{"id":803,"date":"2018-06-03T08:15:44","date_gmt":"2018-06-03T15:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saquailforever.com\/?p=803"},"modified":"2024-01-09T11:15:49","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T18:15:49","slug":"01-06-2018-presidents-corner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saquailforever.com\/dev\/01-06-2018-presidents-corner\/","title":{"rendered":"01\/06\/2018 President’s Corner"},"content":{"rendered":"
A quick update to let you know what is going on with Southern Arizona Quail Forever.<\/div>\n
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Overview:<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
-I am seeing Gambels chicks around the house now.\u00a0 We got a very small amount of rain in early May but the G&F outlook is not great for desert quail based on the current drought.<\/div>\n
-The weather guessers see a decent chance for an average to better than average monsoon based on a growing el nino in the Pacific.\u00a0 El nino presents higher sea surface temperatures that often lead to higher rainfall in the Southwest.\u00a0 Monsoon rains are a key factor in mearns population.\u00a0 I will keep my fingers crossed.<\/div>\n
-Forecast is calling for 105+ this weekend, I am packing up the trailer and heading north for a month.<\/div>\n
-Sonoita has had a couple of small wildfires recently and even though the fire conditions are extreme they were contained very quickly.<\/div>\n
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Habitat<\/strong>:<\/span><\/div>\n
-We have signed a contract with Borderlands Restorations and provided a check for $10K to start work on loose rock structures about 30 miles SE of Sonoita.\u00a0 Work is expected to start in June and run about 5 weeks.\u00a0 Additional work will be considered when funds are available.\u00a0 AZ G&F is also considering funds for this project.<\/div>\n
-Recently visited our guzzler installed on Pima County property in early 2017.\u00a0 It was full of water with numerous quail tracks nearby.<\/div>\n
-We are meeting with AZ G&F and Pima County in mid Jun to consider other projects.<\/div>\n
-We are meeting with Alter Valley Conservation Alliance — focus on wildlife.<\/div>\n
-We are working with QF National and USFS using the Farm Bill to consider stewardship programs—early stages, but other states are having good success.<\/div>\n
-Sarah Gandaria the QF biologist assigned to AZ G&F is moving to Tucson from Phoenix in June where she she be able to help us more with our projects in Southern AZ.<\/div>\n
-A Tucson based Boy Scout Troop is also interested in helping us with a habitat project, we hope to give them two options one close to Tucson and another that may require them to camp.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Chapter Meetings:<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
-Our tentative plan is to do a monthly chapter meeting Nov through Mar for the 18\/19 hunting season and keep them on the third Thursday of the month.<\/div>\n
-We will likely do the Nov meeting in Vail and Mar meeting in Green Valley with the three middle meeting during the heavy snowbird season in Sonoita or Patagonia.<\/div>\n
-Nick Besenick and Jim Littlejohn have started to assess venues.<\/div>\n
–Please send me your thoughts on our meetings to help us provide what members want.<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
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S.A.Q.F. Volunteers<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Chapter Donations to Quail Forever:<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
Our chapter made two donations for a total of $4000 to Quail Forever to support No Child Left Indoors and Legislative Action Fund.\u00a0 We will receive two shotguns in return for these donations one of which we have already received.\u00a0 These guns will be made available for next years banquet.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Meeting with QF\/PF VP for Governmental Affairs:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
I met with David Nomsen here in AZ.\u00a0 The primary purpose was to discuss ways the chapter could get a better flow of information on what QF\/PF is working in DC and how we can get more help with state and local issues.\u00a0 It was a worthwhile meeting that should bear fruit for us in the future.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Backcountry Hunters and Anglers:\u00a0 <\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
The Arizona chapter of BHA<\/a> conducted a pint night in Tucson 17 May.\u00a0 We had a handful of chapter members attend.\u00a0 BHA is doing good work to protect public land, access to public land and our right to hunt and fish.\u00a0 I talked to Kurt Bahti there who informed me the agreement between his homeowners association (Crown C) and AZ G&F is nearly complete that will ensure access to Hog and Adobe Canyons will remain open off highway 82.\u00a0 BHA announced that the HSUS abandoned their effort to get a ballot initiative in AZ to outlaw mountain lion and bobcat hunting for this year.\u00a0 The consensus is they will try again.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Banquet:<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
We have locked in 2 Feb<\/span><\/span> for next years banquet with the fairgrounds and the caterer.\u00a0 If you or someone you know can help with items or money to donate its not too early to start working it.\u00a0 We have several mechanisms in place now to support habitat and youth.\u00a0 Maybe you and someone you know might be willing to underwrite one of the youth shotguns we give away.\u00a0 If you have ideas or have something in work let Steve Geerligs (sgeerligs1@yahoo.com<\/a>) our new incoming banquet chair or myself know.<\/div>\n
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Masked Bobwhite:<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
We have had several chapter members along with Valley of the Sun members support a search for Masked Bobwhite on BANWR.\u00a0 We have not found any.\u00a0 Rebecca Chester from US Fish and Wildlife is planning to release about 450 chicks this summer coupled with captured wild surrogate Bobwhites to lead them.\u00a0 She may ask for our assistance in setting up call listening stations to help monitor their activity.\u00a0 Will let you know if we are asked.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Chapter Membership:<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
Here is a breakdown of current membership based on addresses provided.\u00a0 We are clearly one of the most diverse chapters in QF\/PF.\u00a0 Southern AZ – 99; other AZ – 19; MT – 8; MI & OR – 7; WI – 6; CO & MN – 4; ID & ON – 3; TX, CA & WY – 2; MO, AK, IN, NV, NY, NC, MD, ND, VA, SD, NM, OK & VT – 1 each.\u00a0 Our out of state membership is now 34% which is a little lower than 2 years ago.\u00a0 This does not reflect fewer out of state members but is driven by larger numbers of AZ members.\u00a0 We are very fortunate to have our snowbirds from out of state and Canada in addition to our AZ members that significantly participate and contribute to the chapter.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Brittany Stud Request:\u00a0 Pat Nissen is looking for a good AKC Brittany stud for a breeding she is planning this fall.\u00a0 Contact her directly at 314.780.4977 or cordova937@gmail.com<\/a> if you can help or know someone that can.\u00a0 Her bitch is a great dog I have hunted behind.<\/div>\n
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Firescape Picture<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Get a Youth or Novice Out:\u00a0 Work to get a youth or a novice that has not hunted out this year.\u00a0 If hunting is a tough sell at least get them outdoors.<\/b><\/div>\n
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Future dates:<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
    \n
  • 1 Jul<\/span><\/span> New Board in Place<\/li>\n
  • Sep Scaled Quail and Box Turtle Count Bonita\u00a0 TBD<\/li>\n
  • 19 Oct<\/span><\/span> Desert Quail Opens<\/li>\n
  • Fall Road Cleanup TBD<\/li>\n
  • 7 Dec<\/span><\/span> Mearns Quail Opens<\/li>\n
  • 8 Dec<\/span><\/span> Quail Festival w G&F Sonoita<\/li>\n
  • 2 Feb 19<\/span><\/span> 7th Annual Banquet Sonoita<\/li>\n
  • Winter Road Cleanup TBD<\/li>\n
  • 17 Feb 19<\/span><\/span> Quail Closes<\/li>\n
  • 22-24 Feb 19<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 Quail Classic Schaumburg IL<\/li>\n
  • 2 Mar 19<\/span><\/span> Family Day\/Youth Hunt<\/li>\n
  • 30\/31 Mar 19<\/span><\/span> AZ G&F Expo at Ben Avery<\/li>\n
  • Spring Road Cleanup TBD<\/li>\n
  • 18\/19 Season Meetings TBD<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A quick update to let you know what is going on with Southern Arizona Quail Forever. Overview: -I am seeing Gambels chicks around the house now.\u00a0 We got a very small amount of rain in early May but the G&F outlook is not great for desert quail based on the current drought. -The weather guessers…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2607,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[6,14,25,31,39,52],"class_list":["post-803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-updates","tag-arizona-game-and-fish","tag-coronado-national-forest","tag-gambels-quail","tag-masked-bobwhite-quail","tag-quail-forever","tag-southern-arizona-quail-forever"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saquailforever.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saquailforever.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saquailforever.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saquailforever.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saquailforever.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/saquailforever.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2608,"href":"https:\/\/saquailforever.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803\/revisions\/2608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saquailforever.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saquailforever.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saquailforever.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saquailforever.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}