Outdoor Writer

After the tahr chase, we headed up the valley about 15-16 miles to a hut, where we were to spend that night. That trip, which was often on an almost non-existent two-track took a couple hours. On the way, we glassed for chamois, forded rivers, checked out the spawning king salmon and enjoyed the mountain scenery in general. The orange specks in the water are dead salmon. We settled in the hut and had a bite to eat. Then we headed out to rid NZ of some vermin. Here's the results. As shown, the possum color phase in NZ is quite varied.

My partner and I spent seven days in NZ and right from the start, Tim and his wife, Vanessa, made us feel welcome and at home. Tim also had Brad Orszaczki -- an Aussie from the Victoria area -- come to NZ to guide my hunting partner, Troy Morzelewski. Like Tim, Brad knew his stuff and how to glass and find game. He wasn't too bad at downing a few Speights (NZ beer!) with us either. We arrived on Sun. afternoon, got settled in and began our hunt for tahr on Mon. morn. We had planned to helicopter a tent camp up the mountain and spend a couple days but had to shelve that plan because of predicted storms. So instead, we used the helicopter to get from the valley floor into tahr country. The copter dropped Tim and I off in one drainage and put Brad and Troy in another. Ready to lift off! Tim Buma glassing for tahr just below the snowline in NZ's southern Alps. And this is what he was looking for. It was some of the steepest and most rugged country I've ever hunted. From there we glassed for a decent bull. And...we finally found what we had been looking for in the middle of rock slide. By the time we got in range, he had wandered to the side of precarious side hill and started running along a steep spine. Two shots from my .264 WM put the bull down before it hit a straight-down cliff. If it had made it to the cliff, it might still be falling. As it was, it stopped here. And trust me when I tell you that the camera doesn't show the steepness of the area too well. Tim took this photo from the top of the ridge. And..the typical "hero" trophy pix with both me and guide Tim Buma. By mid-afternoon, our hunts for tahr were over with two light-maned better than average trophies. Troy's was right at 12.5" and mine was 1/8" short of 12" but had larger bases. Troy and his trophy tahr. This photo was taken back at the helicopter base.

A couple close-ups of the AK barren ground. -TONY

Here are a few close-ups of various trophies. Two AZ 'lopes and a TX whitetail. North Kaibab buck and his mate. Little Coues buck on plaque. BC 60" moose and the nose of a 34# lake trout from the Yukon to the right. The two exotic sheep behind the moose are a Corsican and a black Hawaiian. The antlers below the moose are a small 4x4 Kaibab mulie. Coues deer on left, my first AZ 'lope (1963)in the middle and a Montana 'lope on the right.

How much are you asking, and is there a gazebo with adequate seating for one archer and several guides to use as a blind??? -TONY

This is for no one in particular but everyone as a whole. First, a bit of background: Long before the web came into existence, in 1983 a friend who is another outdoor writer from Maryland and I started what was known as the Outdoors Forum on the Compuserve Information Service (CIS), which is now owned by AOL. Back then, everything was done in ASCII at an unbelievable modem speed of 12 baud per sec for downloading messages and replying offline. When it eventually jumped to 28, we all thought we had died and gone to heaven. Anyway, we ran that forum for many years and eventually branched out to become 12 separate ones that included Hunting, Fishing, Cycling, Scouting, Birding, Environment, etc., etc. We became the largest operators on CIS and continued to run our "empire" until AOL purchased CIS and discontinued paying its business partners. So where am I going with this?? During the course of administering these forums, we had several requirements. 1. Members had to use a REAL first and last name -- NO HANDLES. Obviously, they could pick any factitious name but most didn't. 2. Because they were family forums, language and material deemed not worthy of such were no-nos. 3. And most importantly, Personal attacks were greatly discouraged. And #3 is the one that so often comes into play today in the age of the WWW where thousands upon thousands of anonymous users hide behind their online personas in the myriad chatrooms. Sooo...I thought I would offer a few tips I've garnered over the years in regards to this particular cancer. First let me state: debate, controversy and discussion are HEALTHY exercises where everyone can learn from them -- if they are conducted in a civil manor. The most important aspect of this is to debate the ISSUE and avoid discussing the PEOPLE. How can you avoid such? It's simple. Every time you write a message in reply to a controversial topic, reread it before you hit SUBMIT and look to see if you used someone's name or a form of the word 'you' in it. Normally, these will be the key tipoffs where someone turns the discussion from the issue into a personal one. And then the need to retaliate kicks in for the person being attacked. That's when the thread heads downhill at a rapid pace. Example: Personal attack: You're an idiot Charlie, and you have no idea what you're talking about. The law doesn't read that way. Here's what it says...blah, blah. Discussing the issue; I don't think that's how the law reads. here's what I found...blah, blah blah. In other words, one can easily disagree without being disagreeable. Pretty simple, huh? -TONY

Hmmm. Good thing there aren't any auction tag hunters about. Wait 'til next year. -TONY

Photoshop! There was actually rock under the bushbuck's chin. And the ride 'em mulie was when I was young and brash, not knowing any better. -TONY

Doug, They certainly were surprised. I recall the one kid, about 18, saying something, "We didn't think we needed a state license to fish on federal land," but Basset wasn't having none of that. He once cited a personal friend of mine for fishing on the lake without a license. That's another funny story. Two of them had come from PHX to fish for pike. So that night I told them to make sure they buy their licenses that night. The next day, I had one with me and the other was in a boat with my youngest son. We were fishing about a 1/2 mile apart when I saw Basset's boat heading up the lake toward us. o i told the guy with me to get his license ready to show him. He then says, "Ohh, Ray didn't buy one, figuring he could get away with it." Next thing we see basset stop near my son's boat, and few minutes later, Ray is getting in the warden's boat and heading off to jail because he said he didn't have the money on him to pay the fine. About 1/2 way to the ramp, Basset turns the boat around and heads back toward us. He pulls alongside me and says, "tony, this guy claims he's a friend of yours." He then explains the jail bit. By now, I'm fuming. I told Gene that I would vouch for the fine if he doesn't pay it. When he left, I really laced into Ray, of course. -TONY

Ok, here's what I'll do, tho. Tomorrow I'll start a thread in Other Big Game, upload pictures of my trophy rooms and maybe some more "hero' shots from the field. How's that? -TONY

Here ya go, Casey. -TONY

The only two sides are whether he was 439 yards or less from a dwelling or 441 or more. And all that decides is the LEGALITY of it all. The aesthetics will still stink regardless of any additional information. It's the equivalent of killing a bull on the front lawn of the hotel in Mammoth if hunting was legal in YNP. -TONY

No, that is tiny Donut lake, just off the Continental Divide and miles from Emerald, which isn't too far up and off the Pine River Trail. Funny story coming: The local game warden and I were heading up the Pine R. trail to ride a routine patrol loop and come down the Vallecito Trail, with overnight at Rock lake. It started raining so we donned our long yellow rain slickers. As we got to the bridge where the Emerald L. trail comes in to the Pine R. trail, we met two backpackers. So we stopped to chat a bit. They both had fishing rods sticking out of their packs, so Gene asked them how the fishing had been. They were ecstatic to tell us they had caught a ton of fish and had trout for dinner every night. Sooo..Gene leaned over, stuck out his hand as if to shake and said,"I'm Gene Basset with the Colo. Div. of Wildife. Can I see your fishing licenses please?" Duh! Had he not had on his slicker, they would have seen his CDOW patch on his shirt. Of course, neither of them had licenses, so he cited them and confiscated their fishing tackle with the caveat,"You can pick this stuff up at the CDOW office in Durango when you come in to pay your fines." -TONY

I've had my M70 since 1965, and it still shoots well. But I quit handloading 10 years ago and just pump factory 140 PSPs through it now. I used it on 10 of the 11 critters I killed in Africa, my tahr, stag, ram and chamois in NZ and I lost count of all the NA critters, including my 60" moose, that have succumbed to it. About 15 years ago, I had Robar do some work on it because it looked like heck after carrying it in a saddle scabbard for many years. He put an NP3 satin silver finish on all the metal and then added a McMillan synthetic stock. Just before I went to Africa, I had to replace the original 3-9 Leupold I had bought with the rifle in 1965. Anyway, the reason I asked the question is because I have a LOT of brass, most of which is once-fired that I'll part with for a reasonable price -- once I find it all in the places I have it stashed. This is what it looks like now. -TONY

The only other nauseating smell that came close was when I got sprayed by a skunk that ventured into a cage trap I had set for coons, which had been raiding our dumpster in Colo. -TONY

I owned a resort at Vallecito Lake and guided in the Weminuche for three years for both hunting and fishing. We were a couple miles away from two major trailheads, so I put lots of miles in the wilderness on horseback. The lightning incident happened at about 12,000 feet, not too far from where the photo below of my son and I was taken. Those are a couiple of 14-teeners in the background. Thunderstorms are a regular occurrence there, but it's tough to find a safe place way up above timberline. The only thing to do is get down the slopes away from the highest areas. -TONY

Big, I'm with you. That's why I don't hunt anything over planted baits. I did it a few times in my younger days and decided it's not for me. If someone else enjoys doing it, they can knock themselves out. -TONY

One of the worse things I had to ever do in my life was pack a crew into Colorado's Weminuche Wilderness in 1976 so we could bring out the bodies of two guys who had been killed by a lightning strike while riding along the Continental Divide trail, which follows the -- well, literally the spine of the Continental Divide well above timberline. There were actually four guys riding in single file. The first and second ones in line were each leading two pack animals. The other two were following along on their own mounts. The bolt directly hit the lead rider and pretty much split him and his mount in two. It then passed into the ground where the steel horseshoes of the other horses picked up on it. The second rider also succumbed to the shock and burns he received. All of the horses -- six in all -- associated with these two riders also died. The third rider in the string was knocked unconscious off his horse but survived with minor burns and a big wad of s--t in his pants. His horse wasn't so lucky. The last rider was pretty much unscathed except for a minor burn or two. He rode back to the trailhead to alert authorities -- a trip of about 10 hours from where they were. I gotta tell ya, watching the sheriff's deputies stuff the halves of the first rider in a body bag wasn't a neat scene to watch. And I had to lash them on to the pack horses. The worst part was the stench of burnt flesh. -TONY

Where do guys come up with some of these earth shattering revelations?? They might not "whine," but many vocalize their pain. Ungulates certainly sense pain because they basically have the same central nervious system you do. Ever see a mammalian critter bite at the spot a bullet hits? It doesn't do that because it felt good. Perhaps you're thinking of fish?? -TONY

But that's not what they do. Even the states with the early draws don't hold money for six months. Perhaps there is even something legally involved in doing such, i.e. a STATUTE, only changeable by the legislature, as opposed to a simple rule, which the game department can easily alter. I'll research it when I have time. Of course, they could also make EVERYONE pay the license and tag fees upfront to garner more interest over the short term. -TONY

For those here who weren't around 25 years ago, here's a column I wrote back then that provides some perspective on the auction/raffle permits. -TONY PERMIT PROCEEDS WILL BENEFIT AZ BIGHORNS A few months ago, I received a bulletin from the Arizona Game and Fish Department which stated that the first of two desert bighorn sheep permits had been auctioned to a California resident for an astonishing $64,000. Maybe, this figure is not really "astonishing" to Don Pocapalia of Rancho Palos Verde who won the final bidding, but for me, raising $150 to apply for a normal sheep drawing can sometimes be a chore. Well, this month the second permit donated to the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society will be given away to the lucky person whose name is drawn from the hundreds of $25 raffle tickets sold. Sale of the chances ended on August 1, and when the final tally is made, the ADBSS hopes to amass between $20,000 to $30,000 more in funds to go into an interest-bearing account along with the earlier auction money. Where is this all going? Quite a while ago, when I first learned of the donation of the two sheep permits to the ADBSS, I was thoroughly incensed by the whole affair. My anger really peaked when I heard about the selling price for that first permit. I simply could not understand why the game department had the right to donate two permits to an organization for the purpose of raising money, especially since my license money has been contributing to sheep research and department salaries for 25 years. And, during those years, I had never been drawn to hunt the desert bighorn. Now, before someone starts shouting "sour grapes", let me say that over the last few months, my feelings toward this practice have mellowed considerably. In fact, I am now totally in favor of and support it. After some investigation, many things surfaced which altered my position. Conversations with personnel at the Game and Fish headquarters explained some of the reasons behind their actions, but the most enlightening facts came through Don Johnson, a past-president of the ADBSS and the current chairman of the committee entrusted with the disposal of the two "fundraising" permits. According to Johnson, this is the best thing to ever happen for the desert bighorn in the state of Arizona. For him to feel that way is quite surprising since he, like myself, has never drawn a sheep permit! Because all of the money spent on wildlife research and habitat improvement in the state comes from department funds and not from any general tax funds, traditionally, money for sheep projects has been hard to raise. However, with the dollars from the two permits, research on the bighorn will be vastly expanded. The desert bighorn has experienced a troubled existence in Arizona since the late 1800's. Miners, prospectors, soldiers and others overhunted the sheep for food and trophies. Because of additional habitat loss, new diseases and the indiscriminate hunting, the bighorns experienced a major decline in their historic ranges. Finally, folks began to realize the need for some protection, and in 1939 the Kofa Game Range and the Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge were established to help save the animals from extinction. In 1958, Game and Fish moved 16 sheep into the Aravaipa Canyon from the Kofa Range, the first transplant management effort. The permit being raffled this month will allow the lucky winner to hunt this area, Unit 31. Although Aravaipa was not opened to hunting until 1980, it has consistently produced record heads including a huge ram taken in 1982 by John Harris. Recognizing the need for additional management of the bighorn, people who were concerned for the animals' long-term welfare organized the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society in 1967. Over the years, this group has donated many hours and countless dollars, the main ingredients for successful management. Unlike some of the other so-called "wildlife organizations", there are not any "fat-cats" who sit behind a desk reaping a profit at the ADBSS; everyone is strictly a volunteer concerned with the welfare of the sheep. No one draws a salary! This fact is evident in the administration of the two donated permits; all of the costs involved in the auction and raffle are being underwritten by the Society. Not one single dollar of the monies from either will be used for anything but to help the desert bighorn survive. In order to obtain the permits for their endeavor, the ADBSS had to fight an uphill struggle with the Game Commission and the legislature to make the donation possible since it was illegal until new legislation was enacted. "When we first approached the game department, they had mixed emotions. They thought there would be a huge public outcry against such a move", Johnson says. "We finally convinced the department to present our plan to the commission, and they instructed Game and Fish to further investigate the matter from a legal standpoint, the public's opinion and the way other states did it and how it worked." After the matter became public, it was found that the opinions on such a move were favorable leading to the legislation making the donation possible. The bill became law in July 1983 and includes all big game species, not only sheep. These tags will only be issued to incorporated, non-profit, wildlife conservation organizations with the stipulation that ALL of the proceeds be used in Arizona for management of the animal for which the tag is designated. Any group requesting these tags must also agree to underwrite all of the costs involved in their sale and transfer. Of course, there are some people who are still against this fundraising effort, especially in the Tuscon area. These folks are miffed because one of the permits allocated for the Aravaipa Canyon hunt is being used for the raffle. "Some people felt that these permits would magically appear as extra permits. Of course, this is not the case. If the areas involved could support the extra permit, it should have existed last year. If there are two permits in an area, and one of those is allocated to the raffle, that leaves one available for the general drawing," Johnson states. If a person really thought about it, he would realize that without the management efforts, there would not be ANY permits available in Aravaipa. He would also realize because of the extra money and concentrated efforts of the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society, the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the other government agencies involved, that permits never before possible will be made available for the general drawing in the future. Proper management, needed waterholes, transplants of sheep into historic habitat now devoid of any, will all lead to herd improvement. In fact, many of the biologists involved feel that the population could easily double in no time. If this happens, who knows, maybe both Don Johnson and I may eventually get a permit to hunt the bighorn sheep.

Aah yes, time to blame the "Game departments" again. Hint: It was all of the special interest groups that lobbied and brought raffle/auction tags into being. In AZ, it started decades ago with the AZ Desert Bighorn Sheep Society and mushroomed from there as each new alphabet group came into existence. BTW, the draw for elk, which this topic is about, had a deadline in Feb. this year. The drawing took place in March and permits were mailed in April. Moving the deadline earlier doesn't make any more interest unless they delay the actual drawing for several more months AFTER that. -TONY

I think that's pretty much what I said in my message. We're in agreement. I think BOTH figures should be higher, but the gap between them should also be closer. I certainly do not doubt some guys don't even walk over to see if there's blood/hair if an animal doesn't react to the shot, even though it might be hit. I've watched it happen too many times to know it does. And of course, those wounding stats don't tell us how many survive or die either. -TONY

Okay, here's a bit of an update after I called a contact at AZGF. Now, this is kinda a "take it for what it's worth" stat that comes from the mailed harvest questionaires each year. My guess is the rates are likely higher for BOTH weapon types, but especially firearms, where shots are often WAY TOO LONG for the person pulling the trigger and often result in undetected hits because of the distance involved. In contrast, the short distance for archers makes it pretty easy to know when one wounds a critter. Plus, I guarantee some hunters of both stripes do not report their wounded animals. In 2006, the Wounding loss for elk, as reported on the survey cards was: Archery Bull -- 12% Archery Cow -- 8% Firearms Bull -- 2% Firearms Cow -- 2% -TONY

Not quite. If the property owner gives permission, someone can legally shoot off the back porch, as long as there are no OTHER houses within 1/4 mile of that porch, where the owners HAVEN'T given permission. Pertinent part of A.R.S.17-309 below: Violations; classification A. Unless otherwise prescribed by this title, it is unlawful for a person to: 4. Discharge a firearm while taking wildlife within one-fourth mile of an occupied farmhouse or other residence, cabin, lodge or building without permission of the owner or resident. -TONY