lancetkenyon

Rifle weight? Barrel length? Barrel twist? Trigger pull weight? Magazine brand & capacity? Photos of groups? I LOVE that rifle! Good luck w. the sale. Wish I had $3K.

Bruno's has, in stock right now: Retumbo in 1#ers H1000 in 1#ers & 8# Varget in 1#ers Benchmark in 1#ers & 8# H4831 & H4831SC in 1#ers & 8#

Excessively loud? Excessive recoil? What action? Have you tried lightly tapping up on bolt handle (assuming it is a bolt gun)? First time using these reloads? Stiff closing the bolt before firing? Any signs of gas leakage from port? Did bullet exit barrel?

Look for my black 2007 F250 crew cab while you guys are up and say Hi if you see me.

Calling for snow on Turkey Day.

The ranches in AZ do not get "landowner tags". But they are the ones who allow access to the public land locked in the middle of private land in the GMUs. Those who draw tags in those GMUs either pay a trespass fee, or go hunt somewhere else. G&F has no control over that.

Very, very, VERY slight differences between 6.5-284 Win & 6.5-284 Norma from all that I have researched on the two. Make sure the reamer and dies match. Web, throat, neck diameter, and brass thickness differences between Win & Norma/Lapua too. Winchester and Remington brass have necks that are the same thickness as the shoulders, so when you neck down .284 Win brass, no need to turn necks. Lapua, Norma, Nosler, Hornady, Federal, etc. all have slightly thicker shoulder material than neck material, so once you fire and resize, you need to trim necks or you get a donut at the base of the neck, which will cause chambering issues with once fired brass. This I know from first hand experience with a different cartridge.

In other words (this is what I read into the above post anyway), the owners of the Big Bo want to lease the hunting rights to guides and rich hunters only, and make a ton of money for access rights. So G&F is trying to kill off as many bull elk as possible while they can. Ranching is an expensive business, and getting money this way adds to the profits with little work needed by the ranch hands or outgoing money by the owners. I understand that. But the checkerboard of public land that will be lost for access is a huge deal. I have never hunted the Big Bo, or unit 10 much at all, but I think it would be a devastating loss for the hunters in unit 10. Basically, pay up or get off. I doubt AZG&F will pay up, so the future of the Big Bo will more than likely be hunted only by the elite. So much for "Public Lands" scattered throughout the Big Bo. Too bad corner hopping is illegal.

But sure won't get you the "rack" you would be trying to locate with the GT40!

I am not saying it, YOU are. I have just never, ever, heard of someone owning a far superior piece of glass and wanting to downgrade by 3 or 4 levels. He would find so much more game keeping the superior glass, as you both have already found out, and not wanting to downgrade to mediocre binos AND spotter. Like wanting to trade a Ford GT40 for a Focus and a Festiva.

Anytime Miles. Glad you guys got it done and didn't let the slow times get you down. Thanks for the updates throughouto your hunt. Seems like I had a lot of time and fellow hunters and new friends I was trying to help out from down here this year, and I think most, if not all, connected.

This post makes no sense to me. The Swaros beat the Vortex in absolutely every way, and that was confirmed by both of you, but your buddy is wanting to return the Swaros and DOWNGRADE to the Vortex? Did we just step into the Twilight Zone? Anyway....I say keep the 15s. Save up over the next year or so for a GOOD spotter. That is what I am doing. I use my 10s, on a tripod for most of my glassing out to a mile+. Switch to my 15s for picking apart every shadow, and glassing over a mile. Or watching something 1/2 mile away very closely. I can easily spot elk at 1.5-2 miles away, and can tell if it needs a closer look through a rifle scope or bow sight. With the mirage we get, even on cool days, 15X and up get blown out rather quickly in my opinion. But there are the times when a good spotter would be priceless. But that is about 1-2% of the time spent behind glass in my opinion.

Double fronts in tan, brown, green. All you need.

Great job to the hunters, and to Dad for getting them out into the field. I see a LOT of good eating over the next year.

Rope the antlers and tie it off to the truck. I did this with a cow before. Not pleasant, but got it out.

Sorry, I have to call BS on this statement. But you probably just forgot the "not" in that sentence.

Well, we had big plans for Taylor's first ever mule deer hunt, but you know what they say about the best laid plans... Here is a short synopsis of her hunt, and I just want to say how proud I am of her patience, stamina, ethics, will power and determination. We got out of town later than I thought we would on Wednesday prior to the hunt, and that put us up in 12AE about 9:00PM. It rained the entire way from Black Canyon City until we got to Jacob's Lake and found our camp site. We actually got snow when we were pulling into our spot. What does it mean??? When we got to the camp spot, I really didn't want to spend 3 hours in the freezing rain and snow to set up camp, so we crawled into a couple sleeping bags in the front seat and tried to get some uncomfortable shuteye. I am sure a lot of you have done this. Anyway, we scouted in the rain all day Thursday, and saw a total of 18 bucks. Nothing Taylor was interested in shooting, but a great start. A few smaller 4x4s and some 3x4s. Some early morning photo ops on our way to scout. Camp, sweet camp. Opening morning had us at our spot we wanted to hunt about 30 minutes before legal shooting light, just enough time to lad up, and hike into our vantage point to glass. Well......we started out from the truck, and I figured I better glass the closer hillsides just in case. Spotted a buck at 430 yards when we were only 30 yards from the truck. Couldn't tell how big he was yet, so we got set up just in case. Taylor decided to pass, as it was a 3x4, about 20-22" wide. Not what she was after on opening day. So we grabbed our stuff and headed to the glassing spot. We were about 400 yards from the point I wanted to get to when a couple does came busting over the ridge and headed down into the canyons. Looked back, and some other hunters were walking the other ridgeline. What they didn't see will still haunt my memories. A great 4x4 buck with a couple small bucks and about 6 does, that had already crossed our ridge an headed down into the canyons. I quickly ranged them at 550 yards as they moved across our canyon. Taylor quickly got set up for a shot and we got her as steady as possible, as this was a definite opening day shooter buck. A wide, tall, deep forked 4x4. They continued to move and finally slowed at 790 yards, easily makeable for Taylor...if the opportunity presents itself. Shooting to the far row of dead trees 3 ridges over. It went something like this, for the next 30 minutes. "OK, he is moving." "When he stops, squeeze slowly" "Wait, there is a doe behind him" "Wait, there is a doe in front of him" "Wait, he is moving" "OK, Now....wait, he is moving" "He is behind the tree now" "He is the one on the left, you can see his head" "He is coming out....please stop" "Wait, he has a doe in front of him" "Wait for him to clear that bush" "OK, get ready, he is coming out....please stop!" "Wait, he is moving" "When he stops, put one in him" "OK, he is stopping, wait, there is a doe in front of him now" And so on and so on for 30 minutes. He finally slowly walked over the ridge. We could see his does for another 10 minutes, so we know he wasn't far. We waited hi out for 5 hours with no reappearance. We headed back to the truck to drive around and get on the other side of the burn to get the sun behind us and maybe get another chance at him. To no avail. We passed up bucks like this on the way over. About 100 yards. Saw 18 bucks opening day. Day #2 started out with us getting to our spot right at legal shooting light, and I glassed up 5 bucks at 340 yards on a hillside. They were feeding along, and never stopped. One was a good 4x5, about 24" wide, pretty tall, with a unique rack. A basic 3x4 main frame, with the left G3 split, and the right main beam having a 6" kicker straight in for the 4th. Again, no shots were taken, but Taylor seriously considered taking him for the next 20 minutes anywhere between 440 yards to 719 when he topped over the ridge finally. Shooting to the top of the opposite ridge if the desire presented itself. Anyway, we wound up passing on him, and passing up a few bucks of this caliber too. Saw 18 bucks. Day 3: (The day that is going to cost me a couple thousand $$$) Hiked a bunch, glassed a bunch. Saw 10 bucks in the morning. We went back to camp at 1:00PM, took a shower, ate a big hot lunch, and decided to just stay around camp for the last 2 hours of light. 5 minutes behind camp, I spot a herd of deer with a whopper buck in t at 75 yards. A 26"ish wide, freakishly crazy tall, heavy, deep forked 4x5. Probably 190"+? Well, he is just over the edge, so we jump out of the truck, grab my .25-06 Ackley, and Taylor can only see his antlers over the grass. I had a clear view of his vitals but she is quite a bit shorter than me. The buck takes off, circling us. I get Taylor set up on a stump for a shot through an opening if he passes through at 100 or so yards. The buck cuts towards us, in the bottom of a small depression, an heads down into a canyon. We beat it over looking for him. He gave us 3 other opportunities of about 3 seconds each. Sounds like plenty to most of us, but not quite enough time for Taylor to get the tripod set up and find him in the scope. After about 10 minutes of cat and mouse, he vanished. Saw a total of 12 bucks. I am now in the planning stages for a lightweight mountain rifle that Taylor will be able to shoot offhand if the needs presents itself. Day 4-7 goes on with more of the same. Seeing an average of 12-18 bucks, a few worth shooting. Another big 4x5 with a cool big 14"+ inline between his left G3 & G4. Probably 28" wide, deep forks, fairly heavy, a 180"+ buck for sure. A few more mature 4x4s, too. Day 8, Thursday. We have hiked a total of 41 straight line miles according to my GPS (also the day I broke my GPS). Not including up/down, zig-zag miles. We are beat. Taylor has been sleeping on the ride out now for the past 2 days. She hates when I take these photos.... We jumped our last monster while hiking/glassing. A 32"+ deep forked 4x4. Watched him for 3 minutes as Taylor tried getting set up in the thick, nasty stickery bushes to no avail. From 350 to 456 yards until he topped a ridge and disappeared from our lives forever. We decided at that point Taylor was done, and called it a very successful hunt. Headed back to camp, ate a hot lunch, and packed up. I ad an absolutely fantastic time on this most frustrating hunt I have ever been a part of. I also learned more from Taylor than I probably taught her. She is tougher than I ever imagined, game for whatever I threw at her. Hiked countless miles through stickers, bushes, canyons, ridges, and downed trees. Her patience, endurance, and tenacity is beyond every one of my hunting buddies except possibly one. Her ability to rebound after a missed opportunity is awe-inspiring and heart-lifting. She also reminded me this trip that a successful hunt does not have to end in the harvesting of a game animal. Seeing God's beauty, His wonderful creatures other than the game we are pursuing, and enjoying time and fellowship spent with loved ones is a great reward. I might have to start hunting with my friends and family more often......sometimes. We shared a lot of laughs, a lot of frustration, and even a few tears by both of us last week. 9 days with my youngest daughter was a true treat. A few photos of the things I learned. I tease Taylor that she has a big mouth....but not quite big enough to stuff a whole mini donut in. No matter what the ads might tell you...."Zoomies" suck and are no replacement for good 15X binos. Even on a tripod. Enjoy all of God's creatures when the opportunity presents itself, even while just driving down the road.

I know a few guys shooting a .257 Weatherby, and I think all of them are using either RL22 or H1000.

Any friend who has reloading equipment that you can buy some instruction time from? Good load development can take a lot of time.

If this was in August, this thing would be gone to an antelope or fall deer hunter. Now a Dec. Coues tag holder is going to snatch this up and pound a good buck with it. Great cartridge, great accurate rifle, good price. Good luck with the sale. Wish I had the cash.

www.huntdata.com

Are you doing your own load work up or do you want the smith to do that for you as well? The rest is easy for any competent smith.

Good cuz as i was just sitting here using my 12's looking for deer i was wondering if yours would find them. They would have. You missed out.

Awesome thread. Makes me want to go duck hunting now......hint hint.

I have to disagree.I have shot deer that went 2', straight down, without a drop of blood loss. Took out both lungs and top of heart with entrance and exit wounds. I also took an elk through both lungs without a drop of blood spilt. And this year, I watched a guy spine shot a buck, too far back and high, and watched the deer flop around for 3-4 minutes, then flop over, start downhill using front legs, then get his rear legs working again as he hit the bottom of the canyon. I stayed to help him find it. We went to where the buck was hit and found hair, fresh drag marks going downhill where the buck was heading until he got his back legs under him. Not even the hint of blood anywhere. I am sure that buck survived, and had a serious back ache for a few weeks. I have helped find a lot more deer and elk that were shot very well, with both an arrow and a bullet, that had tiny droplets of blood to follow, that were almost impossible to see unless you were on your hands and knees. I have also seen blood trails that looked like they were dumped from a 5 gallon bucket that the animal was not recovered.