Outdoor Writer

Great moose, Jim! Congrats. -TONY

Someone is pretty skillful with Photoshop. -TONY

New wildlife-feeding law goes into effect PHOENIX - Our recent drought has prompted many wild animals to move into our cities, looking for food. Unfortunately, when people intentionally feed wildlife, they can encourage these animals to stick around, become aggressive and even dangerous to humans. A new law that goes into effect tomorrow in Maricopa and Pima counties is aimed at preventing those problems. "Many people think feeding wildlife is a helpful thing to do, and they enjoy seeing rabbits or deer spending time around their homes," says Elissa Ostergaard, urban wildlife specialist in the Arizona Game and Fish Department's Tucson office. "What also happens is that those animals attract larger, predatory animals to the neighborhoods. That's when you have coyotes, javelina and other animals that can become a danger to people and harm their pets." State Sen. Toni Hellon of Tucson sponsored the bill that evolved into the wildlife-feeding law for Maricopa and Pima counties. The law does not affect people just feeding birds and tree squirrels or anyone carrying out normal livestock or agricultural operations. It is a public safety measure that will only stop those who are intentionally, knowingly or recklessly feeding wildlife. "We do not intend to use this law unless someone is obviously creating a problem in a neighborhood that could affect other people, and he or she has already been warned," says Mike Senn, head of the Arizona Game and Fish Department's field operations division. "We prefer to educate people first, and this is a last resort option." Problems associated with wildlife feeding include coyote attacks on eight child victims in areas of Maricopa County, two recent Phoenix-area incidents where javelina bit humans who were hand-feeding them, and several human-mountain lion encounters in 2004 in Sabino Canyon and near an elementary school in the Tucson area.

Doug, Posted the message below for you in your thread on MM. -TONY *** Nice recap and pix! Here's a link below that might explain at least one of the stone structures along 89. It's to an essay by Theodore Roosevelt about his North Rim cougar hunt. Teddy's Lion Hunt Also, if I recall there's still the remains of a building on the north side of 89 right near where the Houserock road heads south. Another road heading north goes right next to the building, which was a gas station/store that was still operating when I first started hunting the N. Kaibab in the early 1960s. But...the Big Saddle Camp, complete with its glass-bowled gas pump, stone lodge building, cabins and screened-in meat house were still there then, as well. We spent many nights homesteading there over several years before the camp became nothing more than history when Lady Bird Johnson went on her "beautify America" kick.

Stan, Do you have a rough estimate of how many folks will be in the 36A camp at any one time? -TONY

The story, as told by King, is included in the "How to Hunt Coues Deer" book I wrote with Duwane Adams. Here are the photos from that article. -TONY

And I'm going in just the opposite direction -- getting too skinny! Maybe we can compromise some. Anyway, I'm outta here early in the a.m. for a drive to Springfield. MO to attend the Professional Outdoor Media Assoc. conference. Once I get there Tues., I'll be back online until I leave next weekend. Later. -TONY

I wasn't only part of it, I started it and organized the whole thing each year! It took me a month to get everything ready to go. We used two big pickup bed trailers with caps on them and other vehicles to haul all the camp gear. Over the years. we hosted guys from as far away as FL, CT, RI and NYC. Several of the guys attended every one of the SPHs. And to think, it all started in an internet forum similar to this one. They tried to talk me in to doing one last one last year, but I was too snowed under with projects. One year, we had the crew from Northwest Hunter in camp to film the hunt for the TV show. They made two 1/2 hr. segments out of it. And it's ironic it comes up here now because just yesterday I finished up a javelina article for Rocky MT. G&F magazine where I mentioned the SPH. And the article itself was about hunting on the two reservations. We always had a lot of fun and some great poker games, too. Normally, we ran about 75% on tagging hogs, but there were a couple years where we had 100% success. Here's one of our sample menus for the last SPH in 2000: Menu for Y2K SPH Feb. 15 - Tues. Veggie and shrimp appetizers, grilled NY steaks, baked potatoes, salad, veggies, wine (my house) Weds. Breakfast - on the road in Globe Lunch - Sandwiches &..... Dinner - BBQ Spectacular- sliced beef, pulled pork and baby back ribs, corn-on-the-cob, potato salad, cole slaw, bisquits, dessert. Thurs. Breakfast - Scrambled eggs with green chiles/cheese, breakfast steaks, hash browns, BB muffins Lunch - Beef Barley Soup/sandwiches Dinner - Salad, Ravioli, sauage and meatballs with eggplant parmigiana, Ital. bread, dessert. Fri. Breakfast - Pancakes & Canadian bacon, muffins Lunch - Chicken w/rice soup, hotdogs Dinner ? Stuffed potato skins, salad, roast beef/gravy, wide egg noodles, string beans/asparagus, bisquits, dessert. Sat. Breakfast - French toast, sliced sauage/bacon Lunch - Turkey noodle soup, sandwiches Dinner - Turkey breast/gravy, mashed sweet potatoes baked with marshmallows, reg. mashed potatoes, corn, craneberry sauce, bisquits Sun. Breakfast - Scrambled eggs w/ham & cheese, sliced ham, home fries, muffins Lunch - Ham, Bean & Potato soup, sandwiches Dinner - Mexican Fiesta -- Fish Vera Cruz, encliladas, tamales, burritos, refried beans, rice chips & salsa and flan. (my house) *** All evening dinners will include the usual array of appetizers, such as my home-grown smoked salmon; pickled Mazatlan shrimp; deep-fried, breaded elk; hot chicken wings;chips/salsa; black/green olives; cheese/crackers; celery, carrots, summer sauage, chicken fingers, pepper poppers (breaded, whole green chilies stuffed with cheese), etc. etc. Orange, grapefruit, apple and V8 juice for breakfasts, and an assortment of beer, red wine and the usual jug of Country Time lemonade in addition to the pop. Desserts will include cakes, pies and pudding. There also will be plenty of chocolate chip cookies, candy bars and crackers for daytime snacks in the field.

I have no idea how old you are , but I was a member of the 'bowhunting community' way back in the 1960s with a recurve. Then I quit in 1975 or so before getting back into it with a compound in the early 1980s. i just recently sold my three bows and all my other archery gear to help finance my trip to Africa. Think I killed my first hog with a bow in 1964 or so. Also killed them with handguns and a crossbow. Been there, done that. That said, while I did enjoy bowhunting, I prefer the gun now at my age. But as far as javelina go, I quit hunting them quite a few years ago after killing maybe two dozen or more over the years. In fact, I ran a neat little javelina hunt for about 10 years for out-of-state friends on either the San Carlo or WM reservations (1st come permits and cost no different than the state for NRs) and I never bought a permit for myself. Instead, I either helped glass or just stayed in camp doing the chores and cooking meals. Generally anywhere from 10 to 14 guys in camp at any one time. We called it the Steenkin' Peeg Hunt and even had shirts and hats with each year on them. Corky Richardson, his dad George and the late Norm Pike helped me out each year with the guiding chores. We quit about four years ago, but a bunch of the same guys hunted the SC last year and "camped" at the casino. Here are some old pix of our camp kitchen:

Field dressing a javelina in Sept isn't any worse than field dressing a deer, and most of the permits are in the same units where the deer seasons are taking place on those same dates. Guts are guts, no matter how you slice them. And it takes about three seconds to cut out the scent gland on the back if that's what one is prone to do. I prefer to just let it come off with the hide. Of course, even the gland smells no worse in Sept. than it does in Feb. or March. Plus, keeping the javelina meat cold is a heck of a lot easier since the entire carcass, even without cutting it up, easily fits into a fairly decent size cooler. -TONY

And why do you see it as "hilarious?" -TONY

Dave, And why do you see that as a problem? -TONY

Dave, After going 0 for 5 the last three years in a row, I'll take any tag I can get about now. Maybe everyone who doesn't trust the dept. any more should just quit applying. But yes, I welcome more opportunities regardless when they occur as long as whatever they do equates to BIOLOGICALLY sound management. And I have enough respect for the AGFD where I would think that would be its aim and not involve some ludricrous recommendation such as an Aug. javelina season. I'd also suggest that those who obtained permits for the fall javelina season, which a certain segment of hunters also were against, are very happy with the opportunity to hunt pigs, especially if they also possess a deer permit for the same hunt. -TONY

Dave, One doesn't have to be an ADA member to be able to read and understand survey questions. Maybe giving people more credit for their intelligence is in order. And just maybe their answers DO reflect what they really want rather than being the results of their "stupidity" of the dynamics. The game department has two responsibilies; managing BOTH wildlife and hunters. The former obviously requires sound biological considerations, while the latter requires the social aspects of shuttling people around and keeping most of them happy. For the most part, that should involve catering to the MAJORITY rather than special interest groups. Over the last few years, I've been sensing that several organizations feel because they contribute money, etc., it empowers them to steer -- or perhaps even dictate -- how the game department should be run. I wouldn't want to see that any more than I would want to see PETA dictating policy. Now, that doesn't mean organizations shouldn't have input; they should. But everything needs to be considered in the grand scheme of things based on ALL input, including that of the department biologists and the game commission. And yes, finances MUST play a part. Without money, there is no AGFD. Of course, some might applaud that. -TONY

Bill Q, Some interesting comments in this thread for sure. I wonder how we all got along in the woods during the "good ol' days" of the ealy 1980s when more than 90,000 folks had deer permits. Maybe AZ was much bigger back then, eh? As for the current and VERY random AGFD survey, it appears every question has an optional answer at one extreme or the other or somewhere in between. So the only way the results can lead to more hunters/permits/opportunities will be if those answering the questions swing toward that end. Obviously those who DON'T want to see more permits have the option to answer the survey questions so they reflect THEIR opinions. For those who weren't around way back when or didn't pay attention, the following is a list of the general season permits going back to the record high number in 1986. The total was also above 85,000 for a couple years prior to and after 1986. The reason for the high # of permits is simple: AZ experienced TWO years of massive rainfall -- 100-yr. flood types -- in the early 1980s and the deer herd growth reflected that. I don't recall anyone complaining about overcrowding back then. In fact, most folks were happy for the chance to go hunting. Heck, some guys even got two permits. What a concept, huh? Today, there are a 1/3 the number of deer hunters in the woods. Historical Deer Permit Totals The downward trend for the number of deer permits issued annually began in the early 1990s when the ?drought? began in the West. 2006 37,975 2005 37,695 2004 36,325 (Record Low) 2003 37.025 2002 42,295 2001 44.695 2000 45,850 1999 46,820 1998 47,505 1997 51,815 1996 58,260 1995 63,900 1986 95,821 (Record High)

The snippet below is a portion from an article I did on Coues deer more than 15 years ago. It was the first time I spent any time with Duwane in the field. The photo of Duwane & I on the back cover of the "How to Hunt Coues Deer" book was taken a couple years ago in Mexico with a buck he glassed up from a high hilltop. -TONY **** Keith, my 28-yr-old son and I applied for the December hunt in the units southeast of Tucson last year. Instead, we drew permits for November, our second choice. A few weeks before the season, I called Duwane Adams, one of the top Coues deer guides in the state. I've known Adams for a few years, so he was well aware of my quest for a good trophy. When I asked him where he thought we should hunt, he told me about an area he KNEW had some big bucks. None of his clients had drawn permits there, so he had no problem with us hunting in HIS area. He even suggested we scout the area the weekend before the season. Two weeks later, I met him at our designated rendezvous. We drove a few miles off Interstate 19, then turned onto a dirt road that wound its way into the Santa Rita Mountains. The trip took only about a half-hour. I had heard Adams had a unique way of using powerful binoculars. During our earlier phone conversation, he had asked if I had a pair. Coincidentally, I recently had acquired some Jason 8-24 zooms. Adams said they would be work for the scouting trip. He also recommended I bring a tripod. We parked the truck just before daylight. By the time the sun rose high enough to see, we had arranged our tripod-mounted binoculars so we could see over the metal guard rail bordering the edge of the steep canyon. We spotted seven deer during the first hour. Suddenly, Duwane let out a long, low whistle. When I looked over at him, he still had his eyes pushed against the binoculars. I realized whatever he saw had to be above average. Adams has looked at lots of big deer. I didn't want to sound too anxious, though. "Buck?" I asked. Without turning away from the eyepieces, Adams simply nodded his head once, then pointed to a nearby ridge less than a 100 yards away. "He's bedded down under those oaks." I searched the side of the ridge for a few seconds before I heard the snort. Seemingly aware we were now watching him, the buck had jumped from its bed and bounded about 20 yards up the ridge. He stopped, facing away from us, then turned his head to look back. Quickly, I adjusted the head of my tripod so the 8-24 zoom binoculars pointed toward the buck. I cranked up the power to 15. As I adjusted the focus knob on the Jason optics, the deer's rack became sharply defined. It was my turn to whistle. The buck was unquestionably the largest I had seen in the years I had spent roaming in Arizona. His symetrical heavy antlers, spreading well past his ears, sported at least four tall and thick tines on each main beam and eyeguards that appeared about three inches high. Adams, who has seen his share of big Coues deer over the many years he has guided hunters in Arizona, seemed somewhat impressed, too. "That monster, my friend, would make the top five in Boone and Crockett and would probably go Number One in Pope and Young. I can guarantee if I had hunters in this unit that deer would never make it out of this canyon."

This is an old, sort of blurry image of part of my trophy room. The coyote has a Gambel's quail in its mouth. -TONY

Jim, That's also a 35mm scan, and there's a VERY humorous story about that pix. I shot that during the pitch black of 3:00 a.m. on property owned by the U of A. I was there with one of the biology professors to specifically take rattler pix. They had surgically implanted radios in several of them, which would make them easy to find. So we ate dinner and went to bed at 9, then got up at 2 and headed to the tract of land where the snakes were set loose several weeks earlier. Before we went to bed, however, we set out a few small critter traps, baited with oatmeal. We had hoped to catch a mouse or two to feed a snake. We each had a fanny pack with our cameras, and I wielded a big flashlight and the snake stick. My buddy carried the antenna/receiver and had a field mouse we had caught in his jacket pocket. He also had some monofilament, which we planned to tie to the mouse's leg and lead him in front of a snake. Less than 100 yards from the truck, we picked up a strong signal and started toward it. On the way, we came to the edge of a fairly deep and wide wash. My friend stopped alongside some brush and I walked within about three feet of him. He told me that we had to watch those areas close because the snakes liked to hunt alongside the washes, and he preferred if we could find one that didn't have a radio in it. That way feeding it wouldn't disrupt any of the research his students were doing. So I think I just nodded my OK. Right then, I pointed the flashlight beam toward the ground between us. The snake in the photo was all comfy and curled less them a foot from either of us. He could have had his pick on which one to bite but never even raised his head or rattled. My first words, "Oooohh, s**t" but before I got the second word out, Norm had already jumped six feet sideways and three feet up. I followed suit a second later. Unfortunately, we never did get the snake to eat. On the first pass in front of its nose, the mouse wiggled loose from the mono and left town.

And another -- taken north of the Palo Verde plant.

If you attempt to bring in the caribou racks without splitting the skull plates, take either a 1" diameter branch or a piece of 1" x2" that's a couple inches wider than the midway part of the rack width. Then tie it across the beams with twine and cover the twine with several layers of duct tape. It will help keep the rack from getting broken. Not sure when you're going, but if it's early, the antler tips might still be soft. So as others suggested, either duct tape the tips well with a piece of cardboard over the very tip or add a short length of garden hose. I've brought 'bou racks from AK, NWT and BC this way with no problem. But they will charge you extra, and how much depends on the airline. I split my red deer antlers so the shipping crate from NZ didn't have to be huge since international air shipping goes more by volume rather than weight. If you do split racks, best way is to cut about 7/8 of the way through the plate from nose to back end, then twist the plate so the remaining part breaks. It then provides a good starting point for lining up the plate to put it back together because sawing it leaves an obvious gap the thickness of the blade. I put mine back together by first drilling two holes on each side, fitting the joint together and putting long sheetrock-type screws through the skull plate into a 6' long piece of 2" x 8". That served as a heavy enough base to keep the antlers steady while I applied fiberglass resin and cloth to the joint. Once that dried, I took the screws out and did the same to the backside of the joint. Of course, you can also adjust accordingly to the spread you'd like. If you do kill two 'bous and two moose, it might a be a lot cheaper to have them shipped to you by a local taxdermist up there. The green hides are VERY heavy. The one from my BC moose weighed 60+ lbs. by itself and the antlers were about 45, if I recall. Fortunately I had driven my own vehicle on that hunt. Maybe someday if we ever get together, I'l tell you about the funny incident that happened on my way home with the moose antlers tied on top of my Coleman canoe, which was atop my shell on a Nissan 4x4. Let's just say the park rangers in Jellystone NP get nervous when they see moose antlers that aren't attached to a live moose. -TONY

Clay is a nice guy. I interviewed him once for an article I was doing on the guy who killed a big mulie on one of the auction/raffle special tags. Bundy had helped guide. Here's a little sidebar I did about him and his family -- the founders of Bundyville! -TONY The somewhat vague history of the Arizona Strip tells us the first white men to visit the area were Dominguez and Escalante when they traveled along the base of the Hurricane Cliffs on their return trip from central Utah in 1776. Nearly a century later, other Anglos attempted to take advantage of the area?s vast land resources, but conflicts with native tribes occurred as the newcomers quickly laid claim to the best water sources and vegetation. Disputes between settlers and the Navajo, Paiute and Ute tribes culminated in the Black Hawk Navajo Wars of 1866-1869. By 1870, Mormon paramilitary action had mostly quelled the native resistance, eventually leading to the "Treaty of Mount Trumbull" and the establishment of several Paiute reservations. Although the settlers included a colorful array of ranchers, sheepmen, cowboys and outlaws, the majority of the newcomers were Mormons, dispatched by the Church of Latter Day Saints to lay claim to the choicest land and resources before non-Mormons settled them. A number of large ranches were established, as well as a sawmill and a large dairy, and the rights to limited water sources of the region were swiftly claimed, though often without "valid government title." Range wars -- often settled with guns -- were quite common in this lawless frontier, and cattle rustling was a crime with hanging as its punishment. Immigration to the Strip was encouraged by two events in 1916: the Stock Raising Homestead Act and the opening of a half million acres of Utah?s Dixie National Forest to homestead entry. In addition, a climatic shift early in the 20th century brought increased rains and snows, which filled water holes and allowed the grasslands to grow lush. About the time of the immigration surge to the Strip country, Abraham Bundy and his family had been living in the Mormon colony of Moroles, in the state of Sonora, Old Mexico. But Poncho Villa and the Mexican Revolution of 1912 forced them to seek out a gentler environment. So Abraham brought his wife, eldest son Roy and several daughters to Arizona in 1916, where they settled in an area near the Hurricane Cliffs, not too far from 8,000-ft. Mt. Trumbull. Bundyville, also known as Mt. Trumbull, became the Strip's largest community. Eventually, nearly 300 people lived in the town, which included a schoolhouse that was built in 1922. Roy Bundy just happens to be Clay Bundy?s grandfather, and Clay went to classes until the third grade in Bundyville?s tiny schoolhouse. Today, little remains of Bundyville. The school had been abandoned in the early 1960s, then later restored. It recently burned, but it?s demise as part of the Strip?s history won?t last long. Clay Bundy is a contractor and has already made plans to restore it once again. He also still owns a cabin on a ranch near Bundyville. It sits on land that belonged to Roy Bundy until Clay?s father, Orvel, bought it.

Oh, I have a formal invitation alright and also several letters regarding it. In fact, it also involved an RSVP to the Cabela's offices in Sydney. I have a feeling they're having several different dealies going on. From what I understand, the Thurs. affair is called "VIP Day" and is for the *media.* The official ribbon cutting ceremony is also occurring on Thurs. at 11 am to start the day. So your Weds. deal is likely something else. -TONY

Hmmm. Are you talking about the media event the day before the grand opening on Fri.? If so, isn't that on Thurs. 27th rather than Weds.? -TONY

Nada! Shut out 0 for 5. Congrats to all the dudes who enjoyed some success. At least I get to go hunt Sika blacktail on Kodiak in Oct. -TONY

Wondering when someone would fess up. LOL She said the truck exited before she did same at 27th. She leaves the house about 7:30, so it would have likely been somewhere between 7:45 and 8:00. I also own a red Dodge 4x4 PU, BTW. Ellen drives a dark blue 2x4 Durango. -TONY