• Fall hunt recommendations and application schedule to be determined at April commission meeting
• Endangered fish take helicopter ride to new homes
• Public invited to open house on proposed northern Arizona shooting range
• Closure of Lake Pleasant eagle breeding area ends
• More than 250 youths compete in Commissioners' Cup trap, skeet championships
• Fishing is busting loose at the desert lakes
• Game and Fish Director Duane Shroufe receives national and international conservation awards
• Classic car show to benefit injured and orphaned wildlife
• Attend the Game and Fish Region III Wildlife Fair in Cottonwood April 7

Fall hunt recommendations and application schedule to be determined at April commission meeting

The final recommendations for the fall 2006 big game hunts, along with a proposed schedule for the hunt application process, will be presented to the Arizona Game and Fish Commission for approval at the commission's public meeting on Saturday, April 22 in Phoenix. The meeting begins at 8 a.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn/Phoenix Midtown, 4000 N. Central Ave.

The hunt recommendations have been through an extensive public input process over the past several months, including a series of public meetings and the opportunity to provide written comment. Part of the recommendation package includes some proposed hunt structure changes:

• The fall big game draw would be split beginning in 2007, with the draw for elk and antelope occurring in early spring, and the draw for deer, turkey and bighorn sheep occurring during the typical time period in July. The intent is to provide greater lead time to successful applicants for planning their hunts. 
  
  
• A fall javelina season would be created beginning in 2006. This would allow the department to more effectively issue tags during a draw, given the history of spring leftover tags from southeastern Arizona hunt areas. It would also provide more opportunities for multi-species hunts.

The commission will also be asked to approve the proposed application schedule for this year's fall big game draw. The application deadline traditionally has been 7 p.m. the second Tuesday in June, which would be June 13 this year if approved by the commission. Any changes or updates after the April 22 commission meeting will be included in future editions of Wildlife News and posted on the department's Web site.

Applications will be accepted online again this year after a one-year hiatus. The new hunt regulations and application form should be available online at the Arizona Game and Fish Department's Web site, azgfd.gov, no later than the first week of May. Printed regulations and applications should be available at department offices and license dealers statewide no later than mid-May.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department does its best to help hunters navigate the draw odds by publishing statistics from previous years in the regulations. The department also offers a book called "Hunt Arizona" that provides historical survey, harvest and hunt data to assist people in selecting their hunts. The 2006 edition of the publication should be out by late April and can be purchased at department offices for $6 or by downloading an order form and mailing it with payment to the address on the form.

Click here to view all of the proposed hunt recommendations and guidelines.

Endangered fish take helicopter ride to new homes

About 400 endangered desert pupfish are in new homes this week, courtesy of biologists' hard work and rides in coolers dangling from a huge net underneath a helicopter. On March 31, biologists from the Arizona Game and Fish Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Arizona Bureau of Land Management hiked into Lousy Canyon and Larry Canyon at the Agua Fria National Monument to meet the helicopter, which swung down the fish-filled coolers in a net. Then, the biologists moved the endangered fish from the coolers into buckets for a short trip to areas where they can thrive, about 40 miles north of Phoenix.

"This was a sophisticated effort to move these desert pupfish, a species which only lives in Arizona, southern California and northern Mexico," says Jeremy Voeltz, an Arizona Game and Fish Department fish biologist. "We did it because we're trying to create new populations of desert pupfish in areas of the range where they used to be plentiful but have since died out."

Pollution, human changes to the environment and the introduction of competing exotic fish species in Arizona have caused the desert pupfish's habitat to shrink. Several organizations have been involved in breeding more of the fish so that new areas can be populated. Click here for the rest of the story.

Public invited to open house on proposed northern Arizona shooting range

The Arizona Game and Fish Department will host an open house in Flagstaff on April 15 to provide information and receive input from the public on the proposed Willard Springs site for the new Northern Arizona Regional Shooting Facility. The open house will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Northern Arizona University du Bois Center, Fremont Room, 306 E. Pine Knoll Drive.

The department has been spearheading a public planning process to provide a safe, modern regional shooting facility near Flagstaff to meet the needs of recreational shooters and law enforcement agencies. The Arizona Game and Fish Commission in February gave approval to the department to pursue the Willard Springs site, north of Munds Park and near I-17, as the preferred location.

"Flagstaff is the largest city in Arizona without a public shooting facility," says Joe Melton, chair of the Arizona Game and Fish Commission. "Recreational shooters and law enforcement personnel either have to travel to other cities that have shooting ranges, or use makeshift areas such as cinder pits and hillsides."

Additional community information meetings about the proposed site, and about the operation of shooting ranges in general, will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. April 25 at the Pinewood Country Club, 395 Pinewood Blvd. in Munds Park, and from 6 to 8 p.m. April 27 at Don Hoel's Cabins, Canyon Room, 9440 N. Highway 89A in Sedona.

Closure of Lake Pleasant eagle breeding area ends

Boaters and anglers can enjoy Lake Pleasant even more now, since the closure of the eagle breeding area at the lake ended on Friday afternoon, March 31. As soon as buoys were removed, people were legally allowed to use the section for recreation.

Every year, the Arizona Game and Fish Department closes about 21 bald eagle breeding areas during the winter and spring, in order to help protect the birds' efforts to produce young. Human activities and low-flying planes can disrupt breeding attempts. This year, the closure at Lake Pleasant, which is about 30 miles north of downtown Phoenix, ended earlier than expected.

"The pair of bald eagles at Lake Pleasant never laid eggs, even though normal courtship and nest-building activities were observed," says James Driscoll, head of the Arizona Game and Fish Department's Bald Eagle Management Program. "We are unsure of the exact reason why these eagles did not reproduce this year. They had been portraying all of the behaviors of a pair that was ready to reproduce."

Closures remain in effect at several other locations in Arizona, including sites along the Salt, Verde, San Carlos and Little Colorado rivers; at several lakes; and at Tonto Creek, until June 30. The Lake Pleasant breeding area will close again on Dec. 15 for the next breeding season.

More than 250 youths compete in Commissioners' Cup trap, skeet championships

Teams of young shotgun shooters from across the state took aim at first place at the Scholastic Clay Target Program's Commissioners' Cup state championships in trap and skeet shooting the past two weekends. Two hundred fifty kids took part in the trap championships March 25 at the Red Mountain Trap and Skeet Club in Scottsdale, and 152 faced off in the skeet championships April 1 at the Tucson Trap and Skeet Club in Tucson.

Squads from Tucson, Phoenix, the East Valley and Sierra Vista ended up taking the top spots.

"We had a great turnout at both events," says Anthony Chavez, shooting sports coordinator for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. "Participation was up more than 30 percent over last year and included new teams from programs in Sierra Vista and Casa Grande."

Teams competed in four divisions: rookie (fifth grade and below), junior (sixth through eighth grade), senior novice (ninth through 12 grade) and senior experienced (also ninth through 12th grade).

The winning teams were:

Trap championships

• Senior experienced division - Red Mountain Target Terminators (Mark Clary, Jr., Garret Cobbs, Hayden Edgmon, Isaac Evans, Justin Williams)
• Senior novice division - Red Mountain Target Terminators (Jack Murphy, Corey Peterson, Michael Reeves, Kyle Wandelear, Patrick Wood)
• Junior novice division - Ben Avery Clay Crushers (Wes Borie, Brett Hoeppner, Chase Karvanek, Luke McCabe-O'Donnell, Lane Shank)
• Rookie division - Tucson Trap and Skeet Youth Club (Brandon Carlisle, Luis Gloria, Abbey Fife, Perry Kurker-Mraz, Aaron Young)

Skeet championships

• Senior experienced division - Huachuca Hot Shots (Brielle Eaton, Brisdon Eaton, Scott Usry)
• Senior novice division - Ben Avery Clay Crushers (Bradley Barber, Beau Bonner, Kimberly Peters)
• Junior novice division - Ben Avery Clay Crushers (Wes Borie, Brett Hoeppner, Lane Shank)
• Rookie division - Tucson Trap and Skeet Youth Club (Brandon Carlisle, Luis Gloria, Perry Kurker-Mraz)

The third leg of the Commissioners' Cup, the sporting clays championships, will be held April 29 at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility in Phoenix.

The Commissioners' Cup championships conclude the season for the Scholastic Clay Target Program, which is sponsored by the Arizona Game and Fish Commission and administered by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. This is the second year for Arizona's program, which is based on the national initiative developed and sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Nearly 800 youths participate statewide, making it one of the largest state programs in the country.

Click here for the complete results of the trap and skeet championships.

Fishing is busting loose at the desert lakes

Spring is here and fishing is already busting loose in Arizona's desert lakes, and the recent flurry of snowstorms in the high country has made the outlook even more promising for mountain trout waters.

"We are reaping the bounty from last year's record runoff and corresponding fish spawns in our desert lakes. The bass and crappie fishing right now in Arizona is the best we have seen in many years. If we can get some runoff to help keep lake levels up this year, it will be icing on the cake," says Larry Riley, fisheries chief for the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

Right now, bass and crappie are spawning at places like Roosevelt Lake, Alamo Lake, Bartlett Lake and Lake Pleasant. "Roosevelt is going through what we call the new lake syndrome. The fishing there so far this year has been phenomenal. It's hard to imagine that the fishing could even get better, but it is certainly possible," Riley says.

Alamo Lake west of Wickenburg has also been a routine hot spot for bass and crappie. Bass anglers are routinely having 50- to 80-fish days (catch-and-release) and crappie anglers are typically pulling in 20 or 30 slab-sided beauties (catch-and-eat) in a day.

Another fishery providing lots of angling action right now is Lake Pleasant on the northern edge of Phoenix. Pleasant is the only fishery in the state to have white bass. It also has a growing population of striped bass, and is a renowned largemouth bass fishery. Largemouth, white bass and striped bass are all exhibiting spawning behavior. For anglers, that means these sport-fish are feeding more aggressively and are easier to catch.

The reigning hot fishing spot during most of last year, Bartlett Lake, has turned on the past few weeks for largemouth bass and crappie. Bartlett has actually received good runoff the past four out of six years, which means it is loaded with lots of 1- to 4-pound bass. "Salt River Project is releasing just token amounts of water from Bartlett right now, so it will pretty much stay at this lake level throughout the spawn unless it receives significant runoff. Bartlett has all the potential to be a hot fishing spot again this year," Riley says.

The outlook is even looking more promising in the high country thanks to recent snowstorms. One hot spot this year is Lower Lake Mary near Flagstaff. "Lower Lake Mary is loaded with lots of 1.5- to 2-pound trout, and hordes of small northern pike. It is providing some of the best trout fishing in the state right now," says Chuck Benedict, a fisheries biologist in the Game and Fish Flagstaff regional office.

"Another good fishing spot this year should be Long Lake east of Flagstaff. It dried up two years ago, but filled up nicely last year and we stocked it full of fingerling trout. Those trout are now catchable size, and anglers have already been doing well there," Benedict says.

A sleeper this year, Benedict said, is Marshall Lake on Anderson Mesa. "Marshall has good water and lots of trout. It's a great place for canoes or float tubes, but not a lot of good shoreline access."

The old reliable every year is Kinnikinick Lake east of Flagstaff. "Even when other lakes experience water quality or water level problems during the dry season, Kinnikinick typically has decent water levels and for some reason it seldom experiences high pH levels. It is our old reliable: If we can't stock trout other places, we stock them there," Benedict said.

Many high mountain lakes already received trout stockings this year during the mild January and February weather that melted the ice on most lakes. For instance, Woods Canyon, Willow Springs and Crescent Lake all received late winter trout stockings before snowstorms closed the access roads. The warming spring weather should result in many of these lakes being back open soon.

Game and Fish Director Duane Shroufe receives national and international conservation awards

Arizona Game and Fish Department Director Duane Shroufe recently was honored with two prestigious national and international conservation awards.

Shroufe was presented the 2006 Distinguished Service Award from the Wildlife Management Institute on March 23 during the 71st North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Columbus, Ohio. The award was given in recognition of his outstanding contributions to conservation of the continent's wildlife and habitats.

"Initiatives as diverse as jaguar conservation in Mexico, wetland protection in Canada and advocacy for overall state agency excellence have benefited from Director Shroufe's leadership," said Steven A. Williams, president of the Wildlife Management Institute. "His contributions to the stability and progressiveness of his agency and his professional conservation agenda are truly impressive."

Shroufe also received the International Canvasback Award from the North American Waterfowl Management Plan in recognition of his contributions to wetland conservation on national, international and state levels. He has served as a council member of the Pacific Flyway Council for 16 years and is the current chair of the North American Wetland Conservation Council.

Shroufe began his career with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and has been with the Arizona Game and Fish Department since 1989. Click here for the rest of the story.

Classic car show to benefit injured and orphaned wildlife

You can see incredible classic cars and some beautiful native Arizona animals, including a Gila monster, a golden eagle, a prairie dog, a desert tortoise and three types of hawks, at an upcoming car show to benefit the Arizona Game and Fish Department's Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center. All proceeds from the Saturday, April 22 "Wild Rides for Wild Animals" event will go to the care of injured, orphaned and abandoned animals being cared for at the center.

"This event is a chance to have some fun and also raise money for a great cause," says Sandy Cate, coordinator of the Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center. "We'll have door prizes, live music, food vendors, a silent auction and even kids 'safari' activities."

The event will take place at the North Hills Church at 15025 N. 19th Ave. in Phoenix. That's at the southeast corner of 19th Avenue and Greenway Road. Hours of the car show are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.

If you have a classic car or other vehicle that you want to show off, you can enter it in the benefit by pre-registering for $20, or registering the day of the event for $25. Prizes will be given in several categories.

For more information about the car show or to pre-register, call the Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center at (623) 582-9806 or e-mail wildridesforwildanimals@hotmail.com. Click here for the rest of the story.

Attend the Game and Fish Region III Wildlife Fair in Cottonwood April 7

Live critters, wildlife education and free materials will highlight the Arizona Game and Fish Department's Region III Wildlife Fair in Cottonwood on Friday, April 7. The fair will run from 6-9 p.m. at Mingus Union High School, 1801 E. Fir St. just off Route 260.

Free to the public, the fair will feature live wildlife, wildlife displays, hands-on activities, and giveaway items such as posters, booklets and brochures. Local department staff will be on hand to talk about Arizona wildlife and department programs. For more information, contact the Kingman regional office at (928) 692-7700.