BML

No problem Lee. There is one big scenario that I expect will be the biggest problem to this rule. At first, there will be many people to will abide by the rules and at least make their best attempt at following the new rules. Unfortunately, most will not. What will happen is all the folks following the new rules will get sick and tired of people driving by them on closed roads with zero punishment. The good folks will then simply say "screw it" and then very few will be following the new laws. The only way I see to enforce this 100% is to have every single closed road marked as closed. Then it needs to be patrolled on a regular basis. I doubt the FS will ever have the manpower to do either, though.

Sounds good Jim! Getting swamped with clients is never a bad problem to have! Good luck to you all this coming fall.

Good work Jim!! Always enjoy your write ups! Congrats on the turkey. When are we gonna go kill us a couple bears?

Lee, There wasn't a single FS vehicle anywhere we went. Not surprising though. They don't have the manpower to enforce the new TMR. I suppose if they come across folks on closed roads they may or may not issue citations but no way in heck are they devoting man hours strictly to enforcing this new law. Also none of the closed roads were marked closed, but that's part of the TMR. They have already said they aren't going to mark them closed. I'm not against the new TMR but without educating the public there's just no way possible it will be an effective plan.

I hung some trail cameras last weekend. Drove in on a road that was open, but had 6 or 7 side roads that were all closed. I had to hike in a mile or so on a road that I originally was going to drive on. No big deal. Fresh quad tracks all up and down that road though. I talked to several different guys that were turkey hunting that had no clue that any of the roads were closed or even what the new travel management rules were.

I would have looked for 6 days. Haha. Great find. Thanks for sharing the pic. Get in touch with Josh aka Grong. He can give you an idea on what its worth.

So I pull up to a customer's house this morning to do a delivery and there's a herd of pigs in his driveway. Not really all that uncommon for the Sedona area, but this was very different! These pigs would not leave when I pulled up and I quickly realized they were eating dog food he was feeding them. I took some pictures and then this video. Then the craziest thing happened. This old man walks out the front door of his house to get his package and starts calling them by name! They walked right up to him and let him pet each one! He and I started talking and tells me he's been feeding them for years. They all had names and unique personalities, according to him. The big sow at the end of the video was the most docile. She stood right at his feet the whole time we were talking. I got back in my van to leave and couldn't believe I had just had a 10 minute conversation with a guy while 12 javelina stood there only 3 feet from us both. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v301/BML/?action=view&current=VIDEO0001.mp4

I'm no expert but I'd listen to this guy!!

That kind of just happened to me this past weekend. Had to grab some milk at the grocery store. I used the self check out and someone had left all their change in the cash dispenser below the scanner. I took it and gave it to the check out lady. I'm sure someone came back for it. I don't claim to be perfect, but I will NEVER take someone's blind or camera or whatever I come across in the field. It's not mine and taking it is theft, plain and simple.

Gary, I live up in Prescott Valley. I took my truck to a friend of mine's shop. Northern AZ Offroad and Alignment. Let us know how everything works out.

I had a horrible case of the death wobble on my 08 Dodge with the 2 inch leveling kit. Take it to a GOOD reputable alignment or 4x4 shop. Have them adjust the caster all the way. I think mine went all the way to 7 or 8. Never had a problem with the death wobble after that. I did A TON of research when I started having problems with mine. I can't even tell you how many stories I read about people dumping thousands of dollars replacing every front end component trying to get rid of the death wobble. $60 and the alignment shop is all I spent.

To answer your question, Jake, I would still scout and hunt the area. Leave a note if you want, but don't base your decision on a response to the note. I've had this happen to me one time. On my elk hunt I sat in a natural ground blind that I built on a tank during a hunt a couple years prior. Someone put 2 blinds, one on each end, of the same tank. One of which was inches from the ground blind I built. I got to the tank first and since the blinds were empty I sat in the ground blind. I never touched either blind, even though the one next to me blocked a good portion of my view. Those hunters showed up and it got a little testy at first, but we agreed that I would sit in the ground blind and they shared the blind on the other side of the tank. The tank was 80+ yards long and I had no intentions of shooting to that side anyway. IMO where I made the WRONG decision was after that night, I decided NOT to return to that tank. That tank was getting hammered with elk every evening and I chose to let someone else change my hunting strategy. The regs clearly state it's first come first served and that's how you should approach the situation you are in. Keep hunting that area. If whoever owns that blind is there when you show up, then respectfully leave. If they aren't, well then you have the area you've spent all that time scouting all to yourself! Good luck to you!

For real man? You don't have any idea why it's been left out for so long. Maybe there is a legitimate reason the owner can't get back into the field to retrieve it? Maybe an injury or severe illness or whatever. There are lots of unexpected things that could happen to prevent a hunter from returning to the field to get his/her blind. Justify it as "abandoned" or any way you like to make you feel better, but bottom line is you just admitted that you will take something that is not yours with the intent of using it at a future date as if it was yours. That's theft and that makes you a thief. Period. I see more and more hunters with this "f-you" mentality towards their fellow hunters every year and it's disturbing.

Interesting for sure. I thought it was illegal as well. They certainly were not captive in any way so I guess this old guy has nothing to worry about. Well...except maybe losing some fingers when those pigs get really hungry! haha

My dad has 17 and has never drawn. I only put in for archery and have been lucky enough to draw 4 tags from 1999-2010. Archery is a blast man!

I'm hearing that you are one of many that has happened to. Let us know what you find out.

If that's true it would explain why my girlfriend didn't draw on a guaranteed rifle cow tag. I know a family of 4 that put in for the same cow hunt on different cards and only one had a hit on their card.

I would call your credit card company first. They may have considered it a "suspicious charge" and denied it. My brother used to work for Discover and that crap happened all the time with higher dollar amount charges.

email sent..

I'm in the market for a new (or used) truck. Looking hard at the new Tundra or Silverado. I've dealt with dealerships up here in the Prescott area and quite honestly would rather drive to the valley than do it again. PM or email me Lanoue25@yahoo.com Thank you!

I blame the Fox Pro. Before the ecaller I did a ton better with my mouth calls. Now (yes I have a fox pro also) my ratio has gone down hill a bit... I am about 50/50 using the FoxPro and mouth calls. I will use the FoxPro when I think I might have a chance at a bobcat and have to call longer. Other than that, I like the mouth calls. IMO the trick is to get a wide variety of mouth calls and not the ones you usually see at every sporting goods store in America. There are a lot of good calls being made out there by avid predator hunters. No one has more experience on what works and doesn't than the guys who spend 100's of days in the field every year.

I don't get out much calling anymore, but there was a time when I called a ton where I was probably 1 successful stand out of every three or four. Best day was 4 stands before 10AM. Called in 4, 1, 4 and 1 respectively. Worst streak is also right now. I haven't counted my outings, but I'm guessing I've only had 2 or 3 successful stands out of the last 20 or so.

3/30/12 @4:28 PM.

Finally got to test the 140's today. 48g shot .41. I believe 49g will be even better. I shot 2 through the same hole but pulled the third. Knew it as soon as the gun fired. I'll re test that one just to be sure. Getting pretty excited to finally see more and more progress. I've had this gun way too long for it not to have a good load yet.

Well done.