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Get rid of outfitters. They seem to be the common denominator

This is why it’s BS: Prior to 2022 ranchers in 3A and 4B banded together and started complaining about all the elk on the ranch lands north of the forest boundary. The hundreds of elk in the juniper country are eating them out of house and home. There is legitimacy to this, there are lots of elk in places they hadn’t been for several years. AZGFD responds by creating a bunch of new draw hunts starting in July and running through December in 2023. Success is pretty high. Game and fish also runs a BUNCH of pop man hunts which are also pretty successful. Not even halfway through 2022, before the draw hunts even start, the ranchers decide everything north of the forest boundary has to be OTC. They threaten to lock their gates and deny access to ALL hunters if their demand isn’t met. Sportsmen contest this but AZGFD concedes and converts everything to OTC starting in March 2023. Carlisle had already locked his gates due to a dispute over a AZGFD violation years before. He had at one time given A3 exclusive access, but that agreement is no longer in place. Elkins locked his gates and refuses hunters access to remove the elk. At some point Elkins sells exclusive access to Big Chino Outfitters who has a similar arrangement on a large ranch in western AZ. They advertise hunts for $8500+. So essentially, the ranchers used their ploy to get OTC tags as a Trojan horse to create land owner tags that they can sell to the highest bidder. The have unlimited supply and the most generous seasons in the state. This was never about elk eating grass or drinking water. This was always about ranchers maximizing their return on the public’s resource while simultaneously flipping the public the bird. That is why this is BS. Please write to AZGFD and ask them to discontinue the OTC Zeniff hunt area seasons until Elkins enters into a public access agreement.

I know we are right before the holiday and mid-season on a bunch of hunts, but there is an issue in Unit 3A that needs immediate attention. Below is a picture of the hunt recommendations for 2024 Elk and Antelope. Included in the recommendations is a modification to the boundary description for 3A that changes the hunts or area for draw tags to that portion of the unit within the Apache Sitgreaves NF. The remainder of the unit was converted to OTC at the insistence of the ranchers in the area. With the OTC designation, the Elkins ranch has entered into an exclusive access agreement with an outfitter who is selling OTC hunts for $10k. This privatization of hunting and commercialization of a public resource is not in line with the North American Model and is a disservice to all hunters. Please submit a comment to AZGFD to close elk hunting in the Zeniff hunt area until these ranches create a public access agreement similar to what other ranches in the state have done. Submit comments to: AZHuntGuidelines@azgfd.gov

Brand new never shot.

SOLD. According to serial number this MarkV was German made in 1971 .300 weatherby Magnum stock was put in safe when new and not used. Had synthetic stock on it for years. the stock is mint condition. Barrel and action has some very small blemishes but in great condition. Asking $1300 or reasonable offer.

Nature girl moved to Alpine?

Now that I'm home I can upload the elk video . 20231121_171151.mp4

Probably some of my favorite hunting! Cole got me out this morning and this coyote couldn’t resist!!!

This is very sad but true. I was denied access last year by Carlisle and found out later on that this so called Outfitter had basically leased the access. WTF!? I just wrote email to the Azgfd and vented, but they are in bed with the ranchers and outfitters. Please write to the Azgfd and voice your displeasure. Maybe, just maybe they will do something to allow public access to OUR game animals. Remember the game animals belong to us, not the ranchers, property owners, and outfitters!

I hunted this unit last year and got skunked. I had never seen it so bad since I started hunting it over 30 years ago. I put in for it again to challenge myself to find a good buck. I did find a 180 plus buck about 7 weeks ago and spent several weekends trying to relocate him, but had no luck. I changed locations and turned up this buck 3 weeks ago. I only got about 45 seconds of footage before he disappeared. I came back the next weekend and couldn’t turn him up. About ten days ago I found him again, and got about 30 seconds of video before he melted away into one of his hiding spots. Opening morning found me and my son looking for another buck I had found for him, but that deer didn’t want to cooperate. We hunted all day and only found several young deer. Saturday I decided to go searching for the big 3, but he never showed himself. On the hike out, I found several lion tracks and figured he had been killed or pushed. Sunday the wind was gusting 20-30 mph and most of the deer I found were bedded, and also 600 yards out with no chance to shoot with the cross winds. The wind blew hard all day and we just couldn’t find much moving. Monday morning started the same with the crazy winds, but we had a plan to relocate another tall 3x3 I had seen several times for my son. On our way to that spot, I said let’s go take a look for the other big 3 and just see if he is up and moving. We were glassing from a spot that didn’t really give me the angle needed to see into his normal feeding area, but I wanted to at least try. I turned up one doe in a small cut feeding away from us. We kept glassing the area over and thought for sure there is no way this buck would be out feeding. I glassed for a while and was getting ready to move on and decided to glass below me. Standing in the open feeding was this buck at only 225 yards. I had just looked over this spot five minutes earlier. He must have been down inside a deep cut where I couldn’t see him before. I put a 168 ELD-M right in the pocket and he spun and dropped about ten feet away. While we were packing him out, we hiked down the same wash that I had used a couple days earlier. There were more lion tracks on top of my boot tracks. We scouted this area for weeks and kept seeing lion tracks in the road, but we were never able to glass him up. Unfortunately we never found a good buck for my son to shoot, but it was a great hunt and had a great time hunting with my son. David

Guys and gals, We have found this bull in 5BS and would like its rightful owner to be able to tag it. It had arrow still in it and appears to have been shot in last few days. If you can tell me arrow you are shooting we will guide you to him to claim.

Not used much. Have small, medium, and large wheel set. Propane bottle not included. It's setup if you wanna test it here. $200 35th Ave and pinnacle peak pickup

Bump for a great deal!

Crazy how many hunters I know who have no idea how much subsidy money public lands ranchers get to then turn around and stick it to sportsman. Many of these ranchers are by far not low income! Google “welfare ranching in the west” For those who don’t know that the taxpayers have provided a way for them to play cowboy for decades and control sportsman from accessing public lands by just owning as little as 40 deeded acres. This will be an eye opener! Thanks for posting. Email will be sent today

Not bad for 75 !! One shot and done. Story to follow.

I bought it as a.243 but my wife said it kicked too hard so my son used the action and built me a .17 Remington! I have thoroughly enjoyed the gun!!!

Yes, I know. It's a friendly jab at the "hybrid" he asked about a few weeks ago.

That's a pretty hide

Wolf/coyote hybrid?

Yes great gun too. All my kids shoot these since they were hunting at age 10.

Liberals ruin everything

wealthy people that listen to joe rogan.

I’m tripping out on how you guys turned this thread from A3 being charged with crimes to azgfd flying to move elk?

Fun hunt. lots of deer LOTS OF PEOPLE With weather up high, this could be more the equivalent of an early Kaibab hunt, maybe. This year was very warm and dry and zero snow, even in the very high peaks. Deer started rutting pretty good about day 4, but two point were still the norm.

Heck throw together a GoFundMe to help the budget. I’m sure you’d get some help on here…gotta keep momma happy!