Travel management - what are YOU going to do?

[4Falls]

Was out today doing some scouting for my upcoming late archery hunt. Im on my quad travelling along an "open" road and I notice about a mile away on a parallel road a white SUV. I laugh to myself probably FS on patrol. Well in about 15 minutes i get to the spot where I have to make a long walk to a tank Ive always wanted to check out and the road to it is no longer open. So Im parked getting my stuff together and I can hear a truck hauling butt down the road I just came. He bounces through the wash to my right and what do you know! Its the white SUV with a USFS sticker on the door. He stops. I hold up my Kaibab travel management map. He waves and drives off. He must have thought he was going to catch a real outlaw. I guess he saw me when I saw him and put the spurs to it to catch me before I ruined the forest. As I went back I could see where he had stopped at each closed road looking for my tracks.

[4Falls]

is anybody but me following these rules?

[DUG]

is anybody but me following these rules?

I followed the rules. Although one time on Friday I thought I was on a closed road but it was open. The closures are just stupid.

[azslim]

was a good year not to have an elk tag, hope this mess gets cleared up by next season and the Natl Forests are given back to their intended owners, the public

[PRDATR]

When I was in Clints Well last month the guy at the Service Station said another road closure map will be out in December and another in the spring.

[4Falls]

When I was in Clints Well last month the guy at the Service Station said another road closure map will be out in December and another in the spring.

 

Awesome.

 

Maybe they should just close all the roads.

 

Or better yet keep closing open roads and opening closed roads. Just to keep us on out toes.

 

As far as I can tell I'm the only one in the Kaibab/Williams district adhering to the rules. After an almost 3 mile hike to a tank I wanted to check out for my upcoming elk hunt. My daughter was under the impression that I had got in trouble thats why WE weren't allowed to drive on the road like everyone else had. Funny buts thats kinda how I felt too.

[BigD]

Last week during my grandsons cow elk hunt in 5BN I was talking with one of the owners of the Flying M Ranch. I was advised that Coconino National Forest is considering a lot more closures in 5BN. Most of the area north of the 125 road is being considered for a Wilderness area. The idea is to close it off to all motorized vehicle use. A decision is going to be made in the next 3-4 months at the local level and then forwarded up the chain.

 

The grandson was sucessful and shot a very large cow. I can tell you that the no off road retrieval of elk in 5BN is a bunch of crap. I am 70 years old and he is 17. It was almost impossible for he and I to retrieve the elk by ourselves. I've hunted this area for the past 25 years and after his hunt, I went to 6 areas that I have driven off road in the past to retrieve elk. There was absolutly no sign that I had driven in these areas. Careful driving off road to retrieve an elk does not cause any permanent damage to the area like the treehuggers are stating!!

 

Hunters and other forest users need to be aware that our rights to use the land is slowly being taken away from us. We need to stand up and make our voices heard over the treehuggers, anti hunting groups and animal rights groups before its too late. I may not have too many years left, however my grandson does and he needs to have the same rights on public lands in the future as I have had in the past.

[JLW]

Last week during my grandsons cow elk hunt in 5BN I was talking with one of the owners of the Flying M Ranch. I was advised that Coconino National Forest is considering a lot more closures in 5BN. Most of the area north of the 125 road is being considered for a Wilderness area. The idea is to close it off to all motorized vehicle use. A decision is going to be made in the next 3-4 months at the local level and then forwarded up the chain.

 

The grandson was sucessful and shot a very large cow. I can tell you that the no off road retrieval of elk in 5BN is a bunch of crap. I am 70 years old and he is 17. It was almost impossible for he and I to retrieve the elk by ourselves. I've hunted this area for the past 25 years and after his hunt, I went to 6 areas that I have driven off road in the past to retrieve elk. There was absolutly no sign that I had driven in these areas. Careful driving off road to retrieve an elk does not cause any permanent damage to the area like the treehuggers are stating!!

 

Hunters and other forest users need to be aware that our rights to use the land is slowly being taken away from us. We need to stand up and make our voices heard over the treehuggers, anti hunting groups and animal rights groups before its too late. I may not have too many years left, however my grandson does and he needs to have the same rights on public lands in the future as I have had in the past.

they'll be sorry when the coyotes eat the rest of the antelope!

look into a wood cutting permit...... maybe able to get away with that???

congrats to you and your grandson!

Sorry they have made it into a joke for you!

 

James

[PRDATR]

Last week during my grandsons cow elk hunt in 5BN I was talking with one of the owners of the Flying M Ranch. I was advised that Coconino National Forest is considering a lot more closures in 5BN. Most of the area north of the 125 road is being considered for a Wilderness area. The idea is to close it off to all motorized vehicle use. A decision is going to be made in the next 3-4 months at the local level and then forwarded up the chain.

 

The grandson was sucessful and shot a very large cow. I can tell you that the no off road retrieval of elk in 5BN is a bunch of crap. I am 70 years old and he is 17. It was almost impossible for he and I to retrieve the elk by ourselves. I've hunted this area for the past 25 years and after his hunt, I went to 6 areas that I have driven off road in the past to retrieve elk. There was absolutly no sign that I had driven in these areas. Careful driving off road to retrieve an elk does not cause any permanent damage to the area like the treehuggers are stating!!

 

Hunters and other forest users need to be aware that our rights to use the land is slowly being taken away from us. We need to stand up and make our voices heard over the treehuggers, anti hunting groups and animal rights groups before its too late. I may not have too many years left, however my grandson does and he needs to have the same rights on public lands in the future as I have had in the past.

they'll be sorry when the coyotes eat the rest of the antelope!

look into a wood cutting permit...... maybe able to get away with that???

congrats to you and your grandson!

Sorry they have made it into a joke for you!

 

James

 

Won't work. You're either cutting wood or hunting and they aren't going to let that fly and I don't want to be the test case for a percieved loophole. Consequences (loss of game animal, confiscated vehicle, court costs etc) are too high.

[deercrazy]

Seems like all the people on this site are going to comply with the law, as I will. It sure will burn my britches if I am humping out an elk a piece at a time and someone drives past me. I am gearing up for the multiple trips to walk it out but I think it also makes me more choosy about the animal I shoot at. I am not going to shoot an animal that I will not want to carry out versus one that could be loaded in a truck or side by side. I also believe that I will be out of the woods earlier than if I could drive near my spot and stay until very last shooting light. Have to stay positive that if people aren't doing it right, they cannot

fool carma.

[PRDATR]

I hate to see roads shutdown. I also don't like hiking into an area and have the silence disrupted by someone in a loud vehicle driving where they have no business going. It's a double edged sword but not allowing game retrival with the aid of a vehicle in non Wilderness areas isn't right.

[GotBowAz]

My hunting partner will be turning 70 this November. He is still in great shape but no way will he/we be able to pack out a whole elk for a couple of miles and retrieve camp too. He and I have hunted 5BN for 20 plus years. It will truly be sad when he can’t get back to his favorite hunting places due to closed roads that we have used for so many years. And I agree, I will be really upset to see someone go by me on any kind of vehicle if I'm humping out elk or camp and even more so if I see it and my hunting partner can’t get there.

 

My crusade in finding pack animals wasn’t intended to get ready for road closers but it’s looking like that will be one of benefits to having them. But to the point others have eluded to. Hunters won’t be in the field as long or as deep as they once went. This will make it a mad house around all the roads that will be open and make it nearly impossible for a hunter that isn’t as mobile to take a nice animal. Can you imagine your camp getting dusted by all the traffic a mere 30 feet off the road? My partner has said one day he may end up being just camp cook as he won’t be able to hunt. I used to joke with him and tell I would hoist him up in a block and tackle then tie him off so he could still hunt. Now it’s looking like we won’t even be able to get him to a tree or a good area for even a ground blind much less be our camp cook. Our older generation will be force to road hunt on quads and such or not at all. That just kills me to think about. And we are going to get old one day too, what happens then? Will I be forced to quit hunting?

 

My answer to the original question the OP asked… I will do whatever it takes to get back in to the area we love to hunt so much within the law. It may mean more trips, a down and dirty elk camp, and to figure out how to haul in water too. If it means pack animals then so be it. I feel for those that can’t have any of those means. I imagine outfitters are probably going to do very well as a result of this. Good for them, they should take advantage of it. If road closers have to happen I hope outfitters are so competitive that the prices are kept low enough for the not so mobile average Joe hunter to afford them.

 

That’s my take on it and this really upsets me.

 

GBA