Outdoor Writer

Elk: Unit 1 late rifle bull Unit 3A/3C late rifle bull Pronghorn: Unit 10 rifle Unit 19B rilfe

Below is the lead from one of my old articles on javelina. -TONY The scientific types say prehistoric peccaries once roamed much of the United States but eventually went the way of the dinosaurs. Today, only the collared peccary commonly known as the javelina, likely a migrant from Mexico, inhabits America’s southwest desert areas. The evidence from archeological sites indicate the javelina probably arrived here after 1700 A.D. Excavations of any sites that existed before that date have yielded no bones or other remnants that could be tied to the collared peccary -- an unusual finding considering the javelina makes for good eating. In the mid-1700s, two Jesuit missionaries first wrote about javelina by noting the use of “musk hogs” for food by the Sonoran Indians of northern Mexico. Then by the mid-1800s, the early explorers and trappers in Arizona were writing about the wild swine, pig, musk hog or whatever other name to they could conjure up. Many people erroneously believe the javelina’s name came about because of it pointed snout or its exaggerated canine teeth, often referred to as tusks and maybe a kin to the spear-like javelin. As a biologist at the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Jerry Day spent 25 years on javelina research. In his definitive book, JAVELINA: RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT IN ARIZONA, Day claims the common name likely resulted from "jabalina," the Spanish word for a female wild boar. The light, narrow band of hair around the javelina's neck provided its taxonomical name Tayassu tajucu -- the collared peccary. Although many folks often call them pigs, the peccaries have no biological connection to the swine family. According to Day, the first use of “javelina” showed up in some writings during the 1800s in Texas. The Spanish pronunciation of a “j”sounding like an “h” likely resulted in various spellings such as “havelenas” or “havalinas.” The earliest reference in Arizona happened when the State Game Warden declared the javelina as a “game animal” in 1929. Nearly 25 years passed before sport hunters realized they could have fun chasing the unique mammal. Historians frequently recount a story about the late Winston Churchill's experience at a dinner for some of England's more affluent citizens. As was common for Mr. Churchill, he over indulged on some liquid spirits. A prim and proper lady at the table became somewhat miffed at his behavior. She turned to him and indignantly remarked, "Mr. Churchill, you are drunk!" The statesman frowned, then curtly responded to the righteous matron. "Madam, when I wake up in the morning I will be sober. When you wake up, you will still be ugly." Some folks feel the same way about the prehistoric-looking javelina, a somewhat homely critter that chews cactus and smells bad. Yet despite the javelina’s Rodney Dangerfield reputation of no respect among some, the little critter has endeared itself in the hearts of many hunters over the last few decades. For the thousands of hunters who traipse over the southwestern foothills each year in search of the little desert ghosts, the adage, "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder," rings quite true.

Super tale and pix, Jim. -TONY

Okay, let's have a little fun. I had posted several threads on another site that contain photos for folks to ID and thought some of you here might enjoy doing such. Sooooo...here we go. I have included a numbered list at the end of this message, which you can just copy/paste into a reply with your guesses after each entry. PLEASE do not reply with a QUOTE where all the images are duplicated again. That makes for very slow load times. Since there is no "lounge" type or photo section on this site, I'll use this one for all the quizzes. We'll start with some birds. I'll toss in a few gimmies so no one feels left out. Please be SPECIFIC in your answers for each bird or critter as to species and/or subspecies. -TONY BIRD #1 BIRD #2 BIRD #3 BIRD #4 BIRD #5 BIRD #6 BIRD #7 BIRD #8 BIRD #9 BIRD #10 BIRD #1 - BIRD #2 - BIRD #3 - BIRD #4 - BIRD #5 - BIRD #6 - BIRD #7 - BIRD #8 - BIRD #9 - BIRD #10 -

How bout Gray jay ? Taadaaaaaaaaa!!!! Or often referred to as "camp robbers" or somewhat erroneously as Canada jays. Complete and correct list below. -TONY BIRD #1 - Canada Geese BIRD #2 -Bluethroat Hummingbird BIRD #3 -Brown Pelican BIRD #4 -Gray Jay BIRD #5 -Mourning Dove BIRD #6 -Western bluebird BIRD #7 -Trumpeter Swan BIRD #8 -Pyrrhuloxia BIRD #9 -Bullock's Oriole BIRD #10 -Ostrich

Hint #2: #4 has a color as part of its name and it ain't the color blue. -TONY

Hint #2: #4 has a color as part of its name and it ain't the color blue. -TONY

A 1 in 10 is a faster twist than 1 in 12. IOW, the bullet makes a full revolution for every 10 inches rather than 12 inches. Thus, it's spinning faster -- more revolutions -- before it exits a barrel of the same length. -TONY Edited: Whoops, Lark must have been replying at the same time.

Nope. It ain't even blue. Geez, I can't believe you guys. #4 is basically one of the gimmies! -TONY

Nope. Besides, that was already someone's guess. -TONY

Nope. A hint: photo taken in the Colo. high country near Gunnison. -TONY

NRS, Still have #4 wrong, but you did good on #9. Oh, and I ain't punishing you for the spelling of pyrrhuloxia. -TONY

NRS, You're close but no cigar yet. You missed #4 and #9. Coues Sniper, You won a date with this young lady: Silent, Yup, an immature mourning dove not long out of the nest. The photo was taken in a date palm I used to have in my front yard. The nest was in it.

I believe you could have also requested the record of the specific tag by the person's name for any given year. That's all a matter of public record. -TONY

No, I don't have the 2000-2001 regs in paper form. I thought I still had the PDF file on my HD, but I apparently deleted it a while back. I have some of the later years is all. Sorry. -TONY

Here you go. Just click it to open it so you can view it full size and then drag it to your desktop. You can then save it, print it or get rid of it once you get the info you need. -TONY

I have them. What hunt #s and dates do you need?? -TONY

The biggest loser in this trade is the Room Store. They'll have to spend big bucks now for all new commercials. -TONY

Yeah, but if you watched enough games, you'd realize he padded his stats by rebounding his own rushed layups a couple times. -TONY

Oh, and I should have added that the Suns at least got rid of the NBA's version of Rodney " I don't get no respect" Dangerfield. I hate whiners, and Marion was among the best of them, despite his obvious basketball skills. -TONY

What Keith and few others said. BUT...it's also possible he becomes another Randy Johnson. Instead of a savior, he becomes a fan on the sidelines who gets paid lots of money to be there. -TONY

I ADDED MORE FARTHER DOWN!!! -TONY Here's a new installment with more critters and a few scenics. Enjoy! -TONY Sunburst Lake -- Bob Marshall Wilderness, MT Bay of Fundy -- Nova Scotia Bryce Canyon NP, UT Caribou Hunter -- Northwest Terr. Midnight on Toobally Lake, Yukon Grand Canyon NP, AZ Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone NP, WY Granite Lake, Weminuche Wilderness Area, CO Caribou Hunt, McKenzie Lake, NWT Northern Lights north of Laird Hot Springs, British Columbia Vallecito River w/Weminuche Wilderness Area, CO in the background That's all for this one.

Here are a couple oldies to peruse.... Uncle Jimmy Owens

Bill, All interesting tidbits of a great time in history when men were men and boys often were, too. I found these other snippets in various places. Maybe something in them you can use. The Arizona Game and Fish Commission operates Buffalo Ranch in southern House Rock Valley, maintaining a herd of about 200 buffalo. The ranch originated around the turn of the century, under the management of Charles Jesse Jones, or "Buffalo" Jones, who experimented with cattalo, the hybrid offspring of cattle and buffalo. The experiment was unsuccessful, but ultimately produced a viable herd of buffalo, the descendants of which now live at Buffalo Ranch, free ranging in the grassy valley. **** Crampton and Rusho (1992) also wrote that south of Paria Canyon in House Rock Valley, two men named Uncle Jim Owens and Buffalo Jones, established a Buffalo Ranch in the early 1900s. The original intent of the ranch was to produce hybrid offspring from buffalo and cattle called cattalo. The attempt failed, but today the buffalo herd is managed by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. The Buffalo Ranch is 22-miles south of U.S. Highway 89A, and can be reached by USFS Road 8910. **** And then there was Charles Jesse "Buffalo" Jones. In 1901, Jones was appointed by his friend Theodore Roosevelt as the first game warden of Yellowstone National Park. He was an ex-buffalo hunter turned buffalo conservationist. In 1906, Jones established a ranch and game preserve at House Rock Valley, at the north rim of Grand Canyon, where his efforts to maintain buffalo stock included crossbreeding them with cattle to produce "cattalo." He also tried to "break bison to the harness" and use them to pull wagons, succeeding with a few animals. Jones was often pictured in a buckboard pulled by "Lucky Knight." In 1907, on a fundraising tour in New York, Jones spoke of the West, the buffalo, the mountain lions' and adventure. Among the audience was a little-known dentist from Ohio -- a fledgling writer and a newlywed who had spent his honeymoon at the Grand Canyon just the year before. His name was Zane Grey. *** In 1877, John D. Lee was executed for his role in the massacre, the only Mormon ever held acountable. Ownership of the ferry operation fell into the hands of Lee's wife, Emma, a capable woman who operated the ferry and farmed the ranch for several years. By this time, the Mormon Church was well aware of the importance of Lees Ferry as a link between settlements in Arizona and Utah. In 1879, the Church bought the ferry rights from Emma Lee for $3,000, and sent Warren Marshall Johnson and his plural families to the ferry to take over operations. The years from 1876 to 1890 were the busiest ever for the ferry operation. Successful Mormon colonization along the Little Colorado River in Arizona funneled increased emigrations through Lees Ferry. In addition, the completion of the Mormon Temple in St. George, Utah brought Mormon couples from Arizona settlements to have their marriages solemnized in the temple, earning the road in between the informal title, "The Honeymoon Trail." Ferriage fees for Mormon travelers at the time were $2.00 per wagon, $1.00 per horse and rider, and $0.25 per head of stock, while non-Mormons paid about 50% more. After the Church's cut of the fees, the remainder were used to support the ranch, maintain roads, rebuild washed out dams, build new boats, and otherwise improve the operation. Johnson left the ferry in 1896 and the Church replaced him with Jim Emett, who immediately set to work installing a heavy track cable across the river to guide the ferryboat across. The cable system remained in use for the remainder of the ferry's history, rendering the lower ferry site useless. Emett also finished a dugway (a road built into a steep slope) that served as the main highway to the ferry for the next thirty years, despite the fact that the road was narrow and prone to rockfalls and washouts. Emett eventually came head to head with the powerful Grand Canyon Cattle Company, who aggressively tried to control the rangeland and water holes of nearby House Rock Valley, east of the ferry on the Arizona Strip, even though the lands were public domain. Emett repeatedly cut fences erected by the company in order to allow his own cattle access to the range. The company unsuccessfully sued Emett for cattle rustling. Undaunted, the company retaliated by buying the ferry from the Mormon Church and putting Emett out of business in 1909. For a short time, cowhands from the company operated the ferryboat. Unimpressed with the company's operation of the ferry and adamant that the ferry remain a link in Arizona's highway system, Coconino County bought the ferry in 1910. The sons of Warren Johnson took over ferry operations for the county, remaining at the ranch with their families until the end of the ferry days. **** House Rock and House Rock Spring Located north 6 miles up the House Rock Valley road from 89A. In 1871, Dellenbaugh writes, "About sunset we passed two large boulders which had fallen together forming a shelter under which Riggs or some one else had slept. They had printed above it with charcoal the words 'Rock House Hotel.' Afterwards Jacob Hamblin and others referred to it as 'House Rock' or 'House Rock Valley.' So we called it by that name. A few yards away at the head of a gulch was a fine spring." **** EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTH KAIBAB REPRINTED FROM AGPA OUTDOOR NEWS, JULY 1958 In the early days the Kaibab Plateau was a great Indian hunting ground. Every fall the Indians would gather to a great ceremonial feast and take skins for winter clothing, and meat for winter food. Old timers in the Kaibab country state that they have seen great numbers of deer carcasses in piles at the Indian camps -- as many as a thousand carcasses in one camp. The white men also took great numbers of deer in the days of the early settlement. So great was the quantity of deerskins that actually came off the Kaibab each year that it was known as "Buckskin Mountain." Old timers say this condition prevailed up to the creation of the game preserve. There were also large numbers of mountain lions, which took their toll of deer. Major Powell, who explored the Grand Canyon in 1870, named the plateau Kaibab for a small, almost extinct tribe of Indians of the Pah Ute family who were living in that vicinity. The name Kaibab is of Indian origin and means "mountain lying down". The area was withdrawn as a National Forest in early 1893, and enlarged in 1905, to include the present area. United Odred of Orderville, a cooperative group associated with the Mormon Church, developed the first extensive livestock use. Messrs. Thompson and Van Sleck, eastern stockmen, who established the TV brand, purchased their interests. About 1887 their stock was purchased by John W. Young, son of Brigham Young of Salt Lake City. The holdings of the latter were taken over by Cannon & Grant of Salt Lake City in 1893 through the redemption of bonds and were managed for them by Anthony W. Ivins, First Counselor to a past president of the Mormon Church. Farnsworth and Fotheringham then acquired it and sold to B. F. Saunders who later sold to the Grand Canyon Cattle Company. The latter company brought in Mexican cattle running the Z brand. John C. Nagle of Toquerville, whose outfit later was split up among many local people, developed the west side ranges. It is reported that in 1887 and 1889 at least 200,000 sheep and 20,000 cattle were using the range in the surrounding desert country and the Kaibab Mountain. The grass was at first very abundant and stock thrived. Many horses were raised and excellent stallions brought in. John W. Young in 1888 took about 1,000 head of horses across the river at Lee's Ferry and sold them in Northern Arizona. Several dairy ranches, which made cheese, were in operation at one time on the Plateau. For some time after the establishment of the National Forest little restriction was made on the grazing use. The ranges on the east and west sides were eventually separated by drift fences as were other units, with camps and cabins at most all of the available water holes or springs. Much of the early supervision was directed toward better control of seasonal use and a check on the actual number of stock using the range. The Grand Canyon National Game Preserve was created in Nov, 1906, and included about the same area as the Kaibab National Forest north of Grand Canyon. President Theodore Roosevelt was always intensely interested in the wildlife of the region and in July 1913, hunted mountain lions on the Kaibab Plateau with Uncle Jim Owens as his guide. As soon as the National Game Preserve was created, all killing of deer was prohibited and Government hunters were employed to kill mountain lions and coyotes. Uncle Jim Owens claims to have killed more than 600 lions from 1907 to 1919. Removal of natural enemies permitted the deer to increase up to the limit of the food supply. The peak in numbers was reached in 1924. The first realization of the area being overstocked with deer was in the fall of 1919 and the spring of 1920. When the National Game Preserve was created around 3,000 deer existed on the North Kaibab, and no hunting was allowed from 1906 to 1924. On seeing the danger signs of over population, the Forest Service created an action program which involved an investigating committee made up of representatives of the American Game Protective Association, the National Association of Audubon Societies, the Boone and Crockett Club, National Parks Association, and the American Livestock Breeders Association. Their recommendations were: 1. Trap the deer and ship elsewhere; 2. Open the area to hunting under regulation; 3. If the first two failed, have Government officials destroy the deer. They estimated 26,000 deer were on the area and local ranchers reported 100,000 deer. A number of people thought the deer could be driven in a herd to other areas of Arizona. George McCormick, of Flagstaff, was financed by leading citizens and clubs of Flagstaff to deliver not less than 3,000 nor more than 8,000 deer to the south rim of the Grand Canyon and receive compensation at the rate of $2.50 for each deer delivered. The route of travel was from South Canyon to Saddle Canyon, down into Nankoweep Canyon, across the Colorado River, and up the old Tanner Trail to the south rim. In December, 1924, an attempt using 125 men strung out on foot and horseback to assist was made but ended up with the deer all behind instead of ahead of them. Other methods used were catching, rearing and shipping of fawns from 1925 to 1932. Local people were paid by the Forest Service to catch fawns, raise them on cows' milk until fall, then turn them back to the Forest Service for shipment to private or public parks in other places. More than 900 fawns were shipped to 34 states at payment of $15-$30 a head to those who raised them. Another method was to trap live deer and ship them to other ranges. The trapping operation was successful as to handling the deer and placing them on other ranges, but the number that could be removed in any one year was very small. In December 1928, Government employees on both east and west side winter ranges killed deer. The Supreme Court of the United States gave authority for this. All the deer killed were in very poor condition, and many were too poor to be utilized. Much of the meat was delivered to the Indian schools at Tuba City and Leupp, and to the settlers of Fredonia, Houserock, and Kanab. The most practical and successful method of removal is by sportsmen and has been carried on since 1924 in cooperation between the Arizona Game & Fish Commission and the Forest Service. In the winter of 1947-48 turkey were planted on the Kaibab from a trapping program on the Sitgreaves National forest and has been most successful. South Canyon is the home of a herd of about 200 buffalo. A hunt is held every year on this herd, which is the descendents of the herd that Uncle Jimmy Owen brought to the Kaibab years ago. The money from the special $5 Kaibab deer permit sold each hunter is used for wildlife management work such as juniper control, aspen control, browse reseeding, cutting spruce-fir from parks, water development and etc. This amount averages about $30.000 a year. This article about the history, management and importance of the North Kaibab was written because of the sportsmen's unfailing interest in that area. **** The Encyclopedia of Frontier Biograpgy has a decent bio of Jones' life. Another interesting read: Buckskin Mountain

Congrats to Garrett on a fine peegie! -TONY