Alpinebullwinkle

From my experience the coues bucks are only caught in those open burns nocturnally. Maybe does in the daylight

Anyone know how many inches of snow in Alpine??

Do you have a picture of your bike?

Bottom line is that the "government dog experiment" is an ill advised wolf reintroduction program that is a disgraceful waste of money, resulting in significant negative consequences to our environment and humans. That is why I have tongue in cheek suggested we introduce the government dogs in Phoenix and Tucson........... so the uneducated and neutral stakeholders that support the program out of lack of knowledge can learn first hand about the wonderful benefits from this ruthless predator.......... that kills more for the sake of killing than self sufficiency.

Wow I didn't expect this conversation to take a left turn at the light, but it seems to have. All I will add is in my work career I worked with black belt data professionals. They were excellent at data mining and identifying opportunities. Having said that, I learned that they could dissect the data excellently, and selecting windows in time, could support any story they wished to tell. Our politicians on both sides of the isle seem to do this on a daily basis. Bottom line......... as much as I respect data and science, there is no more powerful indicator of what truly is going on in the wilderness than those that live and experience it on a daily basis. That includes me and why I think I can contribute to these types of conversations "half" intelligently.

I have to admit that when I went to college centuries ago most of my college professors (that likely had PHd's) seemed to lack the common sense gene. It sounds even worse now days....and that is what scares me about what our youth are being taught, and the consequences going forward for our nation. We are moving closer to socialism as a consequence of this. When I was in grade school our teachers cautioned us about propaganda coming from Russia and China. Now we need to worry about propaganda coming from our own educators. By the way.....my deceased wife taught school for over 26 years and witnessed the educational changes first hand. I know if she was still alive she would agree with all I have quacked.

"It has been my observation than the more degrees involved, the less common sense is demonstrated. " I have to pretty much agree with your comment. After all......does't a PHd = piled higher and deeper?

"In 6th grade, ecology and climate change are taught at a deeper level of understanding than discussed here. Your comment is proof we failed to properly educate previous generations. " I cringe whenever people quote what is taught to our younger generation in schools nowdays. Some of it is definitely fiction, and key components to the issues (climate change) are often conveniently left out. For instance when I took an environmental engineering course about 1972 at U of A during the oil crisis my professor at the time stated "the world is running out of oil reserves". There seems to be no shortage 50 years later. But he could have been correct if we stopped searching and drilling for oil at the time. I consider his "quacking" as simply left wing politics very typical of the absurdity we hear on a daily basis today. Additionally we don't hear any rhetoric about "real legitimate" impacts about climate change like urbanization and recent catastrophic forest fires that most certainly are human caused heating impacts on the environment.

I believe "science" also strongly supports the "survival of the fittest" philosophy. Unfortunately this philosophy does not align with wolves and their prey on elk and moose. For example..... there are many healthy mature bulls that are killed annually by wolf depredation. Wolfs prefer to hunt in packs, and it is very easy for two wolves to hamstring and eventually take down the strongest of bulls.

I know for a fact that RMEF endured a negative impact on their overall membership due to their early support for the wolf re-introductions, and then trying to ride the middle of the fence to soften the impact. Having acknowledged that hard to swallow fact, I still remain a +30 year member of the RMEF organization as well as many other conservation organizations.

Sorry Buster but I see your followup post as "selective reading", or "selective data mining", supporting your personal viewpoint. Reminds me of our political environment. My comments are derived from what I personally witness in the field, and feedback from rural people that are most knowledgeable....... because they are affected on a daily basis by this experiment. Additionally, I have talked to numerous game and fish managers from the northern states at RMEF national convention booths. They all claim that their elk and moose populations have been devastated by the wolf reintroduction programs in their respective states.

Lets re-introduce the wolves to Phoenix and Tucson. When the wolves start feeding on fido and fefe the rest of the population will become more educated about this ill-advised experiment with government dogs. I know...........an extreme thought process and comment........... But with about equal common sense as what is being used for management of the current re-introduction program.

"ALPINE- I was in unit 27 quite a bit this year . I did not see a feral horse. those poor wolves can't kill anything . confessing, this knowledge could tempt me. I saw a lot in unit 3. " Great Ron. That means we are not hunting the same areas of the unit!

Wild horse population is growing exponentially in unit 27. Don't recall seeing them pre-2000. Getting to be a big problem requiring attention soon. Wish the wolf reintroduction resources would start feeding the wolves horse meat instead of elk meat!! Would address two issues with one solution.

I continue to try but all I guess is bonus points !

Yes I agree considering the biggest bulls as they start shedding their horns late February and therefore start growth at least 4-6 weeks sooner than the young six pointers that sometimes do not shed their horns until the second week in April. Some spikes do not shed until May. In other words........ what we are discussing for horn growth timing is variable according to the age of the bull.

Monsoon season officially starts about the 4th of July which would leave at least 4-5 weeks of growth remaining before the more mature bulls start shedding. I personally count the month of June in there as critical to horn growth, and last year was very disappointing, after a very uncharacteristically good spring precipitation thru May.

You should have been paid for that excellent job of documentation on your hunt. Really enjoyed. Thanks

I'm encouraged by the great start to the winter precipitation so far this year. The key will be what spring rains do. Last year was a good winter, excellent spring and disappointing monsoon season that resulted in less than expected horn quality IMHO (based mostly on the exceptionally good spring).

Squaring the bonus points would make the current system fairer to all. But the last time I explained this in more detail the responses seemed to suggest most hunters prefer the element of luck to have more impact on drawing a tag verses the fairer option to all.

What frosts me the most is I have located three different wolf feeding stations within one mile of residences in or around Alpine. That is just wrong and asking for trouble, enticing wolf interaction with humans. Those wolf reintroduction resources that are doing that should be incarcerated IMHO !! Additionally, I have trail pictures of wolves in my yard at my Alpine residence. Doesn't make my son and daughter-in-law warm and fuzzy when they visit with the grand kids. Unfortunately it likely is too late to reverse this ill-advised government dog experiment.

Yes I've had mine for over 20 years and superior to Swarski in my opinion

While hiking in unit 1 about 10 years ago I found a leg hold trap up in a tree with a mountain lion foot in it. Apparently the lion got caught and was able to run off and up the tree. Then chewed his own leg off to get rid of the trap.

My father-in-law grew up as a boy during the great depression era. He was often given two shotgun shells by his dad and told to go shoot a dinner of quail for the family with only those two shells. He would only shoot when the quail gathered close together to insure he could get about 8 quail per shot. This meant only shots on the ground or on fences were possible. When I shot my first quail with him (after about 6 shots) and it turned out to be the century, you can imagine the verbal smack I had to listen to! He taught me the value of only shooting "skillet shots"............. which remains my goal to this day when I hit the hills for quail.

My father-in-law told a story many times of a brand new Ford Falcon that got stuck in a unit 27 late elk hunt back in the 1960's. He recommended a hot spot for a late elk hunt and a big snow storm stranded the vehicle until it could be recovered in the springtime. Needless to say ...............he never received a Christmas card from the car owner after that "hot" recommendation where to hunt!