 2021.docx

Yes… and no… Increasing efficacy reduces the total number of tags available. If the surplus population available for harvest is 100 animals and the success rate is 50% then 200 tags are available. If the success rate increases to 75% then the number of tags is reduced to 133. I think it would be hard to argue that crossbows don’t increase efficacy, how much is debatable.

What is it that you are warning someone of? Introducing deadly force into a confrontation is an escalation and might be justification for self-defense. Suggesting this in an environment where almost everyone is armed is irresponsible.

There have been pictures of these posted on several local Facebook pages. So what happens when an atv tire flips one of these things up and it hits the person behind them? It sounds cool to talk tough on the internet. Reality is you can just hike over a ridge with no roads on it if you really wanted to solve the problem.

This is stupid. ATV’s are annoying but joking about shooting at people is dumb.

So much fun. Congratulations!

Healy’s has .243

Congrats! That’s some lucky draw karma, good for him! And a rotated pic because I know how annoying that is.

Great to see! Nice job keeping the kiddos on the critters. They will remember that for their entire lives.

After being in Wyoming with my son Nash we returned home to spend the second half of fall break on my oldest son Hunter’s youth elk hunt. It was an exciting trip for me because it was the first time ever my Dad had joined my boys for a hunt. It was a lifetime of anticipation finally coming to fruition. We left on Thursday and stopped at the range to confirm zero on the rifle and backup rifle. From there we spent the rest of the day napping in our friends’ amazing “cabin” before heading out to scout for the afternoon. While we checked familiar spots the boys climbed some huge trees and took turns opening gates. Late in the afternoon we found a group of elk at the same tank where Hunter shot his elk last year. We watched for a few minutes before pulling out to leave them for morning. At this point we had been hunting / road-tripping for a week straight and I was starting to wear down. O’ dark thirty came early and I was struggling to rub the sleep from my eyes. We finally got on the road with at least a plan for the first few hours. I was feeling a little stressed as I didn’t feel like we had a solid backup plan of the elk weren’t where we left them. But a quick conversation with my dad reminded me that they were elk and it was early October. Somewhere we were bound to hear a bugle and give chase. As we got within a few hundred yards of where we planned to park we came over a hill to see 20 elk staring back at us from the middle of the road. I cruised on by trying not to excite them too much. When we were out of sight we parked and listened. We could hear the two bulls from the night before bugling in the opposite direction of the herd we had just seen on the road. We had a decision to make. Remembering the discussion from the night before I proposed we follow the bugles into the junipers. As we began our pursuit we circled to get the wind in our favor but that put a group of cattle between us and the bugling bull. We slipped in close enough to hear the bull raking his antlers in the junipers just ahead, but the cattle were getting nervous. Finally an angus and her two calves came around the tree we were hiding in and decided they had enough. They crashed through the trees directly in line with the elk. As they disappeared into the juniper the bull had been taking just moments before the thundering of hooves grew and I knew this gig was about up. I let out a few soft cow calls and we moved forward rapidly to try and get a look. As I rounded a juniper 8 cows were staring back in my direction. I froze and looked back to see hunter 10 yds behind me. I threw up the tripod with triclawps and urged him forward. Just as he leveled his rifle one cow started to break away. I hit a soft mew and she stopped broadside momentarily. Hunter didn’t hesitate and it was all over but the cutting. In a few short minutes my dad and Hunter’s brother Nash were standing with us in a big group hug. A lifetime of anticipation fulfilled. I want to add a special thank you to Kasey James. We don’t know him, but he donated his youth elk tag to OE4A providing this once in a lifetime opportunity for 3 generations of our family. It may not have been what some would call a premium tag (although my boys who didn’t draw with 4 BP might disagree) but it was a premium experience. I hope that my sons are learning that the value is in the experience not the score. We’ve had some pretty awesome adventures but I can’t think of any that topped this. What a week.