• New condor treatment facility will help endangered birds
• Arizona Game and Fish Department seeks legislative changes to current OHV laws
• Quail check station tells the story in Tonto Basin
• Public invited to attend open house on Northern Arizona Regional Shooting Facility planning efforts
• 2006 Arizona Game and Fish Department Wildlife Calendar now on sale
• October Game and Fish Commission meeting overview
• Wildlife rule changes proposed
• Check out Arizona's rattlesnakes and other predators on "Arizona Wildlife Views" television show
• Table Mesa Road cleanup removes more than 6 tons of trash
• Hunters asked to assist CWD testing efforts

New condor treatment facility will help endangered birds

With less than 300 California condors left in the world, it's important to offer the best possible health care to these endangered birds. The Arizona Game and Fish Department and The Peregrine Fund recently worked together to create an advanced, new condor treatment facility in the area of Arizona where dozens of condors live, near the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument.

"Until now, condors had to be transported to Page, or even as far as the Phoenix area for emergency care," says Kathy Sullivan, a condor biologist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department. "At this new facility, we can develop X-rays, do exams and provide rehabilitation to the birds right in the area of Arizona where they live."

Biologists from The Peregrine Fund, who monitor the condors on a daily basis, designed and constructed the new climate-controlled treatment facility at Marble Canyon. Their design features an X-ray machine, a laboratory, isolation chambers and a rehabilitation area. A veterinarian from The Phoenix Zoo, Dr. Kathy Orr, has already trained biologists to carry out basic medical procedures and will continue to be involved in the evaluation of condor cases that come into the facility.

The $20,000 worth of upgrades and equipment to outfit the new condor treatment facility were paid for by the Arizona Game and Fish Department Heritage Fund.

For the rest of the story on the condor treatment facility, click here.

Arizona Game and Fish Department seeks legislative changes to current OHV laws

The Arizona Game and Fish Commission has given the department the green light to move forward with efforts to seek changes in state laws that govern the use of off-highway vehicles in Arizona.

The department plans to go before the Legislature during its next session, which begins in January 2006, with plans to improve OHV laws in Arizona.

The department has been working closely for about a year with user groups, federal and state agencies, sportsmen's groups and other OHV stakeholders to draft a new legislative plan. It seeks to enhance OHV laws in Arizona and to provide additional resources for OHV recreation and management in Arizona through implementation of a user fee.

Proposed changes to current legislation also include:

• Creating laws that address protecting wildlife habitat and enhance rider safety
  
• Making sure current laws are easier to understand and more user friendly
  
• Creating a user fee program to fund off-highway vehicle recreation, management and safety
  
• Further defining an advisory group to help guide OHV management and accountability

The Game and Fish Department is the state agency responsible for managing Arizona's wildlife and for helping protect wildlife habitat. Under current law, the department is responsible for providing information and education about off-highway vehicles, enforcing OHV laws and identifying habitat damaged by off-highway vehicles. 

Quail check station tells the story in Tonto Basin

Spencer Porter and his five friends from Heber were all smiles - in the first two days of the season, the group of young men bagged approximately 60 Gambel's quail in the Tonto Basin near Roosevelt Lake.

Plenty of others had similar tales.

Karl Conner of Mesa discovered that his 11-year-old son, Granger, has a real shooting eye. "He's a natural. I guess I ought to get him into skeet shooting or something," said the proud father while patting his son on the shoulder.

At the Arizona Game and Fish Department's quail check station near Punkin Center in the Tonto Basin, the reported quail harvest increased almost eight-fold from 2004 to this year. In 2004, hunters brought in 188 quail to the check station. This year, the number jumped to 1,436. As a comparison, in 2003, hunters checked in 561 birds.

Another telling factor is the harvest of juvenile birds. In 2003, there were three juvenile birds harvested for every adult. Last year, that fell to one juvenile harvested per adult, indicating a very poor hatch. This year, the quail hatch was excellent in this area, given that five juvenile birds were taken per adult quail.

"The numbers pretty much tell it all," says Mark Zornes, the department's small game biologist. "Last year, hunters averaged 1.1 quail per day. This year in the Tonto Basin, they averaged 6.6 birds on opening weekend. Last year, a great day was harvesting five or six birds. This year, six birds is just the average, with a lot of hunters getting their limit of 15 quail."

The other check station was less scientific, but a little more colorful. At the Butcher's Hook Café in Punkin Center, the good quail hunting was the subject of most late-morning breakfast conversations as hungry hunters gobbled up eggs, home fries and side meat.

"Hey Fred, how'd you guys do?"

"The best since the early 90s. How about you guys?"

"About the same. We got our limit in two or three hours."

"Oh yeah, where at?"

"Everyplace we went!"

You could hear chuckling at most of the tables.

Tonto Basin Quail Check Station Results

	2003	2004	2005
Total Hunter Days	119	169	218
Gambel’s Quail Harvest	561	188	1,436
Total Adult Harvest	40	47	228
Total Juvenile Harvest	116	45	1,139
Juvenile/Adult	2.9	1.0	5.0
Quail/Day	4.7	1.1	6.6

Public invited to attend open house on Northern Arizona Regional Shooting Facility planning efforts

The Arizona Game and Fish Department is hosting an open house in Flagstaff on Saturday, Oct. 29, to provide information and take public comment on efforts to locate a site for a public shooting range in the Flagstaff region. The open house will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Northern Arizona University's du Bois Center, Fremont Room, located at 306 East Pine Knoll Drive.

Flagstaff is the largest city in Arizona without a public shooting facility. Shooting enthusiasts and law enforcement agencies currently either have to travel to other cities with shooting facilities or use local areas such as cinder pits, hillsides and stock tank berms.

For more information and future updates on the Northern Arizona Regional Shooting Facility, check the Arizona Game and Fish Department's Web site.

2006 Arizona Game and Fish Department Wildlife Calendar now on sale

The Arizona Game and Fish Department is going to dazzle wildlife watchers yet again. The department's 2006 wildlife calendar is on sale now and features a whole new year of fantastic up-close photographs of wild animals being wild.

The calendar includes some of the best photos by professional wildlife photographers, along with useful information about wildlife watching, tips for living with wildlife, and how you can have big fun hunting small game in Arizona.

The calendar costs just $10, and orders are being taken now. You can pick up the calendar at any Arizona Game and Fish Department office around the state. Buy one for your desk or wall, or to give as a gift during the holiday season.

For more information, or to print out an order form, visit the department's Web site. 

October Game and Fish Commission meeting overview

During its Oct. 21 meeting in Phoenix, the Arizona Game and Fish Commission awarded three special tags per big game species, but allocated one tag per each of the nine big game species to be sold via a "super raffle" this coming year. The "super raffle" concept is part of a 20-year evolutionary process associated with this program.

The special tag program actually began in 1984 when the Arizona Legislature passed a bill allowing the commission to take two bighorn sheep tags and use them for fundraising purposes for that species. The program has been a remarkable success. Over the next 20-plus years, the program has evolved to include all big game species. The special tag program has raised more than $11 million for Arizona wildlife management efforts.

Last year, the program was expanded again when the Legislature increased the number of special tags from two per big game species, to three tags per species. Also last year, the Game and Fish Commission told the various wildlife conservation organizations that it would like to see them all work together. They took that to heart, and the organizations joined together and came up with the "super raffle" concept, where all the organizations could participate in a single fundraising effort using a special tag per each of the nine big game species.

For the other two tags per species, the commission allocated those tags as follows:

• Pronghorn: Two tags to the Arizona Antelope Foundation.
• Black bear: One tag to the Arizona Bowhunters Association and one tag to Safari Club International - Arizona Chapter (SCI-AZ).
• Bighorn sheep: Two tags to the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society. 
• Buffalo: One tag to the Arizona Elk Society and one to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
• Elk: One tag to the Arizona Elk Society and one to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
• Javelina: One tag to SCI-AZ and one to the Arizona Bowhunters Association.
• Mule deer: One tag to the Mule Deer Foundation and one to the Arizona Deer Association.
• Turkey: Two tags to the National Wild Turkey Federation.
• Whitetail deer: Two tags to the Arizona Deer Association.

The commission also approved a notice of final rulemaking to amend Article 1, dealing with definitions and general provisions to reinstate limits on nonresident hunt permit tags.

Anglers will want to note some minor changes for this coming year. The commission adopted Commission Order 40 (fish). The commission order extends the closures on Snake Creek and Bear Wallow Creek for Apache trout re-establishment and recovery for three years, to Dec. 31, 2008. The commission also closed Fish Creek (including tributaries Double Cienega and Corduroy creeks, but excluding Ackre Lake), the upper East Fork of the Little Colorado River, and Hayground Creek to fishing for one year.

The commission directed the department to proceed with pursuing three possible operational options for the Ben Avery Shooting Facility on the northern fringe of Phoenix. The three options are: 1. The department continuing to operate the Clay Target Center and/or main range; 2. Continuing to create a request for proposal for a vendor to operate the Clay Target Center and/or main range. 3. Pursuing a possible intergovernmental agreement to partner with the city of Phoenix for operating the Clay Target Center and/or the main range.

The commission rejected a petition for a rule change to exempt individuals over 70 years of age (with a Pioneer License) from the big game draw for all deer and elk hunts with greater than 250 permits, which would have resulted in those individuals automatically receiving a tag if they applied for one of these permits.

The commission did not approve a request from FLW Outdoors to open the rules at this time to consider allowing the live transport of black bass for off-site tournament weigh-ins, but directed the department to consider this request during the normal five-year rule review cycle, which should begin this coming year.

Wildlife rule changes proposed

The Arizona Game and Fish Department is proposing to modify some of its live wildlife rules and some of its rules about the taking and handling of wildlife.

The proposed changes to the live wildlife rules include adjustments to the general application criteria for special licenses to possess live wildlife and additional requirements for holding live wildlife. These proposals were presented to the public in April. Then, the Arizona Game and Fish Commission approved a notice of proposed rulemaking at its September meeting. The department will hold a public hearing to accept final oral comments on Dec. 3 at 9 a.m. at the Arizona State Fairgrounds Wildlife Building, 1826 W. McDowell Road, Phoenix.

Last month, the commission also approved a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend its rules for the taking and handling of wildlife. This proposal would authorize the dividing and transporting of a wildlife carcass taken in the field, add check-out requirements for hunters that take mountain lion or bear, and authorize possession of a carcass of a mountain lion or bear that depredates on livestock. The commission will accept final oral comments on these changes at its Dec. 9-10 meeting in Phoenix.

The department is accepting written comments from the public on both of these proposals from Oct. 22 to Nov. 21. Direct comments and questions to Carlos Ramírez at rulemaking@azgfd.gov.

Check out Arizona's rattlesnakes and other predators on "Arizona Wildlife Views" television show

What are your odds of ever being bitten by a rattlesnake? Do you know how many rattlesnake species call Arizona home? The award-winning "Arizona Wildlife Views" television program continues to impress and educate viewers with magnificent tales of Arizona's wild animals being wild. The next episode will introduce you to rattlesnakes and other predators that inhabit our state.

Host Chuck Emmert will take you closer than you've probably ever wanted to go to the state's 12 species of rattlesnakes. Viewers will learn how to tell rattlers apart from one another, find out where they live and figure out just how dangerous their bites really are. We'll reveal your odds of ever being bitten and your odds of ever dying from these slithering creatures' venom.

Also, it's nearly impossible to know for sure how many other small predators live in Arizona. Viewers will meet Arizona Game and Fish Department biologists who have come up with a unique way to count critters such as bobcats, coyotes and foxes without trapping them, interfering with them or harming them in any way.

Don't miss "Arizona Wildlife Views." The next episode airs in Phoenix on Nov. 1 on the PBS affiliate KAET at 7:30 p.m. If you live in Tucson, you can catch the next episode Nov. 6 at 5:30 p.m. on the PBS affiliate KUAT.

"Arizona Wildlife Views" won three Emmy awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences last month at an awards ceremony in Phoenix. It won in the public affairs program category, took home an Emmy in the program element category and came out on top in the lighting location category. To see a complete lineup of shows and topics, visit the department's Web site.

Table Mesa Road cleanup removes more than 6 tons of trash

Nearly 200 volunteers removed more than 12,000 pounds of trash along Table Mesa Road north of Phoenix as part of a special National Public Lands Day event on Oct. 22. The cleanup was organized by the Good Gun Foundation, with support from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Maricopa County and the city of Phoenix.

The diverse group of volunteers included members of off-highway vehicle groups, shooting enthusiasts, hikers, hunters and a variety of other outdoor recreationists. They spent the morning removing old appliances, furniture, discarded beverage containers, and a mass of other litter from the area.

Leo Ferraro of Phoenix and his son Ryan, 14, worked alongside David Sage of Paradise Valley and his son, Colin, 10. "It's gratifying to see the number of people who turned out today," Leo says. "It's a shame that a small number of individuals make cleanups like this necessary. The vast majority of people who use the area for recreation are responsible folks who respect the land."

"This was a great partnership effort," says Joshua Hurst, a Game and Fish wildlife manager. "It's very important that we continue to work together on educational and hands-on efforts to maintain safe recreational activities on public lands."

Citizens who observe resource-based violations such as dumping, vandalism and habitat destruction on public lands are urged to report them to the Bureau of Land Management at (800) 637-9152.

Hunters asked to assist CWD testing efforts

The Arizona Game and Fish Department is asking hunters to submit the heads of their harvested deer and elk for testing this hunting season as part of the effort to monitor for the presence of chronic wasting disease (CWD).

Hunters can bring in the head of their recently harvested deer or elk to any Game and Fish Department office between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The head should be placed in a plastic garbage bag for delivery and kept cool and out of the sun. You will be asked to fill out a form and include the following information: county and game management unit in which the animal was harvested, hunt number and permit number, and a phone number. If this information is not provided, the department will be unable to test the head.

Those who submit heads will be notified of CWD test results by postcard within six to eight weeks. There is no charge for testing or notification.

CWD is a wildlife neurological disease that is fatal to deer and elk. There is no scientific evidence that the disease affects humans. If you see a deer or elk that appears to exhibit signs of CWD, such as low weight, stumbling gait, drooping ears, rough hair condition, drooling, or loss of fear of humans, contact the Arizona Game and Fish Department at (800) 352-0700. For more information on CWD, visit azgfd.gov/cwd.