Red Rabbit

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

Congratulations Vini. Calling Gobblers can be as exciting a calling elk or yotes. Gotta love that verbal interaction. Doug~RR

Now that the April 8 application deadline has slipped away, what did you apply for? For deer I chose 2C, 2B 1st hunt, and 23 WT 1st hunt. I did not put in for antelope due to the screwy assignments, nor archery elk cuz of the nearly $800 non-resident fee. Doug~RR

Might look at some Filson Double Tin brush pants. They're not camo, but a nice tan brown. During quail season, I wore Wrangler brush pants, but the claw still got through. http://store.yahoo.com/forestandfield/dotinpaoilfi.html Or bibs http://www.filson.com/product/index.jsp?pr...rentPage=family RR

The proposed hunt guidelines/recommendations for 2006 are posted on the G&F website , in the big game memo. These are to be voted on Sat April 22 in Phx at the commish meeting. Some changes I noticed are: * 570 more whitetail tags, mostly due to the implementation of early seasons in the central units where tags are to be shifted from Dec to October or Oct&Nov hunts. * Archery deer will end 1 week early in Jan for the junior Javelina hunt. * October whitetail seasons will be 10 days. * Most archery deer seasons begin Sept 1 instead of Aug 26. * 500 less early season rifle deer tags in 12AW and 350 fewer junior doe tags in 12AW.

Quarter-bore/25-06, I've been using mouth calls- wooden Arizona Predator Call, or a Circe jackrabbit. I like the tones out of the wooden tube better than the plastic. I have an electronic CD caller, but prefer to use mouth calls for the reason of personal satisfaction. RR

PM sent RR

Those pics make me start daydreaming and thinking back on some great trips to the Ferry. Like you said, the scenery is awesome. RR

http://www.lakemarie.com/ A friend and his wife-to-be spent a working summer in AK at a lodge while in college, had a great time, but lost a lot of sleep as the time after work was spent flyfishing. Have a great time! RR

David, Looks like you'll end up with a nice hunting rig. With the price of a new Polaris Ranger, one can end up with a nice jeep or Samuri with heater, AC, stereo, and not be much bigger a vehicle-maybe 6" wider. RR

Dave, My gut feeling says by this time, the department has had time to evalute the results from the survey and public meetings, listen to we the hunters, get recs from the GM's, and interact with the commission members, such that the changes they deem necessary to meet the commission's directive and expected approval have been made to the hunt guidelines dated April 4. As such, I see this commissioners' meeting as a rubber stamping meeting. I hope I am wrong, though. I do not recall why there is the need to put the junior javelina hunt the last week of Jan, rather than pushing the spring javelina schedule back one week, as there is room. Junior Javelina is scheduled Jan 26- Feb 4. HAM javelina is Feb 9-18. Rifle Javelina is Feb 23-March1. The next hunt I noticed is the Spring bear from March 23-May 1. Doug~RR

In the recommendations, I notice a page of fall javelina hunts in units 28-37, which would overlap the archery deer season and the Nov rifle muley and whitetail hunts. So much for quality hunt experiences and juvenile peccary development. RR

Amanda, When does the survey close to responses? Have results been tabulated and analyzed? When will the results become public? Doug~RR

Treestandman, I think they reversed themselves as it's listed from Dec 15 to Jan 25. I believe they originally wanted to begin Dec rifle and archery deer on Dec 22. While the dates are one week later for the archery deer start, the units above the rim were also extended one week. I do not know the stated reasoning behind the later start. Anyone? RR

Maybee sumwon hoo noes dat casey shuldnut of mentchunned Bare grass tank and cumz phrum Taxuss round Sandangello?

Nice outing with your son , but the season on Gunnison pririe dogs is closed from April 1 through June 15 (no kidding). Guess they figure the pd's need to breed and we need time to reload a bunch of rounds. RR

The Duovids would save you about 43 oz (2 1/2 lbs)over two separate pair. At 15x, the field of view of the Duovids is the same as the Swaro 15x56 (230' v. 231'), but at 10x, the Duovid's field of view is less than 10x42's; 295' v. 330' at 1000 yards. It would be worth putting the 10x, 15x, and 10+15x binos on tripods for comparison. I briefly looked through the 10+15's at the Bowhunter Happening, but did not see any diff in sharpness over the Swaros. Doug~RR

Scott, I was refering to a Greer gathering mentioned in the off season hobbies thread. Yep, some brisket smoked over mesquite sounds good. That BBQ place right on I-10 in Junction,TX has great smelling smoke that alone causes salivation . The brisket ain't bad either. Doug

Bill, Alcohol is really a depressant; that's why people are always crying in their beer. Either way, many of us would like to tip a soda once Bret gets the BBQ organized. Doug~RR

do you have the cameras set up on a trail leading to water? probably less water useage this time of year. same might apply to salt. a good freeze may have killed their forbs, so they may have moved/changed the travel routes.