This is during a bear hunt up around Young, Oct 96. Bet'ya didn't know Arizona got this green!
NEW: Apr 2000: in 1999 I got drawn for ANTELOPE unit 19a, north of alt89, muzzleloader, and 20C deer!!!, kid got drawn for deer and 5b-north, Cow elk! details to follow: I missed out on an antelope, didn't see any antlered deer and the kid got sick and couldn't go elk hunting. But the real reason is, we spent most of our scouting time at rifle matches.
1997 year, I got drawn for cow elk in 6A, read about my success!!!
Hunting is fun, as a hobby. Not everyone will find it interesting, just like not everyone is interested in Golf or stamp collecting. Hopefully though we will all be tolerant of each other's interests.
I hunted deer in Pennsylvania with my Father when I was a teenager. We did not get anything, and I wasn't real interested in it (see ham radio) Then I got interested again after moving (away from my hunting teacher) to California. A big part of the reason I moved to Arizona was to be able to go hunting again with my Father and Brother.
I'm not a real good hunter, I almost never bring home much meat.
There is a lot of land available to hunt on in Arizona (Housing developments destroy more wildlife habitat and hence hunting opportunities than lead-shot, DDT, CFCs, the tobacco industry, and Assault Weapons combined.) One (with an AZ hunting license) can hunt outside of city limits on National Forest, BLM, State Trust land, wildlife refuges, and private land (unless denied permission). (Some Indian reservations are open to hunting, but it is the individual tribe's department of fish and game that issues that license, often at rapacious fees!)
Despite the reputation of being a desert, there is a wide variety of terrain in Arizona. (I was lookin' at snow-covered peaks the weekend prior to first writing this). A huge strip of high altitude tall timber stretches across north-central Arizona. Arizona supports a wide variety of wildlife, mostly in stable, huntable populations, but apparently low densities (i.e. you gotta hunt hard and walk a lot).
An Arizona Hunting license is required. In addition, various tags are required to hunt: Deer, Bear, Elk, Mountain Lion, Javelina, Turkey, Buffalo, Bighorn Sheep, Sandhill Crane etc. Special stamps are required for Grouse, Ducks, Geese, Pidgeon etc. All the information and forms can be obtained at hunting license vendors, usually sporting goods stores. Or from the Arizona Department of Game and Fish.
We usually have to mail in an application for a big game hunt tag several months in advance. Nearly all tags are issued by lottery and nearly all hunts have more tag applicants than tags.
I like hunting: