Outdoor Writer

Not sure how to score it, but this is definitely way up in the book.

These are a few photos my taxidermist shot. They aren't the best because the color is off in some areas. I'll be taking more photos of it on the wall.

As soon as someone develops one with a small camera, it will be the next "useful" item to lead to the perversion of hunting, much like the ATV and trail camera have already done. http://www.ksl.com/?sid=29768199&nid=148&title=drones-harassing-wildlife-at-zion-national-park-officials-say&s_cid=queue-1

Don't forget 300 jr tags and 200 muzzleloader tags and OTC archery hunts in August, December and January. Lots and lots of tags, hands down the most hunted unit in the state. Success still hovers around 30%. I didn't include those hunts because if I recall in another thread he mentioned he would be doing his first hunt with a rifle and I do not believe he's a junior.

Aaahaaa, see...I read it right! You just spelled it wrong.

Download the regs at http://www.azgfd.gov/regs/mainregs.pdf. This the current set-up for whitetails unit 33: 1117 Oct 24 - Oct 30, 2014 (31,36) 33 Antlered whitetail deer 700 1118 Nov 7 - Nov 13, 2014 (31,36) 33 Antlered whitetail deer 700 1119 Nov 28 - Dec 7, 2014 (31,36) 33 Antlered whitetail deer 700 1120 Dec 12 - Dec 31, 2014 (31,36) 33 Antlered whitetail deer 50

That's what it's all about right there. Oh, and since I'm not a "trophy hunter," per se, I've killed several bucks in those size ranges over the years. Don't ever apologize for the size of choices you make. The tags belong to the holders and making the choice is theirs and theirs alone.

Congrats, Brian!!! Do you have an Eastern and an Osceola yet? Been meaning to ask for a while now: Are you related to ex-Phx mayor Skip Rimza?

Well...the first time I read the title, I wasn't paying much attention. My quick first thougt: Geez, what 's so bad about treating animals for their various ills. Vets can be life savers!

Don't believe a word of it. It's all based on fictional places, characters and events.

Summary: U.S. Postal Service (USPS) - Shipping ammo is prohibited. United Parcel Service (UPS) - Shipping ammo permitted with packaging/weight/labeling qualifications. Federal Express (FedEx) - Shipping ammo generally prohibited unless HazMat certified. Details: U.S. Postal Service (USPS): Shipping of Ammunition is Prohibited Ammunition (Cartridges, small arms) is a nonmailable hazardous material. "Under no circumstances may any nonmailable hazardous material, restricted matter, or perishable matter be deposited for mailing." Publication 52 - Hazardous, Restricted and Perishable Mail Cartridges, small arms - Appendix A - Hazardous Materials United Parcel Service (UPS): 1. Pack ammo within a sturdy cardboard box, gross weight limit of 66 pounds. 2. Print ORM-D label, cut out and tape to a least one side of box. 3. Take package to a UPS Customer Center only - NOT at Drop-Off Box, The UPS Store, Mail Boxes etc., Sonic. Might be a good idea to have the UPS Hazardous Material Support Center number with you -- 800-554-9964. Varied success with UPS pick-up at your location. Per UPS: UPS accepts domestic ground shipments of ammunition that have been classified by the shipper as "Cartridges, small arms", "ORM-D" (Other Regulated Material). The package must be properly marked according to the requirements of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (49 CFR). Contact the Hazardous Material Support Center at 800-554-9964 for details on regulatory information. Federal Express (FedEx): Per FedEx, 10/26/2006: HazMat Training is required to qualify to ship all Hazardous Materials. Ammunition is a Hazardous Material. No Drop-Off, package must be picked up by FedEx. See How to Qualify.

Sonoran Whipsnake

Is that the one you used on my sheep hunt??

Recheck the sale tax bit. Because Amazon has an AZ location, they MUST charge an AZ resident some sales tax IF the goods are being sold by Amazon and not another vendor. This purchase is from last week and I also bought golf gloves a couple weeks ago that had tax added. Shipment Details Sold by Amazon.com LLC $184.99 Item Subtotal: $184.99 Shipping & Handling: $33.64 Free shipping: -$33.64 Total Before Tax: $184.99 Sales Tax Collected: $15.72 Shipment Total: $200.71 Paid by Visa: $200.71

Hmmm.......... I got through four years at an all boys Catholic high school with two 1-yr. courses in algebra and one year of trig, geometry and calculus. The only "tool" allowed was a slide rule for the last one. I had only one year of college algebra since I was a biology major and no calculator for it either. Oh, and that was many, many years prior to Al Gore inventing the internet. In the many years of wandering internet forums ( a buddy from MD and I started the very first outdoor/hunting forum on Compuserve way back in 1983, before the Web existed) I've been somewhat disheartened to see so many folks posting that appear to have a pretty dismal grasp of rudimentary spelling and grammar. This is just my opinion of course, but it seems the public school system has gone far downhill instead showing improvement. And that's considering the tools now available.

http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2014/04/13/kilter-bundy-won-america-lost-1/

Working fine for me. The spinning thingie indicates it's trying to load and often indicates a poor connection.

That first pic is super. If it's in AZ, you need to enter for inclusion in the annual AZG&F calendar for next year. It looks like it caught a big waterdog, huh?

When I first read about this rancher, his name sounded familiar. Then I recalled an article I wrote in 2007 about a big Strip buck killed with an auction tag. Now...I can't say for sure but I would bet the Bundy Ranch that he's related to the family that originally settled in that area. Here's an outtake from the article and the sidebar that went with it. Copyright by Tony Mandile .....................The hunter booked a charter flight into Las Vegas, where guide Clay Bundy picked him up and brought him into camp. They arrived at 4 a.m. The Arizona Strip is a relatively narrow chunk of country that is isolated from the rest of the state by the Colorado River. From the river, the Strip goes north to the border of southern Utah, from east to west, it goes from the Lake Powell to the southeast corner of Nevada. Although the North Kaibab sits within this area, a reference to the Strip normally means the other three hunting units. The terrain in these units -- 12B, 13A and 13B -- consists of a mix of high desert, big canyons and the forested slopes of Mt. Trumbull, Mt. Emma and Mt. Logan, all of which rise more than 7,000 feet. They also contain areas as remote and wild as any in Arizona. Among the world’s trophy hunters, it has a lofty reputation. Over a span of about 20 years, the Strip produced some of the best mule deer hunting in the West, and many of the bucks grew to record-book size. In fact, the trophy record book published by the Arizona Wildlife Federation still lists more than 30 typical and non-typical bucks from the Arizona Strip that were killed from the mid-1950s into the early 1980s. The history of the Strip prior to the early 1900s is somewhat murky, however. We know the Mormons used timber from Mt. Trumbull to build a temple in St. George, Utah. We also know good populations of pronghorn antelope and desert bighorn sheep inhabited the Strip because local cattle baron Preston Nutter proposed that it be turned into a big-game refuge. Nothing ever came of it, though. And supposedly, Teddy Roosevelt brought a herd of gazelle from Africa and turned them loose somewhere on the Strip. Nobody knows what happened to them either. Unlike the Kaibab, where the mule deer had been a mainstay back into the 19th century, the Strip herd has a much more recent history. When the first settlers arrived and created Bundyville in the early 1900s, the area was nothing but dry sagebrush flats and pinyon-juniper forests, and about the only water available was on Mt. Trumbull. Some written accounts by those living on the Strip back then make it clear that seeing a deer was a rarity. For the most part, much of the land was marginal deer habitat anyway. The lack of water didn’t help. As more ranchers began grazing their charges on the Strip, however, they built dozens of stock tanks to ensnare free-running water for the cattle and sheep. In 1947, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service assigned Ted Riggs to the area as a predator control trapper. Using both traps and poison, Riggs made a serious dent in the coyote and lion populations. Then the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which controls the majority of land on the Strip, moved in during the early 1950s to improve the grazing habitat. With a heavy steel chain stretched between them, bulldozers “chained” down entire stands of juniper and pinyon trees. They used this clearing technique on acres and acres of range. New forage plants started growing almost immediately, and so did the deer herd. Within a few years, the steady supply of water, increased browse and low predation helped the deer herd grow huge, even to the point where it threatened to overrun the available habitat. The Strip became a productive deer factory. By the mid-1950s, hunters in Arizona learned about the excellent hunting and trophy-producing ability. Nearly anyone who wanted to venture into the remote area and endure hours of bumpy, dusty roads could tag a buck. If they had the patience and willpower to pass up the smaller ones, they had a very good chance at an outstanding trophy. Because the soil in the area mirrors the same mineral-rich type as that on the North Kaibab, antler growth was sometimes spectacular, with spreads often going well beyond 30 inches. Place names within the Strip such as Poverty Mountain, Mt. Dellenbaugh, Snap Point, Trumbull, Black Rock, Wolfhole and Seegmiller became well known for their big buck production. At an old-line shack near Grassy Mountain, the graffiti-covered walls tell some of the story. In 1966, a local cowboy, Garn Esplin, scribbled, “Saw 40-50 deer in the past two days.” Farther down the wall, in March 1963 ranch foreman Mel Wipple wrote, “What’s the matter with the deer hunters? There’s 10,000 deer here by the look of things.” Even Riggs saw what was happening. In 1956, he rode his horse from the Wildcat Ranch to Snap Point. On the way, he counted deer; his one-day tally totaled 346 of them. More than half of them had antlers, and half of the bucks were four points or more. Not surprisingly, three of the notable entries in the Arizona record book have Riggs listed as the hunter. His typical entry from 1968 scored 189. His two non-typicals scored 249 6/8 and 240 2/8. His last Strip deer, taken in 1988, was an 8x9 with double eyeguards. Sadly, sometime in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Strip no longer harbored a lot of deer. A lot of finger pointing occurred, but for the most part, the downward population trend happened because of several factors. Worried about a repeat of the now infamous debacle where thousands of deer starved on the North Kaibab in the 1920s, the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) liberalized the seasons and also issued a large number of doe permits. Then in 1972, President Richard Nixon banned the canid poison, Compound 10-80 for use on federal land. This move took away Riggs’ most effective predator control. About the same time the coyote population started to grow again, the AGFD gave the mountain lion the status of a big-game animal, thus creating the need for a special tag and an annual limit of one lion per hunter. Finally, the drought that has plagued the state for the last 12-15 years arrived. Together, these factors resulted in a dramatic drop in the total deer population. The game department estimated the population of deer on the Strip was less than 5,000 during the 1970s, and by the 1990s, it had fallen to about 2,400 or less. At one time, the Strip country west of the North Kaibab comprised a single hunt unit. After the deer numbers started to plummet, however, the game department split the unit into 13 A and 13B for management purposes. The split effectively separated the deer populations around the Mt. Trumbull-Mt. Logan area from those in the Virgin Mountain, Black Rocks and Mudd Mountain area........................ Sidebar: The somewhat vague history of the Arizona Strip tells us the first white men to visit the area were Dominguez and Escalante when they traveled along the base of the Hurricane Cliffs on their return trip from central Utah in 1776. Nearly a century later, other Anglos attempted to take advantage of the area’s vast land resources, but conflicts with native tribes occurred as the newcomers quickly laid claim to the best water sources and vegetation. Disputes between settlers and the Navajo, Paiute and Ute tribes culminated in the Black Hawk Navajo Wars of 1866-1869. By 1870, Mormon paramilitary action had mostly quelled the native resistance, eventually leading to the "Treaty of Mount Trumbull" and the establishment of several Paiute reservations. Although the settlers included a colorful array of ranchers, sheepmen, cowboys and outlaws, the majority of the newcomers were Mormons, dispatched by the Church of Latter Day Saints to lay claim to the choicest land and resources before non-Mormons settled them. A number of large ranches were established, as well as a sawmill and a large dairy, and the rights to limited water sources of the region were swiftly claimed, though often without "valid government title." Range wars -- often settled with guns -- were quite common in this lawless frontier, and cattle rustling was a crime with hanging as its punishment. Immigration to the Strip was encouraged by two events in 1916: the Stock Raising Homestead Act and the opening of a half million acres of Utah’s Dixie National Forest to homestead entry. In addition, a climatic shift early in the 20th century brought increased rains and snows, which filled water holes and allowed the grasslands to grow lush. About the time of the immigration surge to the Strip country, Abraham Bundy and his family had been living in the Mormon colony of Moroles, in the state of Sonora, Old Mexico. But Poncho Villa and the Mexican Revolution of 1912 forced them to seek out a gentler environment. So Abraham brought his wife, eldest son Roy and several daughters to Arizona in 1916, where they settled in an area near the Hurricane Cliffs, not too far from 8,000-ft. Mt. Trumbull. Bundyville, also known as Mt. Trumbull, became the Strip's largest community. Eventually, nearly 300 people lived in the town, which included a schoolhouse that was built in 1922. Roy Bundy just happens to be Clay Bundy’s grandfather, and Clay went to classes until the third grade in Bundyville’s tiny schoolhouse. Today, little remains of Bundyville. The school had been abandoned in the early 1960s, then later restored. It recently burned, but it’s demise as part of the Strip’s history won’t last long. Clay Bundy is a contractor and has already made plans to restore it once again. He also still owns a cabin on a ranch near Bundyville. It sits on land that belonged to Roy Bundy until Clay’s father, Orvel, bought it.

Ole was hunting geese up in the Minnesota woods. He leaned the old 16 gauge against the corner of the blind to take a leak. As luck would have it, his foolish dog Dawson knocked the gun over, it went off and Ole took most of an ounce of #4 in the groin. Several hours later, lying in a Duluth hospital bed, he came to and there was his doctor, Sven. "Vell Ole, I got some good news and some bad news. Da good news is dat you are going to be OK. Da damage vas local to your groin, dere was very little internal damage, and I vas able to remove all of da buckshot." "What's the bad news?", asks Ole "The bad news is dat dere vas some pretty extensive buckshot damage done to your penis. I'm going to have to refer you to my sister, Lena ." "Well, I guess that isn't too bad," says Ole. "Is your sister a plastic surgeon?" "Not exactly," Sven says. "She's a flute player in da Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, and because all you have is Obamacare, she's going to teach you where to put your fingers, so you don't pee in your eye."

I have an original on my bookshelves with a pile of other AWVs, including many of the smaller sizes from an earlier era.

The sit-out garbage was used a long, long time ago, like in the 1960s or early 1970s. In fact, if I recall (Bill?) it was three years for elk, sheep, and pronghorn. They did away with it when it proved to be statistically insignificant, even with three years worth of sucessfull apps sitting out.

That would be perfect!! Then we wouldn't have to see a dozen threads with all the whiners. Reminds me of a bunch of petulant 6-yr.-olds.

You were correct, Bill. It was Gambel's and scaled quail. Here's the column I did with Steve for Arizona Hunter & Angler. THE LAST SHOT RAIN, RAIN Copyright by Tony Mandile No doubt, most readers remember the little ditty, "Rain, rain go away, please come back another day." My parents taught it to me when I was a youngster, and I recall reciting it often when the rain kept me indoors during my childhood days in New Jersey. In the last few months, however, I have thought about the poem a lot --- especially after I had spent five or six hours afield in search of seemingly nonexistent quail. In case anyone failed to notice, this year's Gambels' quail season was a bummer. A few isolated areas held some decent numbers, but for the most part the little feathered devils were as scarce as hairs on Kojak's head. Don't ask me why, but I made one last trip during the last week of the season to the Mayer area. Perhaps my fantasies of finding a few 50-bird coveys made me do it. Then again, I think my being a glutton for punishment might have been the reason. Surprisingly, I stumbled onto one bunch of about 20 quail near a stock tank within 15 minutes of leaving the truck. On previous trips, finding birds in that short of time never happened, so my German shorthair no doubt thought she had died and went to heaven. Ginger pointed six birds over the next hour, but only two of them went into my game vest. When I missed, the dog usually turned and stared at me as if to say, "Hey, Deadeye, you point and let me handle the gun." The fun ended quickly, however. Ginger and I spent the next five hours driving from one stock tank to another. At each stop, we walked our tails off but never saw another feather. Since the season began, I have talked with other quail hunters. Most of them experienced the same kind of shooting. They located a few birds on one trip but none on the next. Places that had consistently produced good hunting in past years, such as the areas around Florence, Oracle, Globe and Wickenburg, turned into duds this season. Many of the hunters also said the birds seems wilder than they were during past seasons. Instead of running like they often do, the coveys flushed wildly far out of gun range. Consequently, relocating them presented somewhat of a problem at times. Without a dog this type of hunting quickly gets real tiresome and sometimes fruitless. Unless my memory is faulty, the last time the quail population dropped so dramatically was in the early 1970s. The reason was the same: the lack of rain, or more properly, the lack of rain at the right time. A few decades ago, Steve Gallizioli, who was then a biologist for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, conducted an extensive study on quail. The program lasted many years and consumed hundreds of man-hours. When it finally ended Gallizioli came up with two interesting results. His research showed hunting has little or no effect on quail numbers. What does have a drastic effect, however, is rain. Without sufficient moisture, quail reproduction is minimal. A lot of folks think the rains help best in the spring months, but Gallizioli debunks the misguided belief. "In order for it to benefit the birds, the rains must come between October and March. It's much better if they are dispersed over a longer time. This saturates the soil, which in turn prompts good plant growth." The actual reason for the importance of plants in the reproductive scheme was an unknown factor for a long time. Biologists knew green vegetation was necessary, but they weren't quite sure why. Recent research by the University of Arizona unraveled part of the mystery when it was determined that Vitamin A was a key to the quail's sexual development for mating. The university's study found higher concentrations of the vitamin in the bird's livers when they were mating. Once the eggs hatch, the chicks also derive benefits from increased vegetation. The young birds need a large amount of protein to survive, and the copious vegetation provides that protein in the form of increased insect populations. When the plants eventually go to seed, both the juvenile and adult birds have a generous and nutritional food supply. According to Gallizioli, late rains --- in March or April --- do little good because most plants are geared to sprouting from winter rains. "The best indicator of how good the fall season will be is the preponderance of spring flowers. If the desert blooms as it had been doing a few years back, you can expect to have lots of birds to hunt. We have had some decent rains this past December and January, but we still need a bit more," Gallizioli said. Mearns quail hunters had it a little better. This species is dependent on summer rains, and the "monsoons," which normally hit the state in August, help immensely. I made three trips south of Tucson this winter and busted five to eight coveys each time. Most of them contained less than 10 birds, but that's often the case with Mearns. My shorthair located four coveys on one trip. Each one, within a 1/4-mile of the others, had some younger birds in it. With next year in mind, my hunting buddy and I each killed six birds, then quit. Leaving enough birds to replenish the stock should provide good hunting again for 1989. Now that the season has ended finally, I'm hoping the many times I said, "Please come back another day," during the past few months will have some effect. If not, next year's hunts will be much like the past one. So cross your fingers and wish for lots of colorful flowers this spring. ----- 30 -----

Agreed, Bill. I didn't get to know Steve well until the 1970s, but none of the guys in the photo look like him, IMO. Also, didn't his main study involve Mearns quail? The conclusions of that one eventually resulted in an open season for Mearns. I have a column I did way back then; I'll check later.