North Rim of Araivaipa restrictions coming

[NRS]

I got this in an e-mail today, HUNTERS WITH VALID LICENSES AND TAGS WILL BE ALLOWED IN after registering. I changed out any personal information that was in it. If you have a tag in the area, I would suggest that you contact the local WM to get updated on the situation.

 

All,

You have all been included on this email to help spread the word to our constituents, to minimize conflicts, that the Whittaker Ranch road will be locked on November 1st to public access. I received a message from the owner today informing me that we he will place color coded locks on the gate and will require people to pre-register with him via email or phone 48 hours in advance to enter. He informed me that he will only allow those with valid hunting licenses and tags to enter and will not allow any recreational use or OHV use. The owner would like to see greater accountability for those using the area.

 

For those of you who do not know, the Whittaker Ranch road provides the ONLY access to the northwest rim of Aravaipa Canyon in game management unit 31 from Horse Camp Canyon west including Brandenburg Mountain. This road is heavily used by desert bighorn sheep hunters and others to access the area. In the last few years, a couple of Commission tag holders for bighorn sheep have harvested rams in Aravaipa and on Brandenburg. This road is also noted as the primary public access route in the BLM’s draft Aravaipa Wilderness Management plan. This road gets approximately 250 users per year.

[audsley]

I guess my concern is how long will it be before the landowner decides he doesn't want to allow any access.

[donniedent]

That landowner is alot better than the ones that I ran into in Wyoming. They would have just locked the gate and been done with it. Or, would never have allowed access to begin with. That gentleman needs to be thanked and his land showed the utmost respect.

[azslim]

The people living there have had problems with theft. A couple years back a friend I teach Hunter Ed with was down there and the lady at the ranch just before the conservation land had all the gas siphoned from her car, not even enough left for her to drive to the station. He hooked her up with gas and helped fix a flat while he was at it. She shared some of the problems the landowners have had and why the gates were being locked.