Muley62

Good to hear...look forward to seeing you.

I want to encourage everyone at CW.COM to come to the banquet! First of all, this will be a first class event. The location is incredible, the food is amazing and you get to see one of the most prominent sportsperson in America (of course for $150 you should expect the best). One thing i do want to make clear. This event is hosted by AZSFWC...the "C" on the end is important. Arizona Sportsman for Wildlife Conservationis a 501c3 organization dedicated to conservation and education. This is very different from Arizona Sportsmen for Wildlife which is a politically active 501c4 non-profit organization. The "C", as we call it, has merged with with Wildlife Conservation Council (WCC) and now counts all of the major conservation organizations as members. As you all know we have issues facing sportsmen that do not involve any species in particular, habitat, or water...issues like access and community relations. These are just a few issues that we can address that require statewide effort and financial means. So please consider attending and tell all of your friends!

Well, the bill has made it through the Arizona legislature! Next stop is the Govenor's office.

Many of you saw the e-mail from the Game and Fish Department. It still bothers me that they use department resources to lobby against legislation but that is what political appointees can do when there is no accountability to the public. Anyways, we could sure use your help in contacting your legislators regarding these bills. Just click on the link below to identify your senator and politely ask them to support SB1200. This type of feedback really does help legislators make decisions. If everyone who voted that they would support this bill actually sent an e-mail then we will win this! http://azleg.gov/MemberRoster.asp?Body=H This link will show the e-mail address for each senator http://azleg.gov/alisStaticPages/HowToContactMember.asp This link will help you locate your legislative district BTW, I copied these links for the Game and Fish e-mail.

Many of you saw the e-mail from the Game and Fish Department. It still bothers me that they use department resources to lobby against legislation but that is what political appointees can do when there is no accountability to the public. Anyways, we could sure use your help in contacting your legislators regarding these bills. Just click on the link below to identify your senator and politely ask them to support SB1200. This type of feedback really does help legislators make decisions. If everyone who voted that they would support this bill actually sent an e-mail then we will win this! http://azleg.gov/MemberRoster.asp?Body=H This link will show the e-mail address for each senator http://azleg.gov/alisStaticPages/HowToContactMember.asp This link will help you locate your legislative district BTW, I copied these links for the Game and Fish e-mail.

PaysonBrad Feel free to introduce yourself. The only groups that have been vocal about this bill are anti-hunting groups. Do you really think we are going to alienate them any more than they already are? Do you believe that anti-hunters should have an equal voice in selecting a commissioner? They don't like this bill because it will impede their ability to intimidate the commission and the department. I agree that we need to build the hunting and fishing base. The conservation organizations who support this bill raise money and spend countless hours doing just that. Have you ever been to one of our camps or clinics?

Those are not original thoughts from Mike, he is just using Jennifer Martin's comments from today's commission meeting. He must have had Jennifer e-mail her response prior to the meeting today. She obviously did not come to the meeting to discuss the bill, she had her response all typed up before she even got there. That is the open minded, listen-to-all sides commissioners we need?!

Many good points September! Many of you may remember when Mr. Bill was a commissioner he stated that those of us speaking for a conservation organization did not represent our membership, we only represented the few board members. Well in a meeting down at the senate yesterday the very same Mr. Bill claimed to represent over 300,000 ARizona sportsmen who did not belong to an organization! Is that insane or what?!!

"To say that 99.9% of the citizens don't even know this is going on is just pure bunk" Well Bill, I will bet you that you cannot find 100 people in Arizona who can name two candidates for the last commission seat. Given we have 6.5 million people in Arizona that would represent 99.9985%. Call me"The Bunk Buster" "Over the last several years the Commission has been trying to get all interested parties to come to Commission meetings" How many of you who attending a commission meeting durning Bill's tenure walked out of that meeting with a warm and welcome feeling? How many walked out feeling like you needed to throw up?

Mike...You have got to be kidding me! Are you really going to pull the old "Pete and Ron want landowner elk tags" crap out again? Dude, you need to hit the delete button on that posting real quick, you are only going to embarrass yourself on this site with that.

"And, if they get this through the 90% of hunters and the rest of Arizona's citizens who don't belong to one or more of the "sponsoring organizations" will also be reduced to a minority voice." Bill, can you enlighten on us about how the sportsmen of Arizona have a “majority” voice now in regard to commission appointments? Until the Governor makes his/her appointment 99.9% of Arizonans don’t even know there is a position available. How are they supposed to have a voice when they don’t even know that it is happening? Maybe we could have a “scientific poll" to determine the next commissioner!! (Now, that was funny!)

Tough question! I have both and love both so I doubt I am helping you to make a decision. I do like the Outdoorsman adapter plate system better so i put one of their quick release adapters on top of the Jim White head so I never have to worry about what adapter plates i have on my spotting scope or bino adapter. (wow i used the word "adapter" four times in one sentence and it still makes sense!)

Very cool. I never thought about the african hunters using trail cams. I bet you have to be careful about where you mount them!

Funny but way too true! After watching Obama's speech while on the stairmaster this morning, about how he will raise taxes on the top 2% of americans and successful business in order to reduce the deficit this story is playing out in real life.

124 5/8" Did i win?

That is a good question and i would need to check with Eddy myself since he handles most of the transfers. The biggest obstacle would be getting a hunter in the field. Most of the kids involved with OE4A are still in school so we tend to go hard on weekends and keep the kids in school as much as we can. I want to thank all of you for your the tags you have donated and for simply spreading the word. I knew that up to 10% of hunting tags go unused each year but i figured it might take more than 5 years to get the word out about organizations like ours. But thanks to folks like Amanda and all of you on the forum we have a constant stream of tags coming in. BTW, we are really looking for some late 6A rifle bull tags. We sent a letter to every tag holder expecting a strong reply but we have not had a single tag come in yet. So if you know someone with a tag and they won't be able to use it please have them get in touch. Thanks again for your help! Chris Denham Outdoor Experience 4 All (OE4A)

That looks awesome! It is no wonder we always see big bucks in Mexico, they always have a good monsoon season down there.

Thanks Amanda (thanks Paul)! It has been a crazy couple of years but we are still growing!

I got my bow signed before the article even came out!

Paul Kendall is a personal friend of mine and i think he does a great job with all of his productions. It is the type of movie you and i would shoot!

We are always trying to put Western Hunter in the hands of "the most likely to buy something" guys. You guys with elk and antelpe tags fit that catagory perfectly. The next issue will be going to a totally different bunch so send in your subscription so that you don't miss anything.

Dang it Amanda, i had a few copies in my back pack last night! Volume 8 Issue 1 mailed on Monday out of Denver. By the end of the week everyone should have theirs. I would really appreciate any feed back on the issue! Chris Denham Western Hunter Magazine

Christian Coming to the annual meeting would be great. But don't expect a big deal, we generally have poor attendance to that meeting. We could use your help at the banquet so lets get you hooked up with the right people at that meeting. Thank you for volunteering!

After reading these post I can say that I agree or understand at least some part of everyones issues, even Muleyman! As for the out-of-town/I-hate-the-Valley gang-I don't blame you in the least! Half of our board is trying to find a way to get out of Phoenix. As Terry mentioned tele-confrencing is becoming more convenient all the time, so being a board member is not out of the question. As you know there are big mule deer in northern Arizona and there are some serious mule deer hunters living up there. Those guys did not want to drive down here so they started the Buckskin Chapter of the ADA. I am not suggesting that you go to that length but maybe consider doing something that involved sportsmen from the Payson area, Tucson area, or Kingman area, maybe a hunters clinic, small fundraiser, Adopt-a-Ranch, or highway clean-up. I am probably creating more questions than I am answering but my point is that the potential is endless. The person who made the point about too many organizations is, in part, correct. The problem that I see is not that there are too many groups as much as we all try to be involved in too many groups. I may be the worst offender in the entire state! I am on or have been on the boards of the ADA, ABA, ABGSR, AZSFW, AWF, and OE4A. Frankly, I am getting burned out and it is my fault. I should have stayed focused on one or two groups and i would be more energized. So don't worry about all of the groups, it is overwhelming, just pick one or two that you are going to work with and get started. Most of all, remember that all of these groups are volunteer run. No one is getting paid to do this work, they give their time and money by the bucket loads. Too many times I hear "what is in it for me?" from potential members instead of "what can I do to help?" I am preaching to the choir here, because I can tell by your responses that you are not that type. Volunteers don't always get things done as fast as you would like, or as professionally as you would expect so give them some slack. Thanks for the conversation here, lets keep it going.

Allen I am finishing the first issue right now. Hopefully it will be to the printer by next weekend and out by the 12th or so. The second issue comes out in July, then September and in November. If anyone is waiting for a DVD, i mailed a bunch yesterday. Thanks for all of your help! Chris Denham