lancetkenyon

I picked up my rifle from Phoenix Custom Rifles today......just saying. I won't spoil the anticipation with lousy cell phone photos, but I will break out the digital camera when I get home.

I have used my 15s more in 6 months than I used my spotter in 10 years.

Thanks all for their input. This is an excellent point, and I've been considering it. I wish I could do an outside side-by-side comparison. Unfortunately, every pair of binoculars seems about the same when looking at the shoulder mounts in cabelas under fluorescent lights, but then you sure see a difference in them right before the sun comes up. Ask Cabela's to put them on a tripod side by side and take them outside. They did it for me a few different times when I was looking for my 10x42s and 15x56s. They will be more than happy to do so, especially when it leads to a sale.

OKAY, what brought on this question? Let's see your buck....in all seriousness, if I thought I might have a top 10 P&Y buck, I would keep all photos closely guarded. https://pope-young.org/records/top_ten.asp?sid=32 From 274 7/8" @ #1 to 246 6/8 @ #10.

YES! I regret buying expensive glass every time. Because it means I will have to upgrade my next one soon. Upgraded from a $550 pair of 10x42 binos to a pair of $1300 10x42s. Which led to upgrading to a pair of $1700 15x56s. Which led to upgrading to a $1300 rifle scope, which led to upgrading to a $2000 rifle scope for a different gun, which is leading to upgrading to a $2700 riflescope for yet another gun.....it is a vicious cycle. DON'T DO IT!!! Your wallet and wife will hate you. But then again, so will all of the deer/elk/coyotes/steel/paper that you will now see, or at the least, see much better.

No love lost for the CBP on this site? Or LEOs for that matter? What gives? Much respect for LEOs/military here in my household. Try walking in their shoes for a month, it is a thankless tough job.

The cost of getting a kid's first javelina mounted is priceless. As for money out of pocket, I think around $600 for a shoulder mount? I don't know though. I can tell you to make sure you go to a good taxidermist. Not one of the shady guys in the business. I would hate to see a horrible mount on her first pig. Congrats to the huntress, and to the people who got her out there. Good job to all. And great shooting too.

What more can be said. Amazing buck. Good job.

On the second stock, I am reversing the application. Starting with the off-white, and moving back to the tanner main color, leaving the stencils on for the duration. Started with the off-white for the dots. Masked off the dots and applied the brown (and I added some rust for a blended effect) for the small amount of the darker spots. I forgot to get a photo of the dots masked off before paint, but you can see them if you look closely. Masked off the larger areas that will remain dark, and applied a layer of khaki/sage. I wanted to have less green in this one, so I eliminated the brighter green, and just did the sage. It was getting cool outside, so this was as far as I got last night. I will start the final coat tonight if I get a chance, then strip all the stencils off to see how it turned out.

So, in anticipation of getting my rifle back from Phoenix Custom Rifles, I started practicing my paint scheme I want to do on the stock. I had a couple old take-off stocks, and figured they would be perfect to try my hand at the "MultiCam Arid" paint I want to do. I read up on how to do the MultiCam paint, and there are two ways to do it. Thought I would try both. First way is start with the base of tan/green or tan/brown, then another pattern of similar, then add the dark, then add the off-white dots. This is a lot more masking work, as the further you get into the paint, the more masking you need to do, leaving less and less exposed. Second way is to start with the off-white as the base, and just mask off the dots, leaving the tape on for each layer until the project is complete. I am in the middle of that process now, so no finished photos. Here is what the new MultiCam Arid looks like. I prefer the subtle greens in this vs. the original MultiCam. I went to Home Depot and picked up a bunch of different shades of tans, and some greens to try out. I already had a bunch of camo paint, along with some rust primer from previous paint jobs. Cost around $37 in paint. Started by spraying the stock down with brake cleaner to remove any oil or contaminates that might be on it. Then hit it with a coat of flat primer. Then hit it with the base coat in khaki and two colors of green. Here is when it dried. I thought it looked good, but a little too much green once it dried. Anyway, it is just a trial stock, and painting over it is not a big deal. SO I masked it off with some patterns, and applied a second coat of 3 different tans (khaki, dark khaki, nutmeg). I really liked how this was turning out so far once the tape had been removed. I thought "One more layer with a rust to light sand blend would look cool".....wish I would have skipped this step and gone right to the small patterns of dark brown and off-white dots. Oh well, trial and error on a cheap stock is better than on my $750 Manners stock. I stopped here and did not do the dark brown/off-white, as I needed to let it dry. Not a terrible first attempt so far.

Still here. $700.

Man, that really stinks. A beautiful mature muley to begin with, ruined by a bad taxidermy job. I agree that looks like one of the mounts that should have been hanging in a bar since the 50s. As far as if that is your cape or not, I see no real big identifying marks, but it appears to be the same cape in looking at some of the highlights in your first kill photo and the mounted one. Too bad it looks like you drug it behind a 4-wheeler for a couple miles by the shape the hair is in on the mount.

Here we go again... I don't feel $30/lb. is "way overpriced". It might be $3-5 more a lb. than other stores, but when you factor in shipping and Haz-mat fees, it is cheaper. Plus, at least you can walk in and GET it. I appreciate them having it on their shelves for me to pick up. Especially if you are buying it in 1 lb. bottles to try out new recipes. Who wants to pay $8 shipping and $25 Haz-mat fees on one lb.? You are looking at $58/lb. then. If you don't like Bruno's prices, then don't buy from them. It leaves more opportunities for guys like me to be able to get the stock on hand for ourselves. If you are buying 8lbs. at a time, it makes sense to go elsewhere. You can save $10 by ordering it online and waiting 7-10 days to get it in the mail. But I would rather have it now than wait for $10. The cost difference is only $1/day. Worth every penny to me. Plus I like my money going to a small AZ based shop, not a huge corporate monster who sends my money out of state.

I wish they would get some Spectre gunships..... The cartels are getting really bold, and they don't care who they hurt. I wish CBP might be gearing up to give some back.

Their website shows out of stock, and it is usually pretty up to date.

I picked up some H4350, and some of the same for another member on here this week. It has been a long time since I have seen it on the shelves. It seems like they are usually a touch higher priced than other places, but at least they have what I needed, without having to scour the internet and pay shipping and Haz-Mat fees. Bullets are usually cheaper at Bruno's than other stores though.

Smoking price. If I didn't already have 10x42s and 15x56s, I would grab these in a heartbeat. Love both of mine.

How does your other one shoot?

That's true but the question is are they shedable?Of course they are. They are a hard antler, so they are dead and will be shed, to be replaced with a new set this summer. I wonder if that was a 1.5 year old buck with bad genetics, or a 6 month old button buck? This does bring up a very interesting question though....is a cactus buck a legal deer to shoot? They stay in velvet year round and NEVER shed their antlers again. What does G&F consider "fully erupted from the skin"? Velvet is technically skin, so are early archery season bucks technically illegal deer too?

Good to hear. This should not have turned into a bidding war anyway.

5 1/8".

I think my stance on women/girls hunting is pretty well known....if not....here is a hint. Plus, I only have girls, so taking a son hunting is kind of out of the question. My son-in-law has gone dove hunting with me a couple times, but no big game yet. I wish I could get my wife to hunt, I am still working on her. She goes up as often as she can with us. My older daughter, now 23 so no digital photos back in the day 11 years ago, used to hunt when she was younger, with a deer, elk, and archery sheep under her belt.

I have ridden the ski lift up to the top of San Fran peaks in the summer and hiked the bowls, Freemont, Agassiz, and Humphries. Saw deer up there, but not a ton. But then again, I did not have my binos out looking specifically for deer. Humphries is 12,633' AMSL, truly above timberline, which is right around 11,300-11,600' on Humphries. And thin air for a Phoenix born guy. Humphries kicked my butt, even when I was in the best shape of my life at 23 years old. I am sure I could do it again, but it would take me a lot longer now. There are areas on the Bab that are above 9100', but not a true alpine environment. Aspens galore though.

"Antlered=having an antler fully erupted through the skin and capable of being shed". "Antlerless=not having an antler, antlers, or any part of a antler erupted through the skin". I say this qualifies. Should be some fantastic eating. I would get a euro mount too.

Shouldn't be hard to find....he is tied to a tree in the first photo, looks like he is yelling...."Hey! You forgot me!". Go back to where you left him. In all seriousness, good luck in the search, I am sure he will turn up.