Sara and I were driving north on hwy 64 around 7:30 this past Friday night. A sheriff with lights blazing zipped past us. Hmmm... I wonder where he was going?
About half a mile before parcel 333 in Howard Mesa, we saw the lights of other sheriffs deputies at that parcel, two El Monte RV's and a couple of mini vans were there. Does anyone know what went down??

In other news....

Today we tailed a black dually, a guy getting out checking stuff out between the 4HR border and Howard Mesa border off of Latigo. They saw us, got back in and headed down the road, we went straight on Sharp Knife about a few hundred feet. They then stopped again and got out looking at something to the north. I backed up and started back towards them, they promptly got back in and took off, very fast. Just wanted to say hi. ;-)

Our second part of news today...
We met 'Bruce' a nice hunter (seriously) in a red dodge ram pickup, he stopped to say hi as Sara and I were hanging more 'Posted No Hunting etc..' signs along the front of our property. He's camped north of us on state land. Nice guy.
Though we did find tracks yesterday of two atv's (gee what a shock) on the south part of our property line, on the old NON road, it's signed private property etc...on both sides. Our sign we put up the week before was torn off the post.
Too bad I didn't get to greet them..
-Joe

Hi Joe , I will get back, I am on a differant comp. and out of town for a couple days to help my family. Like to get back on these vehicles etc. Pete

Thanks for the report, Joe.

Here's my input: I was returning from Williams this past Friday (9/18). I, too, noticed the two (rental?) RVs on the top of lot 333. I didn't see any mini-vans at the time. I wonder what that police activity was all about? [Anyone out there have some info to contribute?] I just figured part-timers or hunters camping out.

As I then drove down Latigo to the big 4 Hills gate I saw two bright reflections off in the distance--to the left of the gate. As I came through the gate I stopped and looked left. I saw two vehicles sitting at Sharp Knife and Mile High, a Prius and some sort of truck/SUV (I'm kicking myself now for not taking better notice). Within a few seconds of my sitting there and just looking at them, they both took off. The Prius headed down Mile High and the truck/SUV headed back through the gate toward Howard Mesa.

Your report adds more mystery to this whole thing.

The local short-arm-of-the-law types are singing us the same old song: "Call us with a vehicle description, tag number, blah, blah, blah [or should it be baaa-baaa-baaaa?] and we promise to do absolutely nothing . . . but you'll feel better just for calling us." Yeah, right!

I'm anxiously awaiting the start of bull elk rifle season on Sept. 25th. Although there were only 50 tags issued, I still expect the usual knuckleheads to grace our community then.

What I'm really looking forward to (NOT!) is the later hunts for antlerless elk later this Fall. There were ~500-600 permits issued for each hunt. YIKES!! It's gonna be @$$es and elbows around here. Lock and load.

500-600 permits?!?! Is that for our unit or all of Arizona? Man that is going to be a lot of people.

I was camped out on the land last night and reading by headlamp in the back of my truck when two trucks drove by from the North part of state land.

I assumed it was the same hunter that Joe and I met that weekend. . . but probably not.

They stopped on the main road next to Oliver tank and one of them pulled out his spotting light and was shining it on my camp.
Needless to say it irritated me and I shined my big maglight back at them. They jumped into their trucks and took off up Rising Sun rather fast.

I was a bit annoyed but was surprised that they did not come back up my road.
I wonder were they night hunting, aka poaching?

I had no idea there were this much excitement out in the middle of nowhere

-Sara

Double-checking my numbers here . . . Yep! And it gets worse. Looky here, sports fans.

Unit Ten (includes 4 Hills)
50 permits for the Bull elk hunt 9/25-10/1
500 permits for the Bull elk hunt 11/27-12/3
900 permits for the Antlerless elk hunt 10/16-10/22
700 permits for the Antlerless elk hunt 12/4-12/13

Re: the spotlight users, here is the rule from AZ Game & Fish's "2009-2010 Arizona Hunting and Trapping Regulations" publications (p.94) on their Common Violations page.

"Use of spotlights to locate game is illegal of you have any weapons in your vehicle. If fear of theft is a concern, you should disable your firearm or bow and make it obvious it is incapable of firing."

[A.R.S. 17-309 A 11 and 17-301 A)

Oh yeah, and regarding those hunter-friendly cops out there:

A.R.S. 17-309
E."A peace officer who knowingly fails to enforce a lawful rule of the commission or this title is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor."

Here's another tidbit:

A.R.S. 17-309
Violations; classification
A.3. Destroy, injure or molest livestock, growing crops, personal property, notices or signboards, or other improvements while hunting, trapping or fishing."

Yeah, I know . . . good luck with that, Perfessor. This and $4.95 will buy you a Grande double-shot espresso mocha latte extra foam with sprinkles and a cheesy grin . . . . I think.

I just had an amusing thought (to me anyway), Sara. Can you imagine if you had shined a laser pointer instead of your Maglight back at them? They might've thought someone was taking a bead on them with a laser sight. GULP! Now that might have been underwear changing time for those dudes!!!

Of course it could start a gunfight, too, I suppose.

Nevermind . . . .

Almost forgot to add. I was returning from errands in Williams today and noticed that the two RVs and minivans were gone from HM lot 333 around 1:30pm.

They were still there as I was heading out around 10:30am.

Sherrian is planning to call her contact in HM for any info on the police activity.

Over and out.