Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

Good letter by Jim Zumbo at www.jimzumbo.com on his position on the USO lawsuits. I agree with him that Taulman has done exactly what PETA wants and that is to get hunters fighting among themselves. We will survive this mess as a stronger community and in AZ we will end up with a huge volunteer resource to make our herds even better. None of the end result is what Taulman wanted but he is going to find that we ain't a bunch of rollovers out here in the west. I hope we can help all of you that have been so helpful in writing and supporting our cause here when it's your turn in the barrel. I also hope you Nevada boys will put pressure on the state to not cave in too soon to USO. They need to wait and see how bad we can beat him up here.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

I will be trying my best GleninAZ!!!!

I have been checking the Department of Wildlife website regularly and talking with a couple of people at the NDOW to see if anything has come to the public as far as possible meetings, input etc. You can bet that I will be there to voice my opinion. I do know that the subject came up at the Wildlife commissioners meeting on the 6th and 7th, but have not seen anything further on the issue.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

You guys are not alone keep up the fight just keep filling us in on how to get after next and we will do.


Keep up the fight.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

I think that’s the same letter that was posted here a few weeks ago. Me, I still disagree with Zumbo’s approach. He states that there are three businesses that Taulman is involved in, and goes on to infer that while he doesn’t agree with the USO lawsuit he will still do business with Taulman’s licensing operation.

How does that strike all of you who wrote and called the USO advertisers? Zumbo is saying that while he disagrees with the USO lawsuit that puts money in Taulman’s left pocket, he’s still willing to engage Taulman as his licensing agent, effectively putting money in Taulman’s right pocket.

What he’s saying is that he’s not willing to participate in the boycott of USO/Taulman. All of you that wrote letters stating that you weren’t going to patronize companies that sponsored USO are effectively getting the finger from Zumbo. If you weren’t going to spend money on Realtree because they give business to USO/Taulman, how do you feel about Zumbo giving business to Taulman directly? Are you more likely or less likely go click on that link to order Zumbo's books and videos?

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

Jim Zumbo sounds sincere i sure do hope he is, over the several years I have been hunting I kinda looked up to him and the articles of his I have read the man knows how to hunt and really knows how to shoot. its a difficult situation I know we will all get through this. The bad thing is I almost feel the Antis and the animal rights activists put Taulman up to this in some way or another. I cant prove that but its a gut feeling.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

ZUMBO is a puke period!!!! The guy lives in Cody Wy, in case you dont know thats WHERE ALL THE MILLIONAIRES MOVED WHEN THE BILLIONAIRES RAN EM OUT OF JACKSON HOLE. The guy simply supports USO, he just doesnt want to take any heat for it. I think 'll cancell my outdoorlife subscription and definately wont buy any of Zumbo's junk. As for his hunting "SKILL" when you get to hunt on someone elses dollar and have guides (pronounced-PROFESSIONAL hunter)its easy.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

NVMIKE well said!!! I have been to a Jim Zumbo big game (siminar sp?) and I can say it totaly sucked! I felt like I was listening, to a reading of outdooor life. He always hunts with guides so yes he will be successful.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

I agree that Zumbo is a poster child for the hunting elite. That being said he ain't using a unit 10 bull elk tag maybe due to not wanting to get bunta'd by a couple of us toothless locals.[:@] He is pointing out the anti-hunter thing and that is something Taulman is feeding as a side impact of his lawsuit. I never said I was wantin' to poke Zumbo.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

NVMike,

Just because your jealous of Zumbo dosent make him a "puke". I respect Zimbo, who gives a sh*t if he lives in Cody. Your post is the perfect example of "hunters bashing hunters" just because one has better hunting then the other. Its the same as the public land hunters who feel and call themselves more superior then the private land hunter. What a joke.............

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

I enjoy Zumbo;s articals I do realize that when you have the bucks to hunt anywhere any time you choose and can pick from the best of the best then its easy to be a successful hunter. I do value his opinion on matters of hunting and hunting rifles.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

You know when I heard he wasnt coming to Arizona this fall to hunt elk I was quite dissapointed because I wanted to go out there to where he would be hunting and track him down, I would love to have a few words with him, I looked into a few things I'm freaking pissed everything I thought zumbo stood for is all BS hes nothing other then a poster child like someone else said.
I will now refer to him as Jim "dumbo" Zumbo.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

Just sucks because I really enjoy his articles

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

highracks - I'm not jealous of wannabe like zumbo, and we already know that you think EVERYTHING should go to the high bidder. Sooooo...... ZUMBO IS A PUKE, ZUMBO IS A PUKE, ZUMBO IS A PUKE, ZUMBO IS A PUKE, ZUMBO IS A PUKE, ZUMBO IS A PUKE.... In case I was to vague, ZUMBO IS A PUKE.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

Zumbo IS a good writer, he just doesn't get it.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

I don't know, maybe I got something different from his letter than some others did. The way I read it he is against Taulman's court endevours and not using his Arizona tag to show support of Arizona residents. And the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

I don't see where he lives has got anything to do with anything, but thats just me. To each his own but I respect Jim for his stance.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

First the fact that you live in Cody DOES NOT mean your a puke, I have many friends there. The point is that when you just up and choose to live there you've got money, enough to keep paying USO to book hunts for you, to pay USO to guide for you, to pay USO to use their airplane to herd elk to you. If Zumbo was REALLY against USO he wouldn't be using their brokering service. BS lawsuit aside, would you do ANY, I REPEAT,ANY business w/ a guide who hunts big game from airplanes? These guys have been caught several (I think three, az glen can tell you) times doing just that. Zumbo isn't useing his tag this year because it would end his career. My POINT is that zumbo continues to do business w/ USO in spite of being felony poachers, in spite of using lawyers & lawsuits to get more money from the big game draw/hunts. USO definatly rate as PUKES, therefore if Zumbo continues to use them, then he is a puke who supports pukes and encourages them to continue doing what they are doing.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

GLEN - A thought just occured to me, USO keeps getting away w/ these poaching adventures by useing different guys(employees) each time, all the while the heat comes down on the individual, NOT the company, maybe you can suggest that the state set up a system for the companies(like DUI's) where once-ok maybe it was the individual(smack the companies hand);twice-hmmm a pattern(huge fine,confiscation ect..for the company);third strike-your out!pull the guides credentials(be sure to tie this to ALL owners & co-owners) other states can also enforce another states ban. So if USO gets three convictions, two in AZ one in NM then any state that chooses can deny Taulman, his wife, and any other owners/partners guide credentials.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

Mike-The department has been discussing making it illegal for individuals who have any felony record to guide here. My understanding is that although Taulman weaseled out of a conviction here due to discrimination based on our filing charges after his lawsuit, he has plead to felonies in other states and thus would have a record. Problem is that he wouldn't guide anyway and will just keep finding guides with clean records. I asked about the company deal and think that has a lot of legal issues but agree with the idea. It has been good to see so much passion and ideas from every type of hunter here and I bet that whatever we end up with will make George's life more difficult. If nothing else I hope all those hunters who forked over 25 million for him to play with will wise up and figure out this guy is just another carpetbagger.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

NVMIKE, I agree but I think all these issues about USO are coming out fairly recently and Jim even said in his letter he didn't know what USO was really up to until recently. If Jim continues to use his services from here on out then I think we can judge him on that.

I can honestly say I didn't hear about USO using airplanes to find game until maybe 6 months ago. If I were Jim and I knew what he knew I wouldn't have known any of this was going on either. Remember he hired George probably about a year or more ago to apply for tags this year. A year ago I barely heard of USO.

But I know who they are now and anyone willing to take a stand against them is my friend.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

There are a lot of good writers on hunting in the great outdorrs. I we boycot this one, then some one else will come along and take his place. Kinda like politics.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

sounds to me that they have been friend for years and he is trying to cover his own ass!

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

Could be. Time will tell.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

I'm not going to go so far as to cancel my subscription to Outdoor Life or Field and Stream over Zumbo's actions, but I'm not planning on getting any of his books or videos either. No great loss, I wasn't going to get them anyhow.

I wasn't trying to stir up the hornet's nest, I just wanted to highlight that Zumbo missed a real good opportunity to take a stand on the issue and failed to do so. What he should have done is tell Taulman that the legal action was so wrong and decisive that his conscience wouldn't permit him to continue to patronize any of Taulman's business or at least say that the reaction to the ruling was so negative that in order to protect his own interests he had to disassociate his business interests from Taulman's.

The old addage is that you can get judged by the company you keep. Lie down with the dogs and get up with their fleas.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

Calnewbie-you hit the nail on the head in your second paragraph, he had the chance to take a stand and didn't.

RE: Jim Zumbo letter on USO
 

I must respectfully dissagree with the majority of the posts that are anti Zumbo. On the contrary, through the years I have found him to be a common man's writer/hunter. Unlike lots of the "in vogue" new genreation hunters, he is constantly writing about hunts that the common man can do. If you had really read his articles/books, you would not read a lot of rich man's guided hunts stories, but lots of hunts that you and I could go on.

I remember an article in particular where he personally backpacked over a public land mountain to get into some public land that was "locked up" behind private land. The landowner tried to make him move, saying that he was on private land, but shut up when Jim pulled out his maps and the landowner realized he knew what he was talking about. He backpacked the bull he got out on his back over that mountain too.

Sure, he gets to go on some hunts we only dream about, but after putting in his dues, why shouldn't he.

Maybe he didn't go as far as we would like to see in his letter, but let me tell you something: giving up a hunt in Arizona for a real chance at a really big bull is a BIG THING. Are you sure that you could do the same? Let's say that you put in on your own (not through the USO tag process) and you didn't draw in the primary drawing, but drew in the extra tags that were given out. Can you honestly say that you would sacrifice your tag of a lifetime? Of course, this question is only valid to nonresidents, since it doesn't apply to residents. We also don't know all the legalities of putting things such as this in print. Sometimes we would like to say more, but could be sued if we say too much.

Is USO wrong in what they are doing? Absolutely. As a nonresident of AZ, do I support the 10% cap on nonresidents? You bet.

However, I still believe Jim Zumbo to be a good an honorable man. Only time will tell the full story. I for one, support his eating the tag. The letter he writes says plainly that he supports residents hunting rights.

I wrote him a note that thanked him for his giving up his tag in AZ, and encouraged him to continue the fight agains't USO. We will see how it plays out, but I continue to support him, read his articles, and buy his books.