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I was going through some folders and came across the image below. So I figured I'd give PRDATR a chance to make one of his snarky comments and for all the rest of you guys to have a hoot and holler. My friend of 40 years, Joe Reynolds, who lives in Ocean City, MD, was the photographer. At the time, I was a field editor for Outdoor Life and he was the northeast regional editor for Field & Stream. We were also business partners in the running of CompuServe (now owned by AOL) outdoor forums for about 15 years. Although Joe and I hunted doves once near Navajoa, Mex., he's more of a fisherman than a hunter, preferring to use his fly-fishing skills for about any species. Consequently, on an almost twice-a-year basis from 1980 until about 2008, he and I have fished all over the US and in a couple Canadian provinces. This was one of those trips. The set-up photo was taken on a horseback fishing trek into the Bob Marshall Wilderness sometime during the late 1980s. This is where we were fishing. We could view mountain goats on the slopes while catching huge cutthroats. SUNBURST LAKE

The good ole days, ehh tony? thanks for sharing

1998 19a and 2020 19a might aswell be in different universes.

I've had several spotters including the older vortex spotter in the same class as the diamondback and now I'm using the meopta. From my experience, my opinion is that a lower end spotter is a waste of money and not worth the weight it adds to the pack.

So i had the pleasure of hunting with my two older boys for the first time in 7 years. Both were competitive swimmers and missed most hunting seasons due to trips and then college. So after a long absence we hit the southern hills for a coues hunt. Glasses up two shooter bucks first morning and they slipped us on three different stalks the first two days. Great hunting though we were having a blast but starting to think these bucks had us beat. Third morning the wind was howling and everything seemed bedded out of the wind. We flipped to a side of the canyon that we thought would block the wind and just before 10am we caught them moving to beds. After some leap frogging to keep them in the glass and move to a shooting spot. The best we could do was 420yrds and we couldn’t get low enough to get out of the wind that was swirling around the top of the ridge line. My oldest got set up and we waited for a couple hours hoping it would stand up. During the time we went back and forth on the two bucks. One a classic 3x3. Most likely 85-90 so good solid buck. But we could get away from the old 2x2 with him. He was unique with great mass and tall. Big body and we just couldn’t pass on him. Yea the 3x3 would score better and look good but this old deer had to be taken. Finally we said let’s take him in his bed if you fell good. I know my son felt confident with his old 30-06. Not the perfect Coues rifle but he trust it and it shoots great. He didn’t have a BT so we were working out the drop at 420 and one of his reticle hash marks lined up good. So he went hot and let it fly. Deer came busting out. Shot was high. He found it again on the run up the to the top and fired an ill advised shot missing Unlike most coues I’ve hunted this buck granted him one last perfect broadside at the top. Reset he fired and the buck went ten feet into a prickly pear and folded up. Ranged 465. Double lung. Side note. Using new Sierra Gamechanger bullets. Went through and blew half a lung out a hole about the size of a quarter. Minimal internal damage. Nice bullet in the wind for sure. Couldn’t have had a better hunt with my two oldest boys after a long gap in the field. Enjoy the pics

Hunted this buck for 8 strait days. I seen him scouting 1 time before my hunt. Never to see him again for 2 strait weeks. The times I did see him he was way out in a completely different location miles away. The buck was always on the move... For the few seconds I did have to see this buck I could tell he was an awesome deer; Deep forks, great mass and height! I called this deer “Ghost” he was unpatternable.. The buck never stayed in a certain area like almost all bucks do. This buck knew that staying in any given area for too long was bad news for him. Super smart deer! To make things even more difficult he was the only buck in the dam area not chasing does😂 Including scouting and my hunt I only seen this deer 3 times and the only time I seen him was at the last 10 minutes of shooting light; completely nocturnal animal. Below is the story on how it went down... I spotted a buck at 1 mile at dawn. When I put the spotting scope on him I could tell it was a shooter buck(not ghost). The buck was herding and rutting these does hardcore. It didn't take me long to pack up all my gear and start closing the distance on them. I get to a half mile of them and these deer rutted over the top of this hill away from me. I didn't wanna run right into them and spook them so I gave It about 30 minutes and just glassed the two drainages that came out from where they dropped into. I did this to make sure that they didn’t escape out of this pocket when I ventured into it. They never did so I headed over to the deer trail and started track them to where they went, I pursued them extremely slow because I knew I could get really close hunting this method. I tracked them for half a mile when I noticed ears walking towards me 100 yards away. I get down on my belly and just watch these deer get 20 yards to me and feed right around me lol they had no clue I was there. So then I see a 3x3 buck about 150 yards away and I grunted at him to try and pull him closer. He came in 20 yards and had a stand off with me and had no clue where the grunting had come from. He was looking around for 10 minutes right in front of me. The buck then started grazing and eventually met up with the does that were right in front of me. It was at that moment that I started hearing grunting and trampling like a stampede lol I just got ready on my belly cuz I knew something was lurking in front of me lol. I pulled my muzzleloader and have it on my side as I'm laying in my back. I then see about 25 deer within 30 yards of me. All I could see was little heads pop up out of nowhere. Then behind the does herding them up is a different buck than what I had seen this morning. An even bigger buck had pushed the big buck I seen this morning out of the group in the span of like an hour. This buck happened to be my target buck. "Ghost" I called this buck ghost because this buck I tried hunting for 7 days with no success. The smartest creature I have hunted lol. He had no pattern to hunt and never showed himself. He was nocturnal. But anyways this buck was pushing the does, nudging them in the rump and grunting like a mad man😂 I got on my knees as he got 50 yards from me and I let him have it. It took me 3 shots to bring that bad boy down. Here he is fellas, an awesome desert mule deer with a muzzleloader🤙🏽

https://aristotle-engineering.com/products/rifle-railz-gen-2-tripod-mount/

Good cause I’m due!!!

Gorgeous lake and hilarious picture! What great memories! Your post reminds me of the quote by author Madeleine L'Engle "The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been." Thanks for posting.

Very cool...and creative. Beautiful country for sure.

mfernaz is a good guy to deal with!

Great seller. Arrived on time and gun better than described. Honest without reproach. Thank you!

Great buck congrats

Back to back good winter precipitation (2018 and 2019) is the recipe for full potential. Now only if 2020 packs a good monsoon (unlike 2019), so those bulls can finish out strong. It could be the year to be holding a tag, fingers crossed.

congrats on a great buck!

Having drawn elk and antelope this year I decided to forgo my usual Kansas archery hunt. This was only my second time in 10 year not chasing giants eastern whitetails out there. I decided to put my 10 year old in though and go on a quick trip to try and bag his first buck. He has harvested two does out there so with his crossbow in tow we set out Nov 4. I have access to 1200 acres of farm ground and on this particular farm have two Summit double ladder stands. Our first evening we had a perfect wind to hunt our favorite stand on the edge of a picked bean field. It wasn't long and two bucks were running a poor doe ragged all around us. It was total chaos for about 5 minutes with Max never getting a clear shot at the bigger buck. About an hour before dark a small 7 point came out and worked a scrape then headed our way. I told Max that we should pass him and see what else might show. After he left Max said " Dad, it's my first buck....I really wanted to shoot him." As I reflected on what he said I felt like a total idiot. I had always told him that although I chose to shoot older age class animals we hunt for the meat. I told him that the next buck that we see that he likes we'll try to shoot. Shortly after saying that we look down the field and see a big 11 point working the same scrape as the small buck had. I let out a few soft tending grunts and here he comes. At 50 yards he stopped and max settled the crosshair. We had practiced at this range many times in our back yard so I had complete confidence in his ability. I gave him the green light and the arrow was on its way. The buck wheeled slightly causing the exit to be a little back. We decided to give him some time and he only went 200 yards. Unfortunately, that was enough time for the coyotes to do a number on him. He scored 140" gross. The next few days we spent on Doe patrol and the second to last night max shot a nice doe. We finished our trip with picking up the newest member of our family, Nolan, a miniature golden doodle. These days I think I get more joy out of these kid hunts than my own. We arrived home and got ready for our next adventure...36a junior hunt.....to be continued......

What the heck difference does it make what someone else uses point guard for? You didn't draw the tag so it really doesn't matter. The only real effect it would have is if it's a max point guy and you won't draw that tag next year unless your in that pool.Just does not make since what folks complain about. And yes I realize I am complaining lol.

This is one of those subjects that I think will continue till the end of times. The perfect fur friendly round. My best advice is get and and shoot some critters and see for yourself. If you are thinking about harvesting and preparing pelts then you will quickly learn what is fur friendly. My definition of fur friendly is something that doesn't leave an exit hole. No matter what shot angle, your 243 will exit. And that's ok. If you are serious about putting up fur, learning how to sew up and fix holes is an important part. Once you get tired of fixing big exit holes you can experiment with different calibers. The perfect fur friendly round is a kind of mythical unicorn that people chase but I truley think doesn't exist. What if fur friendly for coyote is not so great on fox and bobcat. Is the same kind of mythical beast that African hunters search for. They want a plains game rifle for anything from a 10 lb. Duiker to a 2000 lb eland. Yes one rifle can kill both but none is the perfect fit for both. In my experience, as a general rule any 22 cal that is sub factory 223 velocity is a good start. I have blow up more coyotes and ruined the pelts with an ar shooting factory ammo. My father in law constantly shoots coyotes with a 222 and gives them to me and I have yet to see an exit hole after 20+ coyotes. I use a 204 ruger and again have never had an exit hole to sew up. I have however put pretty good exit holes in fox and bobcat with the 204. If I knew I was going to only shoot a fox or bobcat I would probably choose a 17 cal. To me personally, when I think of fur friendly I like 218 bee, 22 hornet, 204 ruger, 222 Remington, or the 17 Remington.

SPF I am selling my Weatherby Vanguard 270. It has an oil finish and is in 95% condition. It is topped of with Conetrol Mounts and rings, and Burris 3x9 scope. Also comes in the original satin lined Browning soft case. ( not a cheap soft case). $425.00 Priced right. Will respond in the order of responses. would like to sell locally in Tucson but travel north once a month so could meet off I -10 or I-17. I can also ship for actual cost to your FFL. PM or text Phil at 520-975-0830

OK Weatherby. You try typing and drinking LOL😁

Just do like others do and put in and get drawn. Purchase point guard and if you don’t like what you see scouting leading up to the hunt then be a wimp and turn it back in.

Okay guys I went scouting today and I seen something that seemed like I was in a fantasy.... After seeing countless whitetail deer. I spotted some in a pocket really high in a canyon and what I seen next you would not believe......

Thank you all for your kind words and following along! It’s still hard to believe it all turned out the way it did. I took measurements on the bull and the unofficial score we calculated was 305 4/8! We did most of the butchering at home today and have some jerky marinating in the fridge. Can’t wait to make it tomorrow! (The picture is from last night before we cut up all the meat.)

Third Day Update: TAG FILLED. As I finally have a chance to relax and look back on it, wow what a day it’s been! We decided to go back to the spot I posted about yesterday morning. While we had seen some bulls yesterday, we weren’t entirely sure if they’d be there again since we didn’t scout this area before the season started. (It was a whole new spot because we couldn’t get to the spots we had scouted and wanted to hunt due to all the snow.) We looked at a map last night and decided on an area to sit and glass and wait in the morning to see if the elk would come through that same area. We got up early and hiked in about a mile to sit and glass. About an hour after sunrise, we decided to cross the ridge we were sitting on to get a better view of a tree line and valley that we had seen tracks in yesterday. 30 minutes later, as I’m loudly clearing snow off a log to sit on, my buddy spots the first cow. She was coming from a saddle connected to the little valley we were sitting on about 150 yards from us. He tells me to shut up and look and I see her clear as day. A few more cows follow her and I think to myself “where are the bulls?” After what seemed like forever, but was probably about 30 seconds, we spot a bull following the cows. He’s a decent 4 pointer and being the third day I think “game on, I’m gonna tag my first bull!” All of a sudden 5 more bulls come into view from that same saddle but there’s one (potentially major) problem. The lead cow is now at the bottom of this valley we are sitting right on top of about 80 yards in front of us. She can either keep going down or turn directly towards us. There were tracks all on the hillside we were sitting on, so I’m just praying she doesn’t head straight for us. My prayers went answered and she continued leading the group down the valley. I turn my attention back to the bulls, but I’m starting to get so excited that not only will I get a shot at one, I’ll actually get to PICK the one I want to shoot. And they are only 125 yards away! I quickly look at each bull through my scope and pick out the one that looks the biggest. Honestly, I probably should have looked at each one longer but I was worried that I would miss this awesome opportunity because the group was moving steadily through. The big one stopped and I had a clear shot at about 125 yards. I pulled the trigger. He went about 30 yards and dropped on his side. He was down! I couldn’t believe it. Clean, double lung shot. I was shaking so hard and for some reason my left hand was tingling like crazy. We waited about 10 minutes but he was down and gone. I walked up and he was a beautiful 6 pointer. I honestly couldn’t have dreamed of a more perfect way to fill my first tag. Thank you all again so much for your tips and words of encouragement! I’m really glad I got to finish this thread with a success story and a great bull. Until next time, John