Anyone know these 3 hunters

[muley224]

I found this old picture about 30 years ago in a truck I purchased. If anyone recognizes these guys, maybe an uncle, dad, or grandad, please let me know. I am sure that someone who knows these guys would enjoy it. It is a large photo, 14" x 9". Could be Kaibab Bucks.

[4Falls]

cool photo and cool of you to track down the owner. Wonder if those guys knew how good they had it back then?

[wildwoody]

looks like kaibab

[JLW]

similar characteristics to your buck.

that's cool!

 

James

[biglakejake]

the fellow on the left looks like a young Steve Gallizioli. bet its brothers left and right. i'll send the photo to a Gallizioli family member for confirmation-might take a few days.

 

Steve was a huge part of wildlife conservation and management in Arizona from the 1950's onward.

 

could the photo be a photocopy of a pic in an Arizona Wildlife Views article?

lee

[muley224]

Thanks Lee. It is not a photo copy, real deal. Hope it is the 3 brothers, they would probably love to have it. Thanks.

[coatimundi01]

Cool find! Why does nobody in old photos ever smile!?

[muley224]

Really. They should be really smiling, they probably got 2 tags each ! LOL

[4Falls]

There probably not smiling because those were just run of the mill deer back in the day. No biggie to them. Just filling the freezer.

[25-06]

There smiling. You can see it in there eyes that they are proud of them bucks. Cool photo.

[Will K]

Stud Bucks......

[billrquimby]

BigLakeJake:

 

None of the three men look like Steve to me, but I easily could be wrong. The photo appears "washed out" on my monitor.

 

Incidentally, Steve is still with us. A friend visited him in Phoenix this past week. He's 89 years old and is as sharp as ever, my friend said.

 

For those who don't know Steve's history, his landmark study of Gambel's and Scaled quail proved precipitation during specific months was the primary factor in quail reproduction and survival, and that hunting has little influence on quail numbers in Arizona.

 

Steve and the Levy brothers of Tucson, Jim and Seymore, also located populations of masked bobwhite quail -- thought to be extinct at the time -- still remaining in ungrazed areas in Sonora, and this led to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service creating the Buenos Aires refuge southwest of Tucson.

 

Steve also had much to do with Arizona's ban on using bait for bears, the switch from firearms hunting to bowhunting for elk during their rut, and the HAM hunts for javelina.

 

Bill Quimby

 

[4Falls]

BigLakeJake: None of the three men look like Steve to me, but I easily could be wrong. The photo appears "washed out" on my monitor. Incidentally, Steve is still with us. A friend visited him in Phoenix this past week. He's 89 years old and is as sharp as ever, my friend said. For those who don't know Steve's history, his landmark study of Gambel's and Scaled quail proved precipitation during specific months was the primary factor in quail reproduction and survival, and that hunting has little influence on quail numbers in Arizona. Steve and the Levy brothers of Tucson, Jim and Seymore, also located populations of masked bobwhite quail -- thought to be extinct at the time -- still remaining in ungrazed areas in Sonora, and this led to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service creating the Buenos Aires refuge southwest of Tucson. Steve also had much to do with Arizona's ban on using bait for bears, the switch from firearms hunting to bowhunting for elk during their rut, and the HAM hunts for javelina. Bill Quimby

 

Too bad we don't have guys like him working for wildlife anymore.

[Outdoor Writer]

BigLakeJake: None of the three men look like Steve to me, but I easily could be wrong.

 

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.

[Outdoor Writer]

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.

 

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