catclaw

I can't believe that the bigger bulls are still tending cows. Wow, talk about a strong rut and a lasting one! Found a few bulls that weren't busted up too bad either. another Curious little buck

That's a really nice buck. You did well!!

I notice that those bulls are busted up just like about all the other bulls in 10. Too bad for those of you who have late rifle tags in 10 this year.

I was at a rancher's house a while back and he showed me a camera that he found on one of his tanks (on private property) he was genuinely surprised when I told him that people put them out for months at a time. He felt bad for taking it and said he knew who the guy was but that he should have asked FIRST. Turned out to be an outfitter's camera and too bad he lost all those photos. I think it happens a lot. Lock em on!

It was a great time. We saw bigger bucks, just not when the boys were hunting! Football season sure gets in the way of deer hunting!! Way to go Mitch and Sully

Good luck with that rangefinder- I am holding out for a Vectronix unit. Nothing else that I have found will cut it. They will range past 1000 yds on good targets but try an antelope in the flats at 1000. None will do it. Have not tried the Leica 1600 but they are more of a mythical creation than anything. I have yet to find someone who has one!

Let's start a contest to see who can be the first one to catch a camera thief on camera. After what we did to Cornbagger last year, I can't imagine the level of persecution we could heap on someone who actually gets caught "in the act". What do you guys think?? I am getting tired of supplying donor cameras to this fraternity!

I pulled a tape across the front paws last night when I finished caping it. About 6'2" across the width measurement without stretching. Probably square 5'11" or so. Looking at the teeth and face, I would say at least 10 years old. I wonder if they still send a report on the age like they used to? Stopped at region 6 and Jon Hanna took a DNA sample and tooth. He couldn't get to the back teeth so he couldn't venture an age other than to say it was not a young bear. I would guess the weight at 250#-275#

Way to go!!

I have had several repaired by them. I have no complaints. I have tried Mystery Ranch, Kifaru and Eberlestock. I prefer my 2200 to any of those I have tried. I can wear it all day with 30# in it and not get sore. I can strap a 100# load of meat on it and come out if needed. I wish it had a few more external pocket for the stuff I need to get to more often but other than that, it is an excellent pack. I have thousands of miles on it now. I finally learned how to lube the zippers as they would get dusty and stick. My buckles have not broken. Not sure what you guys are doing??? I wear mine 4-5 days a week, almost all year long.

I have had good luck making my own mineral licks. Plain salt is not as good for WT as for elk. It took about a month for the bucks to start hitting this spot. I have a 50# trace mineral block to keep it going over time but they mostly eat the ground. The elk will lick the block itself! Salt works a lot better in June and July than it does in Aug and Sept. I don't count on it after they are hard-horned but out of habit, they will still come by. This spot is on a natural route to water so it helps. Your spot might not be any good until next May or so depending. I think you just started a little late is all. Here is the same lick with hard-horned bucks. I guess this guy wanted in on the action too!!! Cows, on the other hand, will flat camp on your licks and just about eat them up!!!

There used to be a guy in Elfrida or Hereford who made barrels too. Danny Pederson in Prescott makes excellent barrels but has a long waiting list.

Hey, there's an antelope where the guns are supposed to be!!!

WOW- that is intense. I spent Tues night in a back-pack tent in Tonto nat forest at about 6000'. I though I was going to get washed away! Glad I didn't have hail like that!!!

Dave made me a 25 cal barrel when he first started out a number of years ago. That barrel shot as good as I expected it to- 250 Savage on an old Mauser action. I took him the old barrel and he duplicated it and had the new barrel to me in 2 days! How's that for service?

There were a lot of problems with the HCO Scoutgards early on. I had four bad cameras in a row! Amanda finally sent me a covert and it worked great, right up until it was stolen last year. I prefer the style of camera that you have to the new ones- they are more compact. Too bad you didn't get more pics- looks like it could have been a good spot!

I had one stolen from a box this week myself. Looks like they took a crowbar to it! This is what I found!

I have two of them and they are awesome!

Very nice bull!

Glad it worked out for you Jim!

My friend Mike, killed this 6x6 this week. After many days in the field, this was the largest bull that we had located. We never saw another hunter and had no disruptions like some are complaining of. We ran into a hiker who had a hoochie mama in his hand but didn't affect us any. We located this bull with 14 cows one morning and watched to see where he bedded. We thought we had it all figured out and went back the next morning. We got out of the truck and could hear an elk orgy in progress. We went to our ambush spot and found that what were two bulls the day before were now six 6x6s and a couple of smaller bulls fighting over about 40 cows. They weren't coming our way so we went back to the truck and drove to an area above them where we could glass them better. Eventually, Mike made a nice shot with the bull going about 75 yds before going down. He was the dirtiest bull I have ever been on. It took 7 blades to skin, cape and quarter him! His neck skin was 7/8" thick on the top! His cape weighed almost 50# fleshed! Elk hunting is a great time in the woods!!

Anyone have an early rifle or muzzleloader tag in 4A? (not sure if there is one or not this year).

HAHAHA- I thought the same thing. Thought we were being warned to look out for meth labs. I found one last year in the white mountains while scouting for elk so you never know. (meth lab, not dog)

There are about a half-dozen threads on this topic now. Do a search and see everyone's opinion. You do get what you pay for to a large extent. This much I will say.

When Lyons killed that big bull, I did notice that they never did bother to dress him and cool him off. I am surprised that the hair wasn't slipping! I had to laugh when Doyle said , referring the the bull lying in the road, that this was the only road they had ever blocked!!! I had to scratch my head after that one. When I mentioned that I had observed a lot of ruined meat with Sierra match King bullets ,I had a very prominent AZ outfitter tell me that he was a "trophy hunter" not a meat hunter and could care less how much meat he ruined! I let it go at that. It is an argument that you can't win- kinda like arguing for or against legalizing marijuana. Impossible to win!