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Well it was an interesting year and stressful year. Rewind 3 weeks before hunt. People that know me know that I shoot long distance quite a bit even have my own course I shoot by my house. I started shooting suppressed last year and to be honest not sure if it contributed to my issues last year but we missed alot of animals, too close that i'm use to. For elk and deer. Before the suppressor we were 18 for 18 on deer on my 300 win mag from 400-800 yds. With suppressor we missed quite a few. It really messed my head up. Well i headed to the range just to check and make sure i have a perfect zero and first shot i blew my suppressor off my rifle 50 yards down the range. I was extremely happy my son and I were not harmed. See the suppressor in the pic. Well here we are short time before hunt and now i have to re-zero, re-chrono, Check long range on the mtn again. What a mess. Well I was able to get this close as possible for my hunt and hoped for the best. Day 1 on the hunt and its flat out cold. Its my 2 kids and by neighbor who is a Pilot at Luke. Good guy. We found some deer but no bucks today. Day 2 and my oldest boy finds a buck at 840 yds and its a go. We set up and 1 shot he hammers the buck and its down. My 2 boys head over to get the deer and my neighbor and I stay and keep glassing. Well I glass over to the ridge over and I see a giant Mtn lion, and its going right where the deer is junior just shot. I jump on my 300 and my neighbor ranges 500. I have severe buck fever and am shaking. I take a shot and just below. He continues to walk slow and is under a tree at 540. I take my time and BOOM he takes hit (i believe) and hunches and jumps and straight down the hill where my sons deer is. Long story short, never find the lion. Day 3. No bucks in the moring. Later in the evening Junior and neighbor go out on there own and make a nice 330 yd shot. Long night for them Now day 4 with 1 more tag to fill. My youngest son. During the day we come across this bear two times. Click on the Bear Video Link Bear Video.MOV Last light I glass the buck up at 740 yds. My son jumps on the 300 and our scope is 5-25 power. At 25 power you couldnt see at all so we had to move down to 15. I said Dylan can you make a good shot that a long shot at 15 power. He said Dad I'm good and steady. I said OK let her rip. 1 shot and the deer rolled down the mtn. Was a great trip with my boys again. Late night that day and we had Green chile and Fresh deer backstrap when back. f

My son was able to harvest this pretty buck here in NM this this past weekend.

Just a proud post. Wife has killed 3 bucks in a row from 97”-99” she finally held out. Wife and I had a rough 4 days with wind and weather. Looking for 2 specific bucks I had found on my previous hunt that were substantially bigger. Found 12-15 bucks over the first 3 days with her turning down a high 90s” but turned him down on the 3rd day. With no luck we were about to call it quits on the last day when I glassed up this guy. Wife was okay with him so we made our move and she made a great shot at 169 yards. No long range needed with her stalking skills. She is a real trooper and loves her some Coues bucks. She finally broke her 100” goal.

Got a chance to hunt the southern portion of the state this year for the second season. Such a beautiful area. Opening morning was awesome at a mere 28 degrees. Pulled into camp and started glassing from there. TONS of deer up on their feet until late morning. Only saw a few smaller bucks and not looking for a meat hunt yet as we had until Tuesday night before we had to pull out. Met up with some friends midday and headed back to a spot I had been eyeballing on Google Earth. Started picking up a few deer with one being a mid sized buck. Too far and too small for day one. Moved the glass to the North and picked this guy up at about 1,000 yards. I usually try to keep all my shots to 350 yards or less. I just don’t practice enough to do otherwise. There really weren't any good vantage points for a shot except for the small rise right in front of the ridge he was on that I ranged to be about 200 yards from him and getting there I was going to be in the wide open for the first ½ of the stock. I decided it was worth a shot. Down the hill and into the wash to the right trying to use what little cover I had until I could get behind the rise. My buddies stayed up top and let me know he was still there and feeding out into the open. I used the small hill to stay concealed and finished the stock with a 40 yard belly crawl just far enough to where my barrel would clear the brush and I had a good sight line to the buck. Almost like he knew I was coming he turns dead broadside in a wide open spot. I ranged him at 195 yds. “Click” goes the safety and he lifts his head startled at the noise. I couldn’t believe he actually heard that from there. Still broadside I centered the shot and “BOOM - - SHWACK”...... Buck Down! Great hunt with great friends. Need help with sideways pics.

We will work up to the 257 for sure. I have a 20" heavy barrel AR that we will spend lots of time with. I have lots of 22 and 223 ammo. The "reactive" targets are a great idea, and can shrink as he gets better.

Casey you are on the right track. Take him out shooting every weekend with a 22 walking around the desert. Shoot lizards, butterflies, leafs etc while looking for rabbits, tweety birds etc. Take an orange. While you are out tell him you are going to have him turnaround then you will toss it and you will tell him to turn around, find it and he has five seconds to shoot it. THrow it like 40' away. If you need .22 ammo let me know I have plenty. Do this so he gets the basics down, over and over again. When you finally let him shoot the 257 make sure the first 50 rounds are done standing up so he can understand the relationship between getting a good cheek weld and being able get close enough to the scope so he has a full view. Keep the target big and close. Think cantelopes at 50 yards, make it easy to build his confidence. A 223 or 22-250 is close to a 257 with a break but less recoil and way less loud.

helll, ive hunted with lots of grown asss men who couldnt set up their own rifle, find the deer and kill it! Let alone a brand new hunter.

Daughters buck, 175 yards, using her Win Mdl 70FW .308, one shot.

You stick your fukking nose into everyone's posts. Shut the fukk up!!!!!! I rotated one pic, dumb a$$.

I Had a great week hunting with some friends. Was planning to hunt the entire week if I had to. deer were tough to spot and was only seeing spikes or does for most of the hunt. On Sunday saw a beautiful buck that walked right out of my life. Tuesday rolled around and I saw a nice buck I decided to take. Was able to sneak into 350 for a chip shot. got the skull back and it looks great. Work was done by big brown taxidermy in queen creek.

How do you haul all that around the hills then find time to set it up before the shot is passed?

Which one?

All I can say is make it fun while teaching him about safety and good shooting .I use a primos trigger stick in the blind and what ever I can to help make steady shots everywhere else.If you do need ammo for a 22 or something I do have shoot me a pm.Lots of time shooting and having fun will keep up interest. More practice equals better shot placement.

Kids need to learn that killing a deer the first time out to feed daddys ego isn't what it all about. They should hike a few miles for a couple years first before they get daddys participitation trophy, which they don't really care about at all.

I never had bipods or clamp or any device to hold my rifle. I was about the same age too. Maybe it’s where I grew up and was blessed with a lot of plinking, rabbit hunting, prairie dog shooting and just getting out very often that helped me. Before I had my .270, I was using the old man’s 257 Roberts on coyotes and used what was available like prone, kneeling, fence post or tree limb. When I got the 270, we went out and shot the heck out of it. So much that I could hit with decent accuracy no matter what since the gun was kind of a part of me. Some of the times we went out, we didn’t fire a shot but I carried the rifle the whole time that it imprinted and seemed easy to use after a while. Kind of like the military drills where they do pointless moves over and over that the rifle feels so useful, it’s kind of a part of you. That’s my recommendation, practice with practical shots. Bench rest work is good too. While at the bench or plinking, maybe use a bipod periodically if you’re worried about it, but don’t leave the bipod on while he is young. I think a bipod is not a good permanent rifle fixture, only temporary.

Most of the shots I have had kids take are from a bipod prone or from the tripod with a yoke on it. Best thing I can tell you is do not think any animal is a slam dunk and do not let your haste or frustration show. There has been a few times where an animal should have easily died, however the kid could not locate the animal or get comfortable with the shot. It's one of the most fun hunts I go on and also one of the most stressful. Good luck and whatever you do, let that dang kid shoot any animal he wants to that is legal.

We have used the Bog Pod Deathgrip with a lot of success. For kids it's about having fun and reducing stress. Let them enjoy the hunt, let them shoot what they want. Set the gun up in the vice and line it up on the deer. The kid can make small adjustments if at all needed. Lots of time behind a 22 will help. No matter how much training and shooting they do, they will struggle. Take it easy and dont be hard on them. The first hunt is the time to get them hooked. If you make it miserable they will not want to keep going. There is nothing like shooting your first deer. These kids hunts are some of my favorites.

Getting a 10+ year old set up for a shot can be tuff. Lots of time behind a scoped 22, from the bench, freehand and from a pack is the best practice Imo. My boys never had a "claw" and every thing has worked out well. Do what you think is best. I never had a claw so I didn't think they needed anything of the sort, unless there was some sort of handicap.

Got to work this morning at 0700 and was contemplating maybe doing an evening hunt since this was the end of my hunt. I was talking to my Chief around 0845 and my hunt came up and he asked why am I still here? He said, you need to leave now…this is an order, I want to see you drive out of the parking lot. You don’t have to tell me twice. I get home and changed, loaded up my gear and headed out to where my son shot his deer because we saw “the bruiser” disappear before he shot his. I new it was still alive and maybe I had a chance. I made it out to where my son shot his around 12 and got set up. It started to get breezy and I new the deer would be bedded and out of the wind. I started glassing the north facing ridge and trees knowing there should be some bucks bedded. I immediately find a bedded spike and think this could be the same spike we saw with the “bruiser” on Sunday. I range it at 68 yds. I start to get excited and scour the area for other deer. For the next 2 1/2 hours I keep looking at the spike thinking, last day buck…why not, but then if I do shoot it surely the “bruiser” will appear. I then recall another CWTer talking about shooting a Coues with a handgun. It was 68 yds, I could sneak in and do this with my 9mm, how cool would that be, but then again it’s a spike. I go back and forth for the next 1hr. I finally talk myself out of it. The spike stands up and starts milling around so I think this it, the “bruiser” will surely get up too. As I scan around the spike I notice something jet black under some bushes and ocotillos. I think it’s a nose of another deer. I get my 15’s to verify and low and behold it’s a nose. I instantly get excited thinking it’s the “bruiser”, while I’m trying to figure out if this a doe or a buck it’s head turns and I see horn. Now this horn is way bigger than the spikes, so game on. I remove my 15’s from the tri-pod and position my rifle on top of the tri-pod. I range the face of this deer and it’s at 67 yds. I can’t believe I’m this close. I settle the crosshairs just under its face and squeeze the trigger. Rifle goes boom and the spike hauls butt down hill, my deer isn’t moving, but I can’t see it either. Now I’m shaking beyond belief right now, I don’t know if this the “ bruiser” or not. I slowly walk up to the spot and can see a deer down but the antlers are covered by all the foliage. As I inch closer and closer I start to see antlers and unfortunately this buck is not the “bruiser”. I am still tickled pink with my last day buck, I would have shot this on day one. I shot this just past where my son shot his and now I’m thinking, great this is going to be long drag out. After about 10 minutes into dragging and not having my son to help, I decide to cut the deer in half and make 2 trips to get my deer back to the truck. Just under 8 miles, Can’t wait till next year!!!!!!!

i cancelled cox 2 years ago. they kept jacking up the price, at one point i was paying $ 280.00 a month for phone, internet and cable, i tried to stay with them and they said that if i change plans will cost me more, so i went with century link for internet which is not as fast but i don'r work from home, just a couple of things and so far i've been happy with it, for tv service i have youtube tv and is great. cox is abbusive with their pricing, now the send me offers for $129.00 a month for what i got before, if they would have done that at the beggining i would have stay with them. right now i pay $55.00 for century link and $59.00 for the tv.

Well my daughter Tessa has been dating her boyfriend Alex for some time now. He has never hunted anything besides birds well i figured it was about time to change that. After talking with Billy Gonzales with Bucks and Bulls about a unit that would be easy to draw as well as have a chance to have success we applied and were drawn. I had taken him out shooting a few times and he did great shots out to 200 yards. Well opening morning we hiked about two miles into an area we split up so we could cover more ground. We soon found a few bucks one was a shooter so my supertindedent Waldo decided to try and take him. His shot was almost 650 yards he made a good shot and the deer went down. The other buck with him just stayed put right above him. So we called Tessa on the radio to get over here with Alex we had the gun already set up for him. As soon as he got there the deer started to walk away Billy was able to stop him with a whistle Alex shot and made a perfect shot at 600 yards. So now we had two deer down we spent the rest of the day getting them out. The next morning we went to a different area we soon saw this buck that i was able to take at 700 yards. What a great hunt saw about 30 bucks and at least that many does spent Sunday cutting them all up. I do believe Alex is hooked and now ready for the javelina hunt we drew.

Process time

Hunting is hard. I don’t particularly think that hunting is “fun.” Especially when it’s mid day and it’s 80 degrees out. It’s usually looking back on the hunt when I think wow, that was pretty cool actually. This hunt was no different. One minute it didn’t look like I’d get one, then the next minute it’s time to break out the havalon. Was with my dad. He’s 67, he can still hike good thankfully because I needed his help. With the moon and how warm it was this morning I wasn’t that hyped about the day. Got out there early, started slow a couple does and some carp. at about 7:45 or so the sun went behind a cloud and all of a sudden the deer started coming out of the bottoms and feeding on the hillsides. My dad said I think I saw a buck running down there. So I start looking and after a while I see a buck standing down in the low hills. Looked good enough for the last day we were hunting (Today). Ranged, 809 yards. I couldn’t get closer there wasn’t any other vantages to shoot from so I had to send it. Shot and hit but he didn’t go down he walked to 776. it’s thick bottom and I got lucky he stopped in a wide open window and I shot again and dropped him.

Thanks Randy.

Would you sell just the eye piece