It was right at sundown as I was heading north on the Pierce Ferry Road about a mile from the Dollar General store when it happened.

If you are a lady who is interested in some great outdoors activities including bird walks, yoga, fly tying, and night fishing, then you might want to investigate a workshop called “Becoming an Outdoors Woman.”

President Donald Trump is not a hunter or angler, but he knows the importance of these activities to the American public. He also knows how important access is to federal lands and waterways by the American public.

I am often asked by potential fishing clients what the best time of the year is to fish for striped bass and catfish on Lake Mead.

Arizona Game and Fish Department has announced that this year there was more than a 10% increase in applicants for fall big-game tags.

As expected, the Arizona Game and Fish Commission, on a 4-0 vote, (Commissioner Sparks was not present) has decided to eliminate coyote calling contests.

The Kingman Bass Club held its first open bass tournament at Lake Mohave on Sunday, and though they had a good turnout, KBC president Donnie Scroggins promises that next year it will be bigger and better.

A lot of anglers, some from as far away as Idaho, are anxiously awaiting the start this weekend of Stripe-R-Rama 28, one of the largest and oldest overnight team-striper fishing tournaments held on Lake Mead.

Mohave County has a lot of talented photographers and, of course, our county is the home of some of the most beautiful landscapes and interesting wildlife in Arizona.

The next two weeks are going to be important to a number of local striper fishermen.

A reminder to all boaters that Arizona Game and Fish Department will be holding a life jacket exchange at the Region 3 office in Kingman on Saturday.

Sometimes, just being in the right place at the right time can turn ordinary people into heroes.

With this crazy spring weather about to end, many local boaters and anglers will be once again taking to the water of our local lakes on the Colorado River.

The boating season has started and Arizona Game and Fish Department is helping boaters prepare for a great summer on the lakes and rivers by offering a life jacket exchange event at the Region 3 office in Kingman.

The last couple of weeks I have been writing about some very serious things Arizona sportsmen are going to be facing in the next few months.

As I am sure you are aware, one of the hottest topics for many Arizona sportsmen is the proposal by the Arizona Game and Fish Commission to prohibit organized coyote calling contests.

It didn’t come as any real surprise when the names of top teams at the annual Kingman Firefighters Association’s tournament at Lake Mead were read Saturday at the tournament’s conclusion.

What we didn’t expect was when literally thousands of 3 to 5 inch threadfin showed up and started circling the boat.

The first step for Martzen was to get some of her friends to agree to help her with the event, which does take a lot of planning.

When I got the first of several calls from friends, some of whom are members of the Mohave Sportsman Club, I couldn’t believe what they were saying.

Many years ago, when I was president of the Mohave Sportsman Club, I organized and put in place a program in concert with the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the Navajo Nation that recognized that we as sportsmen were only privileged to hunt on those lands.

The Big Boquillas Ranch encompasses just over 729,532 acres of land. It includes about 491,432 acres of deeded private land, which is owned by the Navajo Nation. The ranch also has 238,100 acres of state trust lands within its borders. It is the largest ranch in Arizona.

One of the longest running overnight striper tournaments in Mohave County is in danger of not happening unless someone steps up to take it over.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the limited use of motor vehicles to retrieve lawfully taken elk and bison on the Kaibab National Forest.

As I reported in last week’s column, the Arizona Game and Fish Commission did pass, and by a unanimous vote, a proposal that would prohibit using any lethal method of take during a hunting contest for predatory and fur-bearing animals.

You knew it had to end. The father-son team of Ray and Donnie Scroggins didn’t win the Kingman Bass Club’s fourth tournament of the year.

If what I’ve heard is correct, the Arizona Game and Fish Commission will open for comment Friday a proposed rule that will all but end coyote calling contests where entry fees are charged and prizes, whether money or other items, are given away.

Last weekend, 27 men and women, who ranged in ages 17 to 67, came to the Mohave Sportsman Club’s 7 Mile Hill Range. Their purpose was to take an advanced class in hunter education that would result in them obtaining a permanent bonus point that will assist them in drawing big game tags in the future.

After winning the KBC’s first two tournaments of the year, the father-son team participated in the club’s third tournament of the year, a two-day event at Alamo Lake.

The Region 3 office of the Arizona Game and Fish Department will be holding an informational meeting on Thursday, April 4, from 3-5 p.m. at Desert Archery, 4045 N. Bank St.

Last week in this column I wrote about a fishing trip that Lake Havasu City resident Mike Hulsey and I made to Lake Comedero in central Mexico.

Going out of country to Mexico, which has arguably the best largemouth bass fishing an angler can find, is one of my bucket list items.

I hate to be the one who says, “I told you so,” but the Arizona Game and Fish Commission at its February meeting in Yuma voted to start the rulemaking process to try and control coyote calling contests in Arizona.

The father-son team of Ray and Donnie Scroggins shook off a tough first day at Martinez Lake on the Colorado River to easily win the Kingman Bass Club’s second tournament of the year.

The results of the 2019 elk and antelope draws are posted and many local sportsmen have found out that they have been successful.

The outbreak of pneumonia that swept through the Black Mountains appears to be over, and the animals still out there seem to have weathered that storm. But there is one major concern, according to Region 3 Terrestrial Wildlife Program Manager Erin Butler.

This story is about Kingman residents Sara Alearin, who while hunting with her uncle, local sportsman Steve Nueberger, bagged her first javelina while on a hunt in game management Unit 18B.

Having just spent the past two weekends on the Handgun, Archery, Muzzleloader (HAM) hunts in Game Management Unit 18B, I am really concerned by the lack of javelina herds seen.

Hunting javelina for the first time can be a daunting task. Matter-of-fact, many new javelina hunters will go on average about four hunts before they take their first collared peccary.

With all of the unsettled weather the last several weeks in Mohave County, those who have had HAM (Handgun-Archery-Muzzleloader) javelina tags have had a rough time finding the “gray ghosts of the desert!”

The last of the spring 2019 javelina seasons is set to open Friday, but with the continued unsettled weather, hunt success this year may not be as high as in past years in units favored by local sportsmen.

If you are an Arizona sportsman, today is an important day for you.

You no doubt know the name of Kingman resident Donnie Scroggins. He is president of the local bass club and is an avid bass angler.

The annual Friends of NRA banquet and fundraiser will be held at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9 starting at the Mohave County Fairgrounds, 2600 Fairgrounds Blvd.

A few weeks ago there were 27 sportsmen and women who came from all over America to take the Arizona Hunter Education class in order to get a permanent bonus point.

One of the questions I’m often asked as a Chief Hunter Education instructor is, “How valuable are bonus points when it comes to helping draw a tag?”

Every day, somewhere in America, there are anti-hunting groups who are working to take away our rights to own firearms or our privileges hunt.

The first tournament on the Kingman Bass Club’s tournament trail was held last weekend at Cattail Cove on Lake Havasu, and for most of the nine teams that competed, they found bass fishing tough.

Unless you’re hiding your head in the sand, I think you’re gonna see the organized hunting of predators, and especially coyotes come under attack in the months to come.

There is a lot of news from the Arizona Game and Fish Department that I think you, the Arizona sportsmen, need to be aware of when planning for fall hunts.