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2012 Arizona Pronghorn & Elk Hunt Draw Booklet Is Online

Arizona Game and Fish Department

PHOENIX, AZ – -(Ammoland.com)- The 2012 Pronghorn Antelope and Elk Hunt Draw Information regulations booklet has been posted online at www.azgfd.gov/draw.

Hunters can now start applying for a hunt permit-tag issued through the drawing process.

Paper applications can be submitted either by U.S. mail to Arizona Game and Fish Department, P.O. Box 74020, Phoenix, AZ 85087-1052, or hand-delivered to any Game and Fish office.

The online application service for this draw is expected to be available by early to mid January 2012.

The deadline to apply is Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012 by 7 p.m. (MST). For those mailing their application, remember, postmarks do not count.

A 2012 hunting license is required to apply in the draw, and hunters are reminded that licenses purchased through the draw will not be mailed out until after the drawing process is completed.

2012 Arizona Pronghorn & Elk Hunt Draw Booklet Is Online

Licenses can also be purchased online at the Game and Fish website, and also at Game and Fish offices and more than 300 license dealers statewide.

Please keep in mind that you must have a working printer handy if you purchase your license online. The online system is self-fulfilling and you must print your license at time of purchase.

Apply early to take advantage of the “correction period.” If your application has an error and is received before 5 p.m. on Jan. 20, 2012, you will receive up to three phone calls from Game and Fish in a 24-hour period to help get the application corrected.

After that date, mistakes can cause your application to be rejected.

The printed elk and antelope draw information/regulations booklets are anticipated to be available at department offices and at license dealers statewide around mid January 2012.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department does not receive any of the state’s general funds (tax revenues) to operate.

Wildlife conservation and management of the state’s game animals, which also benefits many nongame species, is made possible through the direct sale of hunting and fishing licenses, big game tags, and matching funds from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program, a federal excise tax on certain hunting and fishing equipment.

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Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation

MISSOULA, Mont. --(Ammoland.com)- Elk season is over, leaving you with another autumn’s worth of memories.

While you’re reminiscing, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation asks you to think about the country where you hunted, how it’s changed through the years and how it’s likely to change in the future.

Here are RMEF’s Top 5 signs that your elk hunting area may need more intensive habitat stewardship:

1. Habitat Fragmentation–Poorly planned subdivisions and ranchettes are eliminating or cutting off key habitat, particularly winter range and migration corridors.
2. Weeds Amok–Knapweed, yellow starthistle, leafy spurge, cheatgrass and other invasive weeds are consuming the West. These noxious exotics kill or displace native forage that elk and other grazing species depend on for forage.
3. Sick Forests–Years of fire suppression and lack of forest management have resulted in dense, choked timber stands piled high with deadfall. These conditions lead to massive beetle infestations, threaten catastrophic wildfire and offer little benefit, other than escape cover, for elk. Yet overgrown, undermanaged forests are becoming more rule than exception.
4. Vanishing Meadows and Aspen Stands–Fire suppression has also allowed pinyon, juniper, fir and other evergreens to overtake meadows and aspen stands. The resulting shade shrivels understory plants, cutting available forage for elk by up to 90 percent.
5. Lack of Water–Because of persistent drought in much of the West, many traditional watering holes are drying up earlier in the year. Elk are forced to abandon historic ranges and follow the water to survive.

Excessive predation by wolves and other predators is exacerbating these problems in many areas.

Since launching in 1984, RMEF has helped address these and other habitat issues on more than 6 million acres. Stewardship projects include weed treatments, prescribe burns, forest thinning, constructing guzzlers and restoring riparian areas, land acquisitions, conservation easements and more.

RMEF also is involved in legal efforts to manage and control wolf populations.

“RMEF members, volunteers and partners are making a difference but there is still much work to do,” said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO. “We invite everyone who cares about elk, elk country and elk hunting to join us.”

For membership information, visit www.rmef.org or call 800-CALL-ELK.

About the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation:
RMEF is leading a conservation initiative that has protected or enhanced habitat on over 6 million acres–an area larger than Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Glacier, Yosemite, Rocky Mountain and Great Smoky Mountains national parks combined. RMEF also is a strong voice for hunters in access, wildlife management and conservation policy issues. RMEF members, partners and volunteers, working together as Team Elk, are making a difference all across elk country. Join us at www.rmef.org or 800-CALL ELK.

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