macknnc

Most of what I am seeing on eating jack rabbits is agreeing with muleskinner...tough and then some; one quote I saw said 'my old Army boots would have been more tender.'...the old original Herter's company, in their 1969 catalog says "jackrabbit is actually as good or better than venison,' but I have several books from Herters, including all three volumes of their cookbook, and nowhere does it have recipe for jacks or ever suggest they are edible... so how do you cook 'em?

Do the Arizona black bears tend to be 'brown' black bears or black ones? Here in NC, for some reason, they are always black...I've never heard of a brown phase blackie taken in this state.

Would have thought AZ was a bit far south for blue grouse....

cool, thanks for sharing the info and for turning it in. "Encountered" ....you would think they might have a different designation for a hunter killed bird. I thought that was funny as well! I was expecting them to try and be politically correct with "harvested" or something. haha HA!! Wait until PeTA hears about this...you can expect picketers and protesters outside your house any day now....

I read an article written by a fellow whose upland experience was with the Western variety of quail; the scaled, and the Gambels, rather than bobwhites. Now he said it was prefectly proper to shoot quail on the ground...bobwhite hunters will lynch you for even thinking that...and I do know that Dan Holland, in his "Upland Game Hunters Bible' said plainly that any that any bird (and he included turkeys) had to be wing shot to count as 'sporting'....so I've seen two opposing views...which is the most common?

I am regularly accused of being an 'old fogey'...My rifle of choice was, for years, a sporterized Lee-Enfield with 2 3/4x scope..then the rifling on that started going, I guess I could have gotten a new barrel for it, but I started using my Grandfathers NRA Springfield sporter, a '06 of course...it too had a 2 3/4x scope on it..then both of those got stolen and I went to Ruger M-77 .270, and this one wears a Leupold 1 3/4-5x variable scope... And they asked me "Why?" Why not something more 'modern?" (the 270 is not very popular for Eastern hunting) 'why not a magnum?" The 7 mag is pretty popular here...(why, I have no idea) "Why not a Weatherby? Okay...now then I admit, I read a lot of classic hunting literature. Including Larry Koller...(who used a .30-40) and as I have said, Jack O' Connor. So I have an inordinate fondness for the 'classic calibers' including such old timers as the .250 Savage, the .257 Roberts and especially the 7x57 Mauser...in fact had I found a 7mm at the time I was looking at my .270, I would have gotten it. To me, the magnums are a lot of noise and recoil with very little actual improvement. Yes they perform better at plus 300 yards than the calibers I mention. So what? How many actual 300+ yard shots do you take? For that matter, how many of us have any business taking shots that far? And lastly, a proper hit with any of the classic calibers kills every bit as quickly and as well as hits from the umpteen seventy eleven Rimbychester magnum does with the same shot placment. Thankee kindly, but I'll keep my old .270...

Joeeden, that just popped into my head...my score with cottontails like this is not impressive...My biggest question was is it 'kosher' to shoot at scallies and gambels on the ground...

Okay, question here...I know it may not be sporting...and it may not even be legal...but...for an example..here in NC, a great way to hunt cottontails is to try to pop them on the run with .22 semi auto....that seems a vaild way to take running quail too...(since western quail are known as runners...) so yea or nay?

Ah..okay..that is about what we would do here in NC too with bobwhites...I think most of us use 8 shot but that seems such a small difference...7 1/2 on Ruffed Grouse typically...

ah no problem...actually I thought your .444 approach to Coues hunting was pretty unique which is why I mentioned it in this thread and is one I admire and the one rifle for everything thought has considerable merit and one I have given some thought too, but I think my choice would be a .35 Whelan... and I have a John Taylor book too...and I've read Elmer Keith, who was not one of O'Connor biggest fans...I just set off by a friend here whom I ran into at the range, and was going on and on about my .270...He uses a .25-06...which uses a lighter and faster bullet than my .270...

I'm seeing lot in this forum for drawings for this or that...Is there a draw for Coues, as well? Or can, as you can here in NC and as I remember, you could in AZ in the mid 70s, just wait for the season to open and go?

Okay..here in NC the seasons are also 2 week ones rotating district to district....are the tags generally all drawn or are left over tags fairly common?

Oh forgot to mention this but it seems relevelant...the title I mentioned was mine..I could not remember the exact title but it was a biological/ sciencftic type paper, (implying apparently, that there was something in the diet or whatever, that grew Coues bigger...)

Yup..I have a "package' coming...from Pa down here to North Carolina, by way of Iowa......that is why Post Office salaries are so high....workers that incompentent are hard to find and command a premium...

ready2hunt: Oh no problems..I was using the "you' in a generic sense...I never for one second thought you were putting me down. Muledeer: I am not anti magnum...though I can see why you would think. For the most part, they simply do not suit me. Possibly I read too much O' Connor growing up, (I've heard that charge too)...but ...let me put it this way...you see a Coues 350 yards away...you place your 117 gr bullet from your .250 Savage right in the heart lung area...(and yes a .250 will do that) You've got your Coues. That shot placement from that rifle will kill any whitetail, Coues or not, that ever lived. And with a .270, 350 yards is indeed, a 'chip shot.' So why would I, repeat I, that is me myself and I, bother with a magnum? What you do it with, does not matter to me. As long as it is legal, so I don't get in trouble hunting with you..and reasonable so I don't have to help you chase a wounded animal into Mexico...other than that...if it suits you, I'm all for it! I just purely hate seeing so many perfectly good classic calibers falling by the wayside because they are a bit gray-haired. (Personally I bet a Savage 99 in .250 with low end varible scope would be almost made to order for Javelina) and I forget who asked but yes here in the East, a 200 yard shot would be typically very long, except at one or two deer hunting clubs I've seen...in face open sights and the 2 3/4x scope are still very popular here... and if I am remembering right, the .44-40, the .45-70,.30-30, the .30-40 are the oldest rifle cartridges in that order with the .30-06 ,first designed in 1903, refined into its present form in 1906, just missing that list...the .270 is a 1925 model....

Ready2hunt: that is it in a nutshell...I don't care what you use, I'm just asking that you respect my choice and realize that for me, they are fully as valid as yours...

Well I do have to admit that much of this is based on my own Eastern experience, but I have been out on a range with 500 yard available, and at 400 and 500 yards, I shoot my .270 much better than I do a 7 mag or a 300. This is all supposed to be all about fun anyway...I see forums here about taking Coues with a muzzleloader and a bow, and I doubt those guys consider 300 yards a 'chip shot.' and in the lever action question here, there is a gentleman who uses .444 Marlin...If that makes you happy/..have at it! That's the whole point...I'm just saying I am happier using the classic calibers...I don't care if you use a .460 Weatherby, (considering it would take a big Coues to hit 110 lbs, I'd say that would be touch overkill though) but if you enjoy it, use it. I am happy with my .270

curious..old souther boy here who has busted many a cap on upland game...I live in North Carolina and I am curious as what choke you use on your quail..I've always heard Gambels were wild flushers and perhaps need a bit more choke than the IC we (and I) use on bobwhite

yep...both here too

Oh yeah..forgot...spring seasons or spring and fall?

wow...neat. Ready2hunt, that last photo looks almost like it could be a grizzly....I mean you can tell it isn't but at a glance I mean...

Right now...2500 miles or so away from Coues hunting...30 mins from NC Whitetail hunting...my .270 panting at me...the 130 gr loads winking at me...

Just got here yesterday, and in my very first post up in the Campfire forum, I mentioned a few things, among them a 'bucket list" in which I want to make a successful hunt for Coues...(I made on the 1970s but did not get a deer) but also on that list is Javi's. I live in North Carolina, and I hope I live long enough and come with necessary money and equipment to be able to take four 'stink pigs' One with 'modern' rifle, one with a flintlock, (I have Tennessse Valley .50 that would be perfect) one with bow, (also have that...a Herter bow I bought back in the 1960s..plus a Herter compound..I was and remain a big fan of Herter products, the original company, and even collect in a small way) and one with a handgun. I was a big reader of Jack O'Connor in the 60s and 70s, and still have several of his books, and though he was not breathless about Javelinas, he did apparently respect them, good Arizona boy that he was, and I am looking forward to my chance at 'em, myself.

But looking over this forum, you have to draw for javelina now? And I am getting an impression that they are a spring season animal, or am I way off base?

Ohhh...big fan of the 'classic wildcats' esp the Whelen...and this sounds super interesting....other than that, a Win model 88 in .243 or .284 sounds really interesting...