Flatlander

Here is a quick summary, a few eco-litigation organizations (center for biological diversity, Grand Canyon wolf lovers, blah blah blah) sued to try and change the rules for wolf management in AZ and NM that would have made it much tougher to delist and impose more restrictions / protections that supposedly benefit the wolves. The court ruled in favor of the states and did not change the rules / laws increase protections. This is a good thing.

8” in Heber, probably a fair amount more in the woods. I’m not really sure what to expect tomorrow.

🤞

Anyone have suggestions for hunting gobblers in 5-6” or fresh snow? Or some mossy oak tundra?!

Usually sometime on opening day. But I saw something last week that said the closure in the Sigreaves was lifted. So it should be open at least to the border.

Jim Heffelfinger presented. He’s about as good as they come. He reviewed the claims put forth by the petition. Then he discredited each while citing sources and data. It was a perfect example of science based conservation and wildlife management. I hope it gets shown everywhere. It’s obvious Jim likes the spotlight, and we are lucky to have him.

Current conditions in Heber (adjacent unit)

Some fun ones in the recommendations: Reduction of sheep tags in 24B by 50%. I am hearing the numbers there are in rough shape. Can it keep producing top quality rams every year? Doubling the desert sheep tags in 22. Can it produce 4 top quality rams or are they going to shoot the age class out of it? Overall a reduction of 5 sheep tags, eroding some of the gains made over the last 3 years. Looks like we might be at the start of a downward cycle for bighorns. 37B December rifle. That’s sure to be a popular choice and I am excited to see what that hunt produces. An increase of tags in 12A West. After the dry winter that’s an interesting recommendation. Pioneer license one horned ram hunts as mentioned earlier. I doubt those will attract any max point holders but we will see. Two new units for archery draw. It will be really interesting to see if this helps the overall experience in these units. There are a lot of tags offered, will the hunting be any better? Overall a lot of reductions to deer tags, even whitetail tags. Which it’s been a while since we saw that.

We hunted the youth hunt last year. The rut was still going, but not crazy. The bulls will get in that open stuff at night but bolt for the trees at daylight. We’ve hunted on the Bo. It’s good. And you can glass if the rut sucks. And remember the water rule. You can’t hunt within 100 yds of water. But you can sit 300 yds away and watch it, which works for a rifle hunt. We’ve found water tanks there with dozens of elk skeletons around them. Pretty much tells you where to be.

Check with Clay, I know he recently had to stop taking new customers to catch up on lead times, but if you had done something with him before he was still taking animals.

Coords or it didn’t happen

I’d say that CO benefited big time last year from years of loyal hunters caring and getting involved. I don’t know if UT or NV would have seen the same results because so few people have hunted it over the years. In terms of wild horses, public opinion is slowly turning and pressure is mounting to do something about it. Getting hunters to weigh in on public comment periods is absolutely a driver in that effort. During the last comment period for the Heber Wild Horse herds territory management plan, hunters flooded the public comments requesting the herd be reduced to pre-rodeo-chediski numbers. It was successful and the USFS is proposing to remove 900 horses. ESA removals are similar. And had hunters mounted a stronger effort in CO when the wolf issue was on the ballot, the outcome could have been different. It’s just my opinion, but I think it’s wise to find an equitable price point that contributes significantly to wildlife conservation while also maintaining the interest of a broad community. On the contrary, if the suggested approach of intentionally excluding as many people as possible were to be taken (by pricing NR fees as high as possible) it’s inevitable that many people would be at a minimum disengaged and at worst vengeful about our state.

You need to connect with @lancetkenyon

California is my top choice. Close to the beach. Close to the mountains. Low taxes. Moderate politics. You guys should give it a run.

Awesome dude! You are such a beast at figuring these adventures out! Man, this is a dream hunt right here! I need to talk with you about this, definitely a bucket list.