Sundevil99 Report post Posted July 16, 2012 I wanted to know if anyone knows if you are allowed to hunt in the Gila River or Salt River reservations? We used to hunt on the res back in Yuma to get away from the crowds and all you had to do was purchase a license from them. The terrain on the reservations up here (farm land) is closer to what I'm used to hunting and was wondering if any of the areas were huntable. I've looked at their websites but don't see anything about hunting on them. I've been told of a few places on the west side but don't want to drive that far so I'm looking for places closer to home in the east valley. Any help would be appreciated. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Antmo23 Report post Posted July 16, 2012 From what ive been told, Indian lands are off limits to dove hunting. I live in the east valley (Tempe) and shoot in the south eastern valley. Lots of areas and lots of doves down there. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sundevil99 Report post Posted July 16, 2012 Thats what I thought, sucks though since there is a lot of good ground that is plenty open for hunting. Just didn't want to have to hunt tanks, wanted fields like I used to hunt back in Yuma. Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Antmo23 Report post Posted July 16, 2012 There's alfalfa fields down there. Sure does make for some easy recovery. The farms down there bring the doves in in droves. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest akaspecials Report post Posted July 16, 2012 I've tried to get permission to hunt quail, dove, and duck on both the salt river res and the fort mcdowell res. If I recall Salt River was no hunting and fort mcdowell was members only. I could be mistaken about that last part, but both were definitly not about to allow a white boy to hunt out there. I'm not sure about the Gila, but I'd assume it's the same thing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AzHuntingAddict Report post Posted July 16, 2012 I work for the Gila River tribe, and hunting is not allowed on tribal lands there. I was out surveying last year and watched the tribal cops remove some hunters near where we were working. Its not worth the trouble hunting the reservations as they can and will take your stuff for trespassing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JLW Report post Posted July 16, 2012 yea, I found this, CHAPTER 5 HUNTING. 15.501 PROHIBITION Hunting within the boundaries of the Gila River Indian Reservation is hereby prohibited indefinitely for all persons except members of the Gila River Indian Community. James Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sundevil99 Report post Posted July 17, 2012 It's not like the San Carlos with trophy elk, it's just dove and quail that move quite easily to and from res. You would think they would allow non tribal hunters and have tie ins with the casino's for breakfast and cleaning them like they do in Yuma. Even if they don't make that much off licenses, they would get people in the door who might not have been to the casino's before that might spend plenty of money there. Oh well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JLW Report post Posted July 17, 2012 I remember the days out behind the chandler airport... like 10 min. from the house growing up. fun times! James Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
matthewp45 Report post Posted August 11, 2012 Casa Grande, Eloy and Marana have lots of hay now since the price of alfalfa has been at a record high for over a year now. The highest I ever saw alfalfa get was $185 a ton and for about 6-8 months they were getting $230-$250 a ton. That high of a price you can start making profit pretty quick so a ton of farmers all over the state put in alfalfa this last spring and a ton more will this fall because the cotton price fell from $1.10/lb to $0.68. Grain fields still standing or dished up are what you want to hunt. Unless they are letting the alfalfa go to seed 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sundevil99 Report post Posted August 25, 2012 Thanks for the info Matt. I'm going with our buddy Martine and a few other people from Yuma somewhere south of here. He says he knows some farmers that will let us hunt. It's a lot different here than back in Yuma since the entire east valley moved so far south. I heard cotton prices were up because of the drought in Texas and there was a lot more planted here this year. I know I saw a lot out in the west valley last weekend. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bonecollector Report post Posted August 27, 2012 Hi, just moved to east Mesa and was hoping someone could give us a decent place to dove hunt. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I used to go down Ironwood rd until I had to be more concerned with getting shot, it wasnt any fun anymore. Maybe gold canyon or queen valley area. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest akaspecials Report post Posted August 28, 2012 Hi, just moved to east Mesa and was hoping someone could give us a decent place to dove hunt. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Open your front door on opening morning and follow the sound of shotguns. (I'm only half kidding...) The doves will be in the desert behind every subdivision in East Mesa. Take a drive before work and after dinner and you'll find them. Check the regs to make sure it's legal to hunt where you find them and you're a 1/4 mile from houses and have at them. But I'm like bonecollector; I don't hunt out there anymore because of the number of idiots. I head out of town towards the rivers or lakes. Its a farther drive but I've never been peppered, and I find mroe quail out there when the dove and quail seasons are open at the same time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
reganranch Report post Posted August 28, 2012 Hi, just moved to east Mesa and was hoping someone could give us a decent place to dove hunt. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I used to go down Ironwood rd until I had to be more concerned with getting shot, it wasnt any fun anymore. Maybe gold canyon or queen valley area. People during dove season are scary.....more so then the snowbirds driving a Class A motor home. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sundevil99 Report post Posted August 28, 2012 Hi, just moved to east Mesa and was hoping someone could give us a decent place to dove hunt. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I used to go down Ironwood rd until I had to be more concerned with getting shot, it wasnt any fun anymore. Maybe gold canyon or queen valley area. People during dove season are scary.....more so then the snowbirds driving a Class A motor home. You obviously haven't been you Yuma during the winter. We can't even drive on our main streets from Nov 1 till the end of March. You see them buying jug wine and handles of whiskey (not whisky since that doesn't come in handles) at walgreens at 6am to start the day off then pile in 6 people in a xtracab 1 ton and start cruising around. I don't miss Yuma during the winter much because of that. Lol And getting peppered was always a rite of passage for us for dove hunting anyways...lol Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
