bojangles

seems the feds can't manage anything without letting it burn down. Help us get national monuments under local control via's REI's link. I know that's not what they intended it for, but, it'll get the job done. http://blog.rei.com/stewardship/protect-public-lands/ i'm not for a land sell-off, but all they're going to do is sit there until they burn up and disappear if the tree huggers get their way.

of course. join the discussion. fill me in. there's probably a lot to this that I don't understand. But seems like every time a monument pops up, resources are lost. but there's 2 sides to that coin. I'm not for strip mining the whole state either. but a balanced approach isn't bad.

one or two, at least. lol. I blame Washington's management policies. not necessarily for each fire, but for managing forests in such a way as to create conditions ripe for out of control wild fires, (spotted owl non-sense, etc.) The left is fueling these fires with their outlandish policies, while we sit back and complain, which does very little.

https://www.facebook.com/marlin.sharp1/posts/10155513231368923?pnref=story edit: this really doesn't have to do anything with a national monument, but just follows the vein of federal mis-management.

i'm going with a disc golf basket. someone must be really hardcore.

Where are you located?

brilliant! i'm convinced. no, really.

ps, only listen to about the first 2 minutes, cuz that's 10 minutes that you'll never get back.

i like that sight. it trains you to shoot correctly. it's hard to explain until you try it, but it works, and shows you what mistakes you are making with your grip. it has effectively doubled the distance i can accurately shoot.

price on the 700?

don't make the mistake of getting married during any potential hunting seasons unless the wife is a hunter also. that anniversary will come up at the most inopportune time every single year. my anniversary is safely nestled in July.

yeah, but what if it was search and rescue, or law enforcement or something?

yeah, i can't imagine that this is legit. on their facebook page, they are still maintaining legitimacy, but i gotta second guess this one. it doesn't even seem close.

https://www.facebook.com/vortexoptics/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED crazy stuff out there.

congrats!! in other headlines, here's a 36 year old that ain't even ever seen a buck that big.

some of you will recognize this spot. was a quick 12 mile ride Saturday before last. one of the most beautiful rides out there

I just inherited my great grandfather's hunting rifle. Its a ww1 mauser 06. Its pretty cool to have it. He built the stock and rear peep sight. Pics following.

Deer i shot this year had more ticks on it than i have ever seen on an animal.

I've heard some rumblings of G&F considering making it illegal to bowhunt withing 1/4 mile of an occupied structure, and i would like to put together some simple research to show that this is not productive towards wildlife, hunters, and hunting. I know there is a meeting in Tuscon tomorrow, but it's a 3 hour drive for me. I may be willing to make the drive anyways if need be, but i'd be short on research time. How long do i have to email a public comment before consideration is closed for the next set of guidelines? I'd like to illustrate simple bullet points such as -many states offer urban bowhunts. it is common practice that is considered safe. archery is often done indoors, so safety cannot be considered a concern. Where i grew up in Indiana, they have specific urban hunts,often within or near the city limits, and close to houses. These types of hunts are common nationwide. Why would we ignore such an opportunity? -we would be closing down hunting where hunting is needed most. this is the real tragedy. When i ride my bike from star valley to payson every week, the side of the road is littered with dead deer, elk, and javelina. I would venture to say that a great portion (again i need research, but i believe this to be true) of animal vehicle collisions occur in or near city limits, and close to houses. I believe most unwanted wildlife encounters occur near houses. Housing provides sanctuary for critters, and that's where the problem begins. I believe we need more urban area tags, like around payson, pine, etc, where wildlife is simply out of control. I drove through chaparral pines the other day and saw about 100 elk in 1 mile. The overgrazing is uncontrollable. Plus the damage done to personal property is significant. Elk do considerable damage every year in my neighborhood alone. Neighbors will often ask me to shoot problem elk for them, but this gives me a chance to explain the hunting/draw process, and the responsibility of game management/managers. -to address hunter/homeowner conflict, i suggest we prosecute trespassers, and enforce current laws. I know people who have found dead animals in their yards and have blamed hunters. Hunters can't be held responsible for every animal that dies. And even if a homeowner finds a dead animal in their yard that was legally killed by a hunter, this shouldn't be looked upon as a problem. This should be viewed by G&F as a recovery, while unfortunate, as a part of the life cycle. It would be nice to see G&F take a stand for sportsmen every once in a while. -I know many homeowners hunt on or near their own property, and feed their families with the game they take. This is a common, nationwide hunting practice. The 1/4 mile hunting rule would stop many people who hunt on their own wooded lots. I know many, if not most archery hunters, take game within 1/4 mile of houses. This rule would shut down hunting for the entire "after and before work" hunting crowd, who hunt near their homes after work. -Lets not allow Californians, who grew up in the city, come here, and make us change our way of life. We were hunters here first, my family hunted in Arizona as early as 1915, and i have the pictures to prove it. If people don't like hunters and hunting culture, and those of us hunt to put organic food on the table, it would be nice if G&F would instruct them to sell their property, and move back to SoCal, where they can avoid hunters, and breathe smog, and get their houses broken into, and sit all afternoon in traffic, and have earthquakes, floods, rolling blackouts, etc. Or, they can enjoy arizona, and learn to accept hunting culture. I missed our local GMU meeting last week, but i don't want to let the voice of reason be silent. Any ideas?

well, i think solutions can be found, if we put our heads together, that can provide viable, realistic solutions for interested parties. that's why i like discussions like this. we can explore angles to make solutions without squashing hunting privileges and trampling homeowners rights. solutions are out there, we just have to find them and create them. if you take a walk around any of the areas i mentioned, you'd notice the amount of trail cameras, ground blinds and tree stands are phenomenal. that means a lot of guys are using these areas. as a service tech in the rim country, i can't help but notice the amount of people who hunt on their own lots. i don't want to see these guys lose that. I have a stand that is less then a 1/4 mile from a house that i call my "after work" stand, it's where i hunt when i get off work early. I don't want to lose that either. It's a great place, and a lot of guys are in there hunting right along side of me. it's the way it should be. i met a homeowner who helped G&F search for a deer that a kid had shot that jumped the fence into pine. They found the deer, and helped the kid recover it w/out trespassing. It was good. The homeowner was glad to help the kid recover the deer. That's the way it should be, and i hope that's the way it can stay. i don't want to lose these privileges by them being outlawed, or, by irresponsibility. i think if we put our heads together we can come up with something. it's a good conversation. thanks for participating.

1) ok. i'll buy that. but i can say the same. but my point here is that we do live in hunting culture, and people are not often offended at the sight of dead animals. also, my point here is not to say that you are paraniod per se, but that people in general are more accepting of hunting practices that you may realize. please don't take personal offense. im ultimately on your side here. 2), i'm not really holier than thou, or even a great hunter. I just want to point out that a lot of guys really aren't hard core, don't want to go way out to get an elk or deer steak. and i respect that as much as a back country longbow hunter, like aron snyder. but beer belly billy bob should get his day too. 3) you're right, those guys really aren't that important. I guess the backyard deer hunters aren't either. 4) maybe it's been a while since you've seen where houses have popped up. yes, the back tip of mayfield and some of the further reaches of pine creek could still be hunted, and maybe if you got out a rangefinder and stepped it off, you could even find a legal tree to put a stand on on strawberry mountain, but by and large these traditional areas would be off limits to people who have hunted here for years. once again, i'd like to point out that urban hunting is a common practice throughout the united states, and has helped, and not hurt the image of hunting and hunters overall, i believe. i don't think that we would be an exception to that. Can you offer an example of where legal urban archery hunting has hindered hunting privileges, or been detrimental to the practice of hunting? If you can, i'd like to hear about it. Yes in unit 19A the antelope hunt used to allow hunters to hunt West of Robert Road. The proximity to homes after development ultimately lead to conflicts which got the area closed to archery antelope hunting. I was there the last year it was open. I chased a monster buck. I also oissed off a lot of homeowners and they told of me as much. I should have been better. I really think your beef is with development, not hunting. Ultimately, as habitat is lost or encroached, these conflicts arise. It's the world we live in. Well, that's a shame. Was it public land?

no, but i work there often. i'm in there several times a month. not too long ago i talked to a guy who's neigbor found an arrow stuck in the side of his house. that's a shame. i could only hang my head. the problem is real. dudes sneak in there and shoot out of their trucks. yes, they feed the deer in there, but there's no excuse for that behavior.

1) ok. i'll buy that. but i can say the same. but my point here is that we do live in hunting culture, and people are not often offended at the sight of dead animals. also, my point here is not to say that you are paraniod per se, but that people in general are more accepting of hunting practices that you may realize. please don't take personal offense. im ultimately on your side here. 2), i'm not really holier than thou, or even a great hunter. I just want to point out that a lot of guys really aren't hard core, don't want to go way out to get an elk or deer steak. and i respect that as much as a back country longbow hunter, like aron snyder. but beer belly billy bob should get his day too. 3) you're right, those guys really aren't that important. i guess the backyard deer hunters aren't either. 4) maybe it's been a while since you've seen where houses have popped up. yes, the back tip of mayfield and some of the further reaches of pine creek could still be hunted, and maybe if you got out a rangefinder and stepped it off, you could even find a legal tree to put a stand on on strawberry mountain, but by and large these traditional areas would be off limits to people who have hunted here for years. once again, i'd like to point out that urban hunting is a common practice throughout the united states, and has helped, and not hurt the image of hunting and hunters overall, i believe. i don't think that we would be an exception to that. Can you offer an example of where legal urban archery hunting has hindered hunting privileges, or been detrimental to the practice of hunting? If you can, i'd like to hear about it.

here's the thing, though. you rarely see bucks in town. these are usually not hand fed pets, but wild animals. so, by nature, you won't shoot someones pet, because usually only does are pets. Of course, this is not so for elk, as they have cow tags, but i don't think there are many people out there that have "pet" cow elk, but i do know a few. What i think you guys mis-understand, because most of you are not from here, is that many of the homeowners up here hunt on their own lots, or behind their houses. And when i say many, i mean there is an awful lot of them. I know a guy that let 4 bucks be killed on his own lot, most of them by junior hunters. A kid killed a 105" off this lot this winter. This is widely accepted in this neck of the woods. It is a COMMON practice. But because many of you don't live here, you have developed a sense of paranoia about what goes on. let's put it this way, a lot of guys hunt in the greenbelt, and EVERYBODY wants an elk steak, whether they hunt or not. You're hard pressed to get a PETA loving vegan to turn down an elk steak up here. I think you're fears are unfounded, and encroach on the lives of the people who have lived here for years. yeah, there's the occasional portals poacher, and that needs to be dealt with, but not at the expense of everyone else who puts tree stands in/near their yards. i was thinking of the areas that would be banned from hunting that people have hunted for generations. here's a sample list of places the locals have hunted for generations that would be illegal -bradshaw tank -pine creek canyon -dripping springs -all of strawberry mountain and surrounding areas (most of your early archery bull hunting takes place here. It's the best 22n has to offer, and you can kiss this goodbye if that law passes.) -upper round valley tank, one of the best elk tanks in payson area for an archery cow tag. that tank has put a lot of roasts in the pot. it would be a shame to lose that. -granite dells -peach orchard, and peach orchard tank -monument peak -mayfield canyon, again, you would be robbing dinners from locals by banning hunting in mayfield canyon. it's another great archery cow tag area. this canyon has served dinner for many of the people of payson for years. -the better portions of round valley -lion springs -much of the canyons off hardscrabble road, and the adjacent tanks. -the first american gulch tank, which is javelina central headquarters you have to think about what you are proposing here. i'm going to go out on a limb, and say that greater than 50 percent of the archery tags in unit 22 are filled in these locations. i can't even begin to list the friends i have that have hunted these locations for generations, without incident.

Good thoughts. Respect is everything. I'll give you that all day long. Most of these altercations result in disrespect of someone's property or values.