ThomC

While you guys are fiddling with words Rome is burning.

Already people are saying that they will not report archery kills ever again. Some said that they will not send in the survey cards. I don't understand how the G&F will know what the harvest is without a mandatory survey for everyone. Also harvest rates can vary from year to year for various reasons. I wonder if the harvest rate drops will they put a unit back from the draw to OTC? Seems to me since reporting is not very reliable that they need to use 10 year averages to determine whether a unit needs to be put in the draw. Lots of questions with no clearcut answers.

One of the best Coues deer hunters, taxidermist and inventer of the moses stick, was the late John Doyle. He said "get up high and look low. " John ment by that, I think, is that the big boys are lazy and will travel the low road which is usually thicker cover. Now in Dec we are close to the rut, then they will have other things on their minds and be found in more visible areas. This is a good post to get everyone juices flowing.

I got one for Xmas but haven't tried it. Does anybody have any good web sites with recipes and directions?

Remember the case in the tortilita mountains where a rancher pulled a gun on some hunters that were crossing his fence. The hunter shot and killed him in self defense. The hunter was found not guilty. You just can't point your gun at someone for trespassing.

This post should be at top of the list of every hunter. Probably a sticky with a big attention banner. Go to the AZ G&F site azgfd.gov and click on the new hunt guidlines. It is 16 pages of reading on how the dept is going to regulate hunting in the next 2 years. I have skimmed it and for the most part it looks okay. There a few things that need to be questioned, cleared up. Now is the time to read, go to the meetings and give input or forever quit crying.

You mean 1st choice sheep, 2nd choice elk, 3rd choice, deer, 4th choice pig, 5th choice turkey?

I agree with Rembrant. And, will add that the increasing population is a huge problem. It is a world problem. As population increases freedoms decrease. Most "sportsmen" are narrowly focused and tend to "bite the hand that feeds them" when their little piece of the world is encroched upon. If you don't work on the big picture your little picture will dissappear and you won't be able to stop it.

If there was a draw then it should be only for units so as to spread out the hunters. You should still be able to hunt Archery in Jan/Aug and put in for rifle in the fall. They did the draw for Javelina to spread out the hunters.

You guys are so silly. You are going to find out months ahead of what was last year and you still can't wait. LOL And for most of you it will be bad news. The G&F could make some extra money by selling the info. Lets say you pay 10 bucks to know in March, 5 bucks for April, and free in May.

The problem is the same as gun control. The gov wants to control and tax the machine not the people. Everyone at any age should have a license tax and training to operate any type vehicle in public areas. The ATV's don't cause the problem the people do. I have two burnout circles in the road in front of my house. The ATV didn't do it people did it.

I believe that experts that use real science have studied this over and over and came to the conclusion that removing the dinks was good for the population. You horn hunters would further your cause by shooting a few dinks to help the big ones live longer, and get bigger and produce deer with better genetics. How about every 2-3 years spikes and forks only.

That buck had hydroencepellitis or water on the balls. It is passed on from contact. You better get your knee fixed quick cause you will soon be carrying more weight. rotflol

"I'm not really that bad of a guy. I have just had it with the way the Game and Fish have treated all of us members of the "IGNORANT PUBLIC". " You don't have to work for the Game & Fish to understand the "Ignorant Public". Just read the paper, watch the news, or "read posts on the web. "

The anti's of course are always lurking around. They don't have a life.

I vote early and often.

Your right Thomc. I have been seeing more and more camps that show little or no respect for the land and the landowners. We will be heading out to the East side of the Galiuros in 10 days, Any updates?? after 25 years of hunting that area, I have seen lots of changes, many caused by hunter ethics. Thomc, Pm me if you were in the Deer creek area? I was not in the Deer Creek area. I was at the G&F check point at Bonita. If you haven't scouted your area I suggest that you contact the G&F for the latest info on locked gates.

What you really want is to separate the wheat from the chaff people wise. It can't be done. How to minimumize the ever growing chaff? That is going to be the question of the next century.

I was on the east side of the Galurios and there were "cities" of fifth wheels, motor homes, quads, dune buggys, etc. The ranchers are locking up the gates because they are sick of the mess. That will concentrate the "hunters" even more. The anti's don't have to do anything the "hunters" will ruin the hunting for them.

How about LLamas? Anybody use them? With the new roadless plan by the forest service I am thinking access to good hunting will be by packing some way.

It has been reported in two other sites that a new G&F deer survey on the new proposals is coming out soon. The questions are very confusing. You need to think them thru very carefully as some may have unintended consequenses. Here is my take on what will happen if these new proposals are approved. The archery deer dec/jan hunt will be shortened by two weeks. The Dec rifle hunts will be shortened by one week and that week added to the Oct. hunt. What this will cause is LESS opportunity for the archers and reduced sucess. The Dec rifle will be around the hoildays, again less opportunity because of conflicts with family activities and shortened season. The Oct. hunt will be lengthened. I the south units it is too hot for a four day hunt. I suspect that most people will not utilize to added days. But, some will so that makes the second season not very attractive because the deer will have been chased around for additional days. And since the second hunt will not be moved back there is less time between hunts to let the deer settle down. I don't like the Oct hunt because it is too hot for a good experience. The second hunt won't be a good experience because the deer will be spooked badly. The Dec hunt won't be a good experience because it is very hard to get drawn plus the short sesson at the wrong time. This is my take on the proposed hunts and I will add that my comments concern the whitetail hunts because that is what I am familiar with. The dept has somehow equated LESS sucess with more opportunity. I don't buy a tag to have an opportunity to hunt, I can hunt 365 days a year. I buy a tag to harvest a deer. To me more opportunity means more sucess. The Elk hunters have spoken and it is time for the Deer hunters to do like wise.

Check the commission meeting schedule. The April meeting in PHX the commission will set the hunt regs for 2006. Last chance to voice your wishes on the deer changes.

The commision did listen to the Elk hunters and dumped the new Elk hunt changes back to the 2005 setup. The changes that concern whitetail seasons are still in doubt. They want to shorten the Dec. hunt to the last 10 days of Dec. and add 6 days to the Oct. hunt. Their idea is to make all hunts 10 days, uniformity is the reason. If you don't like these ideas then you better get busy and yell like the Elk hunters did. 1) Written comments may be mailed to: Game Branch, Arizona Game and Fish Department, 2221 W. Greenway Road, Phoenix, Arizona, 85023 2) Comments may be faxed to the Game Branch at 602-789-3929 3) Comments can be e-mailed to azgamebranch@azgfd.gov. Deadline is March 1, 2006

Where did you get your information?

I know how to slip funds around and G$F is expert at doing it. Your spin doesn't fool me. And what about the money spent on wolves and tiny minnows. I would like to see what happens if the G$F was audited. Lots of scrambling. LOL