MT_Sourdough

You know how to tell the difference between black bear scat and grizzly scat? Grizzly bear scat smells like pepper and has silver bells in it. Old Montana Joke. Back in my late teens and early 20's, I would spend plenty of time in the high ranges where Montana's grizzlies dwell. They'd come visit our camp at night. Footprints left around the tent told the story the next morning. I'd hear them wake me up in the middle of the night as I could hear their noses working double time right outside the tent. I'd usually end up falling back to sleep before they were gone. I'd wake up not knowing if I was dreaming about what I heard, but the tracks around the tent re-affirms my foggy memory. Back then, I'd never carry anything for defense. I'd just rely on the fact that there are hundreds of backpackers that will be spending nights up in these mountain tops all summer long and there is almost never conflicts in the summer. I;d pass others going the other way during the hike up and I'd pass others when I head out. In the fall bears attitudes change. Grizzes get so much more hostile and desperate in the fall. Now a days, I have one of my 444 Marlins set as a camp rifle shooting 400gr big meplat cast bullet at 1900 fps. Plus I have a Smith &Wesson model 69 44 mag 5 shot with 4 1/4" barrel shooting Buffalo Bore 330gr ammo rated around 1325fps, but I haven't run it over the chrony from my revolver. The round will rattle your teeth, but I can shoot it with either hand and only need one hand to shoot it. I'll eventually work up a load for my 44 mag using one of my own cast bullets.

Simple physics. A bullet that is capable of expansion beyond 600 yards is going to have extreme fragmentation at 150. Led is led. To be expansive at 600, the led used will be soft (most bullets use pure led or slightly hardened led) The jacket can be tapered to slow expansion, but then again, to provide decent terminal performance at long distance, you can not use much taper. Their trick, is simple. By running heavy for caliber bullets, it increases the sectional density as well as the BC. The higher sectional density allows a bullet to function at both short and long ranges. Trick for the shooter is to know how their bullet performs terminally. Soft bullets should be placed behind the shoulder. Tougher bullets, like Barnes are ideal for shoulder shots. They use modern computer modeling to improve bullets ogive and boat tail to further improve BC. Other than that, nothing new under the sun. Good bullets though. My 300 Win likes the 200 ELDX. Aint shot nuthin with it so I have nothing to report 1st hand about it's terminal performance.

We call it eminent domain here in the good ol' U. S. of A, So, some guys support eminent domain when it comes to building a border wall or a Canadian pipeline across the US, but not for U.S. citizens to access their public lands? Just wondering how people prioritize where and when people are in support of eminent domain or enforce the rights of private land owners?

That's a good story. Congratulations. Butchering a buff by yourself is tough. I did a cow buff last November. Kicked my butt. I dig the rifle and old scope. I inherited a 1936 Model 70 30-06 with an old 50's era Weaver scope. At the time I inherited it, my lifestyle didn't allow for me to carry a rifle around with, so I sold it. I regret it now of course.

Yea, I haven't seen any calves yet, but all the antelope are split up. I have seen the does with wide sides, so I know they are dropping them. Should be a good year for recruitment after last year, when not only was recruitment nearly non-existent, but it seems most 1 year old fawns were lost last year too.

Over hyped. Some duck hunters may get excited a little. I want to hear about laws that prevent private property owners blocking off access to public lands and an end to checker boarding. Now that would be something.

Too bad the tag was donated for the year 2019. The antelope are going to be way too big and fat for a 10 year old kid. No, his best bet is to donate that tag to an old fart that has an over eating condition. I know somebody who would qualify. 🤭 Honestly now. that's some good stuff right there. I look forward to hearing the coming stories.

As in cellular? As far as the cat on camera right after you leave, I have had that happen to me as well. Young cats are curious cats.

^^^^^^ YIKES!!! On another note, are the tatonka holding up in the park or are they coming out for salt?

They seem to be jones'n hard for salt right now. Works for getting beau coup shots without relying on water.

That fine ride begs for a buck or two strapped to the roof.

I was out in 19a, 19b, and 17b today. I was not looking for antelope specifically, but I saw maybe a dozen bucks. I can't be specific about size or scoring. I can say this of the limited survey size, I didn't see a small one. It seems all bucks are at least 3 years old and all had good length and mass. There are fewer antelope altogether in most places, by my estimation, but those that are there are fat and in great form.

Last year's late fall hunt had ideal conditions. I think we had 7 for 7 in the first week of the hunt. The first week of November was warm and dry. Just right.

Well, this area (Chino Valley) had a good soaker this afternoon. It might be the last good rain until monsoon. Now we just keep our fingers crossed that monsoons arrive on time.

Well done!

I hate how the media plays on the naivety of the general public, using terms like arsenal, Most of them rifles are sporting rifles and not combat orientated rifles. The problem is that most people are easily manipulated into thinking of something more nefarious.

Previous poster broke it down fairly well. I'll say one thing, this year unit 8 is way improved over last year. Quality should be pretty good.

Ha, after reading first reply, I laughed and then I ordered a rain gauge from Amazon. I was out and about, today, but I didn't see any goats up close enough to make any assessments. I am confident that they are loving life. The elk should be loving life as well. Last time I checked on "my" elk in 8. Their biggest issue was needing all the salt they can get. They were going through salt like cattle. We got a good soaking of rain in this area today - units 19a, 19b, 8 and north 20a. I'm sure others got plenty of rain today as well, but I can speak for those mentioned. The thing is, there has been a steady supply of rich food since last August. I have not seen it this good over the several years that I've been watching. In one word, lush.

Seems like people don't enjoy talking about the weather like I do. If I am talking to myself, well, what's new? Anyways, if tag holders are interested, it rained today with more on the way, The way things are going and if Monsoon season arrives on time, it'll be dang near perfect conditions.

If you can find which primary tanks dried last year and which ones held water all last summer would probably help. There was a plenty of tanks that usually hold water year long that dried up last year. As they dried, populations of birds either had to move or die off. In the places I have been, the over all number of birds plummeted. Anyways, some of those birds have not yet returned to the roosts they were using before the last drought. Some are just gone, but in the areas where tanks never dried last year, that'd be a good place to look.

pm sent

I hear ya on the enforcement part. While I myself like the idea of limiting trails and roads, I've seen that it don't mean squat unless they enforce it. Without enforcement, I'll pretty much go where I want because it sucks to walk into an area just to get passed by others on ATV, side by side, 4x4 or whatever. They finally changed the Google Earth images that showed ATV tracks on snow all over the Woodchute Wilderness. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

There should be a note in the canister that explains the marker.

Very cool pics

It seems as though people are having more success than I would have predicted after such a tough year. Congrats. It looks like a heavy one.