billrquimby

It's like in the real world. The guys in entry level positions always think they know more than their bosses. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't They forget that the guys in the offices usually have been there and done that. Bill Quimby

Jim, I haven't been up Water Canyon to Pat Knoll this year, but I can tell you deer numbers around Pole Knoll, Iris Springs, Green's Peak, Udall Meadow, the Sawmill, old PS Ranch, etc. sure seem to have been increasing the last couple of years. It's been a while since I've seen a "nice" buck, though. Bill

Be careful of what you wish for because you might get it. An 80% decline in revenue would send the agency straight into the arms of groups such as HSUS. If AGFD loses hunters' money you can bet it will do anything -- including selling us out -- to stay in business. Bill Quimby

Biology 101: Genes are genes. They aren't like steak and get better with age. Put a few drops of sperm from a 1-yr. old buck in a test tube and a few from the buck when he's 4, freeze them and you won't see a difference in the offspring's genes if you impregnate the same doe over two years with sperm from each tube. My opinion on the archery deal and deer permits in general is quite simple: Each person should get ONE permit annually for ONE season with ONE weapon in ONE unit and be allowed ONE deer -- the same as it is for elk. See, told you it was simple. -TONY Tony, I totally agree about one permit per species per year. As for killing spikes, it's a sign of a healthy herd when a significant number of a species taken by hunters are young animals. It's when the average age of deer increases that we should worry because it means recruitment is falling. I have killed a few trophy deer (fifteen different types from the USA, Mexico, Canada, Argentina, Spain, Mongolia, South Africa and New Zealand), and hope to do so again in Arizona if a bowhunter doesn't draw my tag. However, if I get the opportunity to hunt deer here again I won't pass up a spike after the first day. I've graduated to being a meat hunter and I can't eat antlers. Bill Show All

Anybody watch Mexico's president on CNN this week? He actually said, "Mexico does not end at our borders." @#$%$!!!! We have been occupying the wrong the wrong country. Bill Quimby

Jason done broke de code. I've been saying this ever since deer hunting permits came into being. I t isn't just kids who lose interest, and it doesn't take five years. I know of three adults who were avid hunters until permit numbers dropped below 50,000 and they couldn't draw tags in the units they wanted to hunt. After three years of being told they couldn't go hunting, they stopped applying. Bill

My wife heard bugle from our back door of our cabin at first light two weeks ago when she took our dog outside to relieve himself. On Thursday, Bill Mattausch and I were on the Apache Reservation/Apache Sitgreaves Forest border watching a very good bull with about 20 cows at sundown. It bugled only once in the 30 minutes we were there. There were a couple of other bulls around, but they didn't seem to be interested in a group of 15 unattended cows near them. I think the rut hasn't really started, at least around Greer. Bill Quimby

300ultramag: The Tucson AGFD office would be interested in hearing your report. Sheep apparently move between the Galliuros and the Catalinas occasionally, but few people bother to report sightings. Years ago, soon after they released the first sheep in Redfield Canyon, I drove up on five or six ewes in the pines on the old control road below the Mt. Lemmon fire station. Not long after that, a collared ram released in Redfield was seen with ewes in Pima Canyon. It was so long ago that Commissioner Bob Hernbrode Jr. was the regional game specialist in Tucson, and he told me there also were undocumented reports of sheep on one of the peaks in the Rincons. It would be nice to think that sheep are returning to the Catalinas, and that your ram was not among the last heading for the Gallliuros. Bill Quimby

Yeah, I bet those were Gould's around that area at the time. I don't recall exactly when they disappeared in AZ, but it was after that. I agree on the original Big Ten, especially with the introduced RM sheep. Wasn't Bob Householder the one that originally put together the AZ Ten thingie? That Houserock hunt was going on when I first moved to AZ and continued for quite a few years after. Getting rid of it was a no-brainer in reality, though the movie, which I have seen several times, likely hastened the demise. I just started applying for a bison tag a couple years ago, mainly because I haven't had much desire to shoot one. If drawing a tag goes the way drawing my sheep tag has gone, my bones will be long rotted into dust. -TONY Yes, it was Housholder who started it when he was editor of the old Arizona Wildlife Sportsman magazine, and it was Bob Hirsch who dropped the award when he replaced Housholder as editor. (Hirsch at the time said he could not defend such an award.) It was revived by the Arizona chapters of Safari Club International four or five years ago. I've heard other organizations have similar awards but, as I understand it, all require that the hunts be non-guided. In my mind, this eliminates most hunters because of the lion category. They either have to be damned lucky and stumble into a lion while hunting something else, or have their own trained hounds. Funny thing about the early bison "hunts," all of the state's sportsmen's groups and a great many hunters defended the way Game and Fish was conducting the shoot, mostly because anti-hunting groups were trying to stop it. I can tell you as one of the shooters, though, that it was bloody awful to be reduced to being a "management tool." Two friends of mine have taken bison on Houserock in the past few years, and both claimed it truly was a great hunting experience. We can thank Cleveland Amory and Alice Harrington and all the now-dead animal rights pioneers for making our game department wake up. Bill Quimby

Tony, I might consider breaking the other arm if it would get me a Rocky Mountain bighorn tag. I suspect the turkeys we shot along Ash Creek in the Galliuros north of Willcox in the late 1940s and early 1950s were Gould's. If so, I have eleven of the twelve animals you've listed. However, I think the Arizona Big Ten should remain what it is -- the ten species of game animals found in this state. There are at least two subspecies of mountain lions here, and there's no telling how many races of the other species there are in addition to the two sheep and two turkey subspecies. I'm not proud of the once-in-a-lifetime Arizona buffalo I shot on House Rock Ranch in 1956. To know why, check "Bless The Beasts And The Children" at your library. I was just 20 years old and had no idea how bison were "hunted" in Arizona in those days until I drew a tag, drove up there and "harvested" one. (With bison hunting in the 1950s in Arizona, the word was perfectly apt.) I redeemed myself by shooting another bison in Colorado with an original 150-year-old Alex Henry .45-caliber muzzleloader shooting a paper-patched 500-grain bullet. Its energy and velocity were close to a .45/70's and dropped it in its tracks. Bill Quimby

I don't know if this will come up, but it's a photo of a tall steel fence, probably near San Diego. There are at least 100 people in lines packed against each side of it. It only proves what our governor is reported to have said: "Show me a 20-foot fence and I'll show you a 30-foot ladder." In this case, people are boosting others over a fence that seems to be about 12 feet tall. Bill Quimby /Users/billquimby/Desktop/94519387-0c06-4ee0-a4eb-53895c87f288.jpg

That's approximately 36 sheep refund checks for me. -TONY Take heart, Tony and the rest of you. I drew my sheep tag in 1993 with my 39th consecutive application. It did not come without a price, though. Someone stole my truck with my tag, 10x50 Swarovski binoculars, two Nikon cameras with about $1,000 worth of lenses, an S&W handgun, two radios and a bunch of mechanic's tools and took everything to Mexico a couple of weeks before the hunt began. My insurance company gave me a check for all except the pistol and the radios, and I was able to buy a new truck, cameras, and binoculars as well as get a duplicate tag before the hunt began. My problems were not over, however. I broke my arm the second morning of the hunt while changing a tire when the high-lift jack slipped off the bumper and caught my arm between the tire and the fender like a guillotine. I shot my ram on the 12th day of hunting after returning to camp wearing a sling and two steel plates in my arm, and completed my Arizona Big Ten -- the hard way. So keep applying. Maybe your luck will change, too. Just don't store your tag in your truck's glove box when it comes. Bill Quimby Incidentally, what are "lopes" and "javies?" Are they similar to deeries, bearies, turks, and elkies?

Well said, Tony. I also am dropping out. Bill Quimby

Tony: I think I've discovered the problem. I did a bit of research and found the guys who see nothing wrong with "harvest" and similar doublespeak had studied English under teachers named Ted Nugent and Larry Cableguy. Bill Quimby http://forums.coueswhitetail.com/forums/st...ault/tongue.gif

Tony, that was beautiful and it said with humor everything I've been trying to say: Euphemisms fool no one and should have no place in a literate hunter's vocabulary. Bill Quimby

To understand why I cringe when I hear a hunter saying "harvest," you need only to look at a definition of euphemism: Deliberately constructed language to conceal the truth or distort actual meaning. I.e., doublespeak, verbal squeamishness, political correctness. A few examples of euphemisms: Equine chiropodist -- Horseshoer Waste management engineer -- Garbage collector Loss prevention officer -- Security guard Vision clearance engineer -- Window washer Pre-owned vehicle -- Used car Correctional facility -- Prison Immortally challenged -- Dead Retroactively abort -- Kill Unplanned landing -- Crash Recuperating from work -- Resting, sleeping Deliver ordnance -- Drop bombs Downward adjustment -- Fire employees Optional swimsuit area -- Nude beach To this, I would add "harvest" and "harvester." Bill Quimby

Would you consider selling it without the trailer? Bill Quimby

"I'm intrigued by this.....maybe it's cause I'm a few sandwiches short of a picnic.........but is it just because these words or phrases are not the correct word to use when describing death? So professionally it would be wrong to use the wrong word? Or is it just because it doesn't sound right? Thanks for your input! JIM>" Jim: Euphemisms, whether describing death or anything else, are not only unprofessional but also a coward's way out. Those who feel more comfortable saying they "harvested" an animal because four-letter words such as "kill" and "hunt" may piss off our enemies might want to consider calling themselves "harvesters." Bill Quimby

Sorry, folks, but my training as a journalist makes me cringe whenever I hear a hunter say he "harvested" an animal. (The same thing happens when I hear someone say "passed away" instead of "died.") Such words are highly unprofessional in my trade. For some reason, "took" and "take" do not disturb me, though. Perhaps it's because they actually are legal terms. We should not be ashamed to say “kill.” It's a sad day when we must revert to using euphemisms to describe what we do. We fool no one -- especially anti-hunters -- when we say “harvest” or something equally awful. As for "weapon," as Amanda says, the word should be applied to something used to attack someone or something, or defend against someone or something. It is more accurate to say "firearm,""handgun," "bow," "rifle," "shotgun," etc. The word "gun" (as in "gun hunters," which purist bowhunters use in a derogatory way to describe the rest of us) is too often misused. It refers to a shotgun, not a rifle or a pistol.http://forums.coueswhitetail.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif Bill Quimby

My father-in-law and I hunted around the peak from the Fort Grant side every year from about 1958 to 1965 or '66. A couple of years after that Lester Stewart shot a beautiful B&C mule deer on China Peak, of all places. What it was doing up there? Who knows? Back then, the Record Desert Whitetail Club dropped the membership of any member who shot a mule deer, and as far as I know, Lester was never able to find a 100-point whitetail to get back into the club. A lot of things have changed in that part of the Galiuros since then. For one thing, we used to see whitetails and turkeys in the oak-filled draws way out onto the flats. The last time I hunted up the road from the Sunset Ranch was about 1985 or so, and all we could find where whitetail tracks used to wipe out our tire tracks overnight were mule deer. Bill Quimb

"A scary thought - the world record typical Coue's was killed in Pima County - what are the chances that the habitat that once held that world record deer is now part of a subdivision somewhere in suburban Tucson??" If you mean Ed Stockwell's buck, it may be listed somewhere as "Pima County," but he showed me the hill where he shot it and it is in Santa Cruz County. There still are good bucks there. Although there are no houses there yet it is not far from a "subdivision." Bill Quimby

I've had two similar experiences, both of them involving deer that had caught a leg between the top two strands of fences. One was in the Texas Hill Country, when a friend and I came upon a pretty good whitetail buck caught in wire. We could have shot and tagged that deer, but my friend and I worked for at least fifteen minutes to get enough slack in the wire so that we could free the buck's front hoof. When we did, the buck stood for a minute or two, then laid down to rest, or so we thought. We came back later in the day and found it in the same spot -- dead. It apparently had died from the shock of being caught in wire and then handled by two humans. A couple of years later, the same friend and I found a mule deer doe that had caught a rear leg in a fence on the North Kaibab. We could hear her sqawling non-stop as soon as we parked our truck. We apparently had spooked the coyotes that had ripped out part of her stomach as well as a big chunk from her rectom and rump, and she still was alive. I hope the statute of limitation applies after 30 years, because that poor creature was not suffering when we left it. Bill Quimby

Hi Scottyboy, I don't know about cabins up there, but when I visit my friend up in Alpine we usually go fish Becker lake. It's great for float tubing and flyfishing for trout. Amanda Amanda: Becker's great in April/May, but I suggest you try higher elevation lakes such as Big, Reservation or Hawley in mid-summer. Becker is a couple of thousand feet lower. It's warmer and can have a weed problem in July/August. If you're staying in Alpine, you might want to try Sierra Blanca Lake. It's a walk-in, but it's usually a good late afternoon trout lake throughout the summer and it's closer than Becker to Alpine. My personal favorite for fly fishing is the upper end of Sunrise ever since Bob Hirsch and I lost count of the really big brook trout we caught on woolly worms just off the mouth of one of the lake's feeder streams one morning. I seem to remember that the fish we kept averaged 3 pounds. That was a long time ago, but Sunrise still is a good bet. Best of all is Christmas Tree Lake, but I haven't kept up on what the Apache rules are now. Bill

Good luck! The Red Setter and the Greer Lodge are "really nice," but I doubt if you will find any vacancies next weekend -- there or anyplace else in Greer. This time of year everything's booked way in advance. Bill Quimby

If anyone is interested in plains game hunting in South Africa or Namibia, please contact me. I just spent four weeks in Namibia with a guy who has hired me to write a book about his life, and another week in South Africa's Limpopo Province with a friend. Although I wasn't there to hunt, I did get to shoot a few head of game for braais (barbecues) and billtong (jerky). The Namibian has approximately 200 square miles of land and more game per square inch than I've seen anywhere -- everything from damaraland dik-did to sable, roan, etc. His kudu, though are suffering an epidemic of rabies . We found several carcasses and at least one infected live bull. The South African is an old friend, who guided me to my lion in Zambia in 1994, and is taking only a few clients on personalized safaris. You tell him what you want and he will find the best places to take you for the best trophies of those species. His prices are very reasonable. Bill Quimby