billrquimby

200"mulie: I don't think there were any bowhunters taking all ten animals early on. For one thing, bison couldn't be legally hunted with bows in those days. For another, archery gear was limited to cedar arrows and long, straight lemonwood bows without sights in the 1950s. It was a while before recurves came along, and even the early compounds didn't have sights. I do remember when someone killed a small antelope buck with a long bow on what now is the airstrip at Whiteriver, and hunters across the state were downright impressed! Twenty to thirty yards would have been at the far end of the capability of most archers back then. Have no idea about recent years, but according to one of Tony's posts on this thread, Mr. and Mrs. Richardson have accomplished it. Given today's archery equipment, I wouldn't be surprised if there were others. Bill Quimby

Yeah we were. There is still a lot of snow on the north sides. South sides I would say were 90+% clear except for some shady areas. Any roads that would cut a north side would drift out. Could not get to Big Lake from the Buffalo Crossing Side. Above 8000ft there is still a lot of snow. It is melting fast though. Only thing I know about Greer is at the junction there is no snow. In a couple weeks I would think you would make it. Brian Thanks, Brian. Congratulations again. Bill Quimby

Great job! Congratulations! If you were in unit 1 or 27, what was the situation with the snow? Is there much of it left in the higher elevations? I'm concerned about my driveway in Greer. It's in a shaded canyon and the road-scrapers make a big pile at my gate during the winter. If it's not gone when I drive up in a couple of weeks, I won't be able to reach my cabin. Bill Quimby

Tony: No problem with the time notes. Mac left Englewood, California, in 1974 and moved to Tucson so his first wife, Alvie, could be closer to her brothers who lived here. SCI's first office in Tucson was a small space on Alvernon Way. Its next was in the big financial building at 5151 E. Broadway, which is where I suspect you visited Sally and first met him. I did follow Sally in 1983 as editor of Safari magazine, except that my title was "director of publications." I launched Safari Times and Safari Times Africa newspapers and Safari Cub magazine. Although I had been de facto editor of the SCI record books from day one and was responsible for administering its awards programs as they came along, it was a while before I officially was named record book editor. That's because, when the club's board fired Mac, his exit contract called for him to be listed as editor and be paid $150,000 year for the next seven years. Needless to say, my compensation for that particular task was considerably less! Mac and Kathy divorced a few years after they married, and he lived many years after that. I don't think Kathy really enjoyed hunting, but she hunted around the world with him and killed dozens of animals. Darlene Rogers, Mac's companion for the last eight to nine years of his life, went with us when Mac and I hunted in Zambia in 1994 and was the recipient of his remaining estate when he died in 2002 at age 89. It was rumored that he had spent most of his money by then. Bill Quimby

TJ: Thank you for your kind words about my book. Just remember, adventures don't always take place on the far corners of the planet. There are hunters all across America who would love to experience what we Arizonans take for granted -- the ten big game animals that launched this thread are just one example, another is the fact that 82 percent of our state is in some form of public ownership and we need only a license to go hunting. Your taking five of the ten Arizona big game species during your first year of hunting in this state, and 55 big game animals with a bow since then, are accomplishments worthy of anyone's book. If I'm still breathing, I would be honored to buy your first copy. Bill Quimby

Tony. That must have been some sheep hunt to sell for $300,000 in the 1980s. You're lucky there was another bidder. It could have been a hunt for any of the various argalis, because all the countries with them had been closed to outside hunters for many years. You brought back a flood of memories. Ronstadt's was owned by two brothers. Linda's father, Gilbert, was one of them and was a good friend. The last time I visited his home, he was trying to locate evidence that a derringer he'd acquired had been seized from Billy the Kid at a jail in New Mexico. He died before he learned if it had been. It makes me wonder what happened to that little pistol. I watched Linda Ronstadt grow up. Her sister Suzi was married to my hunting partner, Alex Jacome, for many years before they divorced and each remarried. Sally Antrobus is living near Houston now. She's written at least one book about Galveston and the Texas coast and I think she still produces the Houston Safari Club's magazine. Kathy indeed was the SCI receptionist until Mac married her after his first wife died. Kathy owned a high-end dress shop for a while after their divorce. The last I heard, she was living with her parents in San Carlos, Sonora. I worked for and with Mac from 1983 until he died about ten years ago, and ghostwrote his last four books. (The late Gary Sitton worked on his first, McElroy Hunts Africa.) Mac had a big ego and was a controversial guy, but he was good to me. Bill Quimby

It's possible, but the only custom rifle maker he talked about in our interviews was Al Biesen. Jack O'Connor gave Abdorreza's wife a 7x57 mm Mauser-based rifle that Biesen made, and the prince liked it so much that he had Biesen make several for him. His wife's rifle was the first scope-sighted rifle he ever fired, and after he shot a running bushbuck (I seem to remember) with it, all of his rifles carried scopes. I've not seen a Fred Wells rifle, but I'm sure they are fine guns. There are more more American makers of best-quality firearms today than ever before. Some of the prices they get -- $400,000 and up -- would be hard for me to believe if I hadn't been at the auctions. I do own a Frank Wells rifle. It's a Mannlicher-style carbine, .257 Roberts caliber, built from a WWII Japanese military action. It's very accurate, and would be a great rifle except 1. it would be tough to mount a scope on it and 2. it takes too much effort to switch the safety on or off. It was a pretty thing until I nearly destroyed its stock packing it around on horses and mules when I hunted mountain lions 100 years ago. Were Fred and Frank Wells related? Bill Quimby

Congratulations on taking the various types of North American deer. Hope you get a good Sitka blacktail. I've taken desert mule deer, Rocky Mountain mule deer, Columbia black-tailed deer, and four types of white-tailed deer, plus maybe ten or more types of deer on other continents, but I never had the opportunity to hunt a Sitka blacktail and doubt that my health would allow me to hunt one now. I wish you the best of luck on your hunt. Do it while you still are young. Don't worry about my feelings. I like to be corrected -- that's how I am reminded how little I actually know -- but there is only one species of turkey in Arizona, Meleagris gallopavo. The Rio Grande (M.g. intermedia), Merriam's (M.g. merrriami) and Gould's (M.g. mexicana) are merely subspecies of gallopavo, as are the eastern (M.g. silvestris) and Osceola (M.g. osceola) subspecies. Bill Quimby

Tony: One "almost" Marco Polo argali hunt doesn't cut it in the rarified air of international big game hunting that some of this planet's wealthiest hunters move about in today. A guy I ghostwrote a book for, a land developer whose family owns a tractor-manufacturing company, hunts Marco Polo argali four or five times a year, and has been doing so for at least fifteen or sixteen years. He isn't ready to quit until he has broken the all-time Marco Polo argali record set in the 19th century. He's collected the North American 29 a couple of times, along with nearly everything that walks or crawls in Africa, Europe, South America and the South Pacific. By the time he got going in Asia, he was hung up on mountain game and proceeded to take every type of argali, urial, bharal, markhor, mouflon, wild sheep, wild goat, chamois, ibex. and high-altitude deer, bear and cat at least twice. You have to pity that guy. He has no other goal left in life except to collect a ram with 73-inch horns, which probably is unattainable. His trophy "room" was built by connecting three industrial-type steel buildings (it must be about 42 feet wide and 300 feet long) and paneling the inside walls. If I had to guess, he has more than 400 mounted animals in it, including a herd of big Marco Polo rams cavorting on their own mountain. Another mountain has nothing except Asian ibex and markhors. I've written books for or about eleven international hunters and, with one exception, all were great guys anyone would be proud to have in their camp. If you didn't know them, you wouldn't know they were richer than King Midas. That exception was the late Prince Abdorreza, crown prince of Iran, brother of its last shah, and hunting buddy of Jay Mellon, Jack O'Connor, Elgin Gates, C.J. McElroy and other 20th-century big-time hunters. All I'll say is that I had to address Prince Abdorreza Pahlavi as "your highness," even though I had spent nearly 100 hours interviewing him in the two trips I made to his winter home in Florida for the book I wrote about him. The interesting thing about the guys who have hired me is that the only gun nut among them was that prince. All could afford the best equipment, but only the prince had ever hunted with anything other than a factory-built rifle. C.J. McElroy, for example, went to Africa for the first time with a Remington pump-action .30-06, then bought a .300 Weatherby and used it until the recoil got to him, then traded it for a 7 mm Rem Mag. His "big" rifle was a .458 Win Mag made by Sako. He successfully hunted more than 300 different types of animals all over the world with just those three rifles. I don't think he ever cleaned or oiled them, and each looked as if he had used them to dig holes and drive nails. The guy could shoot though. In Zambia, after I shot the lion in my avatar, he borrowed my 7 mm Rem Mag and hit a running waterbuck three out of five times at distances past 200 yards. If I remember correctly, he was 81 years old then. Bill Quimby

CHEF: The Mexican hunter is Hubert Thummler. The book I wrote for him, "Wind In My Face," has gone into a trade edition and is available from Safari Press. TONY: You are absolutely correct. It takes a lot of money to hunt 300 or more different types of big game animals in more than two dozen countries on six continents. However, it also takes a lot of drive and grit. Some of these guys are hunting more than 150 days a year. They'll go from a desert sheep hunt in Baja to the C.A.R. for elephant, then to Tajikistan for a Marco Polo argali, then to Argentina for a brocket deer, then to New Zealand for tahr and chamois, and on to Spain for all four types of "ibex" there ... all within three months or so. SCI's founder, C.J. McElroy, had two secretaries doing nothing but booking his hunts, arranging airfare, and working with taxidermists while he was chasing his Weatherby Award. Today, he'd have to do a lot more hunting than he did to compete with all the guys who also want that trophy. Bill Quimby

My unit 1 gobbler hunt starts at the end of the month, but I won't get up there until after my grandson's UA graduation ceremony. Hope the kids have good luck. Bill Quimby

Tony: I drew my sheep tag after applying 39 consecutive years, so there's hope for you. That trophy room (rooms) is impressive, but you should see the one I've been working in recently with a client in Utah. He has more than 300 heads and full mounts in a single room that must be about 40 feet wide, 80 feet long, and 24 feet tall -- with a balcony/loft. It does not include the 150 or so lifesize mounts in his open-to-the-public wildlife museum. Several years ago, I visited other rooms in Houston and in a village about an hour from Mexico City that were even larger and more impressive. The Houston hunter's entire home was a trophy room, and it was built in octagonal segments, each connected with hallways. As we walked through his 25,000 square-foot home, lights would come on ahead of us. His library of rare hunting books was to die for. The Mexican hunter had THREE rooms close to the size of the McElroy room at the wildlife museum in Tucson. One was strictly for the sheep and goats of the world, another was for Africa, and the third was for the game animals from the rest of the planet. His 33,000 square-foot home was decorated with colonial antiques, and every one of his hundreds of animals was mounted lifesize. Youngbuck: There are only ten species of big game animals in Arizona. The desert and Rocky Mountain bighorns are two subspecies of the same species. The same is true of our turkeys -- one species, two subspecies. There are at least two subspecies each of mule deer, pronghorn antelope, and mountain lions in Arizona, also. Incidentally, species and subspecies are both singular and plural. "Specie" refers to coins. Bill Quimby

Hi Tony. Again, it's great to have you back on this forum. I, for one, would vote against making it the "Big 12," if it ever came to a vote. Since the 1950s, it has been the Big Ten, based on ten species. If all subspecies were counted, we'd need a much higher number to include the various subspecies of mule deer, mountain lions, bighorns, turkeys, pronghorns and, who knows, maybe bears found within our borders. Bill Quimby

Some history: The Arizona Big Ten Award began in the 1950s with the now defunct-magazine Arizona Wildlife Sportsman magazine under its then-editor Bob Housholder, who also founded the Grand Slam Club. Fewer than thirty hunters, including two women, I believe, received the award and were featured in articles in the magazine. In the late 1960s, Bob Hirsch replaced Housholder at the magazine and dropped the award as the failing magazine attempted to bring "general outdoor enthusiasts" into its readership by calling itself Arizona Wildlife & Travelogue Magazine and reducing emphasis on hunting and fishing. In the late 1990s, the various Arizona chapters of Safari Club International picked up the award and sent out requests for candidates. More than two dozen people immediately qualified and were presented plaques engraved with their names and artwork of the ten Arizona big game animals. There was (and probably still is) a fee for applying. Unlike the AWF's Big Nine Award, there is no prohibition on using guides, dogs or "electronic devices." The only stipulation is that the animals be taken legally within the state of Arizona. The ten animals that qualify for the Big Ten Award are: Coues whitetail, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, elk, bison, bear, mountain lion, javelina, wild turkey and bighorn (either desert or Rocky Mountain). Other than moderating a seminar for first-time hunters in Africa at its conventions, I have not been active in SCI issues for a long time but I assume the chapters in Arizona still are presenting the award. As for a list of everyone who has received the Big Ten Award since the 1950s, I don't know if such a list exists. As I remember, Bob Hirsch knew of 27-28 people and I passed their names on to the SCI chapter in Tucson, but Bob wasn't certain whether his list was complete or not. Since then, I'd guess that another 30-35 people have qualified, which means there probably are fewer than 75 people who have taken all ten animals in Arizona over the past sixty years or so. The last I heard, each SCI chapter held award ceremonies for qualifying hunters residing in its area. I would hope that someone is keeping a master list. Bill Quimby

A 7 mm Remington Magnum (any major maker) with a 3x9X Leupold scope with duplex reticle. With the money left over, I'd apply toward hunting something out of state, knowing I was ready for anything in the world except Africa's dangerous game.. Bill Quimby

Just a friendly word of advice. Outline them now. I have people say to me frequently, "remember when you" and I DON"T! I'm only 55. EBB Scottyboy.....if you sit down when you're older to jot down your memories it will be to late. As nasture has a way of stripping away some of our memory. When your young you don't see it but believe me and others, like EBB, it will happen. Take the time, at the end of the day, to write it down. You will grow old and the CRS will take over before you know it. TJ Good advice from everyone. Of the thirteen books I've had published since I retired in 1999, ten were the memoirs of Weatherby Award winners who had taken 200 to 300 different TYPES of big game animals in more than two dozen countries on six continents. All of them had journals/diaries and hundreds of photos of their hunts. Using these, along with 75-100 hours of face-to-face interviews, I was able to write their books. So my suggestion is, do more than outlines now. Details add color and you will forget those details if you don't write them down and preserve them. You don't have to write in article form, just record the details. My own book was written after a client's business went south, leaving me six months without a project. For some of the chapters I had access to newspaper and magazine articles I'd written many years earlier, but most of the others were dragged out of my memory banks. It was tough to do, and those chapters suffered. Incidentally, it is amazing to me what a great resource the internet is. There literally are dozens of sites out there that are of great value to anyone who is thinking about writing articles and books. Bill Quimby

I apologize, bowhuntaz1. I didn't mean to hijack your thread. It truly is good news that you escaped the knife. Bill Quimby

Yes, I remember the byline but I never got to meet Ben East. I seem to remember that a lot of his material included "as told to" stories of other people who had experienced close encounters with dangerous game. He was a regular contributor to one of the "Big Three" outdoor magazines (Outdoor Life, Field and Stream, and Sports Afield), but I've forgotten which. You may want to search the internet for tips about getting your book published. Most sites probably will tell you that you should wait until after you've sold your concept to a publisher before you actually sit down to write the complete manuscript. To sell that concept, you will need to write a query letter that explains what you plan to do and includes reasons why such a book will sell, why you are the person to write it, and how you will help sell it, along with a detailed outline of the book's content and a sample chapter or two. Each publisher will have his own requirements. The larger houses will not even look at a proposal that does not come through a literary agent. You also may want to consider self-publishing your book. The risks are greater, but so is the financial reward if it sells even reasonably well. Bill Quimby

Great news, and I'm happy for you, but you haven't seen anything yet. I've got stainless steel splints and screws buried in my arm, a pacemaker in my chest, and a plastic stent in the big artery that feeds my heart. They removed my gall bladder through my belly button a few years back and sent me home with two Band-Aids and a couple of stitches. (Only a few years before that, they would have cut me open like a watermelon.) They freeze cancerous growths off my skin twice a year, and recently spent a couple of hours cutting out a squamous carcinoma, slice-by-slice. I've had tubes with balloons run up my groin on four different occasions, and just two years ago a laser on one of those tubes purposely "ablated" (destroyed) a portion of my heart. About half of my teeth are covered with caps, another fourth are filled with amalgamations of something or another. Another fourth are missing. I take a daily dose of an anticoagulant (it also is used as a rat poison) to avoid having a stroke, which means my blood must be tested every ten days to two weeks to avoid bleeding from every orifice in my body. Other pills keep my heart from racing erratically (the same pills also can cause a fatal arhythmia if I screw up and take a double dose). More pills keep my lungs from from filling with water and my lower legs and feet from swelling to three times their normal size. This makes me want to pee every five to ten minutes. Unfortunately, I've got an old man's prostate and need to take other pills so I can pee. I also take pills to help me combat low thyroid levels and a goiter, others to keep my arteries from filling with plaque, and still others to replace the potassium I lose by peeing so much. Isn't modern medicine wonderful? I'm so happy that Obamacare is coming. NOT! Bill Quimby

A friend sent me this. Wish I could go, but everyone who takes a diuretic for congestive heart failure will know why I can't. -- Bill Quimby Tucson will have a Tea Party Gathering at El Presidio Park just to the rear of the Old Court House at 255 W. Alameda on Thursday 15 April. It will run from 10 AM to 2 PM. 6 to 10AM: Jon Justice broadcasts live from 104.1 10 AM: The event starts downtown with speakers taking the stage. 11:45 PM: Intermission. Jadi Norris will play live music. 12:30 PM: Speakers take the mic again. 2 PM: Event ends SPEAKER LINE UP: Jon Justice — Local Talk Radio Host James T Harris — Talk Radio Host Stephen Kruiser —Comedian / PJTV Personality Starlee Rhoades —Goldwater Institute Dr Lee Vliet — Arizonans for Health Care Freedom Eric Ruden — Tucson First Coalition Tanner Bell — Arizona Policy Institute Dr Dave Mason Parking is limited so plan your route and get there early. FINAL NOTES: This is a family-friendly event. Make sure your signs and attitude fit the bill — just like last year, everyone should feel they can bring their kids and get energized for the November 2010 elections. Don’t forget to wear your red tea shirts.

My wife and I didn't feel a thing here in Tucson. We used to have earthquakes every couple of years when I was growing up in Yuma in the 1940s and 1950s, though. Bill Quimby

Wouldn't have minded if my name had been used in jest inside the thread, and I probably would have laughed with you, Lark. But to be named in the title of a thread about a law-breaker -- a thread that some people may not open and read -- is a sure way to send rumors around the hunting community. So please let it be known far and wide that I'm a hunter/gatherer, and not a farmer who scratches in the dirt. We have cool-decking and desert around our Tucson home and pine needles at the cabin instead of lawns. What farming occurs at our homes is done entirely by my wife. I save my strength and keep my head clear for wars, shipwrecks, garbage-hauling, grandkid-hugging, and other more important stuff. I have never in my life grown even a petunia. I did dig some holes in which my wife buried some little palm trees when we both were younger. I wouldn't do that today. The darned things are thirty feet tall now and their dead fronds constantly need to be cut off and hauled away. Bill Quimby

Not funny, Mr. Lark. I don't know Tom Stienstra, but I have read some of his stuff. I guess living in California, especially in a town with a name like Weed, can contaminate the best of us. Reading between the lines, it makes me wonder if he may have started growing marijuana for his wife's medicinal use and got carried away. At any rate, his source of livelihood probably is gone. He's fortunate that the newspaper will let him continue his columns for now because he'll need the money for lawyers, but it will be only until his trial is over. If he's found guilty, they'll fire him. His magazine contacts probably are already returning his manuscripts. Bill Quimby

That someday could be this year. PM me and I'll tell you where I've seen a few Coues deer regularly over the past few years. Bill Quimby

Those big herds will break up before calving time, then come together again in late July, then break up just before the early bowhunting season opens. Most people don't believe me when I say I often see herds of 200 to 400 elk (and two or three such herds the same day) in my twice-weekly, first-light drives from my cabin, so I've stopped giving numbers. I now say, "saw a lot of elk, this morning" instead of "saw at least 800 or 900." What is heartening is that lately I sometimes see herds of 30 to 40 mule deer does and fawns together, too. It's been more than 20 years since I could say that about the White Mountains. I'm convinced the forest thinning the Apache-Sitgreaves has done up there is helping bring back the browse mule deer eat. Bill Quimby