Outdoor Writer

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Link is https://www.azgfdeservices.com/ Input ID and you will get the deer and other results. No deer or sheep for me. Only got a purcahsed BP for buff.

Scroll down and click the Elk/Antelope results. Link is https://www.azgfdeservices.com/ Input ID and you will get the deer and other results.

You guys missed a good party. As usual, Peg did her magic with the food.

Big Whoops!

It's too bad you didn't mention this a couple weeks ago. I would have given you a short 15-min. primer when you guys were here for dinner.

Tranparencies=slides, like the thingies you have to put in a projector to look at. If your photos are indeed just prints, any flatbed scanner will do the job. And so for the next ?? -- what the heck is a photo converter??? EDIT: Never mind, I just did a google search and found them. They are nothing more than scanners. While they offer the photo scans, they don't give you the flexibilty to scan documents, etc. that a flatbed will.

But...but...you didn't answer this: "First off, are you talking prints or transparencies?"

TJ, First off, are you talking prints or transparencies? If prints, most any flatbed scanner will do what you want. If they are slides, you can get either a regular flatbed that has a 35mm slide adapter or a dedicated scanner that does various sized transparencies only. The latter will yield the best quality if large prints or publishing is the end goal. But the scanner/adapter set-up will give you passable quality for general use, such as posting on the Web.

DNA tests of bear confirm involvement in attack on woman Results of DNA testing on an adult male black bear have confirmed that the animal is the one that attacked a woman in Pinetop on Tuesday. The Arizona Game and Fish Department conducted a forensic necropsy of the bear on Wednesday, but the procedure did not yield any immediately identifiable human material. However, DNA samples taken from the bear during the necropsy matched bear DNA found on the victim’s clothing. The analysis was done by the nationally-recognized Wyoming Game and Fish Wildlife Forensic and Fish Health Laboratory. “Confirmation from the DNA tests gives us complete confidence that we removed the right bear in the interest of public safety. Hopefully, correct identification will provide closure for the victim and her family,” said Larry Voyles, Arizona Game and Fish Department director. “We especially thank the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for dropping their other priorities to immediately process this case. Their responsiveness was key to getting the results so quickly.” A rabies test carried out by the Arizona Department of Health Services came back negative. Game and Fish’s forensic necropsy did reveal a significant amount of kitchen garbage in the bear’s digestive tract, suggesting that the animal had been scavenging for food waste in trash cans and dumpsters. The Gilbert woman was attacked by the bear while walking her dog in Pinetop late Tuesday evening. The attack occurred near Sports Village Loop approximately 60 yards from a dumpster where the bear had been scavenging. The woman was flown to the Phoenix area for medical treatment and continues to be hospitalized. Within a few hours, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services personnel arrived and used dogs to track the bear from the scene of the attack. The dogs quickly encountered a bear within a couple hundred yards of the site and treed it after a short pursuit. It was immediately destroyed. “Bears are particularly active at this time of year. We don’t believe this attack is related to wildfires in northeastern Arizona, but it could be related to continued drought conditions. Bears are easily drawn to human food sources, like dumpsters, trash cans and campsites especially during times of drought. Game and Fish strongly reminds residents living in bear country to be aware of bears in their area and to properly dispose of all food sources in secure containers,” said Voyles. Bear attacks on humans are rare with only seven cases documented (including the one this week in Pinetop) in Arizona since 1990, which is as far back as the department’s database tracks. Camping season is here; avoid attracting wildlife Despite this year’s wildfires, closures and restrictions, prime camping season is still in full swing in many parts of the high country, and the Arizona Game and Fish Department reminds people heading to the great outdoors to keep a clean campsite to help avoid human-wildlife conflicts. Primarily, bear activity is up this time of year, as yearling bears leave their mothers and begin roaming more in search of food sources and to establish their own territories. Bears have a keen sense of smell and can be drawn to food in campgrounds. Food is the root cause of many human-wildlife conflicts. Wildlife officials say it is prudent for all outdoor recreationists to take the following precautions to minimize potential conflicts with bears and other wildlife: Never intentionally feed wildlife. Secure all garbage. Keep a clean camp. Do not cook in your tent or sleeping area. Store all food, toiletries and other scented items well away from sleeping areas. Wash up, change clothing, and remove all scented articles before retiring to your sleeping area. Walk or jog in groups. Pay attention to your surroundings when hiking, jogging or bicycling. Supervise your children and keep them in sight. Keep your pets on a leash—don’t allow them to roam free. Or better yet, leave them at home if you can. Pets can easily get into conflicts with a wide range of wildlife. Don’t approach wildlife – enjoy it from a distance. If you are confronted by a bear or other large mammal such as a mountain lion, don’t run, but stay calm, continue facing it, and slowly back away. Try to make yourself look as big and imposing as possible; put young children on your shoulders. Speak or yell and let it know you are human. Make loud noises by clanging pans, using air horns, or whatever is available. If you encounter a bear or other large mammal in a developed campground, notify the campground host. If you have a problem with a scavenging bear in the forest, notify the Arizona Game and Fish Department. For more information, visit www.azgfd.gov/urbanwildlife.

Okay, this is downright weird. Don't be suspicious; nothing is going to jump out or scream at you. Just follow the instructions and be sure to wait the entire 30 seconds. 1.- Open the Strobe link 2.- Then "click me to get trippy” and leave your hand resting on the mouse 3.- Look at the center of the screen and count to 30, and then ... 4.- Look at your hand holding the mouse, without moving it away from the mouse … NOT BEFORE! What you will experience is called "cenesthetic hallucination"

Aaaha, chiggers, eh? I received several very itchy bites just above my socks and chalked them up to mosquitoes, even though I didn't see any. I bet they were chiggers, though.

Super news, Bill. Glad all is well. luvcoues, There was a write-up in the Republic the other day about the X-Diamond. It made it through unscathed, according to Wink. She's a neat lady, BTW.

Wow, what a super day! Thanks again to Lance and Carrie -- and everyone else who pitched in -- for a super time in the cool pines from Ellen and me. The weather was fantasic, the food was tasty (especially the smoked buffalo) and the people and dogs were great fun. Hershey told me he would like to thank everyone as well for making him a welcome addition to the annual gathering. He said he really enjoyed meeting so many new friends, both the two and four-legged kind. He would have posted here sooner, but he was really, really exhausted from all of the playtime. He slept all the way home, and after he ate his dinner, he crashed on his dogie bed for the night. Anyway, he sends a big wuff-wuff to everyone. Oh, and now he insists that I buy him a tennis ball. I have a couple pix and will post when I get a few spare minutes.

Ellen and I -- and Hershey -- will be leaving about 7ish Sat. a.m. So we should be there about 9:30 or so. I'm bringing a couple hunks of mule deer summer sausage to snack on.

Went to the AZ taxidermy show earlier today and finally got to see my bobcat and rattlesnake diorama. It was done by Chris Krueger -- Krueger Creations, and it won a first-place blue ribbon in the Masters Division. The voting for the People's Choice award is going on until 4 p.m., but I imagine he's got a good shot at that, too, since I saw several folks voting for it. We kind of modeled it off this at the 1:22 mark near the very end. I took a couple quick pix (below) but didn't use the flash since the mount was sitting close to the wall; it would have caused a great big black shadow. There was already a shadow from the room lights. So without the flash, the pix aren't tack sharp. Chris will be taking other photos, though, against the nice black backdrop he uses. I'll add them when he does. I also got to meet Dale. He also did well with the awards, and his boy won a 1st place in the youth division for his squirrel rug!! Congrats.

Chris did a super job on it. Here's a list of what the mount won: *State Champion Life Size (Best of Catagory) *Master's Division - First Place *Artisan's Award - most artistic piece *McKenzie's Best Lifesize *People's Choice Award And...a few pix Chris and Mary took today from different angles: These are the parts that went into the mount before the alterations. The bobcat form is one of Chris' original sculptures sold through Research, which he dramatically changed for my mount. The steel rod, which Chris cut and welded to shape, goes from the base through the snake and into the bobcat's mouth. The 'cat will slide off the snake, and the snake is also removable from the base.

This is mount of two Texas whitetails Chris recently finished for me. It's resting on the table until I can get to building the pedestal base. He is now working on two Coues bucks that will be in a similar pose/setting.

When my silver lady lab, Sasha, died a while back, my wife and I took her early death pretty hard. As a result, we had vehemently proclaimed, "no more dam_ed dogs." We fibbed. The tale behind the change of heart..... After Sasha died, the gal at the Arizona Labrador and Giant Breed Rescue {ALGBR} organization who had facilitated Sasha's adoption for us asked me if I would consider being a foster home. I told her we would eventually. So about two weeks ago she called and asked if I would foster a chocolate lab named Hershey until ALGBR found a permanent home for him. Obviously, before I agreed I asked lots of questions and as usual expressed my dislike for male dogs, even though I've had a couple before. Turns out Hershey was originally turned over to ALGBR for adoption about a year ago. He was five years old then. So he went into a foster home -- one with many younger kids and two other labs -- a yellow and a black. After a few weeks, the foster family decided to keep him, perhaps because Hershey completed the set, so to speak. Anyway, that relationship lasted until a couple weeks ago when Hershey grabbed a cookie out of the hand of the 9-yr. old son and accidentally grabbed a finger but didn't even break the skin. The boy is autistic, however. As a result, every time he saw the dog, the kid had screaming fits. Hershey was thus relegated to spending his hours in the laundry room whenever the boy was home. It wasn't the ideal life, especially for a dog like Hershey. Sooooo...the family rightly decided to return Hershey back to ALGBR for another adoption to someone who could provide a better home environment. Finally, after I spoke with Holley, the lady of the family, I was satisfied that Hershey would be fine among all my various taxidermy items -- skins, skulls, etc. laying about the house -- that he would have ready access to. I also don't allow dogs on the furniture; she assured me he doesn't chew things and doesn't "do" furniture or beds. His downside: he supposedly would eat anything he could find on the kitchen counters, floor or whatever, and he barked a lot, especially when he wanted to eat, play, heard noises outside, etc. They even used a bark collar on him. Still, I agreed to take him in until he was adopted. So on a Sunday a bit over a week ago, Holley brought him to my house. As I watched her walk Hershey up the driveway, I thought she had a black bear on the leash. He's big; she told me he weighed 108 lbs. So in they came and Hershey immediately came to me for a friendly greeting. At that point, Holley said he probably might need to go out. I removed his leash and had him follow me to the dogie door. He had never used one before. I held open the flap, he went out, did his business and came back in through the door. I never had to show him again. He then went over to Sasha's kennel and grabbed her Kong toy. He brought it to me and dropped it at my feet. He then walked off and sat down, waiting for me to toss it to him. He caught it in mid-air, just like Sasha always did. So he moved in and quickly adapted. That night, he met my wife at the door when she came home from work. She didn't know he would be there. I had told her we might be getting him, though. She didn't really have a problem with it but was surprised to see this monster waiting to greet her. To date, although we have been careful when defrosting steaks and stuff, he has not even looked at "bait" food on the counter. And I'd bet he hasn't barked more than four or five times since he's been here. He's highly obedient and knows sit, stay, down, heel and come. He'll walk without a leash and readily climbs into the back seat of my Durango to go for a ride. Within two days, I taught him to "kennel" when we eat dinner. He stays in it with the door open now until I finish eating, get him a treat or two and sit on the sofa in the family room. When I say "OK," he walks over, sits and gives me a paw to get the treats. Best of all, he even listens to Ellen. After three days here, I quickly assayed Hershey as the perfect gentleman. I had decided I wouldn't mind keeping him, even with my dislike for male pups. BUT...I wasn't too sure Ellen would agree to this part since she was reluctant to even do the foster home bit. Thus, I had to wait for the right time to even think about mentioning it. And now for the rest of the story.... Last Weds. night, I was sitting on the family room couch, and my wife was sitting in the recliner a few feet away. Hershey was sitting next to her on the floor with his head on the arm of the recliner. Ellen was petting him, and Hershey was eating it up. She looked at him and said, "Hershey, you're such a super boy." Suddenly my brain went "BINGO!" It was the opening I had waited for. I quickly jumped into it. "You know," I said, "even though I don't care for male dogs, we really ought to think about keeping him." At that point, I expected one of two replies. Either she might say, "No way. I said no more dogs," or "Well, let's think about it for a while." Instead, I got, "But he's so mellow and good." From the tone of that, I knew it was a done deal. The next day I called the gal at ALGBR and told her we wanted to keep Hershey. She was ecstatic because she had met him when he originally came to ALGBR and thought he was a great dog. So she set up an appointment to visit the organization's vet to make sure Hershey was in good shape. Other than a minor ear infection and his weight -- now at 114 lbs. -- every thing tested perfect. We are now in the process of an official adoption. Now we have to work on getting his weight down to the 87 lbs. he was a year ago. Meet Hershey.........

Good luck with your entries!

I'll be there about 10 a.m. Chris Krueger is entering a my bobcat/rattlesnake diorama in the competition, and I haven't even seen it yet!! BTW, I think the public viewing is open from 8 to 4, no??

Big Lake circa late 1960s: Me at the back and from left to right: Keith, Stacey and Scott. They are now 49, 48 and 46. Keith and I on the lake. Scott ready to catch a few trout from shore.

Ellen and I will probably do the same as last year -- just drive up for the day on Sat. to get out of the valley for a while. This time we'll have have a six-year-old choclate lab named Hershey with us. He's arriving at my house today as our foster "child" from the Arizona Labrador & Giant Breed Rescue organization, where we had adopted Sasha. We'll watch over and feed him until someone adopts him.

Yeah, I figured that. El kinda filled me in on all the wins and buys on the drive home. But trust me, if I had purchased a blitz ticket for the cash, I would have been sure to leave it with her, as I did with the other tickets. Of course, it wouldn't have mattered much since I never win anything. I've probably been to two dozen fund raising dinners over the past decades and have yet to win even a free taco at Taco Bell.