billrquimby

No problem, TJ. I was only half joking about a Maricopa County event that nobody down here has heard of. There are a million people in our little valley here in the hinterlands we call Tucson and its environs, and it would be tough to impossible to find even 200 who have heard of the Expo. I had to go to the AZGFD site to discover what the heck you and others were talking about. Don't remember being charged a $5 fee when calling for drawing results. When was that? Bill Quimby

Brrrrrr! That's cold! Just looking at your photo makes me shiver. Bill Quimby

TJ. Using an event up in Maricopa County that we know nothing about down here to announce the drawing results would be just one more example of southern Arizonans being treated as unwelcome stepchildren and would push a few more us to join that group of nutcases pushing for us to split off and form a new state. The only things that keep me from joining that camp is the scarcity of elk south of the Gila and the fact that our new Baja Arizona Parks, Wildlife and Green Things Department would be dominated by anti-hunting loonies. Bill Quimby

Agreed! I frequent another site that requires posters of free classified ads to list prices and all other necessary details. Posts get yanked if these rules aren't followed. Bill Quimby

i suggest a 6.5 -284. i shoot often in the f-class matches in phx and mesa. they are the perfect warm up for rifle hunting coues whitetailes. i have never shot against a . 270 or a browning a-bolt. i would like to. grin Well I just bought a 6.5 rem mag and looking forward to shooting it. The only drawback with this particular rifle is it is a short action so I will be limited to how far out I can seat the bullets. Due to the high BC of these bullets I think this will make a great long range gun...I hope. Anyone else like the .264 calibers for coues? I have a Remington 700 in 6.5 RM, and love it. Nothing will replace my favorite 7 mm RM for game from jackrabbit size to moose, but shooting the 6.5 is a pleasure and its the ballistics are impressive. So far, all I've killed with it was the small mule deer I shot last year. One shot. One deer. Bill Quimby

Good God! This is where I came in. A three-year-moratorium on deer hunting to improve antler quality and increase the deer population was what two influential rancher/trophy hunters tried to get from the Legislature in 1969 ... and we got a permit-only hunting system that cut our numbers by 60 % forever instead. This thread proves once again that hardcore hunters and fishermen are their own worst enemies. A state wildlife agency absolutely should not attempt to manage wildlife for 5% to 10% of its constituents, but that's what antler restrictions to "improve trophy quality" do. What's needed is more effort spent on restoring hunter access and reducing restrictions and other impediments to building that constituent base, not reducing it. There will come a day that a ballot issue will determine whether or not we can hunt. Managing for trophy hunting will speed that day and will guarantee that we will lose. Every hunting unit in Arizona has trophy deer and elk that grow old by surviving hordes of hunters every season. If you are a good-enough hunter, you will find them. Bill Quimby

Pennsylvania has 25 times more people hunting deer (as well as a heck of a lot more deer) than we do. More importantly, it does not have the large number of deer-eating predators that we have. It's like comparing apples to oranges. Bill Quimby

Best to you on your birthday, Scott. Bill Quimby

I have known many men who were involved in bloody combat across Europe, on South Pacific islands, and in Korea and Vietnam, including several who suffered horrible wounds. To my knowledge, not one of those men bragged about killing the enemy, nor did any say he wanted to do nothing else. Although I thank God that it was never required of me, I do have the heart and balls to do whatever is necessary to protect my family, friends and country. Bill Quimby

I saw a couple of Ben Pearson Javelina recurve bows identical to one I hunted javelinas with in the 1970s sell on eBay for $150 each recently and this led me to think that it's time to get rid of a lot of stuff I've accumulated. Is there anyone on this site interested in my old bow? If not, would $125 be out of line to ask for it on other sites? I haven't seen it since breaking my arm in 1994, but I know where it is and (as I remember it) it is in good condition. Also as I remember it, its draw weight was 55 pounds. If I do decide to sell it, I would include several of the plastic things that held arrows on the limbs and whatever wood arrows I still have. If I can find them, there also were cloth camo tubes that slid over the limbs. Bill Quimby

Thank YOU! My last safari was in 2007. It was my 22nd trip to that continent, and the magic still was there, even with the stress those long flights put on my aged body. Bill Quimby Bill, I just can't phantom that. 22 trips has got to be a record in itself. Is there another book in the makings? Probably should be! I hope the magic will always be there for you. Only in my dreams! TJ Sorry, TJ, but all my trips to Africa over nearly three decades are nothing compared to what guys like Craig Boddington, Terry Wieland, Jim Shockey and many Weatherby Award recipients and recipient wannabees have done or are doing. When you stop by the cabin this summer, let's talk about what it will take to get you and Peg to South Africa or Namibia. Even with today's obscene prices, a plains game safari still is doable for most hunters. Even with airfare, a multi-species safari can cost less than a single species sheep, bear or moose hunt in Alaska or Canada if you shop wisely and do only skull mounts. Sixty Years A Hunter was and is the only book I'll write about me. The one I'm working on now is like none of my other books and should have a much larger audience (I'm hoping) than all the memoirs I've written for international trophy hunters. Bill Quimby

Thank YOU! My last safari was in 2007. It was my 22nd trip to that continent, and the magic still was there, even with the stress those long flights put on my aged body. Bill Quimby

TJ and Tucson John: Just now found your posts. Thank you for the kind words. I will be ordering more copies soon, so if anyone reading this wants one let me know. Bill Quimby

Mark: I've not seen Layne's book, but Ollie's has some flaws, including a need for serious editing, and at least one of his tales simply was not true. For example, his book says I was the outdoor writer for the Arizona Daily Star (the competitor of the Tucson Citizen where I was outdoor editor) and that I had issued a challenge to see who would get a lion first -- Tom Foust (the Star's outdoor editor he was guiding) or Gene Clayburn (the houndsman he called "Oklahoma") whom I was hunting with. He must have dreamed this story because it never happened. Neither Gene nor I would be so presumptuous as to say such a thing. Ollie was the undisputed champion Arizona lion hunting guide of his era. As it happened, he eventually guided me to my only lion after Gene moved out of state. Others may enjoy the chapter on his World War II military service, but Ollie's claim that killing Japanese soldiers allowed him to say he had hunted on six continents, along with gory details, repulsed me. However, none of this detracts from the fact that Ollie was one of Arizona's greatest houndsmen and international big game hunters and a character of the first order. Bill Quimby

Thanks, Amanda. Let's give her today to contact me. It would be nice to know that Hunter's niece has the book. If she doesn't reply, the book is yours. Do you still have my address? Bill Quimby

"I always hear the old hunters talk about the good ol days when there were a lot of deer around. There's a difference between managing game and selling tags." Don't know who you've been talking with, but there aren't many "timers" older than I who have hunted deer every year but one (when I couldn't draw a tag) in every corner of Arizona since 1948, and I am here to tell you that it was a lot harder to find deer in those so-called "good ol' days" than now. We had a few places, such as the Chiricahuas, where whitetail numbers exploded and then crashed, but mostly we could go for an entire season seeing only one antlered buck, if any. Many very good hunters measured their success with bringing home a forked-horn every two or three years. Hunters were happy with 12 percent to 16 percent hunter success. Success in some areas was even lower than that. As for "sell as many tags as possible," this old timer says you are full of it. We had more than 100,000 deer hunters in 1969, the last year an unlimited number of deer tags were sold over the counter in this state. What happened after that was shameful. The Arizona Senate Natural Resources Committee led by a senator from Globe, at the urging of just two influential ranchers (one from southern Arizona the other from the White Mountains), forced the Game and Fish Department to promise to drastically reduce hunter numbers in exchange for a department-wide pay raise. There was no biological basis for this reduction, but the result was Arizona's and the West's first permit-only deer hunting system. If AZGFD were guilty of only wanting to sell more tags with no regard to the health of our deer herd, it would not have cut over the next forty years some 60,000 tags from what had been its annual sales. If Defenders of Wildlife, PETA or HSUS had told that many hunters they couldn't go deer hunting, I suspect you would be screaming a different tune. Bill Quimby

"Hey I'm the niece of Hunter Wells, and sadly I never got to meet him. Since I have read that at least one of you guys have the book I was wondering if on the back of the book if it has a picture of him? My family is not in the state with the picture of him and I really wanted to know what he looks like. Could you tell me? If not that ok I'll keep looking for something about him. I'm told I'm like him and we shared a passion of horses. Thanks " I have a copy on a shelf someplace (I have more than 2,500 hunting books), but if I remember correctly there is a photograph of him on the cover page of the dust jacket. I'll scan and post it after I find it tomorrow. A quick check showed Amazon.com has a copy for $60 plus shipping and handling. Alibris.com has several, ranging from about $80 to $265. The top end is for a leather bound collector's copy from a limited edition of 100. If someone is interested in my regular copy, PM me. I'll sell it for $55, media mail postage included. At my age, it's time to start thinning my stuff. My family won't know what to do with everything I've accumulated over the past 75 years. As an old timer once told me, "What bothers me most about about dying is knowing that my wife will sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them." Bill Quimby

That bird isn't the same as our golden eagles. I saw several sitting on a ridge when I hunted elk in Mongolia years ago and my first thought was that they might be some type of condor until I watched them for a while and decided they were an Asian eagle. Wish I could run the video on this dial-up modem here, but will have to wait until I get back to Greer in a few weeks where I have high speed. The little pony at the start is typical of the tough and mean little horses I saw there. The Mongols milked the mares and made a foul-smelling liquor from the milk. I refused to taste it. When they had a long distance to cover, the Mongols rode at a run while standing in their iron stirrups. A guy in our camp during that elk hunt shot three wolves. Don't know if they were juveniles or mature animals, but I remember them being noticeably smaller than the wolves I've seen in North America. The moose were about the same size as the Shiras moose of Utah and Wyoming. The roe deer I shot was twice the size of those I've seen in Europe. My elk was virtually identical to ours, except its coat seemed more reddish. Bill Quimby

Congratulations on finding your soulmate. On the last day of this month, Jean and I will have been married 55 years but we have known each other for all of our lives -- three-quarters of a century. Our parents were neighbors when we were toddlers, and she tells everyone she married me to get even for breaking her arm at my fifth birthday party. I really don't know how she has put up with me, but I am thankful that she has. I would be totally lost without her. Bill Quimby

I doubt if that any Arizona hunter can come close to your record, TJ. Congratulations. I've taken five 6x6 bulls, two spikes, and a cow in Arizona, but it took 56 years to do it. Bill Quimby

really?? Have you thought this through What you are saying it is also ok to ban baiting for fishing... No More No more CORN for all types of fish, worms for all fishing, minnows for crappie, power bait for trout, anchovies for strippers, no catching shad for bass, no more catching sunfish for flatheads, no more stink baits for channel cats, Where does it end............... Anchovies for strippers? Really? Bill Quimby

If there are spots of rust left after the oil treatment, you might try removing the oil and lightly using the striker portion of a book of paper matches as an abrasive. Don't forget to remove the barrel and action first to see if the stock is hiding any rust. If so, an out-of-view place is where you should test the paper match "sandpaper." If you go slow and are very careful, it usually won't affect the bluing. Bill Quimby

There were scissors and airbrushes long before Photoshop came along. I wouldn't even try to guess how long it would take for a rider to lose his head when that bull decided to shake those antlers. Bill Quimby

Bobcats and mtn. lions are good eating! Meat has the color of a quail breasts. However I don't eat no coyotes...especially when you know what they'll eat (anything). Did you know that in AZ since they are classified as big game animals you HAVE to bring out the meat? Yep, check the regs, when we killed a in 18B ( I called it in, my brother shot it) a few years back I boned it out and the folks at Region III asked to see the meat when we took the lion in. One of my Strip deer hunters (archer) a few years ago arrowed at cat at a water, and when we took it in for the mandatory inspection, they asked again to see the meat. If you don't have it, you might have an issue...I take photos of the boned out carcasses just to show the G&F folks that I did bone it out. I'm telling you lion is awesome! But just like anything you got to take care of it, skin quickly and cool it out, and package just like any other meat. Cook slow.. Don Martin AWO I wouldn't say cat meat is awesome (If I had the choice between elk and cat, I'd pick elk every time), but it's good. It does have a distinctive taste that is impossible to describe because nothing else quite tastes like it. Bill Quimby

You don't need a camera to know where turkeys are hanging out in the spring. Look for seeps and greened-up spots with fresh turkey droppings, and set up nearby. Same with looking for roosting trees: check for poop on limbs and under trees along ridgelines. Bill Quimby