. Presentation on the Pilot Big Boquillas Ranch Access Project and Agreement and an updat

[bowhunter4life]

The facts as of today.

 

Another sad day for AZ outdoodsmen! This will be the 1st of many more to come....

Boquillas1.pdf

[Red Rabbit]

The agreement says the recreational fee is not to exceed $60. Will it be 60, or a lesser amount? Any scuttle to that regard?

[elkaholic]

picture takin just got a little more expensive

[izquik72]

Guide fee proposed is $200 and Hunter is $60.

No more summer P-dog trips

[Non-Typical Solutions]

Thanks for posting the document.....interesting read.

 

Lots of things G$F is agreeing too on who's behalf???

 

If I didn't know any better I would think I was trying to drive across the reservation paying an access fee and all.........something smells funny with this.........

 

So if I pay $60 bucks....I can access only if I have a large game tag and only during the specified hunt seasons???

 

Yep.......the prarie dog towns are rallying on this one............

[654321]

Thanks for posting the document.....interesting read.

 

Lots of things G$F is agreeing too on who's behalf???

 

If I didn't know any better I would think I was trying to drive across the reservation paying an access fee and all.........something smells funny with this.........

 

So if I pay $60 bucks....I can access only if I have a large game tag and only during the specified hunt seasons???

 

Yep.......the prarie dog towns are rallying on this one............

I would have much rather seen the G&F offer the navajos the same deal they gave the hopis, some permits for tribal members only for access to ranch. who knows maybe they did and the navajos said no, which left them the option they now have, I don't know.

 

You might as well be driving across the reservation the tribe owns the ranch, can someone please explain to me how these tribes can afford to buy these large ranches, I'm I missing something.

[bonuspointjohn]

If the ranch owners wanted to, they could charge whatever they wanted and skip any agreement with AGFD. Does anyone know why they aren't doing that? Other ranches do.

 

Is it because Cholla Land & Cattle and the Navajo tribe

 

A. Are basically pure of heart and just want to be good guys

B. Want to keep getting the other perks (road and fence maintenance, water tank cleanouts, erosion control, AGFD's help with acquiring government grants, etc.) that might be withheld if they did this unilaterally and independently like ORO and others?

C. Fear that there could be legal and/or political consequences from reaping profits from so much state trust land (gifting clause)

D. Other

 

Just so everyone knows, currently there are landowners who do not allow hunter access but are nevertheless receiving benefits from funds allocated through the habitat partnership program.

 

Here's another question: Shouldn't there be a clause assuring that all paying recreational users will have full access to all areas of the ranch? What I'm concerned about here is that guides could give tips to the hunt manager in exchange for exclusive access to prime areas, and average hunters would be told they can't camp or hunt near X, Y or Z because it's already too full. Not that anyone would ever do a thing like this, of course, I'm just throwing this out hypothetically.

 

As a long time access activist, I'm watching this one with a mix of hope and anxiety, and pretty heavy on the latter. I expect all the small ranchers in southern Arizona to demand more money for letting people through their gates to the state and federal land beyond. By my calculations, the Boquillas deal will net the ranchers about $150,000 just for the recreation permits alone. That's based on roughly 2,500 big game permits sold for unit 10 in 2011. Once word gets out that G&F is sanctioning a per-head access fee, we can expect the rest of the sharks to come into feed pretty quickly. That will include ranchers who, unlike the ORO and Boquillas, don't really have any private land we want to hunt on, but only have a strip of land that blocks our access to state and federal lands beyond. Many are already receiving thousands of dollars per year just to allow hunters to drive across their property.

 

But don't look for new hunting opportunities on BLM and national forest lands where private ranches currently are blocking your access, and the ranchers have lucrative deals with guides that are netting them big bucks and involve only a small number of hunters, including business and political cronies. Those ranchers are doing fine under the current system. The Boquillas deal won't change that.

Hey Larry, just so you know, each year when we look at all the HPC requests, if there is no access, we do NOT consider the project. Not sure what other groups do, but the ADA has always maintained that the HPC money will not go through if there is no access. If you have instances of where someone has gotten money without granting access, let me know...BPJ

[audsley]

John, I'm sending you an email.