stanley

Very cool Christian! Go get em'!!! S. PS: Riley, Erik has the same Jr. tag as you again this year! Hopefully we'll see you and your dad (and you Christian...) out in the field again. Should be fun!!

Same exact tags as us then Jeff! We'll talk..... Good luck in 36C Ruffcountry! That's been my first choice for four years, except this year my son has the 36A junior tag so I thought I'd apply over there.... S.

Very cool Scott! I echo Doug's sentiments; Kudos on the outstanding changes in your life. You seem charmed but we all know that you have to 'make your own luck' in life, and you certainly seem to have full control over where you're headed! Best regards to you & yours on your adventure! Hopefully you'll still browse this site in the months & years to come so you can get a look at the coues that my kids are going to be killing down in your old stomping grounds on the border. S.

Nobody, I just used the automated system. Dial 602-942-3000, then press 2. Then just follow the prompts. You'll need your sportsmans ID number (SS number in most cases...), as well as your DOB. Good luck! S.

I just called as well, and the status was 'drawn' for both myself and my son. The website still has the results from the original draw however. Not quite sure what to think at this point, but it might be looking good. Hey Jeff, if the results are 'real' then Erik has the same 36A youth tag and I'll have the early whitetail hunt in the same unit. How about you and the boy? Any luck? S.

Nice write-up Marshal! Thanks for posting. I was born & raised in Kearny so I am very familiar with the north end of 37B. I always liked the unit, but the point on the drought is SO true. When I was a kid they would issue 2000 muley permits in that unit! Still plenty of quail in that unit if you know where to look.... S.

Must have nabbed your-self a Kiabab tag, huh HEADACHE? Good deal! One of my boys got one of the junior permits up there, and he got his DVD and ammo coupon last week. That lead poisoning is apparently no joke. Supposedly if a condor eats just one gut pile with lead in it, it will likely result in death for the bird. I've never been too much of a bird watcher, but if the ammo is free and it will help the condors then what the heck.... Good luck on your hunt! S.

Thanks for sharing the pics fred! I'll up the ante.... How about a red binder-clip, plus a 1943 'wheat' penny? If you can dig up a pic of the back tines, I I might even throw in a slightly chewed-on Bic pen from my desk! S.

MY son got is unit youth 34 ES early elk tag in the mail this week!!! Can't wait! S.

You know my soft spot well Doug! My oldest had the hunt two years ago and connected on his first deer. My middle son (turns 10 next month) was drawn for the tag this year. I'm looking forward to a great first deer hunt with him. Bowsniper, Basser, and the others have given good advice. The deer can be everywhere, but concentrations will obviously depend on the weather. Two years ago the hunt was during the same time-frame. There was not a lot of big snow to push the deer all the way down though, so many of the deer were in the 'transition' zone (ponderosa, oak, etc... Not too high, and not too low...). Anybody PM me and I'll send you some road numbers where we found success if your not too familiar with the area. Also, as Doug mentioned the ADA will likely be running it's annual Youth Deer Camp up there. This is a great place to get a burger or dog, as well as some information. Best regards all! S.

Really nice muleybull! Thanks for sharing. S.

My oldest son had this tag for his first hunt two years ago (shot his first deer on that hunt... ). My second son has this tag for his first deer hunt this fall! He is VERY excited! This is a great 'first hunt' for the youngsters. They will have a VERY good opportunity to get a shot at a deer on this hunt. Tony gave some good advice. PM me and I will send you some other spots to check-out. Try to get your hands on a Kiabab National Forest map if you can. MANY roads up there and most of them lead to good deer country! Good luck! S.

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!!! S.

I have backpacked into those exact canyons to hunt in the past several years. The brush is intense up there! Good deal to get some fire IMO.... Thanks for sharing Doug! S.

Here you go Mark. Try this link: https://dgfremote.gmfsh.state.nm.us/ols/index.php Good luck! S.

I just confirmed that my son got a unit 34 either sex junior elk tag. 9/29-10/3. I am extremely excited!!!!! I'm going to have to plan some NM camping trips this summer for sure. Good luck to all the rest! S.

Well, I was hoping that my son would get one of the junior elk tags but there has been no credit card activity as of yet. Looks like we might be looking for a landowner tag.... Congrats to all who drew! S.

Spectacular Scott!! Thanks for sharing. S.

The ADA board definitely does NOT support more opportunity over quality. Maybe wetmule (or Amanda) can give the details of the official position, but I can tell you it is a hot topic and they are lobbying as much as possible against the proposed guideline changes. S.

I'm hoping she'll be ready Doug! We've had her out in the field with her mom & pop a couple of times this spring just cruising around the hills, and she definitely seems to have the nose for it. She is still a bit rowdy though, and is quite a ways off from following some of the rules (honoring other dog's points, etc...). We're actually going to take her out this weekend with the .22s to try to continue getting her acclimated to gun-fire. Her mom & pop are going to join us for our annual Southern Utah camping trip this year, and I think we're going to buy some birds to take up and shoot while there. That will be her first real test. Honestly, I'll confess that we're struggling a bit with the 'family dog' vs. 'hunting dog' thing. With my busy schedule, it's hard to make enough time to really train her hard. Hopefully she'll end-up doing ok though. I'll try to post some pictures of her on the board soon. She's a sweetie! S.

I've owned two beagles in my life, and the fact that these two are FREE should tell everyone something about those little suckers. Seriously though, beagles are great dogs for the right home. Rambunctious little things that like lots of space..... We aquired a vizsla this year, so no room for any other dogs at our house now. I hope they find a good home. S.

Replied to your post on the other site Backcountry. Not a bad idea to post here to ensure some more folks see it though. In answer to your final question on this forum though; If it were between muleys in 37B or coues anywhere, I would just stick with coues if I were you! Good luck. I hope you get some more info. PM me if you would like to talk in more details about some potential spots in 37B. I've got a couple of old favorite honey holes that I'd rather not share in public, but that I would give-up in private. Regards, S.

I might try to make it up as well. A friend of mine has a 5B south elk tag and wanted me to go scouting with him that weekend, but I'll try to make it. So exactly where will the party be? The FS link posted above seems to indicate that the "Lakeview Campground" is the closest to Marshal Lake. Is this where folks will be, or will there be a primitive set-up somewhere closer to the lake? S.

Why are tag fees increasing? My guess is inflation..... ;-) Interesting information you are presenting here. I don't pretend to know the in's-n-out's of the G&F finances, but it seems to me that you could pick apart almost any big organization's finances to find things that appear to make no sense. Easy to do when it's not your job and you are just looking at a micro level example of their spending. I don't know, but I suspect that the salary expense for the department is not the biggest drain on their budget. My guess is that as in most industries, salaries are likely set based on comparison's to similar positions & jobs in that particular field. If the Range Masters are making more than the WM's, then it's likely due to market forces.... There are many trades that don't require an education beyond highschool that make more than the G&F WMs. "Also with the twelve employees of which 4 are part times the total cost of wages for the range is roughly $340,000 just for the main range, this doesnt inculde all those other range master that work at the clay target center and such. Which means based on the 340k in just wages that the range needs over 64k people to show up and pay the $5 shooting fee, which means over 186 people a day for 365 days a year, With factoring in that their not open 7 days a week like the Rio saladio shooting range means that they have to pull in over 220 poeple a opening day to just break even on coving the payroll." With this argument, you are making the assumption that the range's are run as individual 'profit' centers, meaning that each operation must be self funded. I'm guessing that the G&F does not operate under that model. If that is what you expect, then I would think that the ranges would close-down, and we would all be forced to go to private ranges (or pay the same fee as at a private range...). Is that what you want? I like the idea that I can take my kids to the range and pay a nominal fee to use it as opposed to a private operation. I personally am not surprised or turned-off by the increase in tag fees. It has happened before, and it will happen again IMO. S. :-)

Awesome pics! Thanks for sharing! Luckily we didn't have to come-up with a solution such as yours for these pics. Just a couple of pics from one of our family camping trips last year. Getting ready to gear-up for another summer of fun right now!!! S.