Dick

Archery-only deer hunters: 2008 December hunt area changes News Media Nov 25, 2008 Archery-only deer hunters: Some hunting areas are not open during 2008 December nonpermit-tag hunts The Arizona Game and Fish Department wants to remind archery-only deer hunters with over-the-counter permits there are a number of Game Management Units that are not open hunting areas for the 2008 December hunt, as in past years. Game Management Units 17A, 20A, 22, 23, 37A, and 42 are NOT included in the December 2008 archery-only season. These units will not be open until the Jan. 1-31, 2009 season. Archery-only deer hunters are reminded to thoroughly review the 2008 Arizona Hunting and Trapping Regulations before taking to the field for their deer hunt. A 2009 general hunting license is also required to hunt beginning Jan. 1, 2009. Harvest percentages are the reason for the structure change. In units where the archery harvest exceeded 20 percent of the overall take, the seasons have been shortened, or in some cases, they have become part of the draw system. The reason for this change is to allocate the harvest among deer hunters in proportion to the demand for that weapon choice. In some management units, the harvest proportion for certain weapon types exceeded the demand. The same system applies for units where the harvest is less than 10 percent of the total harvest. In those cases, the season was extended. Game Management Units 4A, 4B, 8, 9 and 19A benefitted from this and will see a new season from Jan. 1-16, 2009 for over-the-counter archery-only deer hunters. The 2008-09 Arizona Hunting and Trapping Regulations can be viewed or downloaded from www.azgfd.gov/rules. MANDATORY: Over-the-counter nonpermit-tag archery deer hunters must report their harvest by calling 1-866-903-3337. Also, successful hunters are encouraged to participate in the monitoring for chronic wasting disease (CWD). Hunters can assist the monitoring effort by bringing in the head of their recently harvested deer or elk to any Game and Fish Department office between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Place the head in a heavy plastic garbage bag for delivery, and keep it cool and out of the sun. If the weather is warm, it is best to either bring in the head within a day of harvest or keep it on ice in a cooler before delivery. For more information about CWD, visit www.azgfd.gov/cwd.

Thanks Dallas

Please watch the YouTube video attached, it is SO informative!! This is my first attempt at attaching a link on CW so if some one can clean this up, GREAT. But, it still gets the job done! Dick http.doc http.doc

Manhunter, Thanks for these last couple posts, it is very enlightening to read factual information instead of "emotional" rhetoric that we often see. But my emotions are in line with your educated views on these issue!

She has nothing to fear when it comes to debating anyone the Dem's put out there. She is amazing and I am excited!

I copied this out of a Newsweek Online! I never get real excited about politics, that is until now! I am ecstatic about McCain's choice. He had my vote anyway but now I will do whatever I can to help spread the word on why we need to support this party! The practice of deliberately exterminating animals to manipulate the populations of other species is not without controversy. "Palin is on a massive extermination program for wolves across large swaths of Alaska to artificially inflate caribou and moose populations to pacify trophy hunters," says John Toppenberg, the executive director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance. "It's totally illogical, it's extreme, it's the draconian manipulation of bears of wolves in Alaska." But it is a practice that predates Palin's governorship and remains popular with a majority of Alaskans. "Her approach to environmental issues generally reflects someone who has grown up and depended upon natural resources, and has the perspective that resources should be used and used responsibly," says Jonathan Adler, director of the Center for Business Law and Regulation at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. "You don't want to reduce the wolf population too much, or it will drop below a sustainable level. There is a certain amount of uncertainty in the field on how to do that. But the consensus is that the folks in Alaska tend to know what they're doing." And as one of their ilk, Palin may be giving Democrats some pause on the eve of the Republican convention. The hunter has them in her sights. Maybe she would move to Arizona if she became VP. We could use her in our state government! Dick

Doesn't look as though it is going to be early!

I have used the Bitenburger and the AZ EZFletch both, both work well for blazers with the EZ Fletch obviously being much faster, you do three vanes at once instead of one at a time!

I'm a little surprised by the posts above, but just a little. I am a bow only hunter, I have put in for 13B in the past and hoped to draw and would have hunted during the rifle hunt with my bow. I have done that in a few other units over the years also just for some extra days afield with the bow. I put in for 13B first choice with the knowledge that drawing that could be like getting a sheep tag. I put in 12A second choice, and this will surprise you maybe, I have never hunted the Kaibab. I just thought that this would be the year to give it a try. I have never taken a really nice Mule Deer and who knows, one might just get the chance.

There are a lot advantages of getting rid of the rubber tubing if you can. A good string and a D-loop are the answers I believe. I have not used a tube for years, it has a lot of negatives, only one being breaking and possibly hitting you in the eye at full draw, and it could happen while at full draw on that deer or elk you have been waiting for. If you haven't, you need to ask the crew at Corner about this.

Predator and Mothwings

Predator and Mothwings

We have posted a schedule for shoots around the state on our website. We will try to keep this updated so if anyone has anything to add, get us the information and I will add it to our site. www.arizonabowhunters.org Dick

I will try to get the shops in Phoenix to add it to their calendars and I will get a link to it posted on the ABA calendar. Sounds like a fun day! Dick

Dallas, Thanks! And I could tell that by the end of the day Sunday the feeling was; enough is enough! When we tried to organize enough shooters for the team shoot (which has been very popular at the first two legs) it was like "no way"! It was evident how hard that shoot was but I can say again" the GRIT of those that shot was very evident"! You guys and gals are incredible!

There is no way to put into a short post what the 2008 BHH was like but I will do a short synopsis. Friday:arrived at Sunrise around 3PM to about 2 feet of snow, high winds and still snowing lightly. Plus the power had been out on the Mountain and surrounding area for 18 hours, the lodge was running on generator backup. The staff at Sunrise Ski Resort had been trying to clear parking and private roads but without power they could not pump diesel fuel for the equipment. One of the employees reportedly siphoned fuel to get the job done. Power came on about 8PM Friday evening! While Sunrise staff was trying to make roads and parking, the ABA Board members and other Sunrise staff members were out with shovels trying to find targets, shooting stakes and whiskers! Amazingly, before dark, all trails had been walked and re-flagged as needed. By dark time everyone felt like we had done what we could do till daylight when we would re-evaluate the situation. Throughout the night the wind howled and as expected, covered a lot of the trails we had opened up Friday evening so we started all over again Saturday shortly after daylight. Pretty soon shooters started showing up, registration began and with some thought, a decision was made to have only a afternoon flight on Saturday for competitors. By noon there were 111 comp shooters registered and the fun began! Other than some sunburn and sore eyes, everything went off from that point without much of a hitch! The scores are posted on the ABA website. Above the 111 comp shooters there were around 50 individuals and families that showed up and shot also! That was remarkable in itself! This took an extreme effort by the staff at Sunrise Ski Resort, the ABA Board Members and volunteers, and we thank each and every one of them! BUT, the real heroes are the shooters that showed up and had a good time. I heard a whole bunch of positive remarks, comments about uniqueness of the event in the snow, the fun the kids had playing in it, and the fact that most of us will probably never see anything like this again! I will add that I heard no complaints in regards to the shoot! That says a lot for the grit for those who didn't let the weather keep them home! As Chairman of the ABA I want to say thank you to every single person involved, the shooters, the Board and the Staff at Sunrise! One last added note! By the time we left and noon Monday, there was hardly any snow left at the level at which we were shooting! It is amazing how fast that much snow melted. The picture that is attached was actually taken on Sunday afternoon and a lot of the snow had already melted!

The shoot is NOT being cancelled, that is pretty hard to do at this point so...bring your boots! It is supposed to be nicer Saturday and Sunday with Monday being the nicest day, great to drive home in!! Goes to show you that someone else still is in controll! Dick King Chairman ABA

Thanks for posting this information. Sounds like archery deer hunting is going to be a lot less confusing now!

For registration forms, photos from last year etc: The Bowhunter Happening is just around the corner. May 24-25-26 at Sunrise Ski Resort near Greer, AZ. A great event for the entire family including the Big Bear Course for the kids, ride the ski lift to the start of each course and shoot your way back to the lodge, have a refreshment and start over! This shoot is sponsored by the Arizona Bowhunters Association and is in 30th year! For more information, photos from last year, registration forms and more, visit the ABA website at www.arizonabowhunters.org or contact me at shouldbhunting@msn.com. Dick King State Chairman

CnS, Well said, I thought a lot about Monstercoues remarks last night and I concur with you completely. I have hunted there myself, I have a nice coues that I harvested there a couple years ago. The country where I took that deer is country where a rifle hunter would probably not want to hunt. Glassing range, 100 yards maybe. I love the passion that Monstercoues demonstrates though, we all need to have some of that. Apathy, or the attitude of let someone else deal with it will be the downfall of our sport.

Awesome deer, all of them. Are they all Arizona? I think Clay does the best on Couses of any one I know. They look alive.

If you get back to my letter, (thanks to whoever posted it) you will see that the Dept. does send out survey cards to bowhunters, according to the Department, about 2/3 of 25,000 or 16,000 survey cards. 35% of the reciepients reportedly returned them(5,000 +) or 23% of the total number of bowhunters. Slightly more than one of five. I have personally never felt that the decisions that the Dept makes in regards to management is about revenue. When they really needed to increase revenue, they asked for an increase in license and permit fees. I thought they have always been up front about that. I do not see any units in the State that appeared to have such a high rate of harvest from archery hunters that the deer population is being threatened, Leonard nor no one else from the Dept has ever suggested that. The data in the "Hunt Arizona" does not indicate that either. Therefore I would have to think that it isn't the case. Their motives for this decision, from what I can see and after talking with Dept employees and attending the meetings, is that they feel archers make up about 20% of the pool of deer hunters, therefore they should not be entitled to more than 20% of the harvest in any unit. If the harverst should exceed that, they want to implement methods of reducing the harvest. That is, a draw, shorters seasons, no season, or whatever. Our, the ABA board I should say, finds the biggest problem is with the "data" being used. We (archers) have had a mandatory reporting of harvest by phone for a couple years, the Department feels that there is 25% of those who harverst deer, do not report their harvest. That means that 75% does! From the survey card numbers stated earlier, 23% of the 25,000 bowhunters return survey cards. Why the Department feels that it is better to use the 23% number than the 75% number is where I am having a struggle with data. They have also indicated that reports from meat processors and taxidermists would indicate that deer are being taken that are not being reported and I am sure that is a case to a certain degree. Many states have gone to mandatory reporting, everyone fills out a report via one method or another, or they are subject to some form of restriction the following year. What that restriction might be varies from one state to another, in some states it is might be a simple "buy in" of a few bucks or it might mean no license next year. At least it would make everyone responsible, it would give the Department better data, it would take away the arguement that we have today that says "your data is invalid" and it would put the burden back on the individual. It is called "accountability". I don't think there is a bowhunter in Arizona that would want to see the resource damaged by poor management, but neither do we want to see opportunity taken away because of lack of good management. In my opinion, and that of many others, mandatory reporting "is" good management. Archers would not have to be permitted to get the data, if you go to purchase your license next year, and the vendor checks to see if you have not filled out your survey card (computers) you don't get the license till you do! Maybe I think to simple? Or maybe I hope for more than one should expect from our fellow bowhunters?

Being on the ABA board it might be hard to be impartial but I want to add some input any way. First, I want to be clear that no one intentionally set the date for the BHH to be on top of the Clint’s Well shoot to hurt them, we as a board had to make some decisions some time ago and did not have many options for dates and or location. We understand that the shoot at Clint’s Well was a great success as far as attendance. We expected that would happen this year and honestly hope that everyone there had a great shoot. It was in no way the intention of any of us to divide shooters, but, as I said before, we had to make a decision and did not have many options, regardless of what rumors might be floating around. Believe me they are unfounded. The BHH had about 320 registered shooters. That is counting a family as one shooter because it was only one registration form. Of those, 109 were comp shooters and the remainder non-comp. If a family shooter averaged three members, we probably had 420 to 450 shooters. Down from other years but about what we expected because of the move and the fact that there was another major shoot the same weekend. These are just a few comments by shooters who have shot the BHH for many years. 1. “The comp courses were the best I have shot in ten years and the non-comp courses were the best I have ever shot.” This was a statement made by a person who won their division at the BHH and the Triple Crown also. 2. Another shooter said, “This was the best 3-D shoot that I have ever shot in Arizona, don’t change a thing” He was also the winner of his division and a Triple Crown winner. 3. One of the vendors who drove from Las Vegas said he would come back next year even if he didn’t sell a thing. He said it was one of the most beautiful settings for an archery event that he had ever seen. He made a drive one morning before opening his booth and saw over a hundred elk. 4. Bowtech brought their semi-trailer that has a 3-D shoot setup inside with glass sides so spectators may watch from the outside. The operator of the rig was absolutely ecstatic about the location and the response they received. They also had two media persons in attendance and there comments were, “not only do they want to attend again next year but they want to try to become a major sponsor!” Although it was a huge move, the response we got from 95% of those at the shoot was very positive and favorable. They loved the courses, the settings, the lift rides, the BBQ, the awards being inside and the treatment from the Sunrise personnel was outstanding, not only on the Mountain but at dinner at the hotel too. They went above and beyond to make an enjoyable weekend and event for everyone there. As a board, we are very grateful for the hospitality we received from everyone there. I want to thank everyone for their support and patience, as I have said many times, “the ABA is the membership”, not the board members. Unfortunately, we sometimes have to make decisions that are not popular for everyone and that is not an easy thing to do. For those that are upset and frustrated with the ABA, we hope that changes over time. For those that attended the shoot, we hope that is was everything that you hoped it would be and more. Next year will be bigger and better and more planning will be done well in advance. We did the following survey via a questionaire that we asked all shooters to fill out and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Please help us to improve the Bowhunter Happening Shoot! Your comments are important to us. Please fill out this questionnaire and become eligible for a free drawing! On a score of 1 thru 10 with 10 being the highest, how would you rate the following. How do you feel that you were treated by the ABA Board? Circle One` 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Did they do everything they could to see that you had a good time? Circle One 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Overall, how would you rate the courses? Circle One. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 For location and quality of shoot, compare this location to Williams/Flagstaff? Circle One. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 If the shoot were located at Sunrise next year, would you plan to attend? Circle One. Yes No Would you encourage your friends to attend? Circle One. Yes No Do you miss the Hay Wagon rides? Circle One. Yes No We have been very active at the Game and Fish Commission meeting in the last couple years. We feel that our input and effort had a great deal to do with decisions that the Commission made in 2005 when they did not make the proposed changes with the Bull Elk tags where they were going to move a large portion of those tags to August and Sept. This past year we were instrumental in getting the Commission to direct the Game and Fish Dept to move opening of Archery Deer to August 24th from August 31st. In doing so it moved the opening weekend away from Labor Day weekend and also prevented the overlap of Archery Deer and Archery Elk hunts. Do you feel that you are well represented at Commission Meeting by the ABA? Circle One Yes No How would you rate the work that the ABA does with Game and Fish and the Commission in importance. Circle One. Not at all important Somewhat important Very important If we could distribute an on-line electronic Newsletter to our members would you prefer that or the traditional hard copy received in the mail? Circle one. On-line Hard Copy Comments:

Thanks to everyone that showed up at the Hunt Set Meeting today in Glendale. Although it was not easy and it got debated for quite awhile the results for archery hunters was favorable in the end. Archery Deer- August 24th through Sept 13th. Turkey will run at the same time. Thanks again for all the support.