Boquillas Ranch cleanup June 6-7

[DonMartin]

Fellow Sportsmen:

The annual Mohave Sportsman Club's Boquillas Ranch cleanup is set for this weekend.

We'll meet at 8 a.m. at Pica camp with G&F, get gloves and bags and then head out for the day. Maps will be given tot he camp site location.

This year the club is promoting an overnight stay and dinner, with camping in Pine Canyon.

The clean up ends at 5 p.m. then go to camp eat, and spend the night in the cool pines.

Club is wanting this to be a family type project.

They'll furnish dinner on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday.

There are over 3,000 big game tags in this unit and the way you guys are getting to access it for free is by doing this clean up.

That's the deal that MSC has with G&F and the Navajo Nation, the owners of the ranch.

I know this is short notice but please try and come out and help.

A good turnout would be great and would show the ranch owners that we as sportsmen do care about private property.

Oh, all guides and outfitters are especially invited, since some of you make part of your living up there!

Please call Dale Lent at 928-715-8127 and let him know if you're coming so he can have enough food for everyone.

Thanks!

Don Martin
MSC member

 

[nonet]

Don, Not enough notice for me to be there. I just want to say that I'm in 10 all the time and there is always a trash bag in the bed of my truck and i pick up trash year round, not just on the "BO". You know, I think people who use 10 might be getting the idea to keep it clean. I haven't filled a bag in a very long time. Units like 8,9,camp wood, 6a and the rest of the rim you can fill a bag in about an hr of just driving around to campsites but it seems to be improving in 10. If I had more notice I would have showed up for sure the weather is awesome!! Nice and cool for June!!

 

[DonMartin]

LAST EDITED ON Jun-07-09 AT 03:01PM (MST)[p]Eric:

Yep, the Mohave Sportsman Club didn't do a good job this year of getting the info out early enough to the public, but it was on the G&F web site and a couple of other Internet sites.

And no doubt that the Boquillas Ranch is the cleanest ranch in AZ!

We had just 30 people show up, and that included 3 G&F folks. There are over 3,000 big game tags for that unit.

Last year we had 35...

One of the guys who showed (Steve) drew an early Unit 10 rifle bull tag, and we had four or five folks from Kingman who drew cow tags there.

Well I think the "honeymoon" might over up there.

The State Land Dept., which has responsibility for that checker boarded land on the Boquillas, is going to implement a user fee for all state trust lands, and that will include the Boquillas.

Watch what happens in July...

I wouldn't be surprised to see the Navajo Nation, who like all governments, is looking for ways to put money in the tribal coffers, to implement some kind of access fee up there in the future.

That will be too bad, as the Mohave Sportsman Club has/had an agreement with the tribe and G&F to organize a sportsman clean up one day a year in exchange for access, which we've enjoyed for the past 17 years.

Oh well, at least we tried, right?

Hopefully access will still be available at a reasonable cost in the future, but who knows?

Don Martin

 

[m1fan]

I wish I would have known earlier. I just spent some time out there camping. Next year I would like to do it!

 

[nonet]

It would be a shame to have the fees start, they will probably be higher for guides and outfitters like anywhere else. How much trash was picked up? Does the ranch mgr. see the amount that is picked up? Thanks for doing what you guys did! I really wish I knew about it cause I would've been there for sure!

Eric

 

[DonMartin]

Eric:

I'm not sure what the final fee is going to be from the State Trust guys, depends if they do a statewide permit or one by regions..

If I had to guess won't be surprised to see a minimum of $500 for a statewide permit, less if they do it for a region (such as the northern part of the state).

These permit fees are gonna spell doom for the guides and outfitters.

Everyone knows they got to be passed on to the consumer.

As you well know, we have been cutting it pretty close as it was.

Who knows, these new fees might just be the deal breaker for many.

When I left there was a half a dumpster full of trash. Most of what we got was picked up between Pica and Rose Well. The beer(s) of choice this year was Keystone Light and Bud Light.

The main litter "culprit" must be a strong guy, for he squashed many of the cans before he threw them out the window.

Don Martin

 

[CraigS]

Don,

We picked up some beer cans and a few loose pieces of trash. Equaled about a half a bag. Almost all of it was between Pica and the Keseehaw Turn off.

I must say I am not as active as I should be when it comes to habitat improvement projects but it was a terrible turnout. I did not see anyone under the age of 40 other than myself and my two kids. Thats crazy! 5,000+ big game permits and 4,500+ hunting licenses sold in Mohave County.

It's my opinion that the glory days of hunting on public land for free is coming to an end. Everybody is looking to collect a dollar (big government included) and they look at sporstmen as dedicated revenue streams. Public Land Access is slowly killing hunting in Arizona and throughout most of the west. 10,18A,15's,19's and other units are just being crushed.