In this presentation, your local Arizona Game and Fish Wildlife Manager Colby Walton will equip you with a basic understanding of hunting regulations, hunting season dates, the big game draw process, basic hunting techniques, wild meat processing, and the best places to hunt. Learn why this type of outdoor recreation is needed to keep the environment healthy and is a great way to provide sustainable, local, healthy meals. The class will be focused on providing all the basic information needed to begin successfully hunting in Arizona. Come join Colby and learn how you can expand your sustainable diet!

Families are welcome! Comet Talks are typically geared toward adult audiences, but older kids with an interest in hunting are welcome too!

Presenter Colby Walton is a Wildlife Manager for the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD). He currently manages big game species and conducts law enforcement patrols in Game Management Unit (GMU) 7, which encompasses the San Francisco Peaks and Kendrick Mountain. He has been a Wildlife Manager since 2009, and has spent his entire 15 year career in the Flagstaff area. He grew up in a small town in Southeast Texas where he spent most of his time fishing and hunting. Officer Walton moved to Arizona in 2003 to serve in the United States Air Force, and he immersed himself into all of the outdoor recreation that Arizona has to offer. He enjoys archery hunting, fishing, mountain biking, trail running, and backpacking, and sharing his passions with his family and friends.

Join local Arizona Game and Fish Sportfish Specialist, Matt Rinker, and explore fishing as a way to provide a sustainable and local protein source in your diet!  Matt will focus on what you need to help you get started, or continue your lifelong interest in fishing in Arizona. Dive into everything you will need to know, including fundamental fishing techniques, a basic understanding of fishing regulations, and when and where to find the best places to fish.  Come join Matt and learn how you can expand your sustainable diet with a couple of his best recipes for preparing local fish!

Families are welcome! Comet Talks are typically geared toward adult audiences, but older kids with an interest in fishing are welcome too!

Presenter Matt Rinker is the Sportfish Specialist for the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) Flagstaff Office, where he conducts fish surveys, works with hatcheries to stock local fisheries, conducts fishing clinics, monitors water quality and water levels, writes a weekly fishing report, and much more. He started working for the Department in 2000 as a summer intern before beginning his career full time in 2003 as a fisheries technician. By June this year, he will have 22 years of full time service, all in the field of fisheries. He has been an angler since the age of 3, spending much of his childhood fishing the White Mountains or joining his father, who also worked for AZGFD, on his patrols. When he’s not fishing, he’s trail running, tying flies and making lures, wood working, mentoring new hunters and anglers, and raising his son Fisher.