.270

wonder who taulman is gonna sue now? next he'll want to sue everyone because nobody likes him. wonder if the 9th court of appeals will tell us all we have to be nice to boy george or give up more tags? hope he starves. Lark.

got to spend 9 hours flying low and slow over some great country yesterday. flew from st. johns to superior about 100 feet above the deck and 40 to 50 mph with the doors open and feet hanging out the side. saw a lot of elk, pronghorn, muleys, javelina and even a turkey. no coues. above the rim, it seems to be greening up some. some places had receved a lot of rain the day before and some places seemed to have had even more rain and were greening up nicely. the cool air felt good. below the rim was a different story. real dry. badly needs some rain.

saw one that was probably a 350 bull, but not in your unit. he was just north of heber. there are a lot of elk in places you wouldn't think would have that many. one thing for sure, if there is something close, that chopper will scare it up. really enjoyed the day.

does mexico change their rules every year? i've never hunted and probably never will. seems like a real hassle and you're pretty much powerless and at the mercy of the federalis. have a friend who has hunted there a bunch. shot some huge muleys and at least one tremendous coues. he takes a mounted head, without antlers, and screws the rack to it, stitches it up the best he can and brings it across as something he bought. said it saves him some kind of fee at the border and is a lot less hassle. might be illegal as heck now, i have no idea. but worked in the past. but it sure seems that some pretty innocent acts have caused some guys some real hearburn.

guess i just haven't ran across the good guys yet. i've never been around a treepig that didn't want everyone to know that he was in "authority". same goes for most cops of all breeds. i just like to be in the woods. i don't do stupid stuff, and i respect the land. but nearly every time i've ever had to interact with any person with a badge, it seems like they go out of their way to make you uncomfortable and look for some technicality to hassle you over. doesn't matter if you're hunting, fishing, camping or just driving down the road. to me, intent to break the law is the key. if someone does something accidently or through ignorance, give em a break. explain things to em and send em down the road with minimal damage to the guy's ego. if a guy has to get cited, fine, but show some respect for the person and his position. cops never do that. they want the guy to feel bad about himself and want him to have a bad day. i've had cops lie to me. i've had cops lie about me. sorry if i have a jaded outlook to badgepackers, all of em, but that's the way it is. there are real bad guys, everywhere. but it seems that cops are afraid of them and only want to pick on those that will let them and won't put up much of a fuss. guess i could say i'm sorry if i offended anyone, but i really don't care.

we usually shoot each other on purpose when we're bird huntin'. keeps things interesting. not really, i'm just jokin', sorta. once i was dove huntin' with a pal and some moron set up about 100 yards down the canal from us. he shot the guy i was with about 3 times, everytime a dove flew between em. finally my buddy hollerd at him "HEY, DO YOU HAVE SIGHT ON THE END OF YOUR BARRELL"? the guy looks at it and says "yeah". my buddy says "YOU OUGHTA FILE IT OFF!". the guy says "why?" my buddy hollerd back "SO I DON'T HURT SO BAD WHEN I STUFF IT UP YOUR @$$!!!!!". he didn't wanna play no more and left.

since the forest circus started their "enforcement" program it's become a real farce. i know a guy that got a speeding ticket on a state highway from a forest circus cop, by nutrioso. same treepig was giving speeding tickets to folks driving too fast in the big lake campgrounds. actually had a radar gun set up. couple cow punchers i know were bs'ing on the side of the road, a dirt road, and the same jerkoff drove up and was gonna give em a ticket for being parked too close to the road. from what i've gathered, the "enforcement" folks in the forest circus are from under the barrel. real control freaks who want to use a heavy hand with everyone. typical cops who think everyone is a criminal, they just haven't all been caught yet. one of the "cops" out of the springerville office got busted for poaching when he was in high school. don't make much sense to me. but then i've always had a skewed sense of right and wrong. they'll end up cappin' somebody over something stupid one o' these days. there are real crimes that go on everyday. real criminals who are a real detriment to the world are committing them. but those guys scare the treepigs and they wanna spend their time bustin' guys with "cameras". oooo, a trail camera. best call in the fbi. glad you got it rectified. but i guarantee they'll figger some other way to be stupid. they always do. unless you're a treehugger. they like those guys.

if ya run into this wierd lookin' guy crawlin' around under rocks and stuff and sayin' "precious, my prehhhhcious", that'll be bullwidgeon. i say shoot whatever ya see. except bullwidgeon that is. poor feller can't help it. i'm of the opinion, that any place ya have a tag for, is a good place. 23 is a good area. while i don't neccasarily agree that the "experience" is what i'm after. if i have a tag, i dang sure wanna use it. i like all the stuff that goes with hunting, but success makes it better. if you're going into a place new to you, the first time you go there is quite a learning experience. use it and think about it for the whole year and the next year you'll have a lot better handle on it. as far as coues and mulies go, if it's a good buck, it's a good buck. i saw 4x4 muley in 23 some years back that had to be close to 200". anybody that'd turn that buck down for a guppie, i mean coues, would be nuts. a 30" muley would be real hard to turn down. my kid saw a coues in 23, 3 years ago that he's still havin' seizures over too. so they're there. get farther from the road than the other folks get and you'll do ok. don't limit yourself, it'll screw up the "experience".

how do you know uv blocker works? i mean other than the commercials? wear dull colors and stay in the shade. blaze orange is gonna shine no matter what you do to it. nothing makes you invisible. and if a deer catches you moving, it doesn't matter what you're wearing. camo only works when you're still. my favorite color is black. if you're still, you look like a shadow. used to crack me up during the fall archery deer season up north. be driving down the road and there'd be a pickup in the road with both doors open and a couple idiots walking like elmer fudd toward a little buck that was staring at em. jokers actually believed because they had on camo, that the deer couldn't see em. i saw that so many times that i almost lost faith in bowhunters. the trick is to see the deer first and keep the wind in your face. ever hear of cal koziah? the best bowhunter nobody ever knew of. he wore red and black plaid, exclusively. these huntin' shows that have the guys all decked out in camo and a orange vest and hat crack me up too. guess they have to satisfy the sponsors. or the guys all camo'd up in the air conditioned stands. i really like to go to booga red's during elk season and check out the latest in camo fashion on all the dudes and their guides. guys come in there lookin' like a bush, leaves and stuff hangin' all over the place. better than cartoons on saturday morning.

nobody suggested to get rid of the internet applications? dang, that's a bummer. did anyone go to the mesa meeting last night?

i work with a guy named cletus, from south carolina. he's a cool dude. favorite song is dueling banjos and he has tapes o' pig squeelin' noises he's always playin'. anyway, i showed him the photos of you fellers and he wants to meet all of ya. or "ya'll", as he says.

another fine example of the forest circus and their ever growing desire to have control of everything. their goal is for there to be nothing in the forest but trees and treehuggers.

blaze orange ain't a bad thing. in fact the past couple hunting accidents in Az. probably would not have happened if blaze orange were worn. last one i remember was a turkey hunter on the kaibab that got shot. sounded like the guy that shot his was a real idiot, but orange might o' kept it from happenening. when i was a kid and just starting to hunt, my ol' man would deck me out in red. hat, jacket, shirt. but it was mainly so he could find me. we never hunted where there were other folks. i hope Az. never goes to a mandatory orange, myself. as long as people don't get too stupid, we won't have to. colorado did it out of self preservation. they were shooting folks every year. Az. has never had a real problem with it and has never had the hunter densities of the colorado general seasons, plus our country is much more open. i dang sure "orange up" my caballo during elk season tho. no sense in tempting fate.

i like to put it on my horse. i don't wear it in Az. or new mex. mainly because it isn't required and i'm also no afraid to not wear it, like i'd be in colorado. it's required there and all them dudes are trained to shoot anything that ain't orange, i think. after an hour or so, i'm wondering if maybe i have enough on.

while this seems pretty stupid, it doesn't surprise me. there are some real stout laws about surveilance cameras and taking folks photos without em knowing it. i'd be that this falls under something like that. even tho that ain't why the camera is there, there is always a possibility of some marijuana farmer walkin' along and his civil rights gettin' violated by some poor dude's camera. be interesting to see how this plays out. good luck. Lark.

i usually shoot once and see where the dust blows up and compensate. i've tried range finders, but they take too much time. what i try to do is sneak close enough that i don't really need to guess the range. i just a use .270 and i'm pretty confident on anything inside of 400 yds. and i'll shoot farther too, just depends on the situation. there's nothing wrong with a range finder, but it's just something that doesn't do much for me. too used to kentucky windage and hope-I shots.

i was wondering the same thing, az4life. seems almost like a conspiracy. sorry sob's. one thing for sure, i'll bet these are well attended.

and remember, we're mad at uso and azgfd, not each other. we're the good guys. we're the guys getting screwed by the lawyers. the azgfd still get their checks every week, taulman still get richer, nonresidents get more of "OUR" permits. and in response to muskeg, the reason the internet draw needs to go is to inconvenience these stinkin' hunter pools, like taulman and some others have. make him fork out that money. letting folks apply for permits for $5 is a joke. everyone and their dog can apply for anything. taulman has an account with a bunch of nonresident money in it. once they give it to him, it's his. he applies for permits for them, all over the country. he doesn't have to use that money until they get drawn. how many permits can he apply for for $5? a heck of a lot. make him pony up full price. do away with this e-applications.

muskeg, what does the "bush adminstration" have to do with this deal in Az? not one person on the supreme court was appointed by him and they don't take any guidance from anyone. and comparing alaska with Arizona just isn't a good comparison. you're using a state with very limited resources, an exploding population, very limited habitat and has roads everywhere and comparing it to a state that has a very small population, no roads, very abundant game with premium habitat. in fact, comparing any state to any other state, isn't a very good comparison, because all states are vastly different in population, habitat, and tradition. Az. has problems and strong points that are unique to it. we have traditions that are unique to us. and so does every other state. i hunt other states every chance i get. i've been to alaska. i deal with their rules and their traditions, with no questions asked. so far, Arizona is the only state that has had a federally mandated bomb dropped on it, like this. we'll work through it. but it will be painfull. our main concern is that it is least painfull for us. i'm not worried about how montana or oklahoma or maine does things. if i decide to go there, i'll deal with their rules. i am concerned about what happens in my home state.

hey coues addict. super buck. i showed those photos to this feller from alabama that i know. his name is cletus. and he says you ain't ugly. in fact, he says you're kinda cute and would like to meet ya. once again, that is one big ol' buck. and it's in the worst lookin' "cooz" country i ever saw.

heck yeah there's feral hogs. ever take a good look at bullwidgeon? if that ain't pure razorback, i don't know what is. i know there are some feral hogs on the san pedro, above san manuel. there's some outfit that even guides for em there. seems like they're called dynamite or tnt outfitters. some kinda 'splosive name. maybe it was "KFB". a guy i work with shot one with a long bow with this outfit. he said there dozens of em where they were. it's all private land and ya hafta pay to hunt it. there used to be some on trumbull, on the strip, years ago. don't know about now. lions probably ate em all. the ones on the buenas aris are few and far between and according to the ranger i talked to there, have only been sighted a couple times. he said he'd never seen one. there are also getting to be a bunch of em east of springerville, toward the new mexico line. (no, it ain't them hairy women out at dogpatch) some o' my pals from there have been hammerin' em fairly regular.

TAM, i like the no non residetn bonus point deal. need to come up with something like the colorado preference points for residents. maybe they could give the non-residents bonus points, but just have them apply only to the nonresident tags. whatever is suggested, it has to be reasonable. the commission won't listen to it and will just write a guy off as a crank if it isn't. making folks travel here to take a hunters safety course is sorta unreasonable, i think. but making hunter's safety mandatory, for any age, isn't. colorado is sorta that way. to be old enough to not have to have a card you had to serve in WWI or some deal. anyway, i see some good comments. folks are thinking. here is what i wote em. i'm sure it'll hit the round file real quick, but hey, i tried to enlighten em. probably just put my name on the permanent $h!t list in their computer, but oh well, i've taken my share i guess. Lark. here it is: well, you asked for it, so here it is. let me start by explaining a little about my backrgound. i'm a 4th generation Az. native. i'm a hunter. a true outdoorsman. so is my dad, so was his father and his father, etc. my sons are outdoorsmen. my entire extended famliy likes to fish, camp, hike, hunt etc. just generally poke around the west doing whatever comes natural. and we eat everything we take. don't leave trash on the ground. don't leave gates open. we're good stewards. there isn't a unit in Az. that me and my boys haven't drug a buck or bull out of, or shot a quail or caught a fish. we hunt fish and enjoy this entire state. i'm not a crank, don't belong to any organizations other than the NRA. but i believe in right and wrong and there is no gray area when it comes to right and wrong. you're either right or wrong, you either tell the truth or you're a liar. you are either honest or dishonest. that's my opinion. i'll try to be brief. the #1 most important thing that the azgfd can do, right now, to improve hunting in this state, is to eliminate the electronic game applications. go back to mail in only. if it requires a fee increase or surcharge, so be it. electronic notification after the draw is ok, i guess. can't see a real problem with that. but the ability of anyone to take 5 minutes and apply for the most sought after public land big game permits in the world for only 5 bucks just isn't good for the state. it allows hunters pools, like the one that george taulman and his uso group are famous for, to flood the system with nonresident applications. you know what i'm saying. i don't have to go into detail. #2. use sound, scientifically collected data to make wildlife management decisions and dang the politics. when properly collected information says to do something, do it. don't bend to the governor, or anti-everything extremists, or hunters and anglers. this fiasco over the lions in sabino was disgusting. if you need to shoot some lions do it. i was ashamed and appalled at the weakness displayed by the department and the commission over this. there was an article in the paper a week or so ago about a predator study done by 4-peaks. in the article an azgfd spokesman was quoted as saying that the data was there but there wouldn't be much if anything done because the dept. was afraid of adverse reaction from anti groups. this is quitting before you even start. sometimes things are worth fighting for. #3. remove all non traditional populations from the areas they have inhabited. i.e., the many elk herds that have taken hold in areas they've never been before. i realize that Az.'s entire elk herd isn't native. the Merriams became extinct and yellowstone's were imported. that was also nearly 100 years ago. but please, keep them where there is good elk habitat. allowing them to take hold in the desert and cedars, etc. isn't good for the elk, first off. and it has devastated the deer population of these areas. the increase in the few elk permits that are allowed in these "limited opportunity" areas doesn't come close to covering the lost opportunity for deer hunters. another real bone of contention is mountain sheep in the gila mountains. come on? is this traditional mountain sheep country? last year, i saw over 40 different rams in u28. i saw one buck. had to hunt my tail off to find it. and there are only 4 permits total for sheep. something needs done here. don't know what, but it ain't right. i recently did some investigation into hunting in kentucky. they have an imported elk herd there. they want them to stay in a set number of counties. to do this, any deer hunter who sees an elk outside of the boundary, can shoot all the elk they see, without a permit. just have to notify the game warden, after. Az. should look at something like this to eliminate or at least severely reduce the elk herd in non traditional areas. this limited opportunity thing is a farce and allows the herd to continue to grow. the "wolves" are another thing. what a joke. mexican gray wolves are extinct. by the usfw's own admission, every animal they have,has dog DNA. they are wolf/dog crosses. they aren't wolves. they're curs. they've been bred and raised in captivity. they're domesticated. when one does show truly wild tendencies, they're shot, because they can't tell a cow from a deer. it's a joke. i know that the azgfd has a limited say in this, but why support it? lets worry about things that matter. #4. put resident hunters and anglers first. do things that make them happy. they pay the bills. anti's, whatever you want to call them, don't. i'm sick of the dept. and the commission making decisions because someone might be offended. over the past 20 years i've seen the deer dissappear from the strip because mountain lions were allowed to kill them all. talked at length to an azgfd person about this once. he said that recomendations were made to the director and the commission for years and nothing was done because of the fear of "offending" someone. it got so bad that there wasn't even a deer hunt on the strip for awhile. the greatest trophy mule deer herd in the world was wiped out while the game and fish sat by and watched. i doubt it will ever recover. i remember a few years ago some guys wanted to have an "extreme" predator calling contest. and it was absolutley legal. maybe a little "out there" in the concept and the advertising. but there was nothing illegal, or in my opinion "wrong" with it. but here came the dept. and the commission. "oh no, we might offend someone". and actually stepped in and stopped it and then passed a law banning all such things that was then shot straight down by the state court. a lot of money was wasted over nothing other than not wanting to offend folks who do not contribute one dime to wildlife conservation. i also watched trapping be outlawed. and watched the dept. actually side with all the folks who were "offended" by it and actually campaining to outlaw it. trapping may be a thing of the past. fur prices are low, etc. but it did a lot to control predators. look at what the coyote and lion populations have done since it was outlawed. it's ridiculous. this state is over run with lions and coyotes. you know it, i know it. predator control has to be implemented before the entire state goes the way of the strip mule deer. #5 don't know for sure what to do, but you'd best do the absolute best thing you can do, about this "no non-resident cap" deal on permits. i'll really be surprised if this fall's hunts take place without something really tragic happening. this was allowed to turn into something really ugly. and it's going to get uglier. like i say, don't know for sure what to do, but it'd better be the best thing you can do, and it had better have a resident slant. when this case was lost a couple years ago, you, the director and the commission, should have negotiated out of it then. waiting until the draw was the absolute worst thing you could have done. you did irrepairable damage to the image of the dept. and the commission. there is no crediblity left with joe hunter in Az. believe me. #6. the director, duane shroufe and the commission, every member of it, should resign. in my opinion, you've failed miserably to make things better for wildlife in Az. and for those who like to enjoy it. i feel you're too weak to hold up to that task and too easily swayed by political and public pressure. you're all too privleged and politically well connected to do the right thing. time and time again you've demonstrated weakness, the inability to be innovative, the lack of desire to listen to the hunting and fishing public, and total disregard for those who you are supposed to serve. that's my opinion. and sadly, the opinion of every person i've talked to as of late. sincerely, Raymond Lark Hubbard, Queen Creek, Arizona.

in my opinion, and i'm always right (if ya don't believe me, just ask me) the single best thing that the azgfd could do is to quit using electronic applications. make folks put the money up, up front. mail in applications only. if they have to increase fees, so be it. this crap of every "hunters pool" and antihunter being able to apply for 5 bucks has gotta end. this played right into georgy boy's hand. now instead of him having to tie up all the money that his "pool" fronts him, all he has to tie up is $5. and dang the politics and do what sound, scientifically collected data tells you to do. if it says to shoot predators, shoot predators. heck with what some poor offended yankee might say. if it says to increase or decrease permits, do it, no matter how much the hunting public might complain. another thing that i really think is going to be an even worse problem is allowing animals that are not traditional to an area, to get a foothold and establish a population. like elk in the gila mountains and unit 31 and south of kingman and in the cedars along the new mexico line. and those dang mountain bighorns in u28. oh yeah, and the wolf/dog crosses. bblluuuuhhhhhh, don't get me started there. in areas where this has taken place, have a hunt and get rid of all of em. especially the elk. what few deer that were in these places have been displaced, ran out, and just flat dissappeared because of forage loss. forage that wasn't very good to start with. anyway, that's where i'd start. Lark.

when did a late kaibab tag become a problem? also, 1016 is 12a west. not 12b. there ain't a 12b west. he oughta be able to get a nice buck with some work. what a great permit. make sure he takes full advantage of his opportunity.

is C still the southeast corner of the rez? i've never seen a lot of bears on airplane. in fact, can only remember seeing one. but did kill a huge one on state land not too far from there. the nantac or maybe over around park creek would be a good place for sure. is point of pines in your area? some jokers shot one on our picnic table at point of pines lake, when i was a kid. same jackasses shot one in a trap too. one of those big barrel deals on wheels that they live trap and transport em in. real hunters.