Red Rabbit

Journeyed this late afternoon to Grand Falls on the Little Colorado River northeast of Flagstaff. Played a little with a new ND4 filter to give slower shutter speeds to soften the water. The filter definitely imparted a color shift. I arrived a little late as the shadows were already at the base of the falls. The next trip in the near future will provide more time in the afternoon to try different ND and CP filter combinations and shutter speeds. Doug~RR

Larry, The -1052 appears right after the 85087 zip on both the green striped envelope and in the hunt regs on page 3 Doug~RR

Hope the fire does not get hot enough to sterilize the ground. The fresh green growth after the fire will really attract the deer.

With 8 BP, you would have a great chance of drawing the 12W October early hunt. Granted, it is not the late hunt or 13B, but the bucks are there somewhere. Some good bucks are taken with hard work, but most killed are smaller. There is a thread on Monster Muleys in the Arizona forum about this hunt. Jim/Coosefan took a nice buck last year on the early hunt with hard work and scouting. http://forums.coueswhitetail.com/forums/in...c=11348&hl= But those Dec Coues hunts are nice. Good luck! RR

Ya-but, that is cuz there ain't no deer in unit 22. And when there are soooooo few deer it is nice not to have any competion in the woods. Ya gotta have a unit specifically for those who want to hunt harder and longer, right? When you finally see a deer, there is then a real sense of accomplishment.

From the Hunt Guidelines: "Alternative Hunt Management" will provide opportunities to harvest older age class animals, for lower hunter densities, and for higher hunt success. Alternative hunt management for mule deer will occur in Units 12A, 12B, 13A, 13B, 45A, 45B, and 45C; hunts will be managed in accordance with the parameters below. Alternative hunt management for white-tailed deer will occur in Units 6A, 23, 30B, 31, and 36C; hunts will be managed in accordance with the parameters below. A limited amount of December whitetailed deer harvest opportunity will be offered in most white-tailed deer units, but up to 30% of the harvest will be allocated with December permits in those units managed under Alternative Hunt Management. A total of up to 5% of all white-tailed deer permits statewide will be offered in December." Units 30B and to some extent 36C were chosen due to the limited access. With only a few access points, 30B would not be a good unit for increased hunter numbers. This years increase in Dec permits in some AMUs was to meet the "up to 30%" harvest objective.

Cedars equipped with Wensel Woodsmans

Sure am glad I have an ancient Nokia that has no pic capabilities.

resident or nonresident? For some Dec WT, the NR 10% cap was met in the 20% pass. You can look at the various 2008 hunts here and see where you likely stand. http://www.azgfd.gov/eservices/pdfs/2008Bo...port1-2Pass.pdf

308nut, I do see a possible scenario here that you would not fall in the 20% pass for the first choice of late 12 or 13 (top BP will be 12), but would with a Dec WT as 2nd choice. Hence you would draw the Dec WT in the 20% pass and never really be considered for your first choice. Agreed, do not choose a Oct or Nov WT as choice #3-5 as some of these hunts in the border units will likely be available as leftovers. You do not lose your BP if drawing a leftover.

After comparing the 2010-2012 with the 2008-2010 Guidelines, I note a few things. No mention of a possible Jr Muzz deer hunt in December over Christmas (a hunt Don Martin argued to keep for kids involved with fall sports/band) Archery Deer- if archery harvest is 10-20% of total, additional opportunity will be incrementally added. Juniors elk to occur during school holidays like Columbus Day or Veterans Day, and to overlap junior deer hunts. This year it is the week after Veterans day, so it looks to be moved up a week. This could reduce youth opportunity due to the overlap, but the elk and deer draws are separate so one will know what hunts to apply for. Looks like late archery elk and rifle deer will have their weeks switched. Nov archery elk will be begin on Friday of week 45 and deer on week 46. The 25 archery elk hunters in each unit then will not have the deer hunters pressuring the elk the week before their hunt. Also, if there is a Nov muzz elk hunt, the late archery elk will start week 47, the same week as General rifle elk. General rifle elk will move up 1 week by starting on Friday of week 47, instead of week 48. This will put the rifle deer hunters in the field directly before the elk hunters with no calming-down time for the elk between seasons. This also means that elk season will be the week before Thanksgiving as opposed to starting Thanksgiving Friday.

http://azgfd.net/artman/publish/NewsMedia/...uidelines.shtml http://www.azgfd.gov/pdfs/h_f/guidelines/H...ftJune22009.pdf Public input requested to guide Arizona’s hunt guidelines Game and Fish Department to host public meetings across the state this month PHOENIX — The Arizona Game and Fish Department is hosting a series of nine public meetings to solicit input on the proposed revisions under consideration for the hunt guidelines used for setting the 2010-11 and 2011-12 hunting seasons dates, structures, permit levels, and more. The proposed revisions under consideration for the hunt guidelines were developed based on agency and constituent input since 2007, when hunt guidelines were last revised. Additionally, the department formally solicited and received more than 100 suggestions during the public comment period in May. Moreover, dozens of ideas, field notes, biological considerations, social aspects and more went into improving the hunt guidelines during a multitude of work sessions by a diverse representation of department employees. “This draft revision of the hunt guidelines is the result of a collaborative and transparent effort between the department and its constituents,” said Game and Fish Director Larry Voyles. “We want to continue this relationship by encouraging sportsmen and sportswomen to find the time, in their already busy schedules, to attend a public meeting and share their thoughts and concerns. By doing so, together we can shape these guidelines to foster and perpetuate our hunting heritage for the next generation of hunters.” The draft hunt guidelines are now available on the department’s Web site at www.azgfd.gov/huntguidelines on the right side of the page under the “what’s new” heading, or by clicking here [pdf, 59kb]. The public meetings are at the following locations, dates and times: Kingman, Wednesday, June 10, 6–8 p.m. at the Kingman Game and Fish regional office, 5325 N. Stockton Hill Road Prescott, Thursday, June 11, 6–8 p.m. at the Yavapai County Board Chambers, 1015 Fair Street, Prescott, 86305 Flagstaff, Monday, June 15, 6–8 p.m. at the Flagstaff Game and Fish regional office, 3500 S. Lake Mary Road Flagstaff, 86001 Mesa, Tuesday, June 16 , 6–8 p.m. at the Mesa Game and Fish regional office , 7200 E. University Drive, Mesa, 85207 Payson, Wednesday, June 17, 6–8 p.m. at the Best Western Payson Inn, 801 N. Beeline Highway 87, 85547 Pinetop, Thursday, June 18, 6–8 p.m. at the Pinetop Game and Fish regional office 2878 E. White Mountain Blvd., 85935 Yuma, Tuesday, June 23, 6–8 p.m. at the Yuma Game and Fish regional office, 9140 E. 28th St., Yuma, 85365 Sierra Vista, Thursday, June 18, 6–8 p.m. at the Buena High School, 5225 E. Buena School Blvd. Sierra Vista, 85635 Tucson, Thursday, June 25, 6–8 p.m. at the Tucson Game and Fish regional office, 555 N. Greasewood Road, Tucson, 85745 Each public meeting will consist of a brief presentation of the proposed draft guidelines, which in many cases offers of a number of available options for the public to comment on. Some examples include: How do you feel about moving the early Kaibab deer hunt two weeks earlier? Should a juniors-only muzzleloader hunt during the rut be offered? What percentage of juniors-only hunts should be offered? After the presentation, department staff will take questions, provide insight and reasoning, and record any public recommended changes to the draft presented. For those that are unable to attend a public meeting, your comments and suggestions on the draft guidelines are still welcome and encouraged through June 30. Please e-mail them to: azgamebranch@azgfd.gov or by U.S. mail to: Hunt Guidelines Arizona Game and Fish Department 5000 W. Carefree Highway Phoenix, AZ 85086. The department will use these final public inputs to finalize the hunt guidelines under consideration, which will be presented to the commission for approval at its Sept. 11–12 meeting in Phoenix. Commission meeting agendas are available online at www.azgfd.gov/commission under commission agenda. Voyles added, “When reviewing the guidelines, understand, there are a plethora of variables and there is no perfect solution for the many varied desires of our hunting and nonhunting public, yet we want to balance those needs in such a way that we do not compromise the viability of our wildlife or the experience.” “It is an incredible challenge to balance constituent satisfaction, work load on law enforcement and wildlife managers, and allowing enough time for flight surveys, data collection, and other necessary biological wildlife management methodologies,” said Voyles. “What may seem like a simple change could have a domino effect on many other intertwined factors.” Every two years, on odd numbered years, the department reviews and revises the existing hunt guidelines and recommends changes that address the current direction of the commission. The direction for the 2009 package is for standardization, simplification, and increasing hunter participation. The hunt guidelines set the framework, social and biological, that the department uses to develop specific hunt recommendations and permit level guides for commission orders (elk, deer, antelope, etc.). To learn more about the hunt guidelines process, visit www.azgfd.gov/huntguidelines.

Gee Lark, even you know the 270 is really a 30-06 messed with and made goofy

FOC-front of center: http://www.backcountrybowhunting.com/articles/foc.php http://bowsite.com/bowsite/features/practi...ight/index.html

Broadhead weight might/should be determined by the length and weight of your arrow shaft to give you a 10-12% FOC

There were a lot of people left scratching their heads in befuddlement over the lack of a 25 WSM from Winchester.

Scott Adams has a pair of the Docter Aspectums 30x. Due to the magnification, one might find themselves glassing areas a couple of canyons too far away. They are nice to pick apart the bushes for the bedded deer. FOV is rather limited on the shorter ranges. I had a chance to look through them on a coues hunt with Scott a few years ago. I might suspect that the Kowa Prominar Highlanders would offer better resolution that the Docters, as the Kowa Prominar spotting scopes are rated above the Swaros. Binoculars.com has the Highlander for $4000 Often I wished while glassing that the 15x binos were 20 or 25x, but who makes an affordable 20x80 that has the needed sharpness?

For the Obamanites Hoping for Change: There were about 80,000 hunters applying for 20,000 elk tags this year. That means 3 out of 4 didn’t get drawn; reality strikes. 75% of the elk hunters might feel a need to complain, but AZ does not have enough game to make everyone a tag-holder every year. Maybe once every 4 years if one would accept a cow tag or a tag in a less desirable unit. Someone told me that he noticed that the lowest BP group in the 20% pass did not draw any tags in the regular draw. He figured that those people were not put back into the regular draw. According the draw instructions, after the 20% bonus pass, new random numbers are assigned for the regular draw. So I opened up the BP analysis for the 20% pass and regular draw to check. NOT TRUE. For most of the elk hunts, there were people in the lowest BP group of the 20% pass that did draw in the regular draw. There were some hunts that people from the lowest group did not draw, but that was in the early rifle bull hunts and the harder to draw archery elk hunts. After the 20% pass, draw odds go down to abysmal chances and it is very conceivable that no one in a bonus group may get drawn for the few trophy tags. Do we want to change the system? 3-YEAR WAITING PERIOD? Using a 3 year waiting period instead won’t help you much. There were 2652 first choice and 1061 second choice applicants applying for the unit 9 archery bull hunt. Removing 300 people won't mean much as there would still be 2352 people left. (Note: numbers being used are from the 2008 draw) For 6A rifle bull, 9500 people applied for the 950 tags. Removing people for 3 years would change you from 1 out of 10 applicants, to 1 out of 7. Better, but still only 14% instead of 10% straight chance. And then you are only removing people with the lowest number of BP and hence those with the fewest random numbers to compete against. PREFERENCE POINT SYSTEM? Back to unit 9 archery bull. Using a preference system for those 2652 first choice applicants would require 26 years at 100 permits a year to get to the bottom group. Wanna wait 27 years to hunt unit 9 again? For unit 7W archery bull (less status than unit 9), there were 844 first choice applicants for the 150 permits. It would take 6 years to clear everyone out and for one to be drawn again. For 6A rifle, there were 6,144 first choice applicants for the 950 permits. At 950 permits per year, it would be 7 years before all were drawn. Wanna wait 7 or 8 years before your next rifle bull hunt? Your son turns 10 and you would like to get him hunting before he finds other activities to do and not gain a passion for hunting. “Well son, sorry but you can’t hunt till you turn at least 16…gotta wait your turn”. Preference system for antelope or sheep??? You’ll be hunting from your grave or with one foot in it. Unit 7 has some of the better draw odds for rifle antelope. There were 756 first choice applicants for 50 permits…up to a 15 year wait. For unit 10 rifle antelope, 4571 first choice applicants for 60 permits…up to a 76 year wait. The current bonus point system would be much better than any preference point system, in my opinion. At least one has a chance to draw every year. Much better than having NO chance for say 8 years. Is the current system perfect? Probably not. What do I think can be done to improve it? Increase the 20% bonus pass to 30 or 40%. This would clear out the top bonus point groups faster, help those who are continually unlucky in the draw, and still give a chance for those without max points. Do people without max points want a chance to draw? I would say so, judging by the clogged phone lines the past few days. Complaints are heard when people do not draw for several years, but one must look at what hunts they have on their application for first and second choice. If one is holding out for a unit 9 or 10 archery bull hunt, then one would hope to see teeth marks on their lips. If one hears of people being drawn for 3 years in a row, congratulate them and then you also will likely find them drawing some cow hunts or bull hunts in LO units and they are willing to do their homeworkt to hunt these tougher units. But then I know a lucky guy who drew unit 9 archery bull 2 years in a row recently- glad for him, not steaming-mad jealous. Doug~RR

Will have to shoot it with my camera this year. If it ain't big enough, there's Photoshop

Mike, I have no experience with it. Had a 260 Rem for a few years, though. RR

HOC, I probably have about 350 rounds down the tube. I do not have a bore scope to look at the throat. Have seen no loss of accuracy yet, but 350 rounds is not many. If the BR guys get 1000+ from a 6.5-284, I should get 2000 with a reduced rate of fire and not getting the barrel toasty-hot, ya think. RR

Gee Cinderella, you're not afraid of turning into a PUMPKIN are ya? You guys have been all over the place up there.

I knew there was a reason they were called DESERT GHOSTS

The mearns was cool. Used to be the bears really like the film cameras. Guess the cameras need need a scent-free wash and rubber glove treatment for those olfactory bruins. Doug~RR

Ruffs in Flag has a pretty good selection of 22RF ammo. When you come to the CWT gathering at Marshall Lake in a few weeks, it'd be worth a 10 mile trip to town. Doug