Sneaker

It varies of course by area and bull but he looks like he is getting close, can't wait to get out to my unit again and seee how the Bulls are doing.

Went to the Kingman meeting tonight. 5 hunters came. Some good info and discussion on the guidelines. I let my stances be known. At the end they brought up a few items for future consideration that they just wanted opinion on, they included possibly banning instant notification text message type game cameras, and possibly instituting primitive versions of muzzleloader and archery hunts. The thought would be replacing some standard muzzy or archery hunts with these primitive weapon hunts some of the time... I don't think the primitive archery hunt would be a very good idea or have very good support.

Well the other one they had on the slide that I didn't even bring up here because I thought is was so dumb it wasn't even worth it was to decrease the number of early rifle bull hunts offered every year(they mentioned leaving them only in the 4 premium units). When I asked her where these ideas came from, she literally made it sound like she just got one random individual email for each of these consideration items where someone suggested this type of action be considered or taken. There had to be more random "suggestion" emails to the guidelines team throughout the year, so interesting that they would pick these three weird ones as the cream of the crop to get public comment about.

They didn't define them, they just wanted input on if it was something they should pursue.

The proposed guidlines have a table that is trying to explain when they will increase or decrease antlerless tags and hunts and it is not making any sense to me. From the way I'm reading it, when the three year average or trend shows the heard is struggling/tough winters/vegetation is poor or fair and yearlings are less the 90 lbs and general body conditions are poor: Increase doe tags. When the heard is doing well and vegetation is strong and yearlings are over 90 lbs and body condition is excellent: Decrease doe tags. I don't understand the reasoning behind that. I think there is an undertone of Life of Pi and "When stranded in a boat with 4 people with only enough water and food for 2, you need to kill 2" but I'm not quite sure? If you have a theoretically optimal/stable deer population of 8,XXX lets say, and then the herd experiences a couple bad winters in a row, and are maybe down to 6,XXX, the department will then increase doe tags, further decreasing the herd size just because the herd had a hard time the last three years and is in bad shape? What? Hopefully I'm not reading it correctly.

Sparky, the G&F is only using "Winter Range/Vegetation Condition", as a specific metric in the decisions table, nothing of spring or summer feed. Of course if mr. yearling had a ton of feed at 8,300 ft elv. during the summer he should be in better shape at measurement time.

^ You are going to have to ask this guy

Most of us all understand the basics of wildlife conservation, thank you. I'm trying to discuss the specific changes for 2016. This is a brand new table and part of the guildelines that has never existed before. I'm trying figure out if I agree with how they are going to change the treatment of the doe hunts going forward. It seems alot of it is relying on winter feed quality(to determine if the herd is too large or too small). We have to have faith that our biologists have it under control as far as the correct measurements, relationships between winter range and the herd etc since it seems like a huge factor.

It just seems like it is too slow to really help the cycle get back to or stay at equilibrium. If the herd got overpopulated, then had 3 bad years, of forage, weight, body fat metrics etc, then by the fourth year nature would have already been bringing the herd way down in population. But on top of that, then they increase doe tags(generally a multi-year decision), because of the prior three years of bad metrics and therefore fourth, fifth, and maybe sixth years instead of the herd starting to rebound/recover, they get hit with increased doe tags.

Bad Idea

Sounds defective. I use all $50 cameras and have had similar issues if I didn't clear branches well enough and it was really windy, but never that bad.

Putting a sign/note up stating your intention to hunt there doesn't do very much for you in my opinion. It just shows others that you think it's a great place to hunt, and depending on how it is worded, that you think the note gives you some upper hand on hunting it, when it doesn't.

So I took my girls out to a new area today, and boy were they good luck! Found quite the honey hole. Went on a hike with them just before lunch, we didn't find anything, and they got pretty tuckered. They both fell asleep in the truck after lunch so I stopped the truck and went for a little hike, and the sheds just started popping up everywhere. Before they woke up from their nap I had found half a dozen. Before they finished a movie on the dvd player I had found another half dozen. I really could not believe what I was finding. Then to top it off, on the way out while driving down the road I spotted the base of an antler sticking up through the grass on a hill over a hundred yards away, and it was a great 4 point! Then 40 yards away a knarley thick 6 point! 15 sheds in about 3.5 hours in an over-the-counter, non migratory unit.

We caught catfish whenever we felt like it 24/7 last summer from the back of the houseboat. Anything that would stick to the hook, little catfish bait paste rubbed on it, money...

Very nice!

I like lightweight hikers or trail runner types, but I can't stand stickers. Has anyone tried these shorter type shoes with gaiters? Something like this maybe? http://www.mountaingear.com/webstore//Footwear/Stamina-Gaiters/_/R-236573.htm?voucherCode=979100&id=236573pews%2Fmd&gclid=COOt9Zv0vcUCFY-EaQodyRwALQ

What size? Can they fit rifles/shotguns?

It is my understanding that they change the hunts(at some unknown and varying interval) for which they allow a less than max tag or tags to be drawn. Only thing I have ever found in writing is that 20% of total sheep tags for all hunts together can be given in the max pass. Does anyone know of anything written that would speak otherwise? That some hunts will always go to max holders? Never seen such a rule so that would be interesting to know. Has 22 never had a non-max tag?

Sorry for your loss. Julie had very personified facial features and coloring. Thats one of the craziest and saddest lion stories of all time.

Lance throws down the law! If the animals don't get to it while fresh, the hard dried carcass on the exposed/air side can be mostly intact for a quite a long time. I went through the process of calling G&F out with such a find last year, they inspected and I ended up getting to keep the unique bull.

I did the same thing recently and ended with a similar result, with a different tone. Tough to get them exactly right with just a couple stains.

They have a tv add now as well I saw last night.

The "big hole" argument can only get you so far. There is a point where you hit diminishing returns. You have to start to lose penetration and pass through potential at some point when cutting surface becomes too great, both before and after initial impact.

Some people can't afford a Kuiu and a lifted new truck. In college I hunted archery deer in jeans, had duct tape holding my quiver to my 15 year old bow, and was rocking a Dodge Neon on the dirt roads north of Tucson! At least he asked.

My side of the state, 16a, 18ab, and 10, it doesn't look like enough rain to make water run much or fill tanks etc, just enough to give the grass a little drink. Looks like central and eastern AZ are getting some more today which is great.