Game and Fish Catchments

[elkaholic]

I've been doing a little research and what I've found out is a little strange - to me anyway

 

you can go to G&F habi-map and use layers to find units and water

 

Since I have an interest in 10 - wifes bull tag and 9 a friends bull tag u I've been online scouting so to speak

 

Now every unit in the state has a varity of tanks - ponds- lakes etc to help wildlife --not all have catchments

 

Take a minute and look at the ones that are listed - I know not all may be listed for each unit

 

unit 9 has no less than 30 with most of them with in couples miles of the canyon in the upper 1/2 of the unit

 

unit 10 shows 8 with 6 on the BO

 

6b shows 1 but know of 3

 

6a shows 2

 

8 shows 7 but there are like 10

 

I could go on and list them all

 

what makes unit 9 deserve more attention than others in the state and I don't want to hear about rain fall

 

just curious why 9 seems to be overloaded while others have 1 or 2 and they are bigger units

 

its not like it is real remote either

 

so if one thinks there are 5-6 cameras on every water catchment in 9 then there is about

 

150 or more cameras up there -- not including all the little tanks that might hold water - due to the rains.

[jgraffaz]

I think it has to do with natural water in the area springs, cattle tanks seeps ect.....elk need water unlike deer or anything else, I think they put the catchments in areas that have everything the elk need except water...could be wrong and game and fish sometimes do things that make no sense but that's my best guess.

[rthrbhntng]

Unit 9 has very little, way less than most units, natural water.

One of the most common mistakes I see and hear from hunters is that there are many G&F catchments that are not on the maps. G&F has very few catchments in the woods comparied to the US Forest service. There are many hundreds of catchments that are US Forest Service. Many years ago the USFS was interested in wildlife, now they are interested in mainly T&E wildlife. Hundreds of the USFS catchments have not worked in many years. They stopped maintaining them years ago.

That is one of the main reasons that the Arizona Elk Society started their Water For Wildlife Program.

Steve

[have2bhuntn]

I think funding for different areas has something to do with it.

[Edge]

I certainly haven't been all over the unit but have only come across one AZGFD catchment holding water in 9. The rest are those dirt Tanks that require a lot of rain or run off to fill. Like rthrbhntng said, those Tanks are on the habimap and in droughts, the fs trucks in water to them, I've been told.

 

Love that habimap though, I've visited most of the azgfd catchments from Phoenix to Quartzite, Gila Bend to Aguilla.

[4Falls]

To chime in on what rthrbhuntin said. 8 has very few G&f trick tanks. Most of the tricks in 8 are old FS with a bunch being built and donated by wildlife groups. 22 has a bunch of FS drinkers, mostly under the rim, that have fallen into disrepair. I have heard that a private contractor has been tasked with repairing some of those. Though im not 100% sure of that.

I know first hand that g&f has been rebuilding and reworking many of their drinkers in the last few years. Visited a couple in 19b recently that had been all redone.

[Sneaker]

Often very dry there and not alot of natural water, world class high demand game species, people are willing to spend time, money, effort on the area. I would think some of it has to do with how proactive and motivated the ranchers are at establishing permanent waters as well. Units that have alot of cattle tanks don't have as big of a need for game waters. Its true the maps do not show all of the game and fish tanks. I know of a couple really old game waters that don't show up that still work just fine.

[elkaholic]

Ok I agree and understand with most of what is being said - animals need water - no brainer

 

But animals will also move / vacate an area to find water and habitat elsewhere!

 

I understand drought patterns etc. even cattle tanks/ ponds dry up - cattle can't move much fences etc property boundaries

[GJMauro12]

Has anyone found a catchment on the habimap that they couldn't locate when they went to find it? I was curious how accurate the habi map is because I seen a carchment on the map in a deer unit I hunt and plan to hike in to find it but wonder if it's actually there.

[naturegirl]

I think funding for different areas has something to do with it.

I also believe unit managers (G&F) have input. I know Ben in 37B worked tirelessly organizing the installation & volunteers over the years. I'm guessing he campaigned for funding of the tanks too.

[MULEPACKHUNTER]

I have been to a bunch of listed catchments and all that were on the hbimap were exactly as marked on the map within feet. Most were working but ya maintenance is going to be a problem. I agree with the above, it all about natural water that exists. Also even when a unit gets a lot of rain it may not have holding areas. I get showers like crazy in my unit but there barely standing water for more than a day. Those concrete drinkers really work well.

What do you guys and girls think is the best tanks you've seen? Seems like the concrete hold up best

[azshtr]

The tank that had a stolen camera on here recently was not on the G&F map. It also had a sharpie note written on the side of work done in May (if I remember right). Must be Forest managed?

[elkaholic]

mulepackhunter - warm water evaporates faster then cold water

 

I'd say water in a concrete tank will hold water longer and be cooler for the animals -

 

we all know how metal affects the transfer of heat

[Edge]

Ok I agree and understand with most of what is being said - animals need water - no brainer

 

But animals will also move / vacate an area to find water and habitat elsewhere!

 

I understand drought patterns etc. even cattle tanks/ ponds dry up - cattle can't move much fences etc property boundaries

Whoa partner, an AZGFD biologist went to check on a new catchment in the Eagletails some years back. He found it was not only dry for the first time in months, but desert bighorn and mule deer were found dead or dying all around the catchment. This discovery prompted a study on the affects on animals behaviour when a good water source dries up. All the while, there was another water catchment just 5 or 6 miles away with a full reservoir tank.

 

These creatures waited for water to reappear at the tank they were accustomed to, rather than seek another source.

Google the study, its easy to find with catch words: Eagletails water catchment bighorn AZGFD.

 

Now that catchment directly under Courthouse Rock, has about a 5000 gallon water trailer keeping the water hole full.

[rthrbhntng]

Just for a point of interest.

The Arizona Elk Society with funding from AZGFD, the auction tag, AES Banquet and recent raffles is working right now in Units 22 & 23 restoring 72 of the 150 old non working Forest Service catchments. last year we fixed 45 of them in Units 7 and 9. The AES has a worker that hauled over 200,000 gallons of water last year and 50,000 gallons this year in many different northern AZ Units. We also hired a contractor to clean silt out of 16 dirt tanks in Unit 7 last year.

In most cases elk and wildlife will move from tank to tank. The benefit of more widlely distributed water catchments is that the wildlife will better utilize the forage. Elk, wildlife and cattle camping out in one area wipe out the forage pretty quick.

These waters should greatly benefit turkeys too. When these waters were working 10-15 years ago turkey area grew. Since the winter kill of 2010, and the fact that the water sources didn't work anymore, the turkeys never came back in some areas. With these waters we hope to see better turkey numbers in the future in areas where they were killed.

Check out the AES Facebook and our AZ Elk Water Projects Facebook page too. Lots of good things going on out there.

As always we are looking for Volunteers to help out.

GET INVOLVED!!!