Outdoor Writer

Oh, Ok. I thought it was a regular exotic hunt operation. But sure, go ahead and ask anyway, provided it isn't a shooting-fish-in-the-barrel scenario. I have no real desire to kill an axis in a 100x100-yard pen while it's nibblin' corn from a solar feeder or lickin' on a salt block. You can send me a PM here. -TONY

Good question, Matt. Obviously, most of what I wrote deals with the average rather than the extremes. Also, consider that Tucson sits at 2584 feet while Phoenix is about 1,100. So any area higher than Tucson is going be 3,000 feet or more. That would take in about every foothill and mountain to the south. But you are indeed correct that more and more Coues are moving into lower elevations. I know two guys who see lots of them near the riparian areas along the San Pedro River and similar places. Of course, if we look at whitetail deer around the country, those types of areas are prime spots. In the western states to the north of us, the river corridors harbor a big chunk of the whitetail populations. Now, this is just a guess, but my thoughts on them moving into mule deer territory go more along that the Coues are merely filling in the niches where mule deer populations have declined dramatically, i.e. the southern part of the state. IOW, they aren't driving the mulies out per se but simply setting up housekeeping in places the mulies no longer live in good numbers. Perhaps someone else will add their thoughts. -TONY

Nope. But good guess, nonetheless. -TONY

This is why their range is constantly growing. -TONY

1. Argueably the most well traveled and greatest sport hunter of the 20th Century. He has 152 African trophies listed in Rowland Ward's Records of Big Game. He also has 54 trophies from Asia listed and 26 from North America, for a total of 232 in the book. He was the Weatherby Award winner in 1960. Also was an avid handgun metallic silhouette shooter. 5. Many of his classics were part of a series that included five works. The movie I mentioned was the 2nd of that series and considered his best work of all. You would probably recognize at least three of them by title. One character, known by various nicknames, was consistent throughout, and one of those nicknames was revived in the movie MASH. He also wrote tales about the sea from in his home in New York state. Now, if you can't get them from those clues, you're hopeless. -TONY

Jim, I know. I saw that and raised heck. Below is the slightly redacted email I had sent with the photo captions. -TONY -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Tony Mandile Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 8:34 AM To: xxxxx, John [mailto:John.xxxx@ xxxxxxx ] Subject: Photo captions John, Captions for elk forecast photos: CraigCormierbull1.jpg -- Craig Cormier killed this 356-inch bull during the Arizona archery season in unit 9. Photo courtesy of Mullins Outfitters TimHeraldbull1.jpg -- Tim Herald killed his 315-inch bull with a Knight muzzleloader on the Jicarilla Indian Reservation in New Mexico. Photo courtesy of Tim Herald

Manny, A few of your past charges. -TONY

Bullet drop is the same regardless of the angle of fire, because gravity works the same over the level distance only. So when you shoot up or downhill, the drop is based on the level-ground HORIZONTAL RANGE the bullet travels and NOT on the slanted distance traveled. As a result, bullets -- and arrows -- will strike high when shooting up or downhill if you sight for the actual distance of the SLANT range. Over short distances or at low angles, it's normally not an issue. Hypothetical exaggerated situation: If you're way up on a steep cliff 300 yards above a deer and shooting nearly straight down at the deer in a wash, your rangefinder will tell you the deer is 300 yards away. BUT...the horizontal distance would likely be less than 10 yards, which is the distance gravity would work on your bullet. So if your gun shoots 4" high at 10 yards on level ground, it will do the same for this shot. Obviously if you think it's 300 yards and adjust your hold to compensate, you will shoot even higher. -TONY

Scott, Well, that begs the question: IF one wasn't a buddy of the owner's son and the owner sells exotic hunts, about how much would one have to pay to kill an axis deer on the owner's ranch? -TONY

None of the above. More clues: #1 -- He also was involved with developing several wildcat calibers. #5 -- When I was a kid, I had a collection of Classic "comic" books. This author had a couple. One of his works was a very well received movie a few years ago. -TONY

Josh, Well, orange or not, the photo printed really well. It's always nice to work with images from guys who know how to take good ones. -TONY

Record number of spring turkey tags approved for 2008 Commission also sets historic second Gould’s turkey hunt PHOENIX – The Arizona Game and Fish Commission on Aug. 11 approved a record 6,983 spring turkeys tags for 2008 and also set an historic second Gould’s turkey hunt. During its meeting in Flagstaff, the commission set the spring 2008 hunts for javelina, turkey, buffalo and bear. As part of the turkey hunt recommendation, the commission approved a second hunt for Gould's turkeys, which will occur in the Chiricahua Mountains in Hunt Unit 29. The first-ever hunt for Gould's turkeys in Arizona was held in the Huachuca Mountains during the spring of 2002. Hunters can start applying for the 2008 spring hunts via manual applications that can be downloaded online once the regulations are posted on the department’s Web site (expected to be available around Aug. 20). However, the online application process will not be available for the spring 2008 draw. All spring hunt-permit applications will have to be mailed or hand-delivered to department offices. The deadline to apply for the spring hunts is Oct. 9 (the day after Columbus Day, a state holiday). The printed version of the spring 2008 regulations will not be available at license dealers in the state until early September. Big Game Program Supervisor Brian Wakeling told the commission that one of the tremendous successes in recent years has been the stratified hunt seasons for spring turkey, which have resulted in the department providing more hunting opportunity during this popular hunt. In addition, a successful Gould's turkey transplant program in Arizona conducted in close cooperation with the National Wild Turkey Federation has also afforded the ability to expand hunting opportunity for this subspecies. For the spring 2008 turkey hunt, the commission set 6,983 permits, which is 737 more than in 2007, and increased junior’s-only permits to 350, which is a 125-permit increase over 2007. Eight of these permits are available for Gould's turkey. For javelina, the commission approved 27,760 permits for the 2008 year, which were split into the following seasons: General season – 11,705 (plus 225 over 2007). Archery season – 9,645 (plus 445). Junior’s only – 970 (plus 105). H.A.M 5,440 – (minus 25). The 2008 buffalo season was approved at the same permit levels as last year – 10 each for the House Rock and Raymond wildlife areas. The season on House Rock, however, has been extended through May. The spring bear season did not remain static. The commission approved 405 general permits, which is an increase of 15, along with 250 archery-only permits, which is an increase of 65. The commission also approved annual female harvest limits for units with spring hunts; the annual female harvest limits for the remainder of the units that only have fall hunts will be set next April.

Scott, Congrats on both the trophy baby and the nice axis buck. Curious: how much for the deer? -TONY

That was part of my clue. "Wrote several well-known fictional novels, including one popular with kids." Far as I know, the gunsmith, who was more famous for his hunting exploits, was never associated with OL, other than to perhaps pen several articles as a freelancer. -TONY

And me thinks you're funning us, Keith. #6 -- "There is a passion for hunting something deeply implanted in the human breast." CHARLES DICKENS, Oliver Twist And yes, the other two are both Amreicans. -TONY

Hmmm, well yeah, you got #3 correct. Did you just pull that name out of a hat? -TONY

Elkman, Yup, they not only take up room, but they also take up a lot of dollars out of one's bank account. I saved a couple hundred on mine by building my own base, and it still was $2,500. Marc's doing a life-size wallaby for me now that will over $1,000! -TONY

Be careful what you wish for, Gino. The harvest objective could be worse than basing units on the 20% success rate. Just because more hunters are in the field doesn't necessarily mean the success rate will rise. It just means they might kill more deer, thus reaching the harvest goal quicker than they would reach a 20% rate. Hypothetical example: The stats for last year show something like 100 bowhunters in a unit killed 10 deer for a 10% sucess rate. So now put 500 OTC bowhunters in that unit with a harvest objective set at 40 deer, which G&F determines is the amount archers should kill. If they still maintain a success rate of 10%, which is more likely than having it increase, they will kill 50 deer. BUT...they would have to quit hunting when the harvest objective of 40 deer was hit. Thus, the success rate has just dropped to about 8%. Whoops. -TONY

Me thinks reading the article itself will dispel that notion, as in: The whitetail’s habitat varies from low desert elevations of 3000 feet to high, pine-covered slopes of 11,000-ft. Mt. Graham in the Pinalenos Mountains and atop the Mogollon Rim in central Arizona. In many units, they share space with mule deer. Most of the whitetail harvest comes from oak and juniper covered hills and canyons at the 4,500- to 7,000-foot range, however. -TONY

Happy Birthday!!!!

Neat mount, Bob. -TONY

This is the original trophy room where that photo was taken. I had to add the other one when I ran out of space. -TONY

Jack London Ralph Waldo Emmerson #3 Samuel Clemons I can't think of who the first one might be, the gunsmith part is throwing me off, maybe John Browning Keith, Not sure which name you meant to link to which quote, but none of your guesses match any of the ones still unanswered. -TONY

I haven't applied for any spring tags in years. I've killed all the bears and javelina I would need for two lifetimes. But even though I've already shot a Gould's in Mexico, I just might apply for one of those tags to compete with you guys. -TONY

If you meant mine, it's a BC bear. The rug on the wall is an AZ bear, tho. I guess you'll have to provide a definition for "fruit" so I know what you mean? He refers to my new trophy room as the Plunkett Museum because he mounted every one of the critters in it. -TONY