The Arizona Game and Fish Commission is scheduled to finalize the rule-making process for proposed fee increases on most hunting and fishing licenses, tags, stamp and permits during the Saturday, Feb. 11 portion of its two-day meeting in Yuma.

The Game and Fish Commission is meeting at the Shilo Inn, 2550 S. Castle Dome Road, Yuma, on Feb. 10-11 starting at 8 a.m. both days.

The department is still accepting written comments on proposed fee increases until Feb. 6. Comments can be submitted by sending an e-mail to rulemaking@azgfd.gov. Public comments received will be provided to the commission for consideration during its Feb. 11 meeting. Although the department originally planned to present final rulemaking in March, the department notified the public earlier this year that it will instead present final rule changes in February.

If approved by the commission, the increases would not become law until the department obtains final approval from the Governor's Regulatory Review Council. If approved, the increased fees would become effective for 2007 licenses and tags.
 
The proposed changes include:

* Increased fees for resident and nonresident big game hunt permit-tags, adoption of Class J and K family hunting and fishing licenses, and adoption of the Class L, M, and N super conservation hunting and fishing licenses.
* An equal increase for resident and nonresident guide licenses.
* A new class of reduced-price junior hunt permit-tags for elk, deer, javelina and turkey at an equal cost for resident and nonresident youth.
* Elimination of the proposed Class A premium hunt permit-tags for deer and elk.

Examples of the new pricing structure include a general resident fishing license going from $18 to $23.50, a resident elk tag increasing from $78 to $114, a resident deer tag going from $19.50 to $34.75, a resident combination hunt and fish license increasing from $44 to $54, and a youth combination hunt and fish license going from $25.50 to $26.50.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department sought the increases through the rulemaking process after the Arizona Legislature approved higher fee caps last year. The new fees were sought to help the department meet increasing operating expenses and to address program priorities.

If you have questions or would like a copy of the changes, you can visit the department's Web site at azgfd.gov or contact Carlos Ramirez, the department's rule writer, at (602) 789-3288 or at rulemaking@azgfd.gov.

Efforts are underway to increase hunter retention
The Arizona Game and Fish Department has recently undertaken efforts to explore opportunities for increasing hunter and shooter retention and recruitment in the state.

In September of 2004, the department chartered a Hunter and Shooting Sports Retention Team (HRR Team) to evaluate potential barriers to hunting sports and to identify specific recommendations that can be adopted by the department to address declining participation in hunting and shooting sports. These trends reflect a national phenomenon that has been experienced by state wildlife agencies throughout the country. Game and Fish’s Pinetop Regional Supervisor Jon Cooley, who chaired the HRR Team, provided the Arizona Game and Fish Commission with a briefing of the team’s findings during the commission’s Jan. 20 meeting in Scottsdale.

One tool the HRR Team used during the process was to conduct an online hunter needs assessment survey that was distributed to 50,000, with the department receiving responses from approximately 7,000 people, the majority of which consisted of active Arizona hunters. The survey participants identified several factors that represented “barriers” to their participation in hunting, including:

* Not getting drawn for a big game tag – 90 percent.
* Urbanization/development of hunting areas – 65 percent.
* Lack of time – 59 percent.
* Off-highway vehicle disruption – 54 percent.
* Overcrowding – 51 percent.

The ability to go big game hunting might be a barrier to participation, but the HRR Team also recognized other hunting opportunities as a way to diminish barriers and increase recruitment. “Among the major themes reflected in the approaches recommended by the HRR Team is emphasizing small game hunting as a vehicle to promote hunting recruitment and retention and to serve as a bridge to the more limited big game hunting opportunities,” said Cooley.

The HRR Team developed12 main recommendations as the base of a comprehensive hunter recruitment and retention program, which are broadly highlighted in the following:

1. Construct a comprehensive property management plan for the Robbins Butte, Powers Butte and Arlington Wildlife Management Area complex to promote small game opportunity and provide a venue for hunter recruitment/retention activities.
2. Develop a short-term hunting lease program through landowner relations designed to obtain access to private lands for small game hunting opportunities.
3. Implement enhancements to the department’s Hunter Education Program that promote course convenience and flexibility to customers and that further institute adaptive management evaluation/management practices that mitigate potential barriers to entry.
4. Charter a team to identify improvements in the delivery of hunting information through the annual regulations booklet in a manner that encourages and facilitates use and understanding by new/inexperienced hunters in particular.
5. Evaluate existing big-game draw and hunt structures to maximize hunting opportunity on a sustainable basis.
6. Institute special licenses that promote participation of new hunters through family/friend social structures that serve to reinforce and support hunting activities.
7. Create department positions, public information and outreach efforts, and Web site enhancements that promote and support hunter recruitment/retention programs and activities.
8. Create a new hunter recruitment and retention coordinator position within the Information and Education Division to launch and coordinate the implementation of department hunter recruitment/retention programs, activities and promotions.
9. Establish a full-time shooting range development coordinator position in the Information and Education Division to promote convenient public access to shooting sports/ranges.
10. Launch coordinated, department-wide public information and outreach efforts that promote hunting and otherwise reinforce hunter recruitment/retention efforts and activities made available to the public.
11. Update the department’s strategic planning documents to proactively address urban encroachment as it relates to maintaining small game hunting opportunities in proximity to urban areas, which serve to advance hunter recruitment and retention efforts.
12. Conduct periodic/annual reviews of important hunt draw and license sales data and trends and apply adaptive management practices to department hunter recruitment/retention programs as needed.

Various HRR Team recommendations are already being implemented. For instance, the big game hunt guidelines were significantly revamped this year in light of the hunter retention team recommendations. Efforts were also increased to provide small game hunters better information on where to go for quail, doves, rabbits and waterfowl. The department developed a Hunter Newsletter and a process has been initiated to look at improving the hunt regulation booklet.

It’s winter crappie time at Roosevelt and Alamo
Roll up your sleeves, load up on sunscreen and grab your fishing poles: Arizona’s mild winter days offer anglers lots of opportunities, especially for pound-plus crappies at places like Roosevelt and Alamo lakes.

If you don’t know a lot about crappie fishing, don’t worry, there should be plenty of boat anglers to emulate or talk to. In fact, on a daily basis at Roosevelt and Alamo you can expect to find 20 to 30 boats, or more, in what many affectionately call the crappie flotilla or crappie parade. Most anglers will typically slow-troll (1 to 1.5 mph) mini-jigs, live minnows and small crankbaits for these speckled beauties.

It helps to have electronic fish finders, but if you don’t, you can just wait until someone catches a crappie and then use the time-honored, low-tech practice of simply asking, “How deep were you fishing?” Crappie anglers are neighborly.

Stew Kohnke, an avid crappie angler who also happens to be the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s wildlife manager at Alamo Lake, said he and his son like to slow-troll white or green Roadrunner jigs tipped with live minnows. “On our last fishing trip, crappies were hitting in about 20 feet of water at about 7- to 10-feet deep. We caught 17 fish. Most weighed around1 pound and some were around 2 pounds. We only caught one too small to keep.”

Kohnke advises anglers to fish in the upper reaches of the lake near the stickups where the Bill Williams River enters the lake at its eastern end.
 
For new anglers, it is advisable to follow the example of the anglers already out there and join the slow-moving flotilla of boats circling the area where the crappies typically hold. That’s true at both Alamo and Roosevelt lakes.

At Roosevelt Lake, the hot fishing area for crappies has been the western end where Tonto Creek enters the lake. You can also try the eastern end of this huge reservoir, especially around the Windy Hill area where there are launch ramps.

Art Chamberlin, a veteran fishing guide at Roosevelt, said both ends of the lake are drawing crappie fishermen, adding that on the Tonto end recently, there were 31 boats on the water, and the Salt River end of the lake is said to have drawn 25 boats that same day. Chamberlin, who fishes with two jigs per line and two poles per person (be sure to get your two-pole stamp), was nice enough to share his secrets. “I’m fishing with two 1/16-ounce Jumping Cholla jigs tied about 24 to 30 inches apart. We’re using Kalin John Deere on the top jig and black/blue/chartreuse on the bottom jig. We are using approximately 50 feet of line out at 1 mph most of the time.”

Live minnows are also a good bet. Some anglers like to mix it up and use a jig, while also trolling a small crankbait. Sometimes, the larger crappies will hit the crankbait.

For more information, read the department’s weekly fishing report online.

“Today” show features segment on

increase in women hunters and shooters
Some special guests recently taped a segment for NBC’s popular “Today” show at the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Ben Avery Shooting Facility. The short report, which focused on the recent nationwide increase in women hunters and shooters, aired on Monday, Jan. 30.

Reporter Janet Shamlian interviewed members of the Annie Oakley Sure Shots women shooters program during one of their Thursday night sessions at Ben Avery’s main range. She also talked with the department’s new Hunter Education Coordinator Tristanna Bickford and Scholastic Clay Target Coordinator Anthony Chavez.

“We wanted to emphasize that hunting and shooting sports are activities the whole family can do together,” says Bickford. “We also talked about how these activities get people away from their televisions, phones and other distractions, and into the outdoors.”

The segment on women hunters comes after recent survey results were released by the National Shooting Sports Foundation. The survey by the National Sporting Goods Association shows an 11-percent increase of females in shooting sports from 1997 to 2004, with more than 1.3 million girls and women involved in these sports last year. The report also shows the number of teenage girls participating in shotgun sports has gone up dramatically. The survey says the number of females ages 12 to 17 who enjoy trap, skeet and sporting clays went up 56 percent – from 133,000 to 208,000 – from 1999 to 2004.

“About 30 percent of the students who take part in the department’s Scholastic Clay Target Program are girls,” says Chavez. “They like shooting sports partly because they can compete on an even playing field with boys.”

In a 2005 national Scholastic Clay Target Program survey, 94 percent of parents said the competitive shooting program is a positive influence in their child’s development. Parents say the program improves responsibility, teamwork, sportsmanship and leadership skills.

Bald eagle workshop in Flagstaff set for Feb. 25
Ever wonder where eagles go during the winter? Find out the answer to that question and many more eagle facts at the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Annual Bald Eagle Workshop in Flagstaff on Saturday, Feb. 25.
    
The free workshop will be divided into two sessions; each one will include a lecture followed by a field trip to observe eagles. The morning session will begin at 9 a.m., and the afternoon session will begin at 1 p.m. The lectures will be held at Northern Arizona University in the Southwest Forest Science Complex, Building #82, located on the south end of campus off Pine Knoll Drive.
       
Guest speakers, Game and Fish Department Bald Eagle Management Coordinator James Driscoll and Game and Fish research biologist Mylea Bayless, will talk about wintering bald eagles, Arizona’s resident eagle population and results from a recent bald eagle research project.
 
“This workshop has always been a big success here in Flagstaff, and we hope this year’s event will have a great turnout, as well,” says Arizona Game and Fish officer Shelly Shepherd. “It is great to see so many people interested in wildlife in northern Arizona.”
   
Anyone who wants to attend will need to register with the Game and Fish Flagstaff office at (928) 774-5045. Participants are encouraged to dress appropriately for the field trip and to bring binoculars, bird field guides, snacks and water.
   
Attend the Arizona Shooting Showcase on March 25-26
Check out the latest firearms and enjoy some of the specialty shooting not normally available to the public at the Arizona Game and Fish Department Shooting Showcase, March 25-26 at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility.

You’ll have a unique opportunity to try out pistols, rifles and shotguns on the range, talk to manufacturers' reps, and sample cowboy action shooting, rifle and pistol silhouette, black powder, trap, and other competitive shooting disciplines.

The event offers exciting shooting demonstrations from Arizona’s own U.S. National Shooting Team member Emily Blount and other shooting experts. Plus, there will be informative workshops on shooting and hunting.

Admission to the event is free. Parking is $5 per vehicle. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. The Ben Avery Shooting Facility is located at the northwest corner of I-17 and Carefree Highway in north Phoenix. Exit I-17 at Carefree Highway (Exit 223) and go 1/2 mile west to the entrance at Long Shot Lane.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department 2006 Shooting Showcase is sponsored by Sportsman’s Warehouse. For more information, visit azgfd.gov/showcase on the Web.

Visit Arizona Game and Fish at the ISE show, March 10-12
Mark you calendars for March 10-12 – the Arizona Game and Fish Department will have an extensive presence at this year’s International Sportsmen’s Exhibition, with everything from live wildlife to virtual shooting.

Come visit the Game and Fish Department exhibits, obtain information, and talk with department representatives about hunting, fishing, off-highway vehicle opportunities and boating safety. Plus, we’ll be conducting presentations on fishing, small game hunting and outdoor safety and survival.
The show runs from March 10-12 at the Arizona State Fairgrounds, 1826 W. McDowell Road, Phoenix. Show hours are noon to 7 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $10 (free for children age 12 and under). Parking is $7. For more information, click here.

Public hunt-set meetings soon

in Safford, Sierra Vista and Tucson
The Arizona Game and Fish Department is continuing to hold public meetings and solicit public comment on the proposed 2006-2007 hunt guidelines, which include several changes to the hunt structure.

Please note that the meeting location for the Tucson meeting has changed from its original location, although the time remains the same. The meeting is Thursday, Feb. 9, 7-9 p.m., at the International Wildlife Museum, 4800 W,. Gates Pass Road, Tucson.

The other final meetings of the schedule are slated for:

* Tuesday, Feb. 7, 7-9 p.m., Graham County General Services Building, 921 Thatcher Blvd., Safford.

* Wednesday, Feb. 8, 7-9 p.m., Performing Arts Center at Buena High School, 5225 Buena School Blvd., Sierra Vista.

Some proposed changes include:

* Splitting the fall big game draw in 2007, with the drawing for elk and antelope occurring in March, and the drawing for deer, turkey, buffalo, and bighorn sheep occurring in the traditional July draw period.
* Shifting some archery elk tags from the rut to a later fall season, and shifting some general season white-tailed deer tags from the December rut to earlier in the season, to increase hunter participation while achieving harvest levels.

* Creating a fall javelina season starting in 2006.

* Approving seasons for small game and trapping for a two year period beginning in April 2006.

The input from the hunt-set meetings will be taken into consideration in preparing the final hunt recommendation package, which is provided to the Game and Fish Commission in April for consideration.

Public comment is also being accepted in writing until March 1. Comments can be submitted three ways:

1) By U.S. mail to Game Branch, Arizona Game and Fish Department, 2221 W. Greenway Road, Phoenix, Arizona, 85023.

2) By fax to Game Branch, Arizona Game and Fish Department, (602) 789-3929.

3) By e-mail to azgamebranch@azgfd.gov.

For additional information about the guidelines, click here.