PHOENIX — All of us know what it feels like to deal with the frustration and disappointment of an unforeseen event. After all, life happens.

That’s why the Arizona Game and Fish Department is excited to announce an innovative new program in “PointGuard,” which essentially will provide hunters with peace of mind in knowing that they can surrender their hunt permit-tag for any reason without losing their coveted bonus points.

A bonus point is an accumulated credit that authorizes the department to issue an applicant additional computer-generated random numbers during a draw. An applicant accumulates a bonus point each year in which he or she submits a valid application and does not draw a hunt permit-tag. PointGuard ensures that if a successful applicant is unable to participate in a hunt for any reason, the accumulated bonus points that were expended to draw that hunt permit-tag will be reinstated.

Here are the requirements:

• PointGuard is available to applicants who apply online for a hunt permit-tag.
• All applicants must sign up for a free AZGFD Portal account to purchase PointGuard (visit www.azgfd.gov, click on the “Sign in to Account” button in the upper right-hand corner of the home page, then select the “Create an Account” option).
• PointGuard is $5 per species, per applicant, purchased at the time of completing the online application, or prior to the application period deadline. The fee is non-refundable.
• Only one hunt permit-tag may be surrendered, per species. If an applicant is drawn in the future for that particular species, that hunt-permit tag must be used, expending all accumulated bonus points. Only then may an applicant participate again in PointGuard.

The primary applicant (the person who takes the lead in completing the online application for the other applicants) will be prompted to purchase PointGuard at the time of completing the online application. That primary applicant can purchase PointGuard for each additional applicant who has a verified Portal account. This process must be completed prior to the application period deadline, which is 11:59 p.m. (MST) Tuesday, June 14.

Here is the process to surrender a hunt permit-tag:

• A hunt permit-tag must be surrendered prior to the close of business the day before the start of that particular hunt.
• An applicant who has purchased PointGuard will present the original hunt permit-tag to be surrendered, along with a completed tag surrender application form, in person to any customer service representative at any of the department’s statewide office locations.
• The hunt permit-tag being surrendered and PointGuard purchase will be verified by the department.
• The department will restore all accumulated bonus points for that particular species, including the bonus point the applicant would have accrued if not successful in the draw.
• The hunt permit-tag fee is non-refundable.

A person who donates, or transfers, his or her hunt permit-tag to a qualified nonprofit organization, also can participate in tag surrender, provided the requirements listed above are fulfilled. An acceptable proof of the transfer must be provided to the department (a receipt from the qualified nonprofit organization, for example). The tag surrender application form and an acceptable proof of the hunt permit-tag being donated must be completed within 60 days of the donation, and no less than 30 days before the next application deadline for that particular species.        

According to rule (R12-4-118), the department has several options for the reissuance of a  surrendered hunt permit-tag. The proximity to the start of a particular hunt, the type of hunt permit-tag, and demand for that hunt permit-tag will factor into how it will be reissued.

For more information, call (602) 942-3000.

PHOENIX — The Arizona Game and Fish Department now is accepting online applications for 2016 hunt permit-tags issued through the draw process for deer, fall turkey, fall javelina, bighorn sheep, fall bison and pheasant.

To apply online, visit https://draw.azgfd.gov/ and scroll down to “Apply for a Draw.” The deadline by which the department must receive all applications – online or paper — is 11:59 p.m. (MST) Tuesday, June 14. Postmarks do not count. Paper applications can be mailed to: Arizona Game and Fish Department, Attn.: Drawing Section, P.O. Box 74020, Phoenix, AZ 85087-1052, or dropped off at department offices statewide.

The department is announcing an exciting, innovative program beginning with the 2016 fall hunt application period. “PointGuard,” the newest benefit for AZGFD Portal customers, ensures that if a successful applicant is unable to participate in a hunt for any reason, the accumulated bonus points that were expended to draw that hunt permit-tag will be reinstated.

PointGuard is available to applicants who apply online for a hunt permit-tag. All applicants must sign up for a free AZGFD Portal account to purchase PointGuard (visit www.azgfd.gov, click on the “Sign in to Account” button in the upper right-hand corner of the home page, then select the “Create an Account” option). PointGuard is $5 per species, per applicant, purchased at the time of completing the online application, or prior to the application period deadline.

Applicants who encounter issues related to PointGuard are encouraged to call the department at (602) 942-3000 beginning June 1 through June 14.

For more information about PointGuard, visit https://www.azgfd.com/hunting/pointguard.

As a reminder, applicants must possess a valid Arizona hunting license to apply for a hunt permit-tag. That license must be valid on the last day of the application period (June 14). Licenses are available online and at department offices and license dealers (PDF) statewide.

PHOENIX — The Arizona Game and Fish Department has posted the 2016-17 Arizona Hunting Regulations online at www.azgfd.gov/draw.

The department now is accepting paper applications for 2016 hunt permit-tags issued through the draw process for deer, fall turkey, fall javelina, bighorn sheep, fall bison and pheasant (the draw process for elk and pronghorn antelope took place in mid-April). The online application service for the draw is expected to be available in early to mid-May.

Paper applications can be mailed to: Arizona Game and Fish Department, Attn: Drawing Section, P.O. Box 74020, Phoenix, AZ 85087-1052, or dropped off at any department office statewide. The application deadline is 11:59 p.m. (MST) Tuesday, June 14. Paper applications must be received by the department by the deadline. Postmarks do not count.

The printed 2016-17 Arizona Hunting Regulations booklets are expected to be available in the next few days at department offices and license dealers statewide.

In the meantime, hunters are encouraged to open a free Customer Portal account. The Portal allows customers to create a secure account where they can manage and view their contact information, as well as their license and draw results history and bonus points, in their personal “My AZ Outdoors” section. A Portal account is a mobile-friendly, convenient way to access the online license purchase and hunt draw application systems. Just visit www.azgfd.gov, click on the “Sign in to Account” button in the upper right-hand corner of the home page, then select the “Create an Account” option, filling in the requested information.

Another benefit of having a Portal account is the opportunity to sign up for the “I Support Wildlife” program, which helps fund wildlife conservation in Arizona. An annual membership for $25 includes access to the new “premium” version of the Recreational Access Arizona (RAA) mapping application, the latest fish stocking reports, an “I Support Wildlife” window decal and a one-year subscription to the award-winning Arizona
Wildlife Views magazine.

The premium RAA mapping application is a significant upgrade over the free version and is a tremendous tool when planning your hunt. It is designed to work on all mobile devices and lets you see your current location in reference to different data layers, including Game Management Units, wildlife waters, Arizona land ownership, an ESRI USA Topographic (USGS 24k Topo) basemap and more. Even better, the premium mapping application allows you to create your own point locations and automatically save and sync that data to all of your devices.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Game and Fish Department has completed its 2016 hunt draw for elk and pronghorn.

The results are available by visiting https://draw.azgfd.gov/ and scrolling down to “View results and bonus points,” or by calling the department at (602) 942-3000 and pressing “2.”

By the numbers:

26,483: The total number of permit-tags issued.
159,978: The total number of those who applied for hunts or bonus points.
119,743: The total number of applications submitted (paper application and online).

Permit-tags for successful applicants, along with refunds for those who were unsuccessful in the hunt draw, are expected to be mailed by Friday, April 22.

In the meantime, there are 73 leftover elk permit-tags that will be available for purchase on a first-come, first-served basis as follows:

1. By mail: Applications will be accepted by mail beginning at 8 a.m. April 25 and must be addressed to: Arizona Game and Fish Department, Attn: Draw/First Come, 5000 W. Carefree Highway, Phoenix, AZ 85086. Do not mail applications to a Post Office (P.O.) box.
2. In person: If any leftover permit-tags remain, they also will be available for purchase beginning at 8 a.m. May 2 at any of the seven department offices statewide.

View list of leftover tags (PDF).

Some of the leftover elk tags are for Hopi hunt open areas and are available to everyone, both tribal members and non-tribal members, through the first-come, first-served process.

A number of leftover elk tags remain for military hunts at Camp Navajo, for those who qualify. For more information, visit https://dema.az.gov/army-national-guard/camp-navajo/garrison-operations/camp-navajo-hunting-information, e-mail sarah.b.golabiewski.mil@mail.mil, or call 928-773-3225.

Now that the draw is over, it’s time to start planning that hunt. The first step is to open an AZGFD Customer Portal account. It’s quick, easy and – best of all – it’s free. Just visit www.azgfd.gov, click on the “Sign in to Account” button in the upper right-hand corner of the home page, then select the “Create an Account” option, filling in the requested information.

As a reminder, all fields requesting information must be completed. For example, both Social Security and Department ID fields must be completed. If your Social Security number is also your Department ID number, your Social Security number must appear in both fields.

The Portal allows customers to create a secure account where they can manage and view their contact information, as well as their license and draw results history and bonus points, in their personal “My AZ Outdoors” section. A Portal account is a mobile-friendly, convenient way to access the online license purchase and hunt draw application systems.

Another benefit of having a Portal account is the opportunity to sign up for the “I Support Wildlife” program, which helps fund wildlife conservation in Arizona. An annual membership for $25 includes access to the new “premium” version of the Recreational Access Arizona (RAA) mapping application, the latest fish stocking reports, an “I Support Wildlife” window decal and a one-year subscription to the award-winning Arizona Wildlife Views magazine.

The premium RAA mapping application is a significant upgrade over the free version and is a tremendous tool when planning your hunt. It is designed to work on all mobile devices and lets you see your current location in reference to different data layers, including Game Management Units, wildlife waters, Arizona land ownership, an ESRI USA Topographic (USGS 24k Topo) basemap and more. Even better, the premium mapping application allows you to create your own point locations and automatically save and sync that data to all of your devices.

“I Support Wildlife” bridges the widening gap between wildlife facing new threats and a sharp increase in the cost of conservation. The department receives no Arizona tax dollars to support its mission to conserve and protect more than 800 wildlife species, the most of any non-coastal state in the U.S.

For more information, call the department at (602) 942-3000.

PHOENIX — The most magnificent desert bighorn sheep in the world now stands regal among the wildlife mounts on display at Arizona Game and Fish Department headquarters in Phoenix.

On loan from the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society, the massive ram joins the bull elk, pronghorn, black bear, mountain lion and more, including small game and several sportfish, in the customer service area for all to see.

“This is the ideal place for this ram,” said Pete Cimellaro, whose organization delivered and assembled the mount in advance of this weekend’s meeting of the Arizona Game and Fish Commission. “It’s home. It’s just the epitome of what a desert bighorn sheep looks like – and a really, really big one.”

The backstory behind the “Scrivens” ram is almost as extraordinary as his immense horns that scored at 205-1/8 points when they were first measured unofficially in 1946 by the Boone and Crockett Club – a world record that hasn’t been challenged for 70 years.

While on a hunting trip in 1942 on a remote ranch on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, Carl Scrivens and his brothers were taking a stroll around the ranch when they spotted the skull and horns in the back of a dilapidated wagon. According to vaqueros at the ranch, the ram had been killed a year or so earlier by a Native American who was hunting for meat and left the head.

The brothers, knowledgeable about the size of desert bighorn rams, were not about to leave without the head and acquired it for a mere eight pesos — and a wool sweater Scrivens was wearing at the time that caught the eye of a vaquero.

“That goes down with things like the Louisiana Purchase,” Cimellaro said, laughing.

The ram was bequeathed in 1992 to ADBSS, of which Scrivens had been a lifelong member. In fact, he and his wife, Anna, often would come from their home in Afton, Wyo., to help with water catchment projects.

“They loved the desert,” Cimellaro said. “They shared many campfires with members of the sheep society. That affinity is what gave Carl the idea to allow us to be custodians of the ram. He said, ‘This is the perfect place because the sheep society is always going to care about sheep.’ ”

After obtaining a suitable cape for the ram from Game and Fish, the restored mount was put on display in 1992 at the Boone and Crockett Club’s National Collection of Heads and Horns at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyo. In recent years, the mount had found its way to the headquarters of Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, Mo. It was Cimellaro who recently made the trip back to Missouri, crated the world-record ram and brought it back to Arizona.

Cimellaro still marvels at the size of its thick, heavy horns.

“Nothing really has approached it,” Cimellaro said. “That might change someday, who knows? At this time, it’s one of the longest-standing records out there.”

Game and Fish headquarters is located at 5000 W. Carefree Highway, Phoenix, 85086. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, except for holidays. For more information, visit www.azgfd.gov, or call (602) 942-3000.

PHOENIX — The Arizona Game and Fish Department has scheduled a series of six “open houses” for its constituents to review and ask questions about the proposed 2016 fall hunt recommendations for deer, turkey, javelina, bighorn sheep, bison, bear, mountain lion, predators and furbearers, small game and trapping.

The department annually makes recommendations to the Arizona Game and Fish Commission regarding the management of game species, which establish the seasons, dates, bag limits, open areas and permit-tag allocations based on the framework of the hunt guidelines set by the commission every two years.

The proposed recommendations will be posted Friday, March 25, at www.azgfd.gov/huntguidelines. The open houses will be conducted at the following Game and Fish regional offices:

• Thursday, March 31: 3-5 p.m., Pinetop, 2878 E. White Mountain Blvd.
• Thursday, March 31: 4:30-6:30 p.m., Mesa, 7200 E. University Drive.
• Monday, April 4: 3-5 p.m., Yuma, 9140 E. 28th Street.
• Monday, April 4: 3-5 p.m., Tucson, 555 N. Greasewood Road.
• Monday, April 4: 3-5 p.m., Kingman, 5325 N. Stockton Hill Road.
• Tuesday, April 5: 6-8 p.m., Flagstaff, 3500 S. Lake Mary Road.

Constituents who are interested in particular game management units within those regions will be able to review the hunt recommendations and ask questions. No formal presentations are planned.

“The meetings allow us to meet with sportsmen and other members of the public to answer questions and discuss the direction for the recommendations based on survey data, harvest rates and the hunt guidelines,” said Amber Munig, big game management program supervisor.

The proposed recommendations will be presented to the commission for consideration during the Saturday, April 9, portion of its April 8-9 meeting at Game and Fish headquarters, 5000 W. Carefree Highway, in Phoenix. The agenda will be posted at https://www.azgfd.com/Agency/Commission.

To learn more about the hunt recommendations and hunt guidelines processes, visit www.azgfd.gov/huntguidelines.