horses in elk unit

[AZBIG10]

On 1/12/2020 at 6:31 PM, azbirdhunter88 said:

And that affects what?

We use to see Mule deer bucks every single fishing trip driving to saguaro. EVERY trip! Never bothered to hunt them even though they were mature and had some good head gear. Horses numbers began to rise and I guess what we don’t see anymore. Zero bucks lots of those stupid horses 

[Alpinebullwinkle]

"ALPINE- I was in unit 27 quite a bit this year . I did not see a feral horse. those poor wolves can't kill anything .  confessing, this knowledge could tempt me. I saw a lot in unit 3. "

 

Great Ron. That means we are not hunting the same areas of the unit!

[GreyGhost85]

Spend some time around beaverhead in 27. You'll be sure to see some Ron. Unit 1 is starting to get over run with them too near the 27/rez border. Just so happens that bighorn sheep inhabit the exact same place as the FERAL horses in 1 and 27. Would we rather see bighorn sheep or feral horses on the landscape? there are around 70k bighorn sheep  in the country vs 9.2 million horses, around 50k of which are FERAL, not wild. 

[idgaf]

I remember this from when I was a kid.  The Federal law that protects the horses and burros was intended to protect the horses and burros left by the Spanish conquistadors and settlers not the feral animals that are all over the place.  This is where my memory gets foggy, I think it was after public outcry after the movie with robert redford called the electric horseman where he releases some million dollar horse in nevada to be free with some mustangs.   See politicians have always been wimpy, pandering,  self righteous babies. 

[trphyhntr]

people that consider going to the local dog park as being out in nature control what goes on in our forests and deserts. pathetic 

[Saguaro]

I drive the Bush Highway often and it’s usually early in the day.  I see people parked on the side of the road filming or taking pictures of these Horses.  Sometimes they’re only 20’ away.  You can tell they’re thrilled to be there.  I laugh to myself almost every time because the wild animals I know won’t let you get 20’ away talking and making all kinds of movement and the passing vehicles spook the animals I consider wild.  I try to figure out what can make a person so stupid as to consider these wild animals and the only thing I can come up with is that these people are city people and can’t think like we do.  To them, they’re called wild horses on the tv, well damit, they’re wild.

[trphyhntr]

6 minutes ago, Saguaro said:

I drive the Bush Highway often and it’s usually early in the day.  I see people parked on the side of the road filming or taking pictures of these Horses.  Sometimes they’re only 20’ away.  You can tell they’re thrilled to be there.  I laugh to myself almost every time because the wild animals I know won’t let you get 20’ away talking and making all kinds of movement and the passing vehicles spook the animals I consider wild.  I try to figure out what can make a person so stupid as to consider these wild animals and the only thing I can come up with is that these people are city people and can’t think like we do.  To them, they’re called wild horses on the tv, well damit, they’re wild.

i went by there once and there was people looking at a herd, some old bag got out on the highway and started waving her hands to get me to slow down like i was gonna spook em driving by lmao. 

[AZ8]

Just now, trphyhntr said:

i went by there once and there was people looking at a herd, some old bag got out on the highway and started waving her hands to get me to slow down like i was gonna spook em driving by lmao. 

Lol, I think that old lady also tried to slow me down one day. Must have been 20 cars parked in a bunch right across from the Pobrecito overflow staging lot. I laid on the horn as I passed all those idiots! People scattered, horses just kept grazing! lmao!

[LifeFeedsOnLife]

They sure are wild down here by the river...

[GreyGhost85]

What happened to the bird hunter?

[trphyhntr]

1 hour ago, AZ8 said:

Lol, I think that old lady also tried to slow me down one day. Must have been 20 cars parked in a bunch right across from the Pobrecito overflow staging lot. I laid on the horn as I passed all those idiots! People scattered, horses just kept grazing! lmao!

One time a horse got hit and it was off the road and someone came and put a blanket over it 

[muledeerarea33?]

11 minutes ago, trphyhntr said:

One time a horse got hit and it was off the road and someone came and put a blanket over it 

 

[AZBIG10]

Not sure about anyone else but I have seen big horn sheep by the salt river 

[Swivelhead]

A friend of mine who is active in federal land management issues (an OHV fiend) told me he recently attended a Tonto Forest planning meeting where the Salt River horse issue was discussed.  Apparently the plan is to fence the horses out of the river and off Bush Highway.  He said the horses will be contained to a relatively small area.  The horse lovers will then feed them.  This sounds good but feral horses are well distributed in adjacent areas.  Unless they are rounded up, the scourge will continue.

[AZ8]

9 minutes ago, Swivelhead said:

A friend of mine who is active in federal land management issues (an OHV fiend) told me he recently attended a Tonto Forest planning meeting where the Salt River horse issue was discussed.  Apparently the plan is to fence the horses out of the river and off Bush Highway.  He said the horses will be contained to a relatively small area.  The horse lovers will then feed them.  This sounds good but feral horses are well distributed in adjacent areas.  Unless they are rounded up, the scourge will continue.

https://www.azfamily.com/news/fencing-project-to-protect-salt-river-horses-sparks-controversy/article_2a9b3fea-3666-11ea-9ab6-07dcfa745ed4.html