TLH

Well you all can vote for who you want but for me Jerry Weiers will get my support--i know what he has done and i know what he can do for us. Think about it--how many politicians do you know that are out there that would have listened to you? Jerry seen the majority was in disagreement and he did the right thing. Here is hoping he has a fast recovery so he can get back to helping all of us!

+1 We are not too far removed to remember the Fiesta Bowl and their "administrative" costs. Different arena same corruption The AZSFW board is strictly volunteers initially, each of the beginning few who started the organization back several years ago were required to pony up some significant cash to be a board member. The only person who does get paid is Capitol Consulting, who acts as our lobbyist at the state legislature. I know of absolutely no lobbyist who would ever do the political infighting that has been necessary to carry the water for us who would do it as low as Suzanne and company have done. Thanks for the reply, John. I have a question regarding the wording in your statement though. You mention; "..... strickly volunteers initially". Is that referring to the fact that 'initially' the beginning few ponied-up money? Or is it indicating that it is 'initially' volunteers, but there could or might be paid positions in the future? Or will it always remain strickly volunteer? Again, I only ask because this seems to be a big bone of contention with SFW in other states, at least in Utah. Lark, your point regarding no outfitter response is very insighful. No doubt that local outfitters would LOVE to have more big money tag holders to guide.... S. Stanly and Lark, i am an outfitter and guide and i want nothing to do with this. Besides guys we get hunters every year no matter what so to say we have a lot to do with it is probably wrong--or at least with me and my crew it is. We literally turn people away each year.

We should talk Terry, this bill had plenty of good things about it...JK... you know how to reach me if you would like to talk. We will be meeting with all the members of the AZSFWC next week to move forward and answer questions... John, i do know your number and we will talk. The problem is everything that was good in this bill is now trashed because of the way it was handled. Yes i know that this would have done some good John but it was too covert and had too many things wrong with it. What needs to be done is to have all sportsman involved with this type of bill and then take what they all have to say and make it work. You and everyone one else need to not make the decision of this state on your own because it will never fly. I would like to see some of these proposals re-written and then presented months in advance to everyone of these sites and the game and fish--John did you know that our commissioners had no idea what this was about? Do you think that is the way to get the commissioners on board with anything the AZSFW has to offer now? Lastly--i do know that the AZSFW has done a lot of good things politically for this state but we have to know about this type of bill long before it gets shoved in our faces. I am not sure how you as the President of the ADA could ever see any good out of this bill---if you had nothing to do with the AZSFW you would have looked at this just like the rest of us but because you have some kind of agenda with the AZSFW you push it. I do have to give you credit though John because you are the ONLY member that has come on these sites and tried to talk people into it.

The commission shot it down 5 to nothing and all of the people who spoke had nothing good to say about it. They went as far as to saying they will not support any part of the bill and that it should be shot down completely.

John, this is all good but what you and the SWF are trying to push through is not. You know damned well if this gets pushed through that the land owners will fight it and they will win--this will almost guarantee land owner tags in this state--is this what you want? Really John you need to stop being a politician for once and step back and do what is right for all of us Sportsman in Arizona. Also, why do you think we will have a democratic Governor in this state soon? You can't say that--that is a guess and even if there is one do you think all of us who are not in the "big picture' can't fight for ourselves? The thing that gets me is that this is being rushed as an "emergency" and there is none--why in the heck did it have to be pushed so hard and fast--who were you and your group trying to get it past with out debate? Thank God we have these forums to let people know what is going on---i bet this would have been past and gone if it weren't for forums like this. Being informed is power John and the outdoorsman of this state have tons of resources to find the truth---you need to listen to what these people are saying and drop this bill. If Jerry is reading this he needs to understand that he will get more votes from all of us if he drops this as well--lets face it the board of the AZSFW can not vote enough times to keep a person in office but all of us can!

Dec. 9th.

2200 people in line at the store--crazy madness--if you think it is bad waiting you should work here on Black Friday!!!! LOL! I can say though it was a lot of fun busting butt for that entire day and for the most part the customers were in pretty good spirits. We did give the rifle away and everyone who had a card won what they got. There were 800 cards in total. I was here just under 13 hours and since i am the Manager in the warehouse we loaded safes and generators and all kinds of things up for half of the 13 hours spent here. To those that came and endured my hat is off to you and a big thanks to you all!

I have had mine for 8 years and never had an issue--took it to them once because i didn't know how to tear it apart and clean it--they did it for me and replaced a part that was looking worn down. No charge-- I still think you get what you pay for so spend the money once and never look back.

They usually get eatin pretty fast by critters. That is a cool find.

20 BPS for me---and like Lark said--aparently not enough!

So today i received the ranch assignement that my son in law and i were drawn for. It is near Springer (more closely to Pennington) but it is a big old ranch! Just wanted to know if any of you have been in that area hunting antelope?? Good luck to all of you this year on your hunt!

Work the junipers close to the canyon----to the west side of the unit.

.270 i have the M&M Cattle Company/Billy Mitchell ranch. It has a total of 23,945 acres to hunt with 6,306 public and 17,639 private. TAM--i do know who you are speaking of--in fact i told him he was number one just two days ago while passing him on the road that he is always sleeping--er i mean working on! LOL! I appreciate the info guys!! We will do the best we can and i hope it has at least two nice bucks on it--with that much land you would think they would.

No kidding! I will be ordering one this week. The good new is they are NOT like my rifles. They are dirt cheap. 350-700 bucks buys a decent smoke pole. I will be using the Mark4 scope on it (3 times the cost of the stick!) You know me, I will be milking every bit of usefull range so long as there is adequete energy retained. I have one of those and i like it just fine. It takes a little getting used to when you put the primer in because it is a little tight but once you get that down you are golden. killed two pigs with it and a mule deer--farthest shot was 135 yards on one of the pigs--the deer was only 65 yards and the other pig was 87 yards. One shot one kill on each. I shoot 150 grains of Shocky Gold Pellets and a regular .209 primer--no triple 7's or higher energy type--this is when you get an ignition problem. I shoot the T/C shock-wave bullets in 250 grains--good luck!

I would say if you had max points and applied for 19B the department did you a favor. The only way you could have killed a book head in that unit is if you hired an outfitter and hunted on the K4--believe me the bucks are never going to get big on the huntable part of 19B unless they cut the tags all the way down to 10 each year then maybe the bucks will get the chance to grow past 2 years old before someone shoots them.

Wow, talking about being patient waiting to get info on a draw, 17 years?! I've been waiting quite a while for an antelope tag as well, I will have 18 pts in this years draw. Still puts me about 2 pts behind a guaranteed tag in the hardest to draw units, and it's amazing how that many points will only give me a very slim shot at drawing the units I put in for this year. Anybody else here have a bunch of points for elk or goats this year? Good luck to all in the draw! My Dad has 20 BPs for antelope--i sure hope he gets his tag this year.

To each their own opinion but i would disagree whole heartily with you on this issue--the game and fish did just what needed to be done. If the rancher told the WM all along that they would allow hunters on the ranch then why wouldn't the department hold the draw as is?? The rancher did a smart thing and let the draw take place (and it has taken place) and the rancher thought the game and fish would let the hunters find a place to hunt--just like the Campbell Ranch did last year and they made a few thousand bucks when they did that. Any way--the rancher thought he outplayed the department but it was one of the best chess moves i have ever seen that the department made. If it was a slap in the face to game and fish it was a knock out blow to the rancher and ranchers in 19B. Like i said to each their own opinion but i believe it was exactly what they needed to do. Good luck on the draw folks!!

The only thing that can be done going forward is to trade the checkered BLM/State land to the ranchers and make their land theirs and then used the swap land all of ours--this would allow the ranchers to shut down their land with out shutting down the public land--this would be the only way to make it fair. Then the state should not allow the cattle to graze on public land as it would be all of our land and should not have any other animals but native animals on that land. If it is a matter of money the ranchers will still have their land but we would have bovine free hunting grounds to hunt on. Just one suggestion.

BINGO!!!! We have a winner!

Doug that could be a real issue as i believe the draw has already taken place. That ranch tried to do that last year and i knew they would this year. The Campbell Ranch did the same thing last year just a week or two before the hunt started and charged people a grand to hunt the ranch--there wasn't a 75" buck on that ranch from what i remember. This will not hold the results up but i do feel sorry for those antelope hunters who were drawn for 19B--

Unit 8 Muzzy buck--known as "Bigfoot" 87 6/8"

19B with 50 tags is kind of like 19A with 50 tags--there isn't enough public land on either of those units to let a hunter hunt. 19B lost another ranch this year to freedom of hunting--the Campbell ranch shut the gates and charged 1000,00 to hunt on that chunk of ground and believe me when i tell you that there isn't a buck worth a grand on that place. Then you have the K4 who will only allow you to hunt if you hire Chad Smith's crew to hunt on there (Chad is a good dude and i have no animosity toward him at all) and then i believe the Big Chino was right on the verge last year to shut down but the commission asked them to stay open and they did--problem is there were only two decent bucks on that ranch last year (decent i mean Boon and Crockett bucks)---so what happens now is the guys and gals who waited 15 to 20 years to draw a tag gets to shoot a year old buck if he or she wants to kill---sad deal when you think 19B was known for the monsters way back in the day. 19A--same thing. Bob Burris is the only rancher who does not charge you to hunt on his ranch--he is a very nice man that has been hunter friendly for years but he has made his ranch a by foot only hunt--can't blame him for that with the sue happy people we have in this world. Now you have a small portion to hunt in 19A and most of that really doesn't have a lot of antelope to hunt. So all that said stay away from 19B and 19A unless you have a bunch of money to spend on access or guides.

I think this is a good pick and i think he will support the hunting sports and will be able to keep politics away from biological decisions--time will tell.

What a great looking dog you have man--he will always be with you so don't forget to say hello to him from time to time. Believe me they never leave you. Take time to reflect on all the fun times you two have and it will help you get through the pain.

Sorry to hear that Bill--good that Bruce helped you out. You are correct we all have our own standards and comfort zone and as long as we are in the law we are all golden!