OK, I'm back after spending several hours trying to get radio signals from sheep collars in the Catalinas. More about that later.
To Kenny, I will admit that some people I know do go on guided hunts out of state, but most of my friends do not, and I don't know anyone who hires a guide to hunt in Arizona, even for sheep. It isn't necessary. More important, we're fanatical warriors against over-commercialization of hunting, including landowner tags in Arizona. For the most part, the Az Game & Fish Commissioners we've had over the years have supported us in this. Unlike New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and some other Western states, Arizona does not have a lot of large private ranches that can use hunting opportunity to leverage landowner tags from the state, but they can deny access to any except the clients of outfitters they've contracted with and get tens of thousands of dollars each year from deep-pocketed out-of-state hunters. The O.R.O. up in your neck of the woods (a ways north of you around Anvil Rock Rd) is one of the major exceptions. This amounts to selling the state's wildlife, which is wrong because free-ranging wildlife should belong to the people of Arizona, and it does under current statute. And some ranchers who lease most of their grazing land from the US govt. happen to own small parcels where they can put up gates and deny the public access to state and federal lands beyond. In Cochise County, for example, people have climbed over the gate leading into John Long Canyon thinking their several-mile hike up the forest service road will be rewarded with an under-hunted whitetail area, only to find a bunch of campers and trailers occupied by the clients of the an outfitter who has an arrangement with the landowner who put up the gate. This is federal land, and the wildlife belongs to the people, but in order to enjoy what's yours you must first pay the guy running the toll gate operation. Much or all of the Winchester, Santa Teresa, Peloncillo and Swisshelm Mountains have become the private preserves or pay-to-play areas for landowners who pay no more taxes on it than the rest of us but are able to block motorized access. Try visiting the Geronimo surrender site in the Chiricahuas, on Coronado Natl. Forest land, and see how many doors you have to knock on to get through gates, and how many will let you through. The solution, of course, is for the federal govt. to buy right-of-way from willing sellers, but funding for that sort of thing seldom makes it through the budget process. At the county level, where responsibility lies for providing road access to the boundaries of federal lands, politicians couldn't care less about the public's right to get into the national forest, don't want to ruffle local feathers and are glad to accept exclusive access from landowners as a favor. Even the Klumps, who Jerry mentioned, have been known to grant access to at least one politician I know of.
Since the Az Constitution doesn't mention wildlife, all governance is under statute, which means we have to tread somewhat lightly around this issue given that the ranching community has far more clout around the state capitol than Arizona's sportsmen. In the meantime, many of the ranchers who do allow access are receiving a lot sportsmen's dollars in exchange for experiencing some inconveniences and for not being jerks.
If I ever meet up with you guys in person, over some beers I'll name names of govt. officials who benefit from the current situation. That assumes, of course, that you'd even want to get me started on these topics.
As for the sheep thing, Jerry you should know that Game & Fish and Az Desert Bighorn Sheep Society put together an advisory council comprised of all interested environmental groups, and the reintroduction plan and ground rules reflect what they and the environmentalists agreed upon. The green groups were Center for Biological Diversity, Sky Island Alliance, The Az Wilderness Coalition and Az Wilderness Society. To my great surprise, the environmentalists have actually become strong supporters of the reintroduction effort, although they're taking major heat from some of their financial donors and members who don't know the details of the project. As you've seen, lions are eating the sheep at a record pace, and it remains to be seen whether the reintroduction is a folly, but if nothing else a great deal is being learned here, including the fact that hunters and environmentalists can actually work together, something I wouldn't have predicted.
