SilentButDeadly

Went out this morning to a spot I've had trouble finding sheds in before, got down into the creek bosque and ripped my way through the mesquites... Scored two within 50 yards of each other, no matches though

Awesome!! I was up in the Uinta a few years ago for work. Great fishing for sure, even saw some elk up around 10,000. Really amazing mountain range. We worked over in Pole Creek SE of King's peak.

Nope, too hot I 'spect.

I'm no archaeologist, but it doesn't look like it was buried by people (look at the sediment layer above the skull). Definitely a find of a lifetime. T

1) There is no way 'easy' way for the average tag owner to know about volunteer projects. Unless it hits me in the side of the head I am likely not to notice it. 2) Most tag owner's feel that they've already 'given back' for what they've spent on the tag and license fees (how much money do mountain bikers, hikers, or birders put into the state coffers for habitat and road maintenance?). 3) Hunting is inherently anti-social when it comes to large anonymous groups -- Am I really going to lead a bunch of people to where I go hunting to help fix a tank, so that next fall I can share a hard won area with newbies and everyone else in the grape-vine?? If volunteer groups want more support, they should ask G&F to include with every mailed tag (the same as the Big Game Raffle) a description of how hunters can help. Also, volunteer groups should be able to get a hold of the addresses of all successful tag holders (the same way that guiding services do), and send out interest forms (maybe sweeten the deal with free schwagg for volunteers who come out). T

Not to worry, Arizona only has 364 days of sunlight a year...

I read that they are doing aerial ignitions on-top of the ridges and letting it back down... Most of what is burning is brush anyway, which only goes at one severity depending upon how you look at it (high = mortality, low = survive), most all the plants will be top-killed (however sprouting species will be back next year). I went out into a burned area in the Rincons this spring that burned last summer; the cover was >90% grass with alot of the other species resprouting... I saw ALOT of deer in the burned areas. Depending upon the elevation and the plant species composition, places with sprouters would be more likely for rehabilitation first (oaks, mtn mahogany, mesquite, acacia, etc). Other locations with longer lived species that take some time might take longer as the food sources are not there yet. T

I'm thinking its the Elk Horn fire in the Baboquivari's Lots of smoke coming from the SW of Tucson.

Google Maps link to SOAZ fires

Bee-utiful! We were up north of the ditch a few weeks ago for Memorial day, had a great dinner in Lee's Ferry watching the rain clouds roll in. I found these glassing a few miles to the W of there a couple days later...

good stuff!

12W I wanna be like COOSEFAN....

Dad got hit for what I guess is a 6c rifle bull, WFGinNM I'll be giving you a call pretty soon with some questions. Nada for me

that's awesome to see how fast the bull's horns grow. That Coues is a monster, his sheds have got to be <1 mile from that tank! Go find them!! Go find them!!

NM G&F says the draw will be online the 11th, but here's to hoping to find out sooner! T

Without predators, I'd say the biggest factor will be how long their teeth can hold out... Some animals I've found dead had serious dental problems (like broken back molars, cavities, osteoporosis of the jaw bone). Depending on what they feed on (soft and squishy vs hard and crunchy) I'd say that a Coue's could it make >12 years. This is the oldest deer I've ever seen, his rack has been getting smaller since 2006... so you can guess at how old he might be. T

finding Coues antlers can be easily explained by this equation: miles walked / 15 = # of sheds found miles walked / 500 = # of dead heads found miles walked / 10,000 = # of locked dead heads found.

the heavier 125 broadhead will of course produce more KE; however I'd think that at your poundage and draw length a 100 (or even a 75) would be better as you might be able to get 10 more yards out of your sight pins (the heavier broadhead will need greater pin spacing, maybe even one less pin). T

I've heard Glucosamine helps older dogs... You should be able to find some relatively cheap. T

Unlikely; the recent precipitation will have the fuel moistures high enough that total combustion won't happen. Should be a nice cool burn (with the exception of choked up areas). As a note, wildfires rarely sterilize the ground in areas with grasses; most of our native species are adapted to burn and will regenerate after fire. From the look of the area in the photos where this fire is burning i'd guess that it will come back quite quickly.

what day was that newspaper? I want to catch up with that Cosmetics giveaway before its too late!!!

it is more about your bow weight and arrow length... I've shot elk with 75g 3-blade Muzzies 29in 300grain carbons (same cutting diameter as the 100g). If you shoot a lighter poundage 75g should be fine, but if you're >70lbs you might consider a heavier head to help stabilize arrow flight. T

Here is the link to an abstract of some folks who fed lead to Turkey Vultures. The birds surely died of the lead poisoning -- however they say that 'they are not good models' for Condors because it took 'too long' for them to die. So the question is still unresolved of how much damage the lead is doing to the Condors... similar to the pigs eating venison study... I'd say that this study does show that lead can have an effect on birds -- the biggest question though is always 'causation' -- whether or not the lead was directly responsible; or if it was something else (inbreeding, illness, injury, or age), or a combination of many things. T

I know we've argued about lead before, but here is a link to a recent study of lead-bullet killed venison fed to animals. The results indicat a daily average of 2.3 micro-grams of lead per 1/10th of a liter of blood in lead-venison fed pigs versus 0.6 micrograms in controlled-venison fed pigs. The author's indicate that 'dangerous' levels of lead are >10 micrograms per 1/10th liter in children. So the levels achieved by eating lead-shot venison for a couple days is below the danger level. However, they also state that levels as low as 2 micro-grams can cause problems in adults and children and that dangerous levels may be achieved through continuous consumption. If the questions are: Are we feeding our children potentially dangerous metals? AND What alternative can we make to avoid giving ourselves or our children any amount of a hazardous material? Why would you knowingly continue to hunt with lead (or copper) bullets when they could have adverse health and mental effects on your kids??? If you really care about this you could look into getting your children and yourselves tested prior to hunting season, and a few months afterward (when you've been consuming your lead-shot game). It would be a really cool study for someone to conduct... Get a bunch of volunteers to submit to blood testing prior to hunting season (when your freezer is empty) and sometime later when you've been consuming large amounts of whatever you've killed then compare those results to non-hunters and hunters who killed using copper bullets... Hmmm, maybe I'll write a research proposal!

Copper toxic? Only if a person ingests large quantities of copper-salts can they become poisoned. Maybe we should re-plumb our houses with lead pipes again instead? There are two issues being debated here - is copper bad for hunting and is anti-gun legislation bad for hunting? Copper has its ups and downs, but one thing is certain: it is not toxic if ingested as a metal -- which it isn't because the bullets don't fragment into a bazillion particles like lead, hence this impetus for copper hunting bullets. Anti-hunting and anti-gun groups will of course use the lead bullet issue as an excuse to damage hunting; if hunters are pro-active and show a progressive attitude toward conservation (as they always have) of all game (including the Condors) than the majority of the public will side with them, and the anti's will never gain the publicity or traction they want and need. It is reactionary stubborn-mule-like-behavior to reject what the science has told us that has damaged groups like the NRA on this argument and it will continue to give the anti's a platform. T