mattys281

I agree w/ shortpants, but am thinking of more carnivorous parasites that dwell further south. Probably a group of tree huggers out there trying to stop you from hunting. No gear = no hunt.

I would love to go & will pm you later when I have time. As for Prescott, I never said it wasn't a problem there. Any illegal person I've met has been from that area & there is a lot of them there. I only said that the ones I had encountered seemed more interested in working & sending cash back to their wives & kids than in running drugs or smuggling people. When I was about 19 & in my first place of my own, I had about 10 of them living next to me. Every friday they headed back to mexico & showed up again on Monday for work. Never heard a peep out of them. They were working the road crews. Could have had green cards for all I know, but I do kind of doubt it. I met another man & his wife up there in Chino that were staying with a friend of mine while waiting for their documents. He had owned a small cattle ranch down there & woke up in the middle of the night to find his cattle being loaded onto a semi & a bunch of guys standing around his property wearing automatic rifles! Obviously, after that he took off & headed up here. You know, people can disagree & hate me for it if they want, but if I had to deal with that kind of crap, I'd be out of there a.s.a.p. no matter what the price. Again, I didn't ask if they were documented or not. Since they were living in my buddies guest bedroom, I don't think so. I think it's great that other states are kicking in. Like I said, I knew our guard was involved, but hadn't heard whether others had ponied up. When Gov. Schwarzenegger made that point, I though he was right on the money. It is a national problem & should be addressed nationally.

I've read a couple studies where they estimate deer herd by having reserches walk trails & spot animals on hillsides, etc. Basically it sounded like they took the number of deer spotted per a certain size piece of land & multiplied it out to estimate number in that particular area. Another study used helicopters to spot on larger pieces of land. I have no idea how they currently do it, but it seems like that would be a particularly difficult thing to estimate, as mobile as deer are and as much as their concentrations seem to fluctuate.

I know that our states guard is, but have heard nothing about other states? Are we still in it alone?

My intention was never to defend illegal immigrants. I've said about twenty times since this started that it's a problem that has to be dealt with. The topic was what's scarier, lions or illegals, & I simply stated that the illegals I'd met seemed like folks looking to make a living. That turned into me being a "crying liberal" who is slow, apparently. Those pictures are disgusting. Another point I made, in my very first post on this topic, was that this is a national problem, so why doesn't the gov. get some other states to kick in & help us shoulder the burden? Any comments on that? I'm sure that tornado season takes it's toll on Kansas, but maybe during the rest of the year the could loan some Nat. Guards. As for other economic problems, I'll give you one I've seen first hand. The high school I graduated from in Prescott Valley boasted both the highest drop-out & teen pregnancy rate in the state at that time. Our states' constantly ranked among the lowest in educational quality & tax dollars spent on public education. We crank out "graduates" year after year that are funcionally illeterate and have 8th grade level math skills. Think I'm exagerating? I've worked in the aerospace industry since I was in high school & have dealt with it every day. People can't balance their checkbooks, let alone solve a problem that requires trigonometry or (God forbid!) calculus. Another problem is credit spending. The average household credit debt is over $25k now & average income is still less than $40k. That's credit cards, not counting your car or you house. I was probably wrong before, the immigration probably is more than "a drop in the bucket", but it's not the only significant factor. And most importantly, if your going to fire away, at least read what I said first. I'm not defending them, I just said that the ones I met seemed hard working. I also said (at some point) that I lived far away from the border (up in Prescott until a couple years ago), so maybe I've seen a different crowd than the ones Scottyboy deals with on the border. At anyrate, I'd rather deal with the lion. It would look better hanging on my wall than Juan would.

I don't think you're a racist, I just think you picked out a couple lines & fired away without really reading what I said, so I fired back. Since we're slowing down, now, I'll repeat what I already said. 1.) Is illegal immigration a problem? Absolutely. 2.) Does something need done about it? I think so. I know very well that our economy & tax system can't sustain thousands of undocumented migrant workers flooding into our country each day. You want to build a big wall or whatever, great, I'll help lay the bricks (as long as it's not during deer season). 3.) Are all immigrants drug runners & trash? No way. Some, yes. Maybe because I don't live close to the border I've been exposed to a different crowd, but, in my personal experience, most of the ones I've known are hard workers who just wanted a better life. And that's it. That's all I said! And as for going through proper authorities to get a time lapse or visa or whatever, maybe I misworded my first post, but my intention was not to say that my girlfriend helps every illegal immigrant in Az become documented. Some of her clients are here illegally, some are her perfectly legal. I have no idea how many are which way & don't really care to tell you the truth. I do know that everyone of them has a tax i.d. & pays into the system instead of just soaking up resources. She has some where between five & six hundred people she's done taxes for, a lot of whom aren't hispanic at all. I know lots of people from foreign countries and not just Mexico. I work with a lady from Romania, a guy from Italy (who's an a-hole by the way, hope he doesn't represent the rest of the population there), and, as stated, my girlfriend is from ARgentina. Her business partner is also from Argentina. People can't wait to come to this country, because of all the great things we have. They should do it legally, through the proper channels, etc., but can you really blame them? I sure as heck wouldn't want to live there. Can I have a pepsi with that popcorn.

extra butter on mine, please.

There's no way to know everything about everone. Most of her clients come in to get tax payer i.d.s so they can file taxes & be legal. Doesn't sound like a drug runner to me. And, as I recall, people are allowed to reside here in this country for a certain time period (which I don't know the length of off the top of my head) with a visitors visa, during which time they can apply for green cards so that they can stay legally. Some stay too long & then apply, but others are well withing the legal limit. As it's not my job, I can't tell you the ratios of those that have already stayed too long. I do know, though, that if our economy tanked out, & I had to go overseas or to Canada, or whatever to find a good engineering job, I'd do it and send money back here if I wasn't able to take my family with me. And I would probably also have to deal with a bunch of racists assuming that because I was american I was there to rape their economy or to break their laws. FRankly, Scottyboy, they way you go on about "Juans", I think that if you'd been born 40 years ago, you'd likely be in a white rope screaming about how the colored people are ruining our society, or 60 years ago you'd be marchind through Berlin crying about the Jew ruining your economy. Illegal immigration is a huge problem & everyone knows it. That doesn't make every mexican a villain. You just want someone to hate.

I've read that several agencies in the east use bowhunters to manage nuisance deer population in urban areas. You could probably do a search on bowhunter magazines site & find some info on that. They use bowhunters instead of rifleman, due to the close proximety to houses & personal property, etc. From what I've read, these programs sound pretty effective & the people are happy to have their gardens free of deer.

That is a huge part of the problem. I read an article that said money sent back to Mexico by migrant workers in the U.S. is the 2nd or 3rd largest portion of their economy. Their gov. actually hands out pamphlets that explain how to sneak in & what to dress like. They give them tips such as if you find a railroad track you can follow it in either direction because it will eventually come to at town. I couldn't believe it.

Strictly speaking anyone who breaks any law is a criminal. I'm a criminal every morning when I hit the 60 & set my cruise control for 7 mph over the limit & all you people who tailgate & fly by me are definitely criminals. You want to build a big 8 ft. cinderblock wall w/ razor wire all along our southern border, that sounds great to me. I'd happily pay a tax on that. I'm going to have to insist though, that we also build one to the north, as I have a good friend that used to work for the border patrol on that end & he tells me the flow of drugs from up there is also significant. I'm also going to have to insist that before we seal the gates, we're going to have to kick out everyone who does not contribute more to the tax base than they consume. AFterwards we should adopt a strict policy of economic darwinism. The fit survive & the rest go extinct. No reason I should have to pay 10-15k in taxes every year when other people are getting back thousands more than they paid. Seriously, everyone knows that the millions of people entering this country illegally are a burden & bring some problems with them, but that's just a drop in a bucket full of problems our economy has. As for the drug runners & coyotes? Hand 'em over to AZG&FD. I'd put in for a tag! That problem will clear itself up in a hurry.

Being a person who's family was in Europe 4 generations ago, I think that most of us in here are lucky the native americans didn't have the means to "jail & deport them."

In 27 they're more likely wolf food. I saw my first pack in the wild the weekend before last while bear hunting over there at a range of approximately 50 yards. Sorry, though, they ran by to quick for a photo. I tried to call them back w/ a bear cub bawler, but all they did was sit there and howl at me for 2 or 3 minutes. Still awesome! This article about the sheep makes me feel a lot better about the new tag fees. I don't mind spending the money, as long as I can see it going to good use. Thumbs up.

E-bay spot. They sell for more than what you paid new, now that they're discontinued. Kind of like Harley's - the older & crappier, the more they're worth.

I just got my second one. They're great. You won't want to return it.

My girlfriend is an immigrant from Argentina & works closely w/ the hispanic community. One of the services she provides is preparing documents for undocumented people to apply to become legal residents. Since I've dated her (almost 3 years now) I've had the opportunity to meet a lot of these people, and from what I've seen, most of them really are hard working people who want a better life for their kids. Unfortunately, though, the coyotes & drug runners get the attention and cast all of them in a negative light. And, of course, our economy cannot sustain unchecked immigration, like we deal with now. From their perspective, though, they're not crossing the border to get a better paying job, they're coming to get a job period. On point I found interesting was a coupld months ago when President Bush tried to call all of our Nat. Guards down to the border & Gov. Schwarzenegger refused, citing that it was the beginning of fire season in Ca. & he need his troops where they were. He made the comment that even though illegals are crossing through CA, AZ, NM, & TX, it they were dispersing from here to throughout the entire country, and so other states like Wyoming, Nebraska, etc. needed to kick in & send us some of their troops. Makes sense to me. It's a national problem, so why does it only fall on the southwestern states to deal with it?

Anyone have info on the 2007 permit fee increases? I'm not surprised to see tag prices go up, but almost 100%!? That seems a little outrageous to me. What are they trying to do?

I'll have to pass on this one. My self-guided rabbit hunts are the only ones I have scored on so far this year.... Ohh, & one rattlesnake that tried to play sentry on the trail to my treestand. What kind of trophy fee do you get for one of those?

I hate the quads, but respect their drivers right to own them. As a result, I spend more time in wilderness areas w/ my backpack on so I don't have to hear/see/smell them, etc. The outdoors are public domain & peope are free to enjoy it anyway they wish. The G&F has called for public comment on this issue. Click the link below for meeting dates & an e-mail address. Let your opinion be heard before they make a decision without you. http://www.azgfd.gov/artman/publish/article_639.shtml The date on this was 10/25, so I don't know if they're still taking comment or not, but look into it.

I did some digging around on AZGF website. The only rationale I found was that the fees increased to, "provide revenue to meet the rising cost of doing business, and will address commission-identified priorities for the department." Apparently, the reason the fees increased now is that earlier this year the state legislature passed a bill that raised their allowable fees for the first time since '98. Otherwise, we'd have likely seen higher fees sooner. It's also important to note that this information went out in the nov WIldlife Matters newsletter, and include dates for public meetings during which the public was invited to comment on the proposed fee schedule. There was also an e-mail address to which you could write your comments. I'm a subsriber to their monthly newsletter, but as I didn't see this it's obvious I'll have to take a few minutes to read it from now on. Anyhow, everyone had the opportunity to review the new fee sched. & voice concerns months ago, & since I didn't complain then I guess I don't have much room to do so now. I will pay closer attention to their newsletter though & bring up things I find interesting. Happy hunting everyone. P.S. here's the link if you want to look at it yourself. I'm am going to do some more digging & try to identify some of these "commission-identified priorities." http://www.azgfd.gov/inside_azgfd/edits/do...sNovember05.pdf

$35 for a deer tag doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that I don't think for a minut that this is a "catch-up" increase or that its a "seven year" increase. The tags will go up again next year, and if not then for certain they will the following year. As will the application fees, so your not just dealing with a tag increase. It's been a few years since I sat in an econ class, but from what I recall, I believe the average rate of inflation was around 3-4%. If you figure in an absorbenent price increase in a necessary material for them to do their job, such as gasoline for example, then maybe add a few extra points, but we're still a long way off from hitting the 20% mark, let alone 78%! Besides, if there really is only game warden in unit 29 & that reflect a close to average number than your looking at fewer than 50 F&G trucks operation statewide on a daily basis. How much gas is that, really? I think they've either set a goal to not only operate at available funds, but be able to reserve for some future project, or the money from tags is being siphoned to some other state branch of gov. I think that what really gets me butt-hurt is that hunting used to be something I just knew I was going to do. It was within everyones grasp without have to save or skip family dining out or whatever. Now, good binoculars run several hundreds to well over a grand, the top of the line bows are all caring stickers of $700+, non-resident tags in other states aren't getting any cheaper, & if they were you still forfeit a limb at the pump to drive there. It's just one more straw on the camels back. Like coueshunter said, though, we'll grumble about it here & over beers, and then find some way to pony up the money & do it anyway. They'll have to rise a long way before I say it isn't worth it.

Now this is exactly my point, coueshunter. My kids are still too little to put in for big game, but this year, my fiance started hunting w/ me, so we're upto $122 for our pig tags so far, + another $400 for elk & antelope, which now that the drawing change has come, will be right after Christmas. Which is good, because everyone has lots of extra money during that time of year. I don't mind the increases, I'm just surprised at the large leaps this year. I know that Game & Fish needs money to operate & I actually applied for a position with them years ago. At that time their officers started at $13.75/hr while DPS started at almost $18.00. You want to raise tag fees to give those guys a raise, I understand that, but be reasonable. They also raised the app. fee considerably. They keep that money whether you draw or not, so you now they'll see a huge increase in revenues there. Again, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it went from $5 to 7.50 (50%). That's huge in itself when you multiply it not by all the people who draw, but by all the people who apply for anything! When I posted this, I was just curious as to whether or not anyone had heard an explanation/excuse for it. I had no idea until I saw the spring supplement. Apparently it was also in the fall guidlines, but I didn't see it there. Anyhow, what can you do? I guess you pay or stay out of the woods, so given those options I'll have to dig a little deeper this season.

Beautiful animals. Were these taken on public land or private?

I've had it ground-up & mixed w/ scrambled eggs. Wasn't bad (of course it wasn't great either ). Haven't tried it yet, but here it's really good as sausage. I'll be able to tell you for sure after January !

I spotted a little forky buck this last season that was bedded down under a low-hanging juniper. The only reason I saw him was because I came up on a ridgeline that I was planning on setting up to glass from & he was right there in front of me at about 150 yds. I saw him from the side, profiled, as he was on the same face as I was. If I had been glassing from the opposing hill side (looking head on) I know I wouldn't have seen him at all. That juniper grew right down to the ground on the front side making a perfect blind for him to sleep behind. A week later I spotted a doe & her fawn feeding in a saddle & the made their way up a hill side & bedded down right under another juniper. They had to push through the branches to get inside where it was open! I knew where they were & the only way I could make them out was that once in a while I'd see her flick her ear through the branches. When motionless, it was darn near impossible for me to pick them out of the branches & that was at less than 200 yards w/ 10x bincoculars. It was a hard learned lesson this season, but one I learned well. These deer are nearly impossible to see when bedded, especially if you don't have the patience for slow glassing, and as I said before, that's not a real strong point of mine. I love to hike & see what's over the next ridge to much & I don't even want to think about how many deer a must have missed because I couldn't keep still. After these experiences, my plan for Dec/Jan is 1.) higher powered optics (12-15x range) & 2.) instead of covering ground, I'm going to focus on two glassing points per day. If I glass all morning & don't find anything then I'll try another spot after lunch.