Flatlander

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.

She yielded 125 lbs of boned out meat. So that would probably put her somewhere around 350 lbs. She was a tank. It was tough to move her even a few feet for pics.

No, they didn’t go after me for restitution or my privileges. I appeared in court in Prescott where the judge told me hunting stories from when he was a kid and then fined me the court minimum $100. I was only 18 and since I self reported I think he felt bad for me.

There was a time I agreed with you, unfortunately AZ has fallen WAY down the antelope quality ladder. Other than 5B and maybe 10 (too many tags for too many years) the rest of AZ more or less = Idaho.

Same. I know for a fact it was in place in 2001 because I was cited for it and my citation read “Harvesting buck antelope horn shorter than the ear”. My arrow clipped the edge of the window on my ground blind and went over the back of the buck I was shooting at and center punched a fawn buck. I self reported and even asked if I could tag the animal because it was a buck, but no dice.

Nash helped dad get in on the action today. Pics to come.

Nice buck congrats on getting her into the game!

It used to be longer than the ear. Now they just say buck.

2016 is the year AZGFD started paying Newberg. I was able to have a discussion about this with Jim on his IG account. He doesn't seem to believe there is any connection between otc archery reductions and AZGFD promoting it via social media. He wants to blame it on COVID, but the trend started before COVID so I am not sure we can play that card.

Jim is a top notch biologist and I think we are lucky to have him here. But I guess he will just have to go share a camp with Randy Newberg or those Hush guys or some other YouTube celebrity that AZGFD has pandered to.

Should be a good time. Good luck to both kiddos!

The reasoning that harvest reporting will discourage hunter participation doesn’t make sense. Dove hunting probably has more participation than any other species and harvest reporting is required federally. Heck for my migratory stamp they ask me about all kinds of species that I am pretty sure no one has ever hunted in the history of man. Still doesn’t stop anyone from going dove hunting.

Based on today’s commission meeting it seems that mandatory reporting is gaining some traction.

Ok, I should be clear, that was under Agenda Item 7) Legislative Agenda. I think there is still another enhancement to the program that will be discussed during Agenda Item #13. Hopefully I will still be sitting here when that comes up. But I do have a day job that I have to pay some attention to.