The Allen’s lappet-browed bat makes an audible loud “peep” at a frequency of about once per second when flying across open spaces. Limited information on food habits suggests that this bat feeds primarily on small moths, flying ants, and beetles. Females give birth to a single pup, usually born in June and able to fly by late July. Captured rarely during biological surveys, this beautiful bat is typically very docile.

Where they are Found

This bat is mostly found in oak-juniper and ponderosa pine forests from elevations between 1,100 and 2,500 meters. In Arizona, it has been observed roosting under loose bark, in lightning-caused cracks of large diameter Ponderosa pine snags, boulder piles, rock crevices and occasionally in abandoned mines. It is one of the rarest bats in North America and seldom observed.

Wildlife Viewing

See wildlife species in the wild.
The Wildlife Viewing Program is committed to achieving wildlife conservation by engaging the public in activities and with cams that increase awareness of and appreciation for wildlife garnering public support for the Department’s unique role in wildlife management. These practices ensure the continued existence of Arizona’s diverse wildlife and habitats by promoting sustainable viewing practices.

See more in the wildlife viewing sectin of the website

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Apache trout typically spawn in early spring. Females excavate redds (nests) in the gravel, after fertilization the eggs are covered with gravel. Generally sexually mature by age 3. Apache trout are capable of hybridizing with rainbow trout which has greatly reduced the range of pure strain Apaches.

For those anglers targeting Apache and Gila Trout in Arizona, the Arizona Game and Fish Department asks that they please take the time to fill out this survey form after each fishing trip targeting either species. The form collects information on when and where anglers fished for Apache and Gila Trout, the type of fishing gear they used, and how many fish they caught.

More About Apache Trout

Food
They feed on aquatic and terrestrial insects and invertebrates.

Table Quality
The meat is firm, flaky and is considered fine eating. Removal of fine bones is difficult if fish is overcooked.

Angling Methods
Apache trout can be caught by a variety of methods, including wet or dry flies, small lures, or natural baits, in either lakes or streams. However, artificial flies produce the best results.

angling methods

Wet Flies – Small hooks, in sizes 14 through 18, are usually better for Apache trout, especially throughout the day. Use patterns that have olive green, brown, or black coloring. Popular patterns include: Peacock Ladies; Pheasant-tail nymphs; Hares Ear nymphs; zug bugs; scuds; or stonefly, mayfly or caddis fly nymph imitations. Larger wet flies (size 6 to 8 hooks) that work well include: wooly buggers, wooly worms, streamers, and muddler minnows. Colors in purple, black, brown, and green work best.

Dry Flies – Again, use small hook sizes. Best fishing times are at dawn and dust, or any other time fish are rising to the surface to feed. Popular patterns include: Royal Coachman; Adams; Royal Wulff; Parachute Adams; or any gnat, mosquito, mayfly caddisfly, or stonefly adult imitations.
Terrestrial Patterns – Use any grasshopper, ant, or beetle imitation. Pay attention to size when fishing hopper patterns.
Lures – Smaller spinners work best. Some to try are: Panther Martins, Super Dupers, or Rooster Tails.
Baits – Generally, bait will work to catch Apache trout if it looks natural. Use worms or grasshoppers. Some prepared baits can work at times.

Fishing Regulations

Rules and regulations for fishing in Arizona.

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The Grayling dorsal fin has 17 to 25 rays. The tail fin is forked. The body has scattered black spots on silver-gray sides that sometimes have a pinkish hue. The scales on the grayling are much larger than the scales on trout.

Grayling are found in Lee Valley Reservoir and only a few small high mountain lakes in the White Mountains. This fish is not being cultured by the Department at this time, but it is occasionally brought in from out of state hatcheries. They spend most of the year in the lake then “run” upstream to spawn in the spring.

Spawning by grayling is similar to that of other salmonids. It is preceded by upstream runs from lakes with males establishing territories in small streams from February to March. Spawning success in Arizona is poor; consequently supplemental stockings of grayling are necessary.

About Arctic Grayling

Food
Their main diet is the adult and larvae of aquatic insects and other invertebrates.
Angling
Grayling are caught on both wet and dry flies. A Royal Coachman, small midge or a black or brown Woolly worm often works very well.
Table Quality
The meat is white, flaky and good tasting, although slightly oily.

Fishing Regulations

Rules and regulations for fishing in Arizona.

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About

The Arizona treefrog becomes active with the onset of summer rains, forages in grassy areas near water, occasionally climbs trees, and eats insects, spiders, earthworms and other invertebrates. The frog breeds during summer rains, and its eggs are laid in clusters attached to underwater vegetation. The frog’s skin secretions can cause irritation to a person’s nose and eyes.

Official State Amphibian

The Arizona treefrog is the official state amphibian of Arizona. Did you know Arizona has 24 native frogs and toads? Learn about all of them and the state’s salamanders, toads, turtles, lizards and snakes in A Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles in Arizona, Second Edition. The book, published by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, is a must-have resource for identifying and learning about the state’s herpetofauna.

Wildlife Viewing

See wildlife species in the wild.
The Wildlife Viewing Program is committed to achieving wildlife conservation by engaging the public in activities and with cams that increase awareness of and appreciation for wildlife garnering public support for the Department’s unique role in wildlife management. These practices ensure the continued existence of Arizona’s diverse wildlife and habitats by promoting sustainable viewing practices.

See more in the wildlife viewing section of the website

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Band-tailed pigeons live in mixed conifer forests, ponderosa pine forests, or in dense stands of evergreen oaks and pines between 4,500 and 9,100 feet elevation. They are about the size of a domestic pigeon, and adults weigh about 8 ounces. Both sexes have an overall blue-gray appearance, and it is only after close inspection that one notices the male’s rosier breast and more iridescence on the nape of the neck.

Natural History

Band-tailed pigeons are sometimes confused with domestic or feral pigeons that are often seen in cities and towns. In autumn, adults can be differentiated from their young by the adult’s chrome-yellow bills and feet, white crescent at the nape of the neck, and the dark gray band across the top of the tail that gives the bird its name. After feeding on acorns and other fall mast crops, most Arizona band-tailed pigeons migrate to the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico to spend the winter months.

Hunt Regulations

Rules and regulations for hunting in Arizona.

Regulations for spring hunts, fall hunts and pronghorn, elk hunts.

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About

At their peak, North American bighorn sheep numbers were estimated at 2 million. Desert populations have since fallen to about 20,000 and Rocky Mountain populations are at about 45,000. Arizona’s bighorn population, consisting of both desert and Rocky Mountain races, is estimated at 6,000 animals. The causes for this decline, which occurred primarily between 1850 and 1900, were competition with livestock for food and water and exposure to livestock associated parasites and diseases.

Hunt History

Totally protected by the territorial legislature in 1893, bighorn sheep were not legal game in Arizona until 1953, when it was determined that the limited hunting of desert bighorn rams might be the only way to save these animals. Two limited desert bighorn sheep hunts of 20 permits each were authorized, and 20 desert bighorn were taken. Since then, permit numbers, the number of units open to hunting, the number of rams taken, and hunt success have gradually increased. In 1984, Arizona began offering Rocky Mountain as well as desert bighorn sheep hunts. Between 80 and 100 hunt permits are authorized each year, mostly desert bighorns, with hunt success ranging between 90 and 95 percent.

Hunt Regulations

Rules and regulations for hunting in Arizona.

Regulations for spring hunts, fall hunts and pronghorn, elk hunts.

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Bison are an American conservation success story and an icon of wildlife conservation. In 2016 to commemorate it’s storied past, bison were recognized as the official U.S. mammal.

Several recent studies in the southwest have concluded plains bison are native to the southwest, placing northern and eastern Arizona within the species’ historical continental range. The Department of the Interior Bison Conservation Initiative, included areas at the edge of the species’ historic range such as the Grand Canyon region.

History

In 1906, a former bison hunter and rancher named Charles “Buffalo” Jones trailed 87 bison about 175 miles from Utah to the Kaibab Plateau. This area at the time was set aside by President Theodore Roosevelt in a proclamation known as the “Grand Canyon Game Preserve”. Jones personally caught most of these bison as calves in the 1880’s from the last remaining wild bison herds from the Texas panhandle and northeast New Mexico. The Grand Canyon Game Preserve was “set aside for the protection of game animals and shall be recognized as a breeding place.” View a presentation about House Rock bison herd, and Raymond bison conservation herd.

Hunt Regulations

Rules and regulations for hunting in Arizona.

Regulations for spring hunts, fall hunts and pronghorn, elk hunts.

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Black bears are the most common and widely distributed of the three North American bears. Historically, black bears occurred in all forested habitats in North America, including Mexico. The species has been extirpated from many eastern and mid-western states, but still occurs in 38 states, 11 Canadian provinces, and seven Mexican states.

In Arizona, the black bear is found in most woodland habitats, including pinyon-juniper, oak woodland, coniferous forest, and chaparral. An interesting footnote to black bear distribution in Arizona is the absence of any sizeable population of black bears north of the Colorado River.

Hunt History

After 1954, bear regulations became more restrictive, tags were required to take one, and in 1968 the black bear was again classified as big game. This designation was appropriate as hunter interest in the species was increasing. Hunt success varied with weather conditions and population vagaries, but annual bear harvests ranged from 131 to 313 for the years 1964 through 1980. Relatively few bears were taken under the stock-taking clause, most of them being taken by sport hunters. Concern about the bear’s relatively low reproductive rate caused the Department to monitor the bear harvest more closely.

Black bears are characterized as shy, secretive animals possessing considerable curiosity and displaying high levels of intelligence and exploratory behavior. Black bears are generally active in the early morning and late evening; they may alter their activity pattern to exploit sources of artificial food, becoming nocturnal at camp grounds and dump sites. Nuisance activities are nearly always associated with artificial food sources (beehives, campgrounds, and livestock).
Wildlife managers face tough decisions in human-bear conflicts

Hunt Regulations

Rules and regulations for hunting in Arizona.

Regulations for spring hunts, fall hunts and pronghorn, elk hunts.

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Introduced to Arizona in 1905. Head and back heavily and irregularly spotted with black blotches on a silver-olive background; tail, dorsal and anal fins are spotted. Seven or eight spines on dorsal fin. Body is compressed or flat. Can live up to 15 years but rarely live more than six or seven years.

Spawning is often in open water, typically over mud, sand or gravel bottoms. Prefer sites near vertical cover such as trees or rocks. Males guard the nest and young after the eggs hatch. Generally mature in second or third year of life. Live up to 7 years.

More About Black Crappie

Food
Insect and plankton eaters until they reach six or seven inches switching to a fish diet. In Arizona, threadfin shad are their main diet.
Angling
Very aggressive and fun to catch.  Often found in schools.  They bite most readily in the spring. They also tend to feed at night more than the other centrarchids.  Effective bait and lures are minnows, small jigs and flies fished along shorelines around submerged brush and trees and rock reefs. Delicate bones around the mouth make it vital to use a net or extreme care in landing these fish.

Fishing Regulations

Rules and regulations for fishing in Arizona.

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Black-footed ferrets are slender, wiry animals with black facemasks, black feet and black-tipped tails. They live in prairies and grassland, dependent on the habitat’s prairie dogs as a food and shelter source.

Back in the mid 1970’s, it was believed that the species had been completely wiped out until a colony was found in Wyoming. A captive breeding program was started by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the mid ‘80s.

Saving a Species

Efforts to conserve and protect black-footed ferrets in Arizona took an important step forward in September 2018. Wild-born black-footed ferrets were translocated across state lines for the first time and, along with a group of captive-born ferrets, were released into Aubrey Valley in northwest Arizona.

Before being released, the 28 ferrets were fitted with telemetry collars so they could be monitored and provide AZGFD biologists with key information to inform future efforts. The initiative’s goal is to determine whether captive or wild-born ferrets have a higher success/survival rate and monitor the animals released.

While the ferrets were tracked for four weeks using the collars, we continue our monitoring efforts through biannual spotlighting and trapping events in the 3 sites where they were reintroduced.

Ready To Get Involved?

Spotlighting and trapping events are open to volunteers and provide a unique opportunity to participate in wildlife on-the-ground conservation.

For more information on events and availability, contact:

The Black-Footed Ferret Project
PO Box 397
Seligman, Arizona 86337
(928) 422-0155
azferret@azgfd.gov

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