ForkHorn

I have some of both TAC and 55 grain VMAX. Can't quite remember how much and I won't be back in town until Sunday night. I also have some 62 grain barnes tsx if you're interested. I thought I would get into reloading but I don't have the time or shoot enough to make it plausible. Let me know and we can figure something out for next week. I kept getting error messages when trying to send you a PM from my phone. Send one my way and I'll answer when I get access to my computer.

I think the wording explains pure salt is fine. But once you get into deer cain or anything with a deer on the bag or sold at basspro, that's when you run into trouble.

http://www.arizonensis.org/sonoran/fieldguide/plantae/sonoran_desert_flora.html This is a great resource.

You have me stumped. I don't think that is either Lycium fremontii or Celtis pallida. Mr. Smith's guess seems to be the closest.

^^ This might be a better guess than mine. Celtis Pallida. Ulmaceae family. Depending on location. I always get them mixed up.

My guess is Lycium fremontii. Also known as wolf berry, box thorn, and a few other names. It's in the Solanaceae family and the fruits taste just fine

Awesome! Looks completely different with the black grips

Let's see some pics with the modifications you made! Mine is still bone stock.

This is the reason for having spike only hunts in some states. Or having hunts that designate spike or a certain antler restrictions. (3 points on one side). The illegal bucks are the young bucks with good genes. That's the theory anyway..

UA gets destroyed by a team ASU hung with, ASU loses to a team UA hung with. Reality? Both teams have some major things to work on before they are Rose Bowl caliber. I say Duel in the Desert is a toss up. Should be fun. In other college football news.... Oregon looks ridiculous. Can anyone stop them? I hope to see Alabama vs Oregon in national championship

I'm not sure this will ever hold up. National forests, national parks, etc depending on who you ask belong to the entire country. I doubt the state of Arizona has the money to fund the current programs that are being done. Would the federally employed forest service cease to exist in Arizona? Would an entire new state managed forest service be born? I would support this if I saw an actual plan to manage our forests through an in state program like the Game and Fish. I have yet to find one. In the end this may cost taxpayers a ton of money when it ends up in the court system if passed. Not enough specific info is being given by Arizona as to what they plan on doing once they have the land they want.

Please do post it if you don't mind . This is a great thread.

I'm not sure how harvest numbers can ever be fairly compared when one set is mandatory and the other (rifle) is not... but then again they want to do away with mandatory archery reporting? How does that make any sense? Seems like good science to me. Independent research has and is being done that disputes some of G&F numbers. Just look at the kaibab herd and the ADA.. The explanation has been very lackadaisical and the "data" porous. It seems to me that the people that pay for tags, and licenses, the very same people that fund the game branch, deserve a better service. I also doubt that they care about the impact this will have on several small businesses (archery shops) that sell lots of fancy deer bait products. And as far the salt being a grey area it seems pretty grey to me. Who decides what salt is "produced and manufactured for the livestock industry"? Salt "cattle" blocks are fine? But bags of pool salt aren't?

If Will Sutton doesn't return fast, ASU is going to struggle to win their remaining games. It's impossible to replace the number 2 defensive lineman in the country. His loss last night doomed the devils. It would have been a much closer game with him.

I imagine Jbird must only hunt blindfolded with a knife, all the while yelling "Hey Deer!" That seems reasonable to me. More than likely he is a rifle hunter than takes long shots on deer that are unable to use any of their senses to evade him. Probably glassing from an atv or truck because god forbid walking was involved. Although there is also a possibility that he is a hardcore bivvy hunter that backpacks in, hunts his butt off, and takes a reasonable and ethical shot. My point is that this "elitism" being portrayed here by some is ridiculous. The only person that may have any even inkling of an opportunity to turn up his or her nose is someone that spot and stalks and consistently takes a deer at less than 20 yards with a longbow made by hand. I sure don't know anyone that does that... However, I do know tons of people with atvs, high powered optics, state of the art rifles, gps, etc. that kill a deer every year. More power to them. It's not easy even then. If that's how they want to do it then cool. I also know lots of people who bowhunt and even some that bait. None of them take a deer every year. None of them have a problem with how "others" hunt. I am continually dumbfounded by the attitude by some. Everyone hunts in their own way. It's part of the fun. Hunting should be encouraged, not sneered at because you don't do it the same way as the next guy.

The CWD and other disease claims are walking a thin line. The problem is that Ranchers will still be allowed to put minerals out. You're trying to tell me that deer/any other ungulate will ignore these minerals because "they're meant for cattle "?? The problem is that water catchments have been built and will continue to be built. There are a ton of water catchments on the strip, and if cwd shows up in our state it will most likely be from a deer up there on the utah border. AZGFD has CWD check stations every year in that area because it is a risk area. It seems like a double standard to me. If you're gonna preach disease control then you better actually do it. The rules proposed will do little if any to prevent disease in the state of AZ.. Trail cameras will be next to go with the claim of "wildlife harrassment".

I personally believe that the reason for the large increase in archery success over the last ten years isn't bait. It's technology. How many had range finders 10 years ago? 300 fps + bows? Trail cams? Side by side utvs? There are tons of things that have contributed greatly to archery success that aren't baiting. I also find it absolutely ironic and slightly ignorant when someone says that baiting is "cheating" and then puffs out their chest and grabs a rifle to take a 300 + yard shot at an animal that quite simply never had a chance. In fact many would argue it takes much more skill to shoot a coues over bait at 20 yards than on the side of a hill at 320. That's a whole different discussion though. The point here is that just because you don't do it doesn't mean it's wrong.

Reality check anyone?

I think people would be forced to be honest. Killing a deer and then filling out that you didn't would be viewed as something similar to poaching. It would be hard to lie and keep it hidden forever. Everyone takes pictures, shares news, etc. I strongly believe most people would be honest.

Good luck to all!

Foods that aren't noisy are key. Wrappers make an unnatural noise that I think can be heard a long way. Blinds are great if you like to read. I averaged a book a day last August waiting on a certain buck that never showed. Good luck to you!

Are you hinting at the other proposed rule that is being snuck in that outlaws anything to be placed on or near water sources? (Trail cams).

I find it ironic when someone says that baiting is unethical and is a direct cause of more deer being killed. Then that very same person will go out and use a high powered rifle and take a shot at 300 + yards. Many would argue that is more unethical and the cause of way more deer being shot every year. The reality is that archery hunters (the primary bait users) kill way less deer than the average rifle hunter with a high powered scope. Just because you don't do it doesn't mean it is the wrong way. I don't use "bait" but I have been known to throw a salt block down next to a trail hoping it would get something to stop in front of my camera. Ranchers will still be using minerals, which completely throws out the cwd argument. If that's the case, why can't I?

An injury to one side of the body will often show in a deformed antler on the opposite side.

Most baiting that I am aware of is utilized by archery hunters. Archery deer hunters as a whole are less than 5% successful I believe. The units that have higher success rates go to draw. Most archery deer in the strip are shot off water catchments and water in general at a higher success rate than other units. There are a ton of deer in the strip, but still if the argument to fight baiting was a smaller deer herd that should be protected ,then hunting water should also be illegal and every deer killed made mandatory reporting. (Not just archery. Which may be done away with?) The deer herd issue is a drought and fire suppression issue. If baiting is viewed as the most vital issue to managing our deer herds, then I feel many more important things are being overlooked. That said, this discussion is a good one. I respect everyone's opinion. There is always another side to a debate. It is encouraging that this can be discussed maturely.