billrquimby

I've more than 2,000 hunting books, and it's time to start culling. Most of my books are on African, European and Asian hunting, but these two feature North America. If there are titles you want, let me know. I may have them. --- Bill Quimby ONE MAN, ONE RIFLE, ONE LAND: Hunting All Species of Big Game in North America by J.Y. Jones THIRD PRICE REDUCTION. IT IS NOW $60, shipping by media mail included CONUS Fine, with fine dust jacket. Large format, 540 pages, 300 color photos. Tells of the author’s 25-year quest to collect all the varieties of North American big game. -- from polar bear to the jaguar of Mexico -- with the same .30-06 rifle.. In addition to Jones' hunting story on each of the big game animals of North America, each animal has biological data, hunting techniques, type of terrain, special equipment needs, etc. The stories include hunting for the grand slam of North American sheep, all five North American bears, all eight North American deer subspecies, all six of the caribou, three elk, four moose, the pronghorn, mountain goat, walrus, jaguar, and more. This book will be a standard on North American hunting for a long time to come. ------------------------------------------------------------- GREATEST ELK: A Complete Historical and Illustrated Record of North America's Biggest Elk by Roger Selner SOLD PENDING FUNDS

Biglakejake: I'm sure Bill Valentine would have been impressed! I am. As for J.Y.'s rifle, it is an off-the-shelf Remington 700 ADL. Bill Quimby

The book is sold pending funds. Bill Quimby

In Tucson or in that terrible place 120 miles north of it? Bill Quimby

J.Y. Jones used a .30-06 to take all of North America's big game species, including brown, inland grizzly and polar bears. I met Bill Valentine at Cholla Bay/Rocky Point several times, but can't say I knew him. He was a lot older than I was, but I enjoyed his cartoons and maps. There weren't many large, seaworthy boats being used by Gulf of California sport fishermen in the 1950s when Valentine was doing his thing. In those pre-fiberglass days, a great many people built their own boats from mail-order plans, marine plywood, glue and a ton of brass screws. Don't know how it is now, but I caught a lot of sailfish off Kino Bay and Guaymas in the 1970s and 1980s, and never had to go too far out to find them. I won the Arizona Daily Star Trophy in one of the San Carlos Bay tournaments with a sailfish I caught just outside the marina's bay. My best billfish day, though, was when my friend Alex Jacome and I caught eleven in four hours from the rip just off the south end of Tiburon. We released nine of them, but one wrapped the line around its tail in one of our double hookups and drowned. The other died from exhaustion before we could release it. For many years, the Kino Bay sportsmen's club used a photo of me, Alex and his son with those two fish and U.S. and Mexican flags to promote its tournaments. Bob Hirsch and I were good friends and were involved in several publishing ventures together. One of my favorite fishing memories is the time he and I caught and released maybe 50 huge brook trout at Sunrise Lake while casting woolly worm flies in the pool near the entrance of the little stream that feeds the lake. We each kept ten-fish limits that weighed 25-30 pounds total. Another time, I mentioned to Bob that I had caught every type of fish in Arizona except a pike, and he said he could change that. I left Tucson before daylight, hooked up with him at the exit to Cave Creek, and droveon to Stoneman Lake, caught three or four pike from his inflatable boat, and drove back to Tucson before dark. We both wrote stories about that "expedition." It saddened me greatly when he and Mary died. Bill Quimby

Yes. I've read everything I could find about him, and I met one of his descendants. He was the last of the southwest's mountain men and arguably the greatest houndsman who ever lived. Somebody please buy this book. I've cut the price to $60. Bill Quimby

You also may want to contact Amazon.com to see if they will list your books. Bill Quimby

One Man, One Rifle, One Land is now priced at $70. Bill Quimby

I don't know your unit, and am assuming your hunt is in late November. If so, your early trips to the area should concentrate on learning what happens after the snow hits. Are the roads accessible? Do the elk move lower? Where in the unit have most of the bulls been taken in past years? The area's wildlife manager will have the answers, but that first snow usually gets elk moving lower in the units I know. I'd also use those early trips to locate high vistas that overlook the junipers where you can set up and glass. Bill Quimby

25-06: Check your messages. I found some of the books you want. Bill Quimby

Biglakejake: I haven't heard of "Meet Mr. Grizzly" or "Tough Times in Tough Places," but that's not surprising. I didn't collect many North American books. My interests were in African hunting, primarily. The Hornaday book is a classic, but I traded my only copy a dozen years ago for a book on Africa by F.C. Selous. I do have most of Jack O'Connor books, including some rare ones, a recent biography, and a book containing excerpts of letters between him and gunwriter John Jobson. I'll be putting some of them on here in November after we return to Tucson for the winter. Don't know the African book you remember reading, but that also is not surprising. There literally are many hundreds of books on hunting in Africa, and the best copies can be v-e-r-y pricey. Peter Hathaway Capstick wrote several magazine articles about shooting baboons, and at least one of those articles was reprinted in one of his books. Don't remember ever reading anything about elephants squatting to kill, though. Those .303 British Enfield rifles, by the way, were the equivalent for a long time in southern Africa of our .30-06 Springfield rifles. That caliber was used to take everything up to elephants and rhinos -- as well as many of the ancestors of my Afrikaaner friends. As for baboons, you need only look at their teeth to know they still are nothing to mess with. Isn't anyone interested in my book above by J.Y. Jones? I've cut the price to $75. It's well worth that, and a more interesting and informative read is hard to find. The author is an acquaintance, and a fine fellow. Bill Quimby

Wait till you kill a big rutty bull... I have had the pleasure eating many a big old rutting bulls (elk and moose). Some good and some not so good. The pattern has been if he was cared for very meticulously, he was great eating. If he was skinned and cut up quickly, not so much goodness. While I will agree that proper and carefull field care is vital regardless of the animals state or season, it is even more critical when dealing with rutting undulents. They piss on themselves, roll around in mud that has been pissed in by themselves and other nasty bulls for days and weeks. When you rush the butchering proccess, often times the nasty hide makes contact with the meat, a very dirty and contaminated knife blade (from the hide) makes constant contact with the meat, etc.....When this happens, and it does NOT take much contamination to make a lot of meat taste pretty bad and strong. When dealing with these mature rutting elk and moose etc.....You have to really pay close attention as to keeping the fur side of the hide off the meat AT ALL times and you have to keep your knife clean after cutting contaminated hide. If (more like when) a dirty knife or hide contacts any meat, the area has to be cut away ASAP. You dont have to cut huge chunks off, just a thin layer. Take it from a guy who gets to share in the harvesting annually of big old rutting undulents, sometimes my own and sometimes a buddies that if you dont contaminate the inside of the rutting animal with the outside of the rutting animal, the table fare will be 100 times more enjoyable. Rutting bulls and summer velvet bulls can both be great. Rutting ones just are not as forgiving as velvet ones. 308Nut: Good points about cleanliness, but I think you mean ungulate, or hoofed mammal. Undulant fever is a disease humans get from drinking milk that has not been pasteurized. Back in the mid-1990s, I shot a spike bull on Pole Knoll above my cabin and an old, 6x6 bull on the Jicarilla Reservation in New Mexico one week later. I personally gutted, skinned and butchered both animals and treated the meat from both equally carefully. This was after the rut, and I was certain the spike's meat would be tasty and tender, while the big bull's meat would be less so. As it turned out, it was the other way around. Still can't figure why, except the spike had run a half mile uphill to me after being jumped by other hunters. The older bull was not spooked badly, and was sneaking ahead of a guy walking slowly through a patch of junipers. I'd say that shooting an unalarmed animal is the secret to good meat, but the last 6x6 elk I shot was in September 2007, and it and the cow it was following had run at least a mile before it got to me. I missed with my first two shots, so that animal must have been terrified before I killed it with the third and last round in my rifle at twenty yards as it tried to run past me. Its belly was covered with urine and semen, and it smelled awful. I've shot a few elk, but that bull was the best-tasting I've ever killed. Go figure. Can't wait to taste the cow elk I hope to shoot above Eagar in August. I'm hoping the tender, young thing will be standing and not running, and that I can back my truck up to it and get it back to the cabin by 8 a.m. opening day. If it's later in the day, it can get awfully warm in Round Valley in August. Bill Quimby

I haven't heard of Becker's book, but it sounds like a good one. Unfortunately, North American hunting books from the 20th century are not as collectible/valuable as African hunting books from the same era. Dave Richey in Michigan may be able to help you determine its value. I don't have his website address, but you can get it by Googling his name. Dave buys and sells hunting books, especially North American. Please tell him I sent you. Bill Quimby

Hi .25-06: I have the Zane Grey and Frank Dobie books, and several other books about Buffalo Jones and Ben Lilly, but I'm not ready to sell them yet. I'll see if I can find copies for you on some of the internet rare book sites. Greatest Elk has sold pending funds. Bill Quimby

It's tough to pick the most memorable hunt. Walking a quarter mile in the dark toward the bait where three African lions were roaring and fighting for a share of that zebra was certainly memorable as well as downright scary. I also can't forget a pickup truck sliding off a high-lift jack and breaking my arm while I was changing a tire on my first day of hunting a desert sheep after 39 years of applying for the tag. However, it has to be the 57 days (spread over three years) I spent on horses and mules following the dogs of three different houndsmen before I finally broke my jinx and shot a mountain lion. Bill Quimby

"Bottome line, to each his own, and it's all just apples and oranges in the end. Killing a bull with a guide is still a great accomplishment, killing one on your own is a better accomplishment. Being honest and humble about it will win you more respect. And most importantly, for me, "The trophy is in the eye of the tag holder". It's not our tag so who cares, only once it is our tag does our opinions of trophy class then become relevant!" I couldn't agree more. Bill Quimby

Since we're just pretending: 1. Little Beaver archery set, complete with three arrows tipped with big suction cups, $9.99 2. Delta round trip tickets to Namibia, $1,190.01 I'll pack my American Express card and a couple changes of underwear, give the archery set to an outfitter friend's new grandson down there, borrow everything else I need, and have a heck of a time. Happy April Fool's Day. Bill Quimby

Too many people judge their manliness and hunting skill -- and that of others -- by the size of the horns and antlers brought home. It did not take many years of editing the SCI record book to realize that skill is not necessary to kill the biggest and the best. If you have lots of money anything is possible, including a Coues whitetail that would shove Ed Stockwell's into second place, if that's what you set out to do. There are guys out there now who are hunting ten to twelve months of the year all over this world, and spending $500,000-$750,000 each year to do so. They can afford to hire a crew to work as long as it takes to locate and take them to the new world-record Coues whitetail, but if all else fails they can always pay to have one grown for them in Mexico. All it would take would be an unlimited budget, five or six years, a deer-proof enclosure stocked with a dozen Coues deer with good genetics, and a qualified d biologist/deer nutritionist to supervise the operation. I suspect such projects already are underway in Sonora and Chihuahua. At any rate, I feel sorry for those who still judge the quality of their trophies with measuring tapes instead of memories. I fell into that trap early on, but eventually outgrew it. Bill Quimby

Sorry, Coueshunter, but my spies report that the last bull in Unit One already crossed the Black River and was believed to be heading for the Blue River country. Amanda, you should be able to recognize it: It was dripping wet when saw it, they said. Bill Quimby

There are no elk in Unit One, so don't waste your time applying for a tag there. The last elk seen in One was near Big Lake in 2009, and it was running east toward the Black River as fast as it could go. All of our bear, turkeys and deer have moved to Unit 27, too. Bill Quimby

The problem here is the dumb emphasis on hunting strictly for trophies that has spread like a cancer over the past 25-30 years. And, like other cancers, it eventually will result in the death of its host. Bill Quimby

Bill, congratulations on your elk tag. When is your hunt dates? TJ Thanks, TJ. The season is August 5-8. Don't have topo maps for the area yet, but it appears to be a small area south of Eagar, east of Water Canyon and west of Nutriosa Creek. It may or may not include the Sipes Wildlife Area, which I do know. I plan to spend much time learning that area this summer. I can't walk much any more, but I sure can sit a tank or a spring and wait for a herd to show up. I'm really excited. This may be my last elk hunt. Bill Quimby Talk to the game ranger up, they will tell you what to do and who to contact. The road to the top of flat top has been closed for a few years. These elk come into town at night. Thanks, talking with the wildlife manager definitely is on my list. It's only about 20 minutes from Greer, and I intend to spend a couple of days in it every week before the season opens in August. I bought topo maps today and it looks like the unit covers only about 9 square miles of forest land and 1.5 square miles of state land. There are six tanks and a long stretch of Nutrioso Creek where elk can get water. Finding a herd that others haven't patterned is my goal. There will be only four other elk hunters in the area then, though. Incidentally, not all of those elk move out of Eagar during the day. Three bulls spent every day in an orchard next door to a friend's place between the Circle K and the 180/191 junction last fall and most of the winter. Bill Quimby

Bill, congratulations on your elk tag. When is your hunt dates? TJ Thanks, TJ. The season is August 5-8. Don't have topo maps for the area yet, but it appears to be a small area south of Eagar, east of Water Canyon and west of Nutriosa Creek. It may or may not include the Sipes Wildlife Area, which I do know. I plan to spend much time learning that area this summer. I can't walk much any more, but I sure can sit a tank or a spring and wait for a herd to show up. I'm really excited. This may be my last elk hunt. Bill Quimby

I drew a tag for the first three-day rifle cow elk hunt at Flat Top Mountain outside Eagar. Bill Quimby

"I'm not spoiling for a fight with Bill, and I sure can't say much about the "real" old days, but there was a time in the lat 80's when I had no idea what kind of coues potential certain areas held, but there were monster coues all over the middle part of the state with few guys hunting them. I've got pictures on my hard drive right now with a 107" buck next to a 117" buck taken from an area that I learned years later was full of deer of that caliber - and you could get a tag for coues back then over the counter." Heck, I thought we were talking about the good ol' days. The 1980s were only 22 to 31 years ago. That's like yesterday. My grandkids were born in the 1980s. Incidentally, you may be talking about tags left over after the drawings, which could be bought at AZGFD regional offices. The last year Arizona's deer tags were sold over the counter at sporting goods stores was 1969. Permit-only deer hunting began in 1970. To my knowledge there were few (if any) years in the 1980s when all of the permits authorized for Coues whitetails were not sold. Bill Quimby