Arizona Wildlife News
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Welcome to our wildlife news page.
Courtesy of Arizona Game & Fish
Check out our Fishing Report, too!
Updated on March 8TH
New Stories & News
— Hunting and fishing licenses online
— Condor mortalities expand conservation efforts
— Cowboys to show off six-shooters
Arizona hunting and fishing licenses now available online
They’re back: Arizona hunting and fishing licenses are available online once again.
It’s simple and easy: just visit the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Web site at
www.azgfd.gov
to decide what license or license package suits you or your family best, and make the online
purchase using your Visa or MasterCard from the convenience of your own home or office.
“It’s been a long time coming, but the timing is superb for hunting and fishing conditions,” said
Game and Fish Deputy Director Bob Broscheid. “Our interior lakes are filling and spilling. There’s a
lush green-up in the desert low lands. Plus we have a tremendous snow pack in the high country.”
A $1.50 Internet fee will be charged for buying a license online, which will pay for the service
expense. Be sure to have a printer hooked up; you must print out the license you purchase online (color
or black and white will work).
If you need help while purchasing the license online, telephone assistance is available from 8 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday by calling (602) 942-3000.
There are lots of hunting and fishing license options available, including some exceptional
deals on Family Licenses. Be sure to shop online at “Buy a License” for the license package that works
best for you.
You will also find lots of online help deciding where to go on your hunting or fishing adventures.
The Game and Fish Department’s Web site is full of where-to and how-to fishing and hunting
information. In fact, you can even subscribe to the weekly Fishing Report or the Hunter Highlights e-news
products and have them delivered directly to your computer.
Online license sales and other online services were suspended almost three years ago due to workload
difficulties the former vendor experienced during the online big game draw process. There is no projected
date for when the online hunt draw process will be available online again, although agency officials
are actively working on the issue.
Recent condor mortalities used to expand conservation efforts
After three years without a confirmed mortality from lead poisoning, three California condors have recently
died from the biggest challenge to the species’ recovery. The condors, including a female and her
chick from the previous year, were recovered by The Peregrine Fund.
Necropsies to determine the cause of death were performed at the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation
Research. Testing confirmed the presence of lead fragments in the digestive tracts of all three birds.
Lead shuts down the condors’ digestive system, which leads to starvation, weakness and death.
“While the deaths of a breeding female and her wild-hatched chick are a significant loss, condor conservation
has been gaining ground since lead poisoning was first identified as a leading cause of mortality and we
began to educate hunters about the effects of spent lead on condors,” said biologist Chris Parish, head
of The Peregrine Fund’s condor recovery operation in Arizona. “But, as the condor recovery program
progresses, new challenges have been identified.”
The three dead birds had been outfitted with tracking equipment that allowed field biologists to monitor
daily movements. In recent years, that radio tracking data has identified increased use of southern Utah
as a major foraging area for the flock.
“When we first reintroduced condors to northern Arizona in 1996, the birds primarily foraged closer to
home,” said Parish. “Now that we have observed the condors expanding their range into Utah and foraging
more frequently outside of the local release area, conservation partners are working with Utah and its
hunters to reduce the amount of spent lead ammunition available to condors in gut piles and carcasses
left in the field.”
The Peregrine Fund tries to capture all condors twice yearly to test for lead exposure, the leading cause
of condor death. Birds with high blood lead concentrations are treated with chelation therapy to reduce
the lead in their system. Condors are scavengers, and research in the last five years has proven that
they consume tiny fragments of lead in the remains of gunshot animals.
To aid condor conservation, the Arizona Game and Fish Department started a non-lead ammunition outreach
program in 2003 to hunters drawn for hunts in the condor’s core range. Surveys show that 85 percent of
hunters took voluntary measures in 2009 to reduce the amount of available spent lead ammunition in the
condor’s core range.
Now the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is implementing a similar program for hunters on the Zion
unit in southwestern Utah.
“We’ve started educating our hunters about the effect that lead ammunition has on condors,” said Jim
Parrish, nongame avian coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. “The next thing we’re
going to do is give everyone who hunts on the Zion unit a coupon for a free box of non-lead ammunition.”
Condor conservation partners include The Peregrine Fund, Arizona Game and Fish Department, Utah Division
of Wildlife Resources, Utah Wildlife in Need, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service.
For more information on condor conservation and non-lead ammunition, visit
www.peregrinefund.org or
www.azgfd.gov/condor.
Cowboys to show off their six-shooters at Winter Range
The Old West will come alive once again when more than 600 men, women and juniors gather for the 19th
annual Winter Range hosted at the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Ben Avery Shooting Facility from Feb.
24-28.
Winter Range is an exciting “Old West” style, five-day event that provides the backdrop for the Single
Action Shooting Society’s National Championship of Cowboy Action Shooting. This annual event traditionally
draws thousands of spectators and Old West enthusiasts.
Cowboy Action Shooting™ is the fastest-growing shooting sport in America, and requires contestants to
compete with firearms typical of those used in the taming of the Old West: single-action revolvers,
lever-action rifles, and old-time shotguns. Participants must also adopt a “shooting alias” appropriate
to a character or profession of the late 19th century, a Hollywood Western star, or an appropriate
fictional character, and then costume themselves accordingly.
In addition to the competitive events, Winter Range will also feature displays of period militaria,
exhibitions of western skills and crafts, and vendors purveying everything from period clothing to
antiques and reproductions. Entertainment will be available in the form of a number of singers, cowboy bands,
and the authentic history of gaming and masterful sleight of hand by the amazing Lafitte, Knight of the
Green Cloth. A variety of food services are also available – from authentic chuck wagon cooking to hot
dogs. This is an exciting event for the whole family.
The Ben Avery Shooting Facility is located in north Phoenix on Carefree Highway just west of I-17 (Exit 223).
Daily event times are 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. from Wednesday, Feb. 24 through Saturday, Feb. 27, and
8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 28. Admission is free, but parking is $5. While in the shooting areas,
spectators will be required to wear eye protection (sunglasses and corrective glasses are acceptable) and
ear protection is strongly suggested, especially for children.
For more information about Winter Range, visit
www.winterrange.com.
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