Most Wallow fire closures are OPEN!!

[cohntr6]

It's been 10 years since I had a elk tag in unit 1. It was the last time I had a tag period. I grew up in the white mountains and can't wait to get up there and start scouting. I'm hoping the fire didn't mess it up to bad. We'll probably go up and get started scouting on the 4th of July and every weekend till the hunt.

 

 

 

Congrats!!

My daughter had the junior cow hunt last year in unit 1.

It was a great hunt.

Burned areas held elk and we didnt have a problem finding them.

I would still scout and hunt the areas you are familiar with.

Jeff

[DCMHunter]

The ATV's need to stay on designated roads and trails. I went out shed hunting in unit one and every place I hiked too someone had beet me there on a four wheeler. There were ATV tracks everywhereexcept on the road.

 

DCM

[billrquimby]

I am for closing some of the access but not as much as they are doing. But don't you think the drastic measures taken as of late are mostly from people abusing our national forest?? By tearing the roads up and driving cross country? I do use a utv and notice that they tear the roads up a heck of a lot more then if I was just driving my 4x4.

 

 

It's my belief that the continued closing of roads to create de facto wilderness everywhere without the consent of Congress and the public is the result of the ramblings of a misguided easterner who came west and was so awed by our region that he wanted the gates closed to keep everyone else away.

 

He was a doper and an alcoholic, a socialist, atheist and anarchist who wrote well and convinced an entire generation that people are bad and that only the pure at heart have the right to go into the outdoors we all own.

 

I'm talking about Edward Abbey and all you need to do to realize that his Gospel According to Abbey has come to fruition is to read his fourth book, "Desert Solitaire."

 

In it, among other things that show his complete arrogance, he kills a cottontail with a rock just to see if he could do it, yet lets a rattlesnake live at the door of his trailer in Arches National Monument where he was employed, He also wrote that he didn't care that handicapped people can't visit the types of national parks he envisioned.

 

An Aldo Leopold he was not. Abbey might not have been an eco-terrorist in deed, but he certainly supported that bunch of thugs. He was involved with Earth First and close friends with its founder. His fans today include way too many people making decisions on how the federal lands will be managed.

 

Bill Quimby

[Pine Donkey]

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1335500260[/url]' post='307400']

I am for closing some of the access but not as much as they are doing. But don't you think the drastic measures taken as of late are mostly from people abusing our national forest?? By tearing the roads up and driving cross country? I do use a utv and notice that they tear the roads up a heck of a lot more then if I was just driving my 4x4.

 

 

It's my belief that the continued closing of roads to create de facto wilderness everywhere without the consent of Congress and the public is the result of the ramblings of a misguided easterner who came west and was so awed by our region that he wanted the gates closed to keep everyone else away.

 

He was a doper and an alcoholic, a socialist, atheist and anarchist who wrote well and convinced an entire generation that people are bad and that only the pure at heart have the right to go into the outdoors we all own.

 

I'm talking about Edward Abbey and all you need to do to realize that his Gospel According to Abbey has come to fruition is to read his fourth book, "Desert Solitaire."

 

In it, among other things that show his complete arrogance, he kills a cottontail with a rock just to see if he could do it, yet lets a rattlesnake live at the door of his trailer in Arches National Monument where he was employed, He also wrote that he didn't care that handicapped people can't visit the types of national parks he envisioned.

 

An Aldo Leopold he was not. Abbey might not have been an eco-terrorist in deed, but he certainly supported that bunch of thugs. He was involved with Earth First and close friends with its founder. His fans today include way too many people making decisions on how the federal lands will be managed.

 

Bill Quimby

 

Bill you or dead on when you identify the basis of much of today's Federal Agency land grab to the writings of Edward Abbey. Followers of Abbey, and his protégés, can be found throughout these agencies. He may not have actually engaged in acts of Eco-terrorism, but he certainly promoted and glorified those tactics. In his book "The Monkey Wrench Gang" the characters of the book took it upon themselves to stop development of the west and to destroy much of what had been developed. This started with simple vandalism of bull dozer, but escalated to a scheme to destroy Glen Canyon Dam.

Currently, the City of Tombstone is attempting to repair parts of its water system that was destroyed by flooding in the aftermath of the Monument fire. This is a system that is on deeded land and established easements that has been used since the 1880's. One the many problems they are running into is the equipment they are using, dozers, and back hoes, are being severely vandalized by people who are leaving messages about the destruction of the environment by these pieces of equipment.

Many of the roads that are being closed in the Wallow fire area, as well as in the Coconino, and the Coronado Forests are not the wildcat roads that have been made by those who did not follow existing regulations, but it as also hundreds of miles of legal, mapped, numbered, and in some cases, publicly maintained roads.

This is a very concerning predicament for us as hunters. We are at a pivotal time when we need to speak with a unified voice, However this issue is dividing us. In this post alone we have those who say, it is OK because hunters should be willing to hike in to remote areas, and others who like yourself, are not able to make that journey. I prefer to hike away from the masses, but have been frustrated many times by ATVs driving up to the spot I hiked to, but I also feel there is a need for a quality network of roads. Such a network can be found on parts of the White mountain Apache Reservation. These roads certainly have not ruined the habitat of the area.

This year I will be taking my dad and one of his friends out for the Unit 1 late rifle bull hunt. Both of them are over 70 years old. They are willing to work as hard as they can for their bulls, but the realities of life and age have ensured they are not able to hunt the way they did a few decades ago. I hope we can find enough roads still open for them to have a quality hunt.

[Alpinebullwinkle]

It sounds like us hunters are co-mingling the issues of ATV abuse and loss of truck access that we have enjoyed for 40 years or so due to the USFS devious road closures. I recognize it is difficult somewhat to separate the two issues because they do overlap. The younger generation and those people that have recently transferred into Arizona from out of state have a good reason to be naive. Especially when the USFS puts out new maps that suddenly omit some of our favorite roads like Bill Quimby so astutely pointed out. Hopefully those that have a reason for being naive will be open minded enough to recognize the big picture and what is happening before their eyes. Hopefully those younger challengers will be lucky enough to live to an older age like Bill and I (and their wheels get a little worn out). At that point common sense usually kicks in. Unfortunately it might then be too late to reverse the devious changes that are currently happening.