CouesWhitetail

Thanks for informing me Amanda; I was not aware of AZSFW - that is a shame on me. How do I become more informed about AZSFW and their work? here is a link to their website: http://arizonasportsmenforwildlife.org/

nosajpo - You are absolutely correct; becoming an organized group with a united agenda would be daunting. You are also correct that the strong opinions (however varied) held by Arizona's outdoorsmen can ultimately be its strength. While I'm often disappointed when I see individuals post knee-jerk comments that do not help our cause, I am also equally encouraged that folks are so passionate about Arizona's outdoors. The ultimate challenge is organizing and focusing that wonderful passion unto a machine that carries the same force with AZGFD and the Legislature as the well funded organizations representing ranchers, landowners, and other special interests. Unfortunately, all the well intended groups such as ADBSS, AAF, ADA, AES, etc have separate agendas that do not address global issues of wildlife/land management in Arizona. We join these groups and good things get accomplished on a micro-level; however, the macro issues which impact us all go unaddressed. Frankly; until Arizona's hunters, fishers and outdoorsman can unite and fund an entity that will day-in-and-day-out keep tabs on AZGFD and the Legislature (I'm talking lobbyists and lawyers) we will continue to be frustrated. Messrs. Quimby is 100% correct when he says we need to take legal action to get the attention of the policy makers. While we may have a small victory from time to time (i.e. HB 2072 being placed on hold), they don't address the big picture and long-term change. I've read many references in this post about bad things that happened in Utah. I was directly involved with one of those fights and it became painfully obvious that we were ultimately going to take it in the shorts and lose. We had all the passion on our side; however, the opposition was better organized and funded. Instead of debating whether we should pay more for tags or other game enhancement fees; how about we discuss donating the same money to the creation of an organization that will help shape policy, rather than complain about it? Getting HB 2072 delayed is a reactive victory. We need to be proactive in shaping legislation instead of being surprised by it. Just one man's opinion. This is exactly why AZSFW was formed....to provide an organization that looks are larger picture issues and proactively push legislation that address wildlife and hunter-related issues. AZSFW is a group which all the species-specific groups (ADA, AES, ADBSS, AAF, etc) are a member of. The point was to provide a unified voice from the varied species-specific groups. AZSFW has been extremely effective in passing legislation....they are the ones who pushed forward the idea of a sportsmen's committee reviewing and selecting commissioner candidates to be presented to the governor. Now obviously this issue is divisive and likely will not receive support from all the sportsmen's groups, but my point is that AZSFW was created as a group that would look to the larger issues of AZ and work in ways that individual species groups could not.

Hey All, Skull Hooker has dropped the price they charge me for their products and I am passing the savings on to you. The little skull hooker is about the same price, but the big skull hooker is $24 cheaper!! There is still time to order for xmas. If you order today or by 2 pm tomorrow I can ship tomorrow and for most places in AZ, it will arrive overnight. Free shipping!! this is an excellent product for any hunter you know: http://www.coueswhitetail.com/bookstore/skull_hooker.htm

Clicked link. Is the big one $55 or $24 off the $55? Thanks. It's $55, it used to be $79.

HELLO!! Did anyone see my post saying that the bill is NOT moving forward right now! Rep. Weiers has put it on hold because he is aware of the concerns sportsmen have. So you do have time to review, gather info and make comments. Here is my post again: PLEASE NOTE: I JUST SPOKE WITH REP. Jerry Weiers ON THE PHONE AND HE WANTED ME TO LET EVERYONE KNOW THAT THE BILL IS ON HOLD NOW......IT IS NOT MOVING FORWARD AT THIS TIME. HE UNDERSTANDS THERE ARE A LOT OF CONCERNS AND IS INTERESTED IN GETTING FEEDBACK ABOUT THIS. All the sportsmen's groups have been invited to meet with the AZSFW next week and we will bring the concerns of our respective membership to that meeting to get answers. So, in addition to contacting Rep. Weiers, I recommend that if you are a member of a sportsmen's group, such as the AZ Deer Association, the AZ Elk Society, AZ Antelope Foundation, etc, that you contact them and voice your opinion so that they may bring it to the meeting.

PLEASE NOTE: I JUST SPOKE WITH REP. Jerry Weiers ON THE PHONE AND HE WANTED ME TO LET EVERYONE KNOW THAT THE BILL IS ON HOLD NOW......IT IS NOT MOVING FORWARD AT THIS TIME. HE UNDERSTANDS THERE ARE A LOT OF CONCERNS AND IS INTERESTED IN GETTING FEEDBACK ABOUT THIS. All the sportsmen's groups have been invited to meet with the AZSFW next week and we will bring the concerns of our respective membership to that meeting to get answers. So, in addition to contacting Rep. Weiers, I recommend that if you are a member of a sportsmen's group, such as the AZ Deer Association, the AZ Elk Society, AZ Antelope Foundation, etc, that you contact them and voice your opinion so that they may bring it to the meeting.

Actually, as I posted before, I haven't decided on this yet. When making a decision about this, I think it's important to get as many facts as possible. I think it's important to hear from lots of hunters, the AGFD commission, other sportsmens groups as well as the people who created this bill. I expect to be attending a meeting next week with the sportsmens groups to discuss this issue.

good luck! and thanks for sharing your hunt.

Tony,as I understand it, this bill adds more governors tags. And elkaholic is incorrect, it does not give them control over all the governors tags. The bill allows for the purchase of new tags, some of which would become governors tags. The old governor tags that already exist and are auctioned by sportsmens groups are not taken over by this bill. The process for handling those tags and the revenue generated from them will remain the same. also, for those interested, I have attached a fact sheet provided by the AZSFW about this bill. Expo and Tag Legislation Outline.pdf

Doug, I am with you on wanting to see a thorough accounting of how the money is spent. This whole proposal is very similar to what Utah has done with the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo. I just checked their website and they don't seem to provide a link to an accounting of how much money actually hits the ground. However, I know from attending the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo that lots of hunters love the opportunity to enter the drawings to win some great tags. They limit the number of times any one person can enter to win and so the odds of winning are pretty good. They do post odds of winning on the expo website. http://www.huntexpo.com/apply.php Just to be clear the AZ Sportsmen for Wildlife group is an arizona-based group that is not part of the national SFW organization. In fact this bill specifically states that the qualified group must not be tied to a national organization. You can read more about their public policies here: http://arizonasportsmenforwildlife.org/?option=com_content&view=article&id=98&Itemid=69

cool! please remember to fill out the registration form for the hunt and email it to me. this helps me keep track of who is coming and what kind of equipment they might have to loan out. the registration form is on the info page: http://www.coueswhitetail.com/womens_javelina_hunt_2012.htm

+1 This will raise a lot of money for wildlife management and is worth giving some serious thought to. I haven't made up my mind either as I haven't read through the bill in detail. But from what I hear this would help make the Expo here in AZ a much bigger event drawing a lot more hunters here to attend the expo (and therefore a lot of additional money for AZ businesses). So more money for AZ wildlife, more money for AZ businesses sound like strong pluses. Some estimate the Expo with all these added raffle and auction tags will bring $20,000,000 to Arizona. That's 20 million bucks of additional revenue in a state that is hurting for money. This bill is not proposing landowner tags. And many of the tags would be raffled off, not auctioned, so it's not just targeting rich out of state hunters.

Welcome and if you need help posting pics, you can call me and I can talk you through it....928-200-0544

Congratulations! Hey Elkhunter, maybe you and your dad should come be mentors at the women's javelina camp? It's during the second weekend of the HAM hunt down south. for more info: http://www.coueswhitetail.com/womens_javelina_hunt_2012.htm

Nice finds!

Aren't you going to share yours?? It will take me a while to think of mine.

I was wondering the same thing, I like when people talk about how much time and effort they have put in before being successful with primitive equipment or even standard equipment. Sometimes I think non-hunters really get the wrong idea about hunting. They think you just go out once and it's all over. Sometimes it works out that way, but for the majority of people there is a lot more to it.

good advice....the more you can practice your shooting and stalking skills the better.

+1 Most people would just shoot whatever they could the first time, but that doesn't mean you have to do that. Just think about how much experience you are gaining everytime you do a stalk...even if it's blown or you can't get close enough due to lack of cover. If you have the time to get out there and pursue the big bucks, I say go for it! If you are running low on time or energy, maybe you should modify your goals. But it sounds like you are doing awesome and I bet if you stick with it, you can get one of the larger bucks.

did you check the AGFD hunt unit reports to find some good starting points for finding deer? http://www.azgfd.gov/h_f/hunting_units.shtml My other suggestion is to post where you live and ask if anyone here would be willing to take you out and help you learn about glassing for coues deer.

Wow! I am glad to hear your stent surgery went well!! that's awesome! And to be out hunting so fast afterwards is just a tribute to the advances in medicine, wow. Congratulations on the pigs!

Congratulations on your first deer!! Nice job.

Sounds like an awesome event! Unfortunately the kid hunters I know have already killed big game. I shared it on facebook to help boost your publicity on it.

If you didn't already get one, take a look at the Range Snap....it's made by a forum member and they are great! I used one on my elk hunt and just loved it. Really handy for keeping your Range Finder (or GPS, or Radio) handy. http://www.coueswhitetail.com/bookstore/range_snap.htm

Look like fresh scrapes! So what book u reading?