billrquimby

A few things need to be passed on to everyone here. First, your regular homeowners insurance only covers a limited dollar amount for firearms. My homeowners policy only covers up to $1,000, for example. Knowing this, I took out a special rider on my guns about a dozen years ago. Second, you need to keep updating that rider. I acquired a few more guns and the prices of the guns I already owned kept rising. I haven't researched today's value of what they took yet, but it appears the amount exceeds my rider by $4,000 or more. Bill Quimby

I can't tell from the photos, but I think Casey is the nephew of a friend of mine in California, and he and Casey were among a group of twelve of us who hunted elk in Mongolia, way back when elk still could be hunted there. Is Casey from Oregon? If so, please say hello to him for me. Bill Quimby

My wife and I own some acreage that we'd like to sell. It overlooks the Kino Springs golf course near Nogales, and has Coues deer and javelinas on the property. It does not border forest land, however, and its elevation is only 3,880 feet, but it's a secluded site and the views from the higher portions of the property are beautiful. It should be worth a lot more in ten years than we're asking now. PM me if you want to know more. Bill Quimby

Although neither my wife nor I have hispanic or Asian features, we have been asked about our citizenship at the Border Patrol station on the Nogales highway every time we've driven to and from checking property we own above the Kino Springs golf course. We also are asked to provide identification if we are stopped for a traffic violation, want to cash a check or make a withdrawal, board a commercial flight, or do a dozen other things. With the recent approval of this provision of 1070, we can expect everyone will be asked about his or her citizenship status in all dealings with law enforcement officials. It is the only way they can avoid being accused of racial profiling. That should bother no one. For proof of citizenship, carry your voter's registration card and your driver's license. So far as I know, Arizona is not issuing either card to illegal aliens. Bill Quimby

I used Rusty's in Springerville to skin and hang my last elk until my son-in-law could drive up from Tucson to pick it up. Had no problems. Rusty is an avid hunter, and interesting to talk with. Bill Quimby

Back in the 1950s, 60s and early 70s when I did a lot of varmint calling around Tucson, I seemed to call more coatimundis than any other type of predator. I only shot the first one I called in, but didn't have it mounted. Quite frankly, I've yet to see a coati mount I would want in my home. The biggest troop I've seen had no more than 15 or 16 animals, and they were of all sizes. Most troops I called had only six or seven. I also called in a good number of lone animals. Like the gray and kit foxes I called in, when coatis responded to my calls they seemed reluctant to leave, even after they realized they had been duped. Bill Quimby

Something is radically different about this year! I spent about 20 days scouting and hunting in one of the August Round Valley "limited opportunity" cow elk units and never saw a cow or calf, although we did find old tracks at the edge of our unit. Before that hunt, if someone had told me I wouldn't find a cow elk in 20 days there, I would have laughed in his face! As far as I can tell none of the ten tag holders shot a cow elk in the first two special seasons. Don't know about the season that ends tomorrow. Just as unusual is the fact that we haven't had an elk in the meadow across the road from our cabin in a couple of weeks, and I've yet to hear a bull bugle at night near us. Strange! The locals claim the elk are higher on the mountain, staying close to the Wallow Fire burns where the forest service seeded last year. Could be. Bill Quimby

I won a .257 Weatherby Vanguard last month and am looking for once-fired brass. If you have any, please PM me. Thanks. Good luck with your sale. Bill Quimby

I personally have no desire to hunt over bait or, for that matter, from a blind. I've done it in other states,though, and have no problems with others using bait and blinds. However, at age 76, my ability to walk is rapidly disappearing and as much as I dislike that style of hunting, baiting and hunting from a blind may be something I'll be forced to do soon -- if it remains legal. However, if the reason banning baiting is being considered is because it's believed that it is raising bowhunting success rates on whitetails in certain areas, why not just limit baiting for that species and those units? Why ban baiting entirely? Bill Quimby

I agree with pro kid. Every year, after our summer storms begin, brown pelicans show up all over southern Arizona. For years, the Desert Museum used to collect them and release them in San Diego. Don't know if they still are doing that. Bill Quimby

Could be. From the stories I hear here, there are at least three other bears "working" Greer now. Two apparently are adult litter mates that are running together. The other is a yearling from the descriptions I've heard. That brown=phase bear, incidentally, had climbed into the back of my pickup truck on Sunday night a week ago. I'd forgotten that the Eagar transfer station is closed on Mondays, and loaded the truck with household garbage and some trash. Its tracks were all over the place, and the back of my truck looked like a load of scrambled eggs. Two bags were carried at least 30 feet from the truck before the bear tore them apart. Bill Quimby

This is a story about a large brown-phase black bear that has been hanging around our cabin in Greer for the past week or so. About 8:15 this morning, our neighbor called to say that hunters' dogs have "cornered" the bear in the turn-around in front of his cabin. He wanted to know if any laws were being broken and if he should call the game department. I explained that it was bear season and the dogs probably had run the bear off the forest above us, and that as long as the hunters didn't shoot the bear within 1/4 mile of an occupied dwelling -- and if the guy they saw with a gun had a hunting license and a tag for bear -- everything was OK. Immediately after that, another neighbor called me with the same question, and added that he has the license number of the hunters' blue Dodge Ram 2500 truck parked near our gate at a forest service walking path's trailhead. Over the next half hour, the bear came to bay a couple more times on forest land about 100-150 yards or so from our cabin, and my wife and I caught glimpses of the dogs and bear moving between the trees. By then, all the cabin owners in our area were talking with one another by phone. I kept hoping that the hunters wouldn't shoot. At least ten years ago, a family watched while someone shot a small bear that had taken refuge under a vacant cabin thirty yards from their cabin. The wife called AZGFD, the forest service and the newspaper in Show Low and raised a ruckus. People here still talk about those "nasty, bloodthirsty, inconsiderate" hunters who shot Smokey the Bear. This morning's bear hunters did the right thing. They didn't shoot, although they could have, and the bear and hounds eventually headed higher on the hill and farther from the cabins. A while later, the three hunters returned to their truck and drove off. We heard no shots. I hope those guys eventually got to tag that bear. They certainly worked hard enough for it. More importantly, in all that excitement, they avoided what could have been another much-publicized incident that would put all of us in a bad light. Kudos to them. Bill Quimby

My thoughts, exactly. Well said. Bill Quimby

Coach has said it all most eloquently. I'm guessing the judge -- and not the game department -- will consider it a waste of time and refuse to hear the case. Bill Quimby

"Jack did the right thing by self reporting and the Department did the right thing by citing him. He is now being crucified in the media." Agreed! Pressure from an ignorant public can be powerful stuff. As Tony (outdoor writer) reported on another forum recently, a fish and game commissioner in California was soundly knocked about by that state's media and the California Legislature, and then stripped of his commission presidency by his fellow commissioners == all because he had killed a mountain lion legally in Idaho. Bill Quimby

I hunted in the Northwest Territories with this outfit years ago and had a great time. There are new owners now, but I've heard no negative reports about them. http://www.canadanorthoutfitting.com/arctic.shtml Bill Quimby

Suggest you attend one of the hunting shows in January held by the Dallas Safari Club in Texas or SCI in Reno. Talk with the outfitters and decide for yourself who offers the best deal. A self-guided hunt from a drop camp in Alaska is doable, if you have contacts up there with the gear you need, but the excess baggage fees the airlines charge now will eat up any savings if you don't. Bill Quimby

Husted is not the only AZGF commissioner to inadvertently break a game law and report the violation himself. In the late 1970s or early 1980s, a commissioner killed two whitetails (a second buck jumped up after the first one dropped) and reported it to the local wildlife manager, and then appeared before a judge and paid a fine. Bill Quimby

I've taken maybe 16-17 antelope in Arizona and Wyoming since my first buck in the late 1950s, and it's been my experience that they depend upon their incredible eyesight to avoid danger more than their sense of smell. That doesn't mean they won't run off if you are upwind. It's just that they almost always will see you long before they get your scent. Don't know anything about using blinds for antelope. I was/am mostly a rifle hunter and have always tried my best to avoid having to sit and wait for something to come to me. When I bowhunted deer, elk and javelina (before a truck fell on my arm), I would spot and stalk, mostly unsuccessfully. Hunting from a blind to me is like fishing. I don't have the patience to dunk bait. If it can't be caught on a lure, I'll stay home. Bill Quimby

In an all-around hunting scope, its reticle is as important to me as its low-side power. Maybe even more so. I hunted -- just once -- with a high-end 6x24 Nikon scope with a crosshair reticle. I eventually killed a mule deer with it, but only after being unable to shoot a larger buck at first light because I couldn't see the fine wires. That rifle now wears a 3-9x Leupold with a duplex reticle. That 6x24X would be a great choice for potting an unsuspecting buck feeding at mid-day a long ways off, but it doesn't suit my style of hunting. Bill Quimby

Glass large meadows where they're feeding during the middle of the day and then try to figure how to ambush a bird once you spot it. Bill Quimby

It took me 39 consecutive years of applying before I drew my tag. Bravo must be older than his photo indicates. Bill Qluimby

Thanks. I am hoping I'll get to gut and cut up another cow elk near the cabin when my hunt opens in two weeks. Maybe I should buy some rubber gloves. Bill Quimbyy

The plague typically is carried on rodents (including rabbits) by fleas, The AZGFD article mbiewer quoted seems like good advice. Bill Quimby

Old timers used to say we shouldn't hunt rabbits in any month that did not have an R in it. Not certain, but isn't rabbit fever endemic in all wild rabbit populations? Bill Quimby