TLH

Lefty, Two more months and i would have bought it already--man, timing is everything. Well, i hope when i get the cash i can find a dandy like your Pop's!

TAM, We guide on a couple of ranches in that area and all of them hold some nice bucks--i am sure you will do well on your hunt (i wish i had one of those tags!)

Have you thought about building your ground blind with the materials around the water hole? You could build one and leave it and the worst that could happen is someone might tear it down---but if you plan on leaving your ground blind that long before the season starts you might as well get ready for it to be gone--i am sorry to say that but that is how it is now a days.

Scouting for antelope for a couple of hunters i have.

he looks like a ghost--how about spooky!

Parks

You can contact the WM for that area--some of them are very helpful.

Don't these whack jobs know that if we do not control our borders that we may not have an environment to worry about?? How many people other than Mexican nationals do you think have crossed this border illegally with a destructive intent in their heart and soul?? This fence isn't the best answer but it certainly better than nothing at all. Personally i see this trespassing as an invasion and nothing else. Any other country in this world would shoot people crossing the border and that includes Mexico.

He has a strong jaw line--good looking little dude!

Don't know--i use money orders.

TAM, It has been down for over two months. I tried to get on there to find out when the last spring turkey hunt was and it would not come up. You can call them though.

OK< bow then if i can't use my muzzy.

Just curious if New Mexico has their results out earlier than they say they will? I think it says June 19th but do they usually come out earlier??

muzzleloader.

Hanging with my girls and my grandson and the son in law's--i will be heading to my Dads in a while--went to my father in laws yesterday.

This guy is in 19A and is one of only two that i saw yesterday. I did see about 70 antelope including does and fawns--man the fawns look really healthy! I also did my part to save one or two of the little fawns by dropping this female coyote--

Jeremy, I disagree--survey cards as they are today will not help and will not work. The WM's in most units do a damned good job of wildlife management but those that are true WM's are getting fewer and farther between. I spoke with a WM that i think is one f the best and he told me that he presented his studies in his unit to the upper management boys and he also gave them his number for permits--they said to him that he doesn't know what he is talking about and they would be giving out "x" amount of tags (twice as many as his recommendation) You need to go and speak to some of the older guys that are in the field and you will find that they all want to retire because all the work they do is being swapped for money. I do fill my cards out every year because i am that kind of a person--i still have faith in our game and fish and feel that they need to have a stronger management to back them up and to control the commission a little better. I guess the only way to really know about the department and the disconnect between their WM's and the supervisors is to take a ride with a few of them and listen to their message.

Dustin, Do you have your license yet?? You need to have that in hand before you even start talking to an outfitter. I don't take hunters in 27 or 1 because i live too far away from there but if i had a good guide in that are i would be bale to put him/her to work every year. I know other outfitters that could use a good young guide as well. Get your license and start calling some of the outfitters in your area.

Matthew, You are correct--they are not all bad apples and for the most part they do a good job as a group. I think with the new director and the new blood on the commission things may get better--one can only hope and i have always been a half full kind of person.

Tony, You will always feel you have the last answer--i guess that comes with age--i really don't know. I can tell you that the game and fish would be up crap creek with out the groups that work with them. I am not sure what kind of money we make and how much money we spend but that money is taken from a group that has worked hard to generate it for one cause and that is habitat and wildlife projects. if you think the game and fish could make the money that the groups generate on these tags then you would be very wrong. Your right, 600 doe tags--that makes it a lot better and remember estimates are just that--once again, no data used in this "estimation" just a guess--nice work there huh? From your responses one must ask what agenda you have? I know you can't resist--come on, respond--you are the kind that can't stand not having the last word.

Bob, you're right man, what the heck was i thinking?

There are spoiled people in every sport--but Dick King is not one of them. Tony, i think you are trying a little too hard to get a sheep tag in this thread. The game and fish do a damned fine job in the field, they work very hard to get the data to the commission and then the data is thrown to the side and the commission does what the commission wants to do--usually just the opposite of what the hunters (and some WM's) want. To increase deer tags in units that had only kill ratios in the low teens is ridiculous and only shows that they use the word "opportunity" for a cash cow. Once again, they did not use data to establish the number of tags that should be given in a unit they used their own ideas as to what they think this state needs--which should be better biology and less accounting. Science is when you take factual data and then you apply it to your decision and there should not be any $ signs in the data. One last thing--the Arizona Deer Association has spent tens of thousands of dollars doing a three year study on the Kaibab--the data will not be complete for another year yet the game and fish (commission) decided to increase the doe tags to 500 this year--they have no idea how many deer are on the plateau but they felt that 500 does will not be a huge impact to the Kaibab--once again, they did not want to wait for one more year for the data that will be gathered by the biologists (both game and fish and independent) to make their recommendations--no data once again Tony yet they will slaughter the future of the Kaibab-- Tony, you really need to make it to a few meetings, i know i will be there just to see how the commission treats the people who raise more money than anyone to help with habitat improvements and other wildlife friendly projects.

Tony, I think the archers fill that they have been given the hook because of the way game and fish came up with the 20% number in certain units. The thing about survey cards is that you need them from both groups to find the 20% number it should have taken to send a unit to draw. I know you see this and i know you probably agree that the game and fish could have done this a little more scientifically using the actual data that they would have generated from the mandatory harvest cards they should have sent out. I have no problem with the units going to draw i just think they did it Willy nilly and with out factual data. I am one of those folks who think the game and fish are doing a good job but in this case they failed--they failed to use any kind of gathered data at all to make this decision. If you would have been at the commission meeting you would have heard Hernbrode attack Dick King and you would have heard Hernbrode state that the archers are (i am paraphrasing here) a bunch of spoiled hunters. If you had been at the meeting Tony you would have heard Dick King in his quite and humble voice explain the reasons why the department should wait until they had good hard data before they decided to put archery to a draw--you would have heard the chairman tell Dick that he couldn't speak any more--you would have been somewhat embarrassed at the way this commission treated one of the most respected people in this sport. I am sorry Tony, the department needs to get hard facts before they make decision like they did this year--until they do that a lot of people will lose faith in them and it WILL be a them against us type of attitude. You are a wise man Tony but this battle is real and one that needs to be taken care of--this commission does not like archers--period.

And to piggy tail Desertbull--the 10% that do 90% of the damage will still be out there tearing the heck out of the woods because they know there will be no law enforcement to stop them. Laws are only for us who abide by them not the a-holes that break them. The only people that got hurt on this one is the folks that never tore the roads up or added new roads--the law breakers will still be out there doing what they always have done and their is no one that can stop them--not even the forest closures.

Good luck to you too Doc!