billrquimby

Congratulations, TJ. Even with a bum knee you collected a very nice buck and continued your what-must-be-a-record string of Arizona elk kills, both just weeks apart. I'm impressed. Bill Quimby

Lark: Know what you mean. I've also buried horses (my daughter's Shetland and my niece's quarter horse that we stabled), and both instances brought tears to my eyes. But I also spent age 5 to 9-1/2 eating horse meat during World War II. Beef and pork were rationed by the War Department, and my mother was supporting us on my father's meager Seabees checks and her low-paying job. She traded her meat ration stamps for cash or other stamps and bought non-rationed horse meat. All the grocery stores in Yuma sold it. Don't remember what it tasted like, but do remember that it was a brighter red than beef. It must have been tasty, because I was a finicky eater as a boy. I've also eaten a lot of zebra filets in African hunting camps. It is delicious! Zebra fat is a bright yellow, even after being cooked, though. Don't remember horse meat having yellow fat, but wouldn't be surprised if it did. When beef climbs to $25-$30 per pound and higher in the inflation that surely will come unless something is done about America's multi-trillions debt soon, a lot of us who are living on fixed incomes will be eating horse meat again. Bill Quimby

Matt: Congratulations to your son, and to you for introducing him to our hunting tradition. He will never forget the day he shot his first elk. As for me being a legend, not even in my own mind, but I thank you. Bill Quimby

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1088195/2/index.htm This is the Sports Illustrated article Lark mentioned. In addition to federal Lacey Act violations convictions reported in the article, I remember writing an article for the Citizen that said Prock also was convicted of state charges involving canned bear hunts and lost his rights to hunt, fish or guide in Arizona for a term I don't recall. I would guess that New Mexico filed similar charges. What surprises me now is that no hunter as far as I know sued Prock for fraud. Guess they were too ashamed to admit that they had been duped. As for jaguars roaring, they are similar to tigers, African lions and leopards in that they have a special larynx that allows them to roar. (Scientists classify these four animals as "roaring" cats.) No other cat, wild or domestic, is similarly equipped, and that includes such large cats as mountain lions, African golden cats and snow leopards. Open Google and look up "sounds jaguars make" and you'll find at least one of the sites offers a recording. Unfortunately, I can't open it with my dial-up modem. There used to be a big male jaguar at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, but don't know if they still have one. I used to sit and watch that animal and was impressed at how muscular, large and powerful it was compared to mountain lions and even leopards. I never heard it roar, though. Bill Quimby

Lark: Not sure where Prock got his jaguars, but I would guess he bought them through exotic animal dealers, who got them from zoos and other sources. Although the Endangered Species Act makes things more complicated now, there still are people buying and selling all kinds of animals. Prock also did a lot of hunting in Belize, and could have caught jaguars there and had them shipped up here. This was before the strict wildlife laws we now have and there also still were many roadside "zoos" all over the country. He was convicted in Arizona of canned black bear (not jaguar) hunting after an investigation by AZGFD wildlife manager Robert Hernbrode Sr., father of the recently retired Arizona Game and Fish Commissioner. After leaving Arizona, Prock was convicted in New Mexico of releasing at least three jaguars and was strongly suspected of releasing two or more jaguars here. One was killed by Jacques Herter, owner of the big mail-order company in Wisconsin, near Pena Blanca lake. An instant expert, Herter went home and wrote a book with a title something like, "How to Hunt Jaguars." It was listed in his company's catalogues for many years, even after Prock's convictions in Arizona and New Mexico. I read somewhere that Prock had died this year in Payson. He was in his nineties. Bill Quimby

Thanks, I was tempted until I remembered I have three scopes waiting for rifles. It's a good price. Hope someone buys it from you. Bill Quimby

Does it have a duplex reticle? Am I reading your last post correctly? $60 for scope and rings, but $80 for scope, rings and mounts? Bill Quimby

I have never seen or heard of a mane on a whitetail anywhere. Interesting. Bill Quimby

I shot a red stag in Spain with a borrowed .300 Weatherby Magnum. It was on a hill about 150 yards above me, and it dropped on the spot. A .243 would have done the same thing with similar bullet placement. My problem with the cartridge is I'm a wimp when it comes to recoil. Without a muzzle brake, that rifle's recoil was uncomfortable and not something I want to shoot often. I prefer the .300 Winchester Magnum. That said, the .300 Weatherby Magnum is a flat-shooting cartridge that is suitable for every North American big game animal. It has taken big game on every continent, including Cape buffalo in Africa and brown and polar bears in Alaska and Canada. Bill Quimby

The key word in my comment about tossing rocks was "small." No need to start a landslide. In fact, I knew a guy who swore by using a slingshot to shoot marbles and steel bearings into the brush below him. He claimed the small amount of noise that bouncing marbles and bearings made didn't spook deer badly, but got them to move and look around, giving him a standing shot. Incidentally, moving along a contour below a ridge wasn't to avoid skylining yourself, it's because deer bedded in brush in little draws usually don't seem to view someone on a ridge as a threat. Move along the contour about 30-40 yards below the ridgeline and you will get them moving. I definitely agree that it pays to catch your breath and get ready to shoot before crossing a saddle. Bill Quimby

This is my favorite way to hunt them . I know its not the way most on this site do it , but its the way I like it . Some days bumping deer out of their hidey holes is the only way that works. I also used to like to ride my mule slowly along the ridges and enjoy the scenery while waiting for Jenny to spot a deer or javelina for me. If you have three or four friends, you also can kill deer by working drives down canyons. Line up across the head of a canyon, with a guy on each ridge and the others 50-75 yards apart, and slowly move downcanyon together. You will be amazed at how many whitetails some canyons will hold. Funny thing, the guys on the ridges usually get the most opportunities to shoot. When all is said and done, though, glassing game from a long way off early and late in the day usually is the most successful technique. Bill Quimby

In this age of high-quality optics, it's easy to believe that the only way to hunt a Coues deer is to sit and glass. It may be the most effective way most days in suitable country, but it is not the only way. On certain days, especially very windy days, our little deer stay in sheltered places where you cannot see them no matter the sticker price of your optics. On those days, the best way to find a buck is to kick them out of where they are hiding. Move slowly and toss small rocks into brushy pockets below you as you go ... and be prepared to shoot quickly. A Coues whitetail buck sometimes will jump out of brush and stop and stare at you, but more often than not it will run over the next ridge. Pay a lot of attention to the wind. Whitetails have great noses, and will do one of three things when it gets your scent: 1) sneak away without your seeing it, or 2) freeze on the spot, or 3) run off long before you reach it. Another tip, don't walk the ridgetops. Stay thirty or forty yards below the ridge, "working" the heads of each draw. Try to position yourself so you can cover every escape route. You typically will hear a deer rattling rocks below you and won't see it until it starts up the other side of the canyon. I've always compared the habits of Arizona's deer to rabbits. Our whitetails are like cottontails. They prefer to hold tight until they are almost stepped on, while mule deer are like jackrabbits that lope away at the first sight of you, then stop to get one last look. Bill Quimby

In Arizona, it's a three-pointer or a three-by-three. In Texas and points east, it's an eight-pointer. Here, eye guards are counted only on elk. Bill Quimby

Don't think they've been sighted in southern Arizona yet, but they certainly are present in the White Mountains. In late summer 2010, two were in our cabin's driveway, obviously trying to make a move on one of the calves among the 34 elk that regularly visited the meadow across the road from us that summer. I also saw wolves between White Mountain Reservoir and Sunrise Lake, and on the highway near McNary. They have been released near Alpine and Green's Peak. AZGFD has regular reports on the status of collared animals. Unfortunately, the packs typically are named after obscure locations in their range, so we do not really know where they might be encountered. As for their reaction to a varmint call, I would think they would react exactly like a coyote or feral dog and trot sraight to it. Bill Quimby

Read more: http://azstarnet.com...l#ixzz1eYkhVUQC What is the purpose of this in the story? To make it sound like the guy is getting rich off of killing lions? I would have NEVER called the G&F in the first place. You never know when they might try and cite you for harassing an endangered species. I've seen plenty of stories in newspapers where they add a little post-script to the article that sometimes calls out details of the subject and/or object of the interview. Seems to me like it was maybe the reporting giving Donnie a little PR...... Not sure what the writer's motive was to put this 'factoid' in at the end of the article, but that's how I interpreted it..... S. You can bet the farm that the reporter's motive had nothing to do with giving a hunting guide "a little PR." Bill Quimby

Hey Bill, I've got three youth hunters with the 1/27 youth tag. Normal years I would call this a challenge, this year it's going to be downright tough. I've got a couple of spots in 1 and one in 27 I feel really good about, but trying to get all 3 on birds is going to require reaching out a little. Mind if I tap into your knowledge as the hunt approaches? There are much better turkey hunters than I am, but I would be happy to help if we're up there during their hunt. (My wife has been saying we shouldn't move back to the mountain before the second week of May, when it's warmer.) If we're still in Tucson then, I can point you to a couple of spots in unit one that almost always have a few birds. Bill

Larry: Don't know if the Brown/Lopez-Gonzalez book mentioned Curtis Prock releasing jaguars for canned hunts in the early 1960s, but I would suspect that it did. Wonder if that 1963 female was one of his? Bill Quimby According to Borderland Jaguars by David E. Brown and Carlos A. Lopez Gonzalez, the last female taken in Arizona was in 1963. Females were also taken in 1949 and 1932, but prior to 1948 fewer than half the recorded kills have sex information. It does appear that there was a breeding population in Arizona in the early 1900s as there are two recorded harvests of females with cubs. Also, the early history shows a very few jaguars ranging pretty far north (Chevelon Canyon, Black River on the WM Apache Res and around Prescott and the Grand Canyon). But most are in southeastern Az. The Brown/Lopez book also provides Sonoran (Mexico) jaguar data from 1900-2000. I looked up the locations where females were taken in the last twenty years. Since most of the locations given are ejidos near small towns and villages, I used Google Earth to see roughly where places like Sahuaripa, Granados, San Javier, Baviacora, etc. are in relation to the border. The northernmost of these little Sierra Madre villages is over 100 miles below the border. There are several that appear to be between 100 and 150 miles south of the border. Evidently there are, or have been, quite a few jaguars in the Sierra Madre forests and surrounding thornscrub about 50-100 miles south of Lake Angustura. Evidently the jags have been holding their own there at least until recent times.

Audsley: Great response, Larry! As far as I know there have been no confirmed reports of breeding female jaguars in Arizona in recent times. Did I miss such a report? Bill Quimby

First time in a long time I was not drawn for an Arizona spring gobbler hunt near the cabin. I can blame the Wallow Fire, I guess. Looks like I'll be hunting over the border in New Mexico this year. Bill Quimby

Haven't been in that country in at least 20 years, but the Tucson Wash area used to be one of our favorite javelina spots. We never saw large herds, but there always were small family groups of 4-6 animals in a half dozen areas that we knew about. Sorry to hear that something has cut their numbers. For what it's worth, it's been my experience that a disease that causes a wildlife population to drop significantly in a relatively short time typically can be a symptom of overpopulation. Bill Quimby

I'm reducing the price to $75. Bill Quimby

ELK & ELK HUNTING by Wayne Van Zwoll SOLD PENDING FUNDS Safari Press 2001. 408 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket, both in excellent condition. Large and heavy book. The title says it all. Includes USPS media mail postage to anywhere in the lower 48. Bill Quimby

It depends on which side of Tucson you live. We're on the northwest side near Orange Grove and Oracle, and there is no way I would drive to Springerville via New Mexico now. Every time I've done it, it adds at least 1-1/2 hours to the trip for me, with 45 minutes spent just getting across Tucson. If I lived on the far east side, near Houghton Road, it would be tempting to drive to Springerville via Safford, Luna and Alpine, though. The Salt River Canyon north of Globe is not a problem now that they've widened places to add passing lanes. I cross that canyon at least two dozen times a year. In fact, I crossed it twice the same day last week when I drove up to the cabin to pick up my power tools. I have been driving to the White Mountains since the 1950s, when the road between Oracle and Winkleman was the worst part of the trip. Next time you drive along the Gila River between Winkleman and Globe, look up on the hill above you and you'll see the remnant of the narrow dirt track we used to haul our horse and camp trailers over with our underpowered 1940s and 50s vehicles. The road we now drive on used to be the Christmas Mine railroad bed. Bill Quimby

BUY BOTH OF THESE BOOKS FOR $40 Shipped media mail anywhere in lower 48 THE RIFLE BOOK, A NEW EDITION OF A SHOOTER’S CLASSIC -- $30 Alfred A. Knopf New York. Stated “second edition, revised and enlarged 1964.” 334 pages. This copy is in excellent condition with very fine (almost as new) dust jacket in mylar cover. “The complete book of small game, varmint, and big game rifles with up-to-date information on new models, new cartridges, improved actions. Complete information on stocks, bullet design, primers, powders, iron and telescopic sights, placing shots on game, trajectory tables, shooting positions and accessories.” THE COMPLETE BOOK OF RIFLES AND SHOTGUNS -- $20 Outdoor Life Books/Harper & Row. Ninth printing 1963. Book is clean and tight. Dust jacket is intact but has numerous chips and tears. --------- THE ART OF HUNTING BIG GAME IN NORTH AMERICA -- SOLD PENDING FUNDS Another clean copy but without dust jacket -- SOLD PENDING FUNDS HORSE AND BUGGY WEST, -- SOLD PENDING FUNDS I also am offering these books on another site. First PM with “I’ll take it” gets the book. Bill Quimby

All four books have sold pending funds. Thank you. Bill Quimby