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Every mountain ridge south of i10 is filled with trigger happy drug smugglers. Stay away if you want to live.

(Edit): We ended up hunting for 6 days straight, 3 with my little one right by our side. On third day a forky ran right up on us at like 30 yards while we were talking to a game warden. He got spooked and darted off in the bushes and while we were trying to find him, a truck pulled up from the road and the father and son jumped out and shot him right in front of us. On the 4th night we spotted 2 forkies and a doe right at dusk at 460 yards, but we ran out of good shooting light and then they weren't there in the morning. But while looking for them ended up spotting a nice 3 x 3 bedded down on the side of a hill at 315 yards. All we could see was his big head and while attempting to get closer for a better shot he got spooked and ran over the hill. For the next two hours went all the way around the hill, directly through the cat claw bushes trying to find him, but never did. On the 6th morning we conquered just about the biggest hill in the area, to find this beautiful specimen. Ryder shot him in the lungs at 360 yards. All of the hard work payed off and it was a great lesson for Ryder. Hunting teaches so many valuable lessons and that's exactly why I wanted to teach my two sons to do it.

Got it done with Coues Bucky #3. 3rd tag filled this year, this one in New Mexico.. not a giant by any means but any Coues harvest is a special accomplishment. Now into the San Carlos for tag # 4 to complete the year!

Some species of Sun Spider.

Sounds expensive

Arken

Which budget scope are you referring to that is known for tracking?

what he said. I felt so much pressure before my hunt, knowing I would most likely never draw it again, add in everyone talking scores, field judging etc. I was all wadded up. I about came off the tracks when I first saw the ram I ended up killing, and fortunately I was able to kill him the next day with my best hunting buddy with me the whole way Remember why you hunt, and that you are fortunate to have the opportunity to hunt an animal most wont. Enjoy the ride.....

This ^^. I can tell just by the fact that its an 03-A3 that its not one of the problem children 03s. Those were made pre-WWI (well before the 03-A3s)and were known to have rather brittle barrels due to forging the barrels wrong. All of the Remington's have a 2-groove barrel, which didn't affect their accuracy at all. Remington and Smith Corona did it to save time and money to get rifles to soldiers faster. $1200 is a very fair asking price for that rifle. I have a 1918 Springfield 1903 in mint condition and I know I could get $4-$6k for it if I really wanted to sell it.

My Newly discovered Nigerian Uncle (rich, African royalty) says its good to go. As soon as he makes the deposit into my checking account, I'll buy one too.

Swfa

I will be in town that weekend and can meet you. Thank you!

It starts on Saturday Jeff. I have been scouting a couple of times and have found a couple of bucks. So fingers crossed I can find them during the hunt.

Drew a late archery elk tag and was excited because anytime hunting elk in AZ is exciting. Well found out I had the stupid covid shoot after 4 tests the day before I left due to hacking up a lung non stop.figured what better way to quarantine than go camp solo in northern Az. Long story short busted Friday trying to find a camp spot getting stuck in the mud and what not. Changed plans found a nice spot in the lower country and started hunting. Found tons of deer and antelope but not many elk. Saturday evening found a herd of bulls from rags to one big 370 type bull. Plan Sunday morning go relocate bull. Got to glassing and never found said bull but found this bull. Bailed off the glassing hill and cut the distance. Got to the herd from 40-60 yards. They either herd me or wind switched and ran. Bull stopped. Ranged him ar 103 and sent it. Arrow found the mark and he piled up. Not bad for a solo late hunt. 6th AZ archery bull in the freezer.

I lost my virginity there about 44 years ago. If you found it.. I'd like it back.

That's a brown spider, LOL! Quite common here in Arizona. Seriously it's an "Arizona Brown Spider". Usually found outdoors in plants with huge webs. They are transient so you'll find them indoors as well. They are venomous.

By the way not a vortex scope. Nikon Black X 1000 4-16x50

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

I would get a good wood stove and not look back. Nothing sucks the fun of hunting and camping out of me like sleeping cold, and I used to do it a lot growing up from improper equipment. I helped on a late 3a3c elk hunt one year and bought a big buddy heater for that hunt. It took some chill off but I was still miserably cold. After I bought my alaknak I started researching quality wood burning stoves and settled on a wilderness 4. Weighs 84 lbs but will burn all night and I can get the tent well over 90° even with a blizzard outside.

I've mounted more than 20 scopes in the last three months. Most for hunting rifles. Some that were previously mounted too but not correctly. First let me start by saying there some tools you will need. If you don't have these tools stop right there and let a professional do the job properly. Here's the long process. Tools: 1). An inch pound torque wrench 2), A lapping bar and lapping compound 3). A leveling system 4) An optical bore sighter or collimator Start by checking screws for the base to see if they're correct length. Simply done by putting the two front screws on the base or bases one at a time. Start with the very front screw first. After you've torqued the first screw usually 35-40 inch pounds of torque for base screws, try moving the base side to side. If you can do this, the screw is too long and you have made contact with the barrel threads it will cause the screw to loosen as you shoot your rifle. Next remove that screw and thread the next screw on the front and repeat the process above. You will have to trim screws on a grinder if too long or replace if too short. Once you determine both front screws are of proper length, move on to the rear screws to check for proper length. This is easy as you'll be able to remove the bolt and with a flash light see where the screw ends are from underneath. When you have verified all the screws are of proper length, mount the base to the action. If needed apply blue thread locking compound to the screws. Next process is to find the proper orientation of the scope on the receiver. You should have an equal amount of space between the rings and the adjustment turrets and you should also have three to four inches of eye relief at the rear. You can loosely place the top half of one of the scope rings to keep the scope in place while you're doing the orientation. Mark this position with masking tape on the scope tube. Next remove the ring top and scope and lock the bottom half of the scope rings to base using 35-40 inch pounds of torque. You're now ready to check ring alignment with the lapping bar. Apply a small amount of lapping compound to the rings and rock the bar back and forth till you see the bright spots where contact is being made. If these spots are equally consistent in contact there is no need to go any further, level and mount your scope and sight in. In the twenty or more scopes that I recently mounted, all needed further lapping to achieve at least 50% contact. Once done with lapping mark your rings for proper orientation if ever removed. I put a little tic mark with a center punch on the front upper and lower half of the front ring and two tic marks on the upper and lower halves of the rear ring. Next place an orientation level on the base and level the rifle in a vise and lock it. Next place the front level on the barrel and orient it with the rear level on the base. Remove the base level and replace the lower ring halves as they were oriented before. Place the scope on the lower ring halves and then add the upper halves leaving them loose till scope is properly leveled. Place the rear level on the scope elevation turret and orient and level with the level on the barrel. Now tighten the scope rings leaving equal amounts of gap between the ring halves. You can be very exact using a feeler gauge to do this. Now you're ready to bore sight. If you run out of adjustment either vertically or horizontally, you will have to start over and maybe insert shims to successfully bore sight. Scope manufacturers ask that you not tighten scope rings to more than 25 inch pounds as greater torque can result in erratic scope adjustments or damage to scope. I use the Level, level by Wheeler. See video on Midway USA. By the way, the scope brands and ring brands I recently mounted were Nightforce, Leupold, Vortex. There was one AR style rifle and two custom rifles. Glad to answer questions.

Helped a friends boy get this ram on his 14th birthday! 2nd and last sheep hunt of the year (for me) up in Oregon, just thought I’d keep the excitement up for guys with Nov/Dec Ram tags! He green scored 169 even.

That doesn’t sound like the best way to me. Why would you want to start off your hunt with your gun not as perfectly zeroed as possible. The only way to accomplish that is a solid rest. i always see dudes at the range shooting without a good rest, like bipod only no rear rest.

Special thanks to: Cody Bigelow Johnny Bigelow Brady Poggendorf And, Matt & Mike!

Just west of the Wickenburg airport

I had the great opportunity this past weekend to take my 10 year old son on his first turkey hunt. This really has been a hunt he has been getting ready for the last 10 years. From the time he was 1 he was going with me to the NWTF national convention watching the national calling contest, seeing my pot calls in the call making contest and meeting the primos crew who he had seen on the truth turkey hunting DVD’s so many times. He has been to 3 national conventions. He has also been fortunate to join me in turkey camp so many times through the years. He has been with me in the shop watching me make so many turkey calls and picked out the wood and the size and surfaces for the calls he wanted me to make for him. He is always asking me to make him something new. I started making the smaller sized pot calls (3” instead of 3 1/2”) to fit in his hands better. He has also attended with me to so many fund raising banquets all over Arizona and even volunteered and helped set up, clean up and run prizes to the winners at the last East Valley Toms banquet. 4 years ago he joined me at a turkey camp helping other youth hunters. On the first evening of the hunt he started experiencing really bad pain bellow his stomach. He ended up taking a helicopter ride from Show Low to Phoenix Children’s hospital because his intestine had developed a small hole and was leaking into his body. After 3 very painful weeks in the hospital and several procedures later he made a full recovery. I am so glad he pulled through and this experience has really helped me appreciate all the time I get to spend with him and his two younger brothers. This hunt started a little rough when getting out of our vehicle on opening morning in the dark to the wind howling. We just had to go from past experience hunting this area because we would not be able to hear them. It took an hour or so of calling and moving to locate them but we found them and had them coming in to our calls. We had a fence between us them and some were hanging up not wanting to cross. Two hens and a jake did cross and just as the others were getting ready to cross a vehicle came driving by and scarred the flock in the opposite direction. Later that morning we were able to call the two hens and jake to our setup but the jake never gave him a shot opportunity. The first evening had us trying a different area on the other side of the unit playing cat a mouse with a strutting tom and three hens. It was fun to watch him strut but the closest we could get him to come was about 50 yards, good enough for my 12 gauge with 3 ½” shells but not for the 20 gauge 3” he was using. No shot taken. The second morning we thought we had the perfect setup after seeing the birds travel pattern on opening morning. The turkeys had a different plan in mind and went the opposite direction. Knowing where they would probably be heading we left our decoy and setup and hurried on a quick mile hike to get in front of them. After a few minutes of calling it was confirmed we had made the right move with gobbles not to far off and sounding closer each time. The hole flock came in and he was able to make a great shot on the strutting tom at 10 yards. He was so happy and excited. I have been apart of over 40 birds being harvested all over the country but this is my new favorite most exciting turkey hunt I have been on. I am so happy for my son. I would like to thank Steve AKA Cactus Jack and his son for letting us borrow his youth 20 gauge. He was nervous about the recoil and didn’t want to use any our 12 gauges. Sorry for the long read, just glad I was able to be apart of this hunt and share a little of it with you.