couesdiehard

As someone who has looked a little too brown and a little too dirty returning from a coues deer hunt of all things, and was stopped and harassed by a highway patrol officer, I can tell you this BS, IS about profiling. That trooper should be glad he realized the error of his ways and let me go on my way because I would have introduced him to my .45 before I showed him any "residency papers." By the way, I think most of us would have a hard time producing residency papers or proof of citizenship when pulled over for speeding. (A driver's license does not qualify Non-Typical Solutions.) It amazes me how so many members on this site scream and yell about "Government" taking our rights away every dang day, but start spouting off how they like this infringement on our rights simply because they don't think it will apply to them because of their skin color, or because they were born here. Maybe you would feel differently if "Government" decided to crack down on Anglos on the basis that they may be illegals from Canada or Europe or wherever. I guess the Anglos in AZ can rest easy as long as we have the Mormon majority running our state government. With that, I am done with this topic and the forum. Lee Molina

Ditto on federal law superseding state law. I would not advise using a motor vehicle to retrieve your elk on the Coconino unless you are in an area designated to allow off-road recovery of elk per the Coconino NF map.

I've always felt October was the best time of the year here in AZ. You have fall colors up north and down south, football in full swing, better weather in the deserts, all kinds of hunting and even some great fishing, not to mention my birthday (I guess that makes me a little biased). The exception to the rule is when I have an archery bull tag in Sept. like this year or whenever I finally get drawn for that darn rifle antelope tag. Lee

Rut activity starting at different times in different locations is interesting but I believe this weekend the elk will be well into the early rut all over the state. Should see and hear bulls trying to pursue the cows and maybe even trying to run off the spikes. Feel pretty confident herd bulls will have harems by the Sept 14th opener. I can't wait! Lee

This past weekend on the rim I also saw heards of cows, calves and spikes running together. Only bulls I saw were alone. Heard no bugling at all. Lee

Well, As I feared and predicted I was scouting in my elk unit in the Coconino on Saturday, and found that nobody seemed to give a dang about road closures or camping restrictions. If I follow the rules I will be at a huge disadvantage, because looks like everyone else will be driving and camping on the "closed roads". Very discouraging to say the least. Didn't see any enforcement personell all day either. Wish I had been able to get a photo of the guys who were setting their tent camp up with a "NO CAMPING" Forest Service stake sign between them and the road 20 yards away! FS has done nobody a favor with these rule changes. The folks who didn't follow the rules before are worse now knowing there are too many closed roads for FS to patrol. Those of us who follow the rules just got screwed some more. On the bright side I did see plenty of elk despite all the yahoos. Not even going to bother going up on the holiday weekend, would just make me want to puke. Good luck to all of you on your hunts. Lee

Not like an elk or deer has never smelled wood smoke in the wild, right DesertBull?

Very well summarized Outdoor Writer. I am sure you are right that he intends to present some mitigating circumstances just wonder what those will be. Lee

I'm not so sure about that. Not enough FS personnel to patrol even a small percentage of these forests so roadies are going to do what they do and most of them won't get caught. So those of us who try to follow the rules will be watching roadies fly up and down the "closed" roads all day long anyway and they will probably camp in spots that aren't open either. I was drawn for archery bull in 5A and I don't have high hopes to be honest. I fully expect a real circus between people who don't know or care about the closures, the FS staff who don't seem to clear on the rules, and those of us trying to do the right thing.

As I understood it in Coconino forest if the road is shown on the Travel Plan map it is open. If it is not shown on the map it is closed. If you swing by and pick up the map it has a list of roads that aren't shown you can drive on. But the problem is you don't know exactly when they end and most of the roads arent that well marked. Ok I get what you are saying. They sure want to make it as confusing as humanly possible don't they?

Talk about the BS of public opinion. Let's stick to the facts of what happened according Mr. Husted's own words instead of hypothesizing on all the variables of what could of happened. Whatever the Court in Round Valley decides I'll abide by it, even if I don't agree with it. I will state my opinion of it until I'm blue in the face good, bad, or otherwise. That's my right. This is a matter of public record as are all cited game violations, we on this site didn't make it so, the Law did. Let me reiterate, I give kudos to Mr. Husted for owning up to a mistake when nobody was watching, and I wish him the best. But the same ethics that told him he should report it, are the same ethics that should tell him to face the music. Again, just my very public opinion. Lee

As I understood it in Coconino forest if the road is shown on the Travel Plan map it is open. If it is not shown on the map it is closed.

And so the fun begins... they have been several discussions on this topic right after the elk/antelope draws came out. Search forums for the name of the forest or enter "travel plan". It sucks but the rules have already been changed in most of the forests and we got screwed. Take FS travel plan maps (loaded from individual FS websites) and gps with you and be sure you know where you are at even if FS personnel don't. Good luck everyone. Lee

Unfortunately, ignorance of the law is no defense. As I said before, kudos to Commissioner Husted for coming clean and admitting he committed a violation when he realized it. I am a little curious what his defense will be when it is well-documented now that he admitted unknowingly committing the offense. I'm afraid that he will be found not guilty or the case will be thrown out by his local court (Round Valley). It gives the wrong signal to those who are less honest. I believe I would have plead guilty (since I already admitted it to law enforcement, wouldn't want my integrity questioned) and then ask the court for a reduced fine. To me that is taking the high road. Lee

Pm Sent