Red Rabbit

Here's that little buck taken on that backpack hunt into the "Kofas" A pair of wood ducks from Arkansas made a nice base mount. One mount that intrigued me was a life size coues jumping over a bush and a covey of gambel quail busting out at its base. I saw this mount years ago in the front window of a taxidermy shop that has since closed. I think it was something like World Wide Taxidermy on Cave Creek Rd. I have long thought that a mountain lion sneaking down the rocks above a bedded coues buck would make a great lifesize set for the corner of a room. Have not gotten the kitty yet. RR

Chris, Seems like you have a nice place over in Kingman and your interior decorator has done a great job. you have some nice muleys, not to mention that speedgoat for which you certianly can make a pedestal. RR

Here's one of my trophies The devil made me do it. This is post #666

Tonto and Prescott NF are putting in restrictions. None here yet in the Coconino NF. http://gacc.nifc.gov/swcc/information/fire...rictions_az.htm Tanks up here around Flag seem to be about 3/4 empty. Better put your "spot reserved" sign up in unit 22 RR

Deer-2, hunted last year Antelope-16 elk-2, hunted last year Bighorn-14 Buff-2, only have applied once (totals include Hunter Ed and Loyalty points)

That skiff would have made finding fresh tracks easy, or to figure what way they went after leaving the roost. How'd ya do? Hope that rig has current registration RR

Lance, I had the chance to look through a friend's Cabelas 20x on his sheep hunt several years ago. Also a pair of Pentax porro prism 16x. I was not impressed with either I did not like the resolution to distinguish detail. Maybe the coatings or lenses have improved since. I'd wait for Cabelas to open, or visit Sportsmans Warehouse, or Outdoorsmans on Cave Creek Rd. The 30x Doctors that Scott Adams has are nice. Doug~RR

Nice pic, huntscout. Like the shadow and its maker on the wall tent. RR

Scott, Does your new home have a trophy room/den for all your great mounts? Nice crown on him. Looks like you did him well. Doug

Jim, The sides have a strap and buckle, so you can tighten it closer than 90* for when you are leaning foward into the binos. You can also unfasten the side straps and lay back and rest/nap. I wish the bottom seat had more padding though. Tines, Sportsmans Warehouse carries the Eberlestock Gunslinger and Just One packs. http://eberlestock.com/ Doug~RR

With the lengthening of the October hunts from 4 to 6 days, I think many will consider these over the November hunts because of a 50% longer season than before and being the first hunt at possibly less disturbed deer. How many of you will now consider an October hunt for one of your first two choices that have not done so before? The possibility exists for me. Generally, I have chosen a December then Nov hunt. Doug~RR

Stan, Good luck to you and Erik on your Gobbler hunt. I'll be out in 6B. I shot the buck from atop the hill in the background. It is one of the hills marked with an X on your map.

I carried, but did not "field test" the Shuttle T-locks last year. Blades also worth considering are the Slick Tricks and the RazorCaps. http://www.tightpoint.com/ http://www.slicktrick.net/ http://www.razorcaps.com/home.html Reviews of Diff blades: http://www.broadheadtests.com/NEWHEADS.html RR

I wish they had those outdoor rec classes when I was in college . Although I did have to suffer with a canoeing and sailing class where I learned to sailboard while others were struggling on the Sunfish. Doug~RR

Jim, Are you refering to the Crazy Creek classic chair. It weighs 23 oz and rolls/folds up to tie to the pack. THe stadium seat has thicker padding and is too stiff to roll or fold, and thus is bulky. Got em both. I tried inflatable seat pads, but two suffered from deflation syndrone. http://www.crazycreek.com/interior.cfm?page=detail&item=28 Doug~RR

A Win 70 Supergrade is at the smith getting accurized and rebarreled with a Pac-Nor in 6.5 WSM. Scopes are 3.5-10 w/ turrets. Binos are Leica 10x50, and Minox 15's, but am considering consolidating and saving weight with a pair of Leica 10+15 Duovids, inspite of their smaller field of view. Velbon Chaser EFL-4 and Slik Sprint mini tripods. Stoney Point tripod for shooting. Leica 1200 rangefinder. Blacks Creek/Jim Horn Alaskan daypack for all the "stuff" But the nicest thing is the foam sitting pad. RR

Stan, I noticed that also, but it was probably just an anomoly last year. What surprised me is only the 6% success in 6A last October, and this year the number of tags will be increased from 175 to 400 . I don't have enough peanuts for that upcoming circus. Don't forget the javelina hunts overlapping next Novembers whitetail and muley hunts down south. More peanuts back-ordered . RR

Congrats to your sis, Katie. Looks like there is a dominant hunting gene in the family genetics, and it's for the succcessful allele. RR

Bill, I received a survey from G&F about 5-6 years ago regarding archery hunting on the Kaibab. At the time, I thought that limiting the numbers of bowhunters was appropriate, as hunting was not enjoyable due to the numbers of hunters, road hunters, and bumping into others constantly while still hunting. About 4 years ago, Arizona Bowhunters Association convinced the G&F not to put the Kaibab on a draw and to gather harvest data at a hunter check station. G&F thought that the harvest was 1500-2000, but ABA did not believe those numbers. Subsequent surveys showed that only 160-180 deer were taken the next year. An archery stamp was implemented to help fund the Kaibab deer and get a number for how many archery hunters were on the Kaibab. ABA was leary that if the Kaibab was put on a draw, that the draw could spread to the rest of the state. G&F had mentioned extending the permitting to other units such as 1, 27, 9, 10. Doug~RR

I received the e-mail for UNsuccessful for Utah Antelope and UNsuccessful for rifle Utah southern deer. Still have Wyoming Antelope and NM deer in the fire. Doug~RR

I had noticed no unit 7M in the proposals but an 11M instead. An e-mail to G&F got this reply. Unit 7M has been changed to 11M based on a rule change that occurred earlier this year. The proposed change was to alleviate confusion hunters expressed with Unit 7 hunts and Unit 7M as to open areas. All metro unit numbers have been changed so that they will have a unique number, but will retain the M designation. Unit 11 was eliminated several years ago because the Commission does not have management authority over the Navajo Nation tribal lands.

Dave, Amanda, Mike and others, I would like to thank you for your calm-headed thoughts regarding the hunt proposals and their effect. I hope that speakers tomorrow at the meeting are also polite, calm and documented in their presentations. Below is a letter I have drafted to the commissioners to reiterate my opinions given in the surveys and local meetings. April 21, 2006 Dear Commissioners: As you consider the proposed Commission Orders for the 2006-2007 hunting season, I would like to thank you for the position you took regarding the archery elk hunt restructuring. While I do see the need to increase hunter opportunity to retain and recruit hunters, more opportunity in exchange for much poorer hunt quality as was proposed was not merited. The elk survey results, as do the current deer survey results, indicated that Arizona hunters do not want to sacrifice total hunt quality for opportunity. We in Arizona are blessed with a quality game herds due to the efforts of the department, commission, hunters and sportsmen?s groups, and I personally do not want to see this sacrificed. We all want to see quality and opportunity, which is a difficult balancing act and your decisions cannot satisfy both groups. Regarding the proposals for the deer hunts: ? I support the proposed.reduction of the number of buck and antlerless permits in 12A-West. ? The current percentage of December whitetail permits in the southern units is 5%. With a stated goal of up to 10% December permits, more December permits could be issued in many units. ? For central Arizona units, I support the stratified hunt seasons, but not to the numbers shown. Too many of the December permits have been shifted and increased in number to the earlier October or November hunt The permit numbers are too high to create a quality experience. The coues in these units tend to be located in more isolated pockets, which will lead to the hundreds of hunters concentrated in these areas. I had a 6A December tag several years ago with 299 other hunters, and in two areas that I hunted, hunters were 50 to 100 yards apart while glassing along the canyon rims. Now, 6A is to have an October hunt with 400 permittees. Perhaps these October numbers can be reduced some and the few remaining December tags increased to still provide increased opportunity with a quality experience. ? With the extension of the October hunt to 10 days, which I endorse, one would have to believe that hunter success will also increase. The overall unit permit numbers should be adjusted to reflect this anticipated harvest increase. ? According to the 2004 season figures, the latest I have seen published, there were 7 of the 13 southern units with October draw odds of 100%. Three others had odds of 99, 98 and 96%. If a person wanted to hunt and did not apply for these units in their first two choices, that person actually chose not to hunt. If people are saying that they are not getting drawn, perhaps they are choosing not to hunt by not applying for the existing October whitetail tags, or are strictly mule deer hunters whose units have poor odds statewide, or strictly apply for trophy strip unit hunts or December whitetail hunts. Regarding the junior javelina season slated to begin the last week of January, the javelina seasons for junior, HAM and rifle hunters could be shifted one week later, with the junior hunt beginning Feb. 2 and the rifle season ending March 8. I did not notice any later spring hunts this shift would overlap with, as spring bear begins March 23. This shift would alleviate the overlap with the archery deer and javelina seasons in January, with any fathers who may be bowhunting, and not result in the shortening of the archery seasons. Fall bear season start dates may not need to be uniformed, as they still could coincide with the dates of the food sources (berries, acorns, and prickly pear fruit) for the various units. I hope your decisions reflect the future of Arizona?s wildlife, the input of the biologists and the interests of the hunters in light of the increasing human population and habitat changes. Regards, Doug Koepsel

I recall reading several years ago about a competition at the NRA Whittington Center where shooters/hunters went through a course through the mountains, and had to locate and shoot at various targets at varying yardages. The event is timed, so there is a hurry-up factor to get through the course and with shooting. Sounded like fun, but I do not know if it is still held or what it was called. Long range shooting seems to be a contentious and argumentative topic. Every shooter has various abilities and limits based upon practice and experience. What range limits one person has or has seen others exhibit cannot be blanketed upon all other hunters/shooters. The same applies to archery, as one 3D shoot will show shooters with a wide range of skills. Just because one hunter can't hit a target at 25 yards does not mean that all archers should be limited to 20 or less. We each owe it to ourselves, the game we pursue and the community for each of us to determine our individual effective range under field conditions and the excitement of the moment. And stick with it, even if massive antlers want you to mentally stretch the shot into hail mary zones. We have a duty to politely counsel our friends who we know who took unethical LR shots at game beyong their effective range, just as we should take the keys away and counsel our friends who may want to drive after a couple toddies. Arrogant or puffed-out chest talk closes a lot of minds. My two pennies on this topic. RR

When I was little, I called my sister a whore in front of my dad. He was not happy, asked me if I knew what it meant, but I did not. I had just repeated a word that I had heard, not knowing what one was, but just that it was not nice. May your turkey camp be free of those poopy viruses this year. RR

A lot may have to do with a standardization to uniform season dates. But units 1&2 would now get 2 seasons, as would 22S and 23S, 27. The archery bear is proposed to open with archery deer on Sept 1. No more early August hunt in 3B,4B, 6B, when there might be berries. Looks like some good and bad. RR