2023 Coues Whitetail Auction Proceeds
$45,000 For Coues Whitetail Projects
Arizona Deer Association President Don McDowell presented the proceeds from the Arizona Game and Fish Commissioners' Tag for Coues Whitetail to Andrew Cavalcant on March 22. Andrew is the State Coordinator for the Habitat Partnership Committee.
New Projects Truck
Our new Ford F550 is all lettered up and ready to roll!
Look for this truck on the road headed to our water and habitat improvement projects!
A big thanks goes out to all of our members, raffle ticket buyers and banquet attendees for making this happen.
Your support will make it easier for us to improve wildlife waters all over Arizona!
ADA Presents Jamison Conservation Award to Kurt Davis
The Arizona Deer Association (ADA) presented the Jamison Conservation Award to Kurt Davis at their 2022 Fundraising Banquet in Chandler, Arizona.
This award is not given annually, but only when a worthy individual is selected by the ADA Board. The last award was presented in 2015.
The Jamison can be awarded for an individual’s volunteer conservation work, political advocacy for wildlife or wildlife management, or professional management that has benefitted wildlife, hunting, fishing, and other outdoor Avocations.
Kurt Davis has served on the AZ Game & Fish Commission for the last 10 years. During that tenure, he has focused on preserving the Arizona Game and Fish Department, its mission, and with preserving the Commission system itself.
He worked to ensure that the North American Model of Wildlife Management, which has successfully driven this country’s wildlife management programs for more than 100 years, continues to be the guiding force in managing, conserving and insuring wildlife’s future.
His vocation in life has put him in the unique position of being one of the most effective individuals to ever hold the position of Commissioner. He has been there to help educate House and Senate members, counsel Governors and their staff members, coordinate with our federal representatives and maintain close watch over those who would like to see hunting and fishing removed from being legitimate activities which millions of Americans participate in and have enjoyed for the last two centuries.
His focus has always been on these Big Picture issues that wildlife managers, and sportsmen and women face. He wants to keep professionals managing wildlife, not those who would bring about a stop to that by utilizing the ballot box; and he wants to keep hunters and anglers involved in Conservation and the field or on the water.
The Arizona Deer Association thanks Mr. Davis, and his family, for these last 10 years of service and a lifetime of being a hunter, angler, and conservationist.
Take Charge Against CWD
Help Protect Arizona's Deer and Elk Herds
As you can see in the map above, Arizona one of the few states without a confirmed case of Chronic Wasting Disease. Through 2019, The Arizona Game and Fish Department has tested more than 1,200 samples provided by hunters, taxidermists and game processors. The Arizona Deer Association, along with many other conservation organizations, supports the Department's efforts to keep CWD out of Arizona.
To learn more about CWD, this link will take you to an article on HuntingFishing.com.
To see a list of CWD-related regulations for Arizona and other states, along with a list of recommendations if you are hunting in a known CWD area, download "Know Before You Go" below.
ADA to Auction Hualapai Elk Tag
The Arizona Deer Association is set to offer the 2021 Hualapai Tribe Special Scholarship Elk Tag! Depending on the COVID situation, this coveted tag will be auctioned at an event or online in early 2021. The high bidder can choose any consecutive 16 days, from August 1st – December 31st, 2021 and will have 1 million acres of prime elk habitat to hunt. Meals and lodging are included for the hunter and one guest. This tag also includes the assistance of an experienced tribal guide.
ADA President Don McDowell says, “ADA is honored to work with the Hualapai Game and Fish Department to auction this special tag, benefiting the Tribal Youth Scholarship Fund. The Hualapai is known for huge Elk and this tag is the pinnacle for any avid Sportsman. This is truly the hunt of a lifetime.”
There are only two of these special elk tags available each year from the Hualapai Game and Fish Department, where in 2018 the two auction tags resulted in 450” and 433” Bulls! The Hualapai boasts some of the best elk habitat in country and their herds are managed for older/mature bulls.
For more detailed information and those interested in bidding live or by phone, please contact Jim Lawrence at jim@azdeer.org or Don McDowell at don@shakerattleandtroll.com.
ADA Supports CWD Awareness Campaign
The Arizona Deer Association (ADA), founded in 1995, Arizona’s premier Wildlife Conservation Organization for Mule and White Tailed Deer applauds the current efforts of the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) to monitor the CWD outbreak and halt the spread from neighboring states into our deer and elk general populations.
The current efforts of the AZGFD will be greatly enhanced and improved by the proposed grant for the media outreach programs to our hunting and general sporting populations to further define facts and state regulations about CWD and the methods of transmission, proper game carcass care, transporting and disposal. Tutorial methods of testing and how the hunting population can assist the department in proper sampling and symptomatic reporting in CWD management practices will be invaluable in gathering scientific data from the field.
We stand ready to assist the AZGFD in manner we can to help the process of education in the hunting and wildlife community.
ADA Supports Northern Arizona Grasslands initiative
"The Department has demonstrated tremendous success with this RCPP, it only makes sense to extend it and maintain its benefit for wildlife and producers. This Project fits the ADA board’s criteria of benefiting all species of wildlife, not focusing on a single species. If this RCPP is selected for an extension, the ADA will vigorously support providing a minimum $25,000 per year from the revenue generated through the Big Game Special Tag fund over the course of the project’s five years.
The ADA is proud to be a cooperator in concert with our Mule Deer Foundation and Department counterparts and other partners on this outstanding long term, multi-phased project for the betterment of Northern Arizona."
Support of Expanded Hunting Opportunities
Arizona Deer Association Supports Expanded Hunting on National Wildlife Refuges in Arizona
We at the Arizona Deer Association, located in the State of Arizona, founded in 1995 as Arizona’s premiere wildlife conservation organization, are writing to applaud the efforts of President Donald J. Trump and Secretary of the Department of the Interior David L. Bernhardt to open the Cabeza Prieta, Buenos Aires, Cibola and Leslie Canyon National Wildlife Refuges located in southern Arizona to recreational hunting opportunities.
We feel the opening of the noted NWR’s is important to sportsmen-women and families plus the economic impact to Arizona, to have the ability to hunt big game species, other than Big Horn Sheep, to include but not limited to antelope, mule and white tailed deer, mountain lion, coyote, bobcat, badger, ringtail cat, kit and gray fox, spotted skunk, cottontail rabbit, black-tailed jack rabbit, Gambel’s and Mearns quail, mourning, white-winged and Eurasian collared dove, as well as, other various species as identified by the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
18A Fuel Reduction SUpport
In a letter to Arizona Forestry Program Supervisor John Richardson:
I am writing to you in regards to the Department of Forestry and Fire Management’s 2020 Hazardous Fuels Reduction Grant. The Arizona Game and Fish Department staff formally presented this project to the Arizona Deer Association (ADA) on August 20th 2019. At the conclusion of their presentation, the motion was made and accepted by the ADA Board of Directors to adopt the Project as an ADA premier habitat enhancement project.
This Project fits the ADA board’s criteria of benefiting all species of wildlife, and restoring ecosystem health. Many of the acres being treated through this project will reduce hazardous fuel loads and reduce the wildfire risk to homes, ranches, and the fences and waters that they need to operate. The ADA has reached out to District 4’s Congressman to provide additional support for this project.
The ADA is proud to be a cooperator in concert with our Mule Deer Foundation and Department counterparts and other partners on this outstanding long term, multi phased projects for the betterment of some 50,000 acres.
Yours in conservation,
Don McDowell
President
Arizona Deer Association