HEADACHE

I had always heard that G&F decides how many tags are allowed based upon what numbers the winter ranges will support (Food and water) They estimate numbers to be taken out during fall so as to not overwhelm the food sources of the winter range. but ????????? In my humble opinion however, there are more and more elk every year and they are pushing the muleys out and their numbers down. Soon we will have small pockets of mule deer and lots and lots of elk. . . Hmm elk tags cost more. . . . hmmmm

Shiras, I think the evolution bullets go in any lever gun. And sadly, no pics of the two halves of the yote. Just a couple chuckles and a pat on the ol buttstock. I will remember that sloppy wet sound as the big fat slow bullet ripped through his side forever! ha ha ha. When I was skinning the bear out I did notice 4-5 dead bees or hornets tucked up under his armpits. they were dead, I assumed maybe he was eating them or their nest earlier that day, they were still fresh.???????? I'd rather be lucky than good any day boys . . . . any day.

Well I haven't missed opening Quail weekend since forever. . . but my buddy talked me into buying a bear tag and heading out for bear. I had never hunted bear before, thought I might give it a try. . . become a man and all that tough stuff ha ha ha. I already had the rifle, a Marlin lever in .450 Marlin. Big Bang Lever! So we went out on the weekend and saw sign and no bodies. . I took Monday off of work and went out by myself. It was windy and so my tape call wasn't very effective, I resorted to my mouth call which makes one very nervous hunting by himself and nobody to watch his back in bear country! Anyway to make a long story short! I shot my first bear! He was actually up a big dead tree when I heard him. I blasted him from about 70 yards away whilst my heart was thumpety thump thump! He made one helluva noise and earthquake when he pounded the ground! It took me 4 1/2 hours to skin him and drag him out of the bottom of that canyon CRIPES! My camera has a timer on it so I was able to snap 3 or 4 pictures before I got my knives out. Just thought I'd share with you guys. My first bear! The only guys I let see it so far were the firefighters and the taxidermist, they said he was like 5 1/2 feet or so and who knows how big his melon is. . . I am on cloud nine boys! Hunter=1 Bear=0

I was using factory 350gr Hornady rounds. . . it is way too much for black bears in my humble opinion. It left a huge hole on both sides! I think it might be perfect for when that Grizzly charges It would blow a deer clean in half. . . I shot a nice sized coyote at about 90 yards with the .450 earlier that morning who came charging in to my call. . . . I caught him high in the ribs/back, it blew him in half and left a fountain of blood for about 12-15 feet out the other side. . . . oh man. And now Hornady has those polymer tipped lever Evolution bulletts to add some serious range to all those cool levers! Can't wait to get into some of those.

WELL. . . I was parked on top of a narrow finger. . . like 50 yards wide. I hiked down the west side canyon and called for like 20 minutes. . . . nothing. I walked back over the road to the east side canyon. . . . I heard him up in the tree. . . . SO, I haven't figured out if he heard my calling and came to it. . . saw me or my jeep and treed. . . OR I was walking toward him when he was walking towards me and treed. . . or maybe he just likes to eat something 35 feet up in a dead pine tree??? ??????? if he was coming to my call he would have walked up right square behind me in the worst possible place to shoot or defend myself. . . . whew!

Congrats Peloncillo, nice bear!

UPDATE! I got my skull back yesterday, and checked out the Boone and Crocketts website to see how to score this baby. . . by my measurements he will go 17 2/16 which is not big enough to get into anyones book but mine. But he is good enough for my book any day. His hide was measure out right at 6 foot! Can't wait to get my rug back!

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! ! ! ! !

The guy who ran our CCW training once told us. . . "If he's worth shootin once, he's worth shootin twice!" Awesome man awesome!

hey guys I found a really large rack in unit 21 . . . it scores between 345 and 355 I think its a coues . . might be an elk? But I'm pretty sure its a coues . . . what a tool, har har har .

Congrats dude! I just shot my first bear too! Just nine days after you shot yours! Sweet color! You making a rug out of him too? High five brother!

he has pretty weak fronts for a moose.

Wow thats a sweet rack! I never said that to a guy before!

You said a mouthfull buddy, Its so easy to get caught up in newer and faster and better. . . truth is, if it isn't broke, don't fix it. If you have a bow or gun that fits you and you know it well and trust it, never ever replace it. My 2 cents.

That is a Big ugly Cactus Buck. . . and all those guys are saying they might not shoot it. . . please. I shoot whatever gets in my sights. That thing is a monster.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate your congratulations. Actually the taxidermist called the G&F guy that first night, and got an inspection set up, He came out and checked it and took a tooth, and ran the background check on the ear-tag that was in his ear, turns out this bear was a big trouble maker up in the Pinetop area and was relocated to 6A last May. It all checked out fine, I like to follow the rules! I have decided that the .450 marlin is too much gun for little 6 foot black bears. . . . . maybe I need to book a safari! I am learning lots about bears since I had the good fortune of baggin this guy! Thanks! HAHA HA HA . . yeah I'm a stickler for safety too! I was a little rattled still, I snapped this about five minutes after I shot him, And had to run if front of the camera's timer. . . my bad.

Yes, a rug. Turns out I cut the back legs the wrong side too ha ha ha rookies!I guess I have to learn things the hard way sometimes. They have to do some sewing, but he has a nice coat! I took him straight to the taxidermist.

I am just in awe at some of the things he writes. . . after years of bowhunting I read one of his little ips and its like a light goes on. . . . . great stuff!

+1 what he said. it was the nicest bow I'd ever shot.

I buy the nicest arrows I can afford. . . .which usually means searching for hours and hours online and finding the best deal on some $40.00/dz raw shafts cut to my length .. . . I fletch them myself to save some more $$$

I have shot the heck out of them in the past two months. . . . trying to decide what flies best with my setup. My setup is a Mathews Ultra-2 with Easton Epic 300 Arrows, Tru Ball trigger, and savage rest. I have been using the Quickspin 2.25 and boy do they spin the heck out of the arrow. I have fletched them both helical and 1` offset for testing purposes. I have compared their flight to the AAE 3 inch and 3 inch feather by gateway. All three shot very similar groups for me, the AAE and quickspin closest and cannot tell difference from 20-60 yards with field points. The Quickspins are quiter than feathers and about the same as plain vanes. What I have found is that using them with field points really really tightens groups. But when you switch to broadheads (rocket steelheads in my case) they overspin and slow down if you have them fletched with the helical. If you shoot broadheads with 1` offset, it is hardly noticeable. They are not very loud in my opinion. I use the Arizona EZ fletch tool. they work fine with that, as long as you let the glue dry before you pop it loose, as it tends to grab the little spin kickers on the vane a little bit. I like them . . . . I don't love them. . . . I am going to shoot them as they are until they pop loose or get torn off, then I'm going back to the AAE 3 inch vanes. Its funny how you often go back to what you KNOW to work and trust. My two cents for ya. . . hope it helps.

http://www.salsrackscalendar.com/index2.html and don't tell my wife LOL!

Lance - Hope it was OK to post this... Marshall SWEET A FREEBIE ELK TAG!!!!! Those are REALLY hard to find in this state. . . . congrats! . . . make sure his tag doesn't have my name on it when it comes in the mail ok??

Also if you are using any type of "quick set" or "super-glue" kind of adhesive, you need to just dip your shafts into plain water and then air dry them. . . . for sticky/chemical/alcohol based glues, you need to use a solvent. And remember to keep your fingers off of the glue-edge on your fletching.

Well whenever I am out and about and stumble across a cool skull, it is just a pile of bones and I never have cellphone service. . . . Am I really supposed to call out a G&F officer and ask him if I may pick up this old chaulky skull? . . . He might be able to find a few other bones, but cause of death???? a bit far out of reach I'd venture to guess. Who wants to wait two hours for an officer to show up. .. . Seems silly to me. . . I mean unless the thing is fresh and bleeding, then thats another issue all together. My humble two cents worth