catclaw

Have fun in Lakeside! I am leaving for Round Valley in the morning. This heat is so oppressive! Go Argentina!

I was in what I thought was the middle of nowhere in 36A and called in a coyote. Just as I got ready to shoot, a cocker spaniel came running up. Coyote took off and that was that! No, I didn't shoot the cocker- figgered his owner was out hiking or something with him and probably pizzed that he took off and wouldn't come back!! One time when calling near Black River, I had a mulie doe jump over me as I hunkered behind a bush! I should have grabbed her but was too caught up in the moment to do anything.

You can't be serious?? I doubt you will find a sports bar in Lakeside or Showlow for that matter that is open in the morning. I've got a parade to watch in Eagar. I am tired of this heat. It is 113 at my house right now (Thursday at 4 pm) yuk!

Most 140s will shoot fine in any reasonable twist that a 6.5x55 would come in (1-9 or tighter) The VLD type bullets might not work as well. Unless this is the direction you are headed, there are better bullets for the Swede for CWT use. A traditional 140 is going to be slower and power right through- better suited to elk than CWT. I have killed several animals with the 120 Sierra Pro Hunter with excellent success as well as a 130 Accubond ( although this bullet will easily kill much larger game with fanfare as I have discovered). If you want to use a 140 and have 1-9 twist, I would suggest the 140 SGK. This is an excellent bullet and is quite easily stabilized in a 9 twist rifle. Currently I am using 108 Lapua Scenars in my 260 and 130 Norma Diamond Line in my 6.5-284. I haven't killed anything bigger than a coyote with the 108s so I can't endorse it just yet- except for its accuracy.

I saw a hard-horned buck over 110" breed a doe near Fort Grant on Memorial day weekend one year. I have found hard browns by then too! I thought THAT was late! I saw a very big bull elk rub his velvet off on July 18th last year too- 10 days earlier than I have ever seen before! You learn something every year!

Too bad they have that stupid closure all along the north side during the good time of year. Grrrrr

Sadie- I saw your photos at the campout this weekend with Lance and family and you sure have an infectious smile. I am glad you had a good time. Dennis

You all missed out on a great time. Great food as usual and awesome weather.

This will be a nice reprieve from the valley's heat!

They have finally released the pilot's name. He is an ATF agent out of Florida. Yesterday there were high ranking supervisors at the scene looking for items from his plane. Apparently he was loaded down with small arms ammunitions as they were popping off during the fire and there are spent casings everywhere! Sounds like he was overloaded for the high altitude takeoff with a full load of fuel. Killed his whole family I guess. What a bummer.

They had to go somewhere and still have to eat. Figure it out and you will have your bear. OR, find a unit that open in August and scout the pears.

Most of the media reports have been quite flawed. The pilot and his family are of significance. They know who they are but for some reason, don't want to identify them. The school is a disaster. Even the buildings that didn't burn have significant water and smoke damage. This is not something that you plan for. My heart goes out to the community up there.

Get over yourself.

I was just teasing him... No cow tracks when I set the camera- I think they were moving up from summer to winter and just held up for a few days. I know you are going to get cow pics- just seems silly to post them unless they are unique or something. I never get "good" cow pics- just boring ones. I had a cow sleep against my camera one time. It was covered with hair and stink when I pulled it. Live and learn.

Wow, nice cows

I saw 30 bears during July and August last year while scouting in Central AZ. I only saw sows with cubs while actually hunting! Seems that is how it goes some years. Had a big sow come into a tank while i was in a stand (no cubs) but I don't shoot anything but boars so she was safe. Some years are like that. Found some HUGE tracks this year already. Maybe this bear will stick around long enough to get his mug shot taken! Nice pics

I used to hunt down there all the time. One year we were camped near Pena Blanca lake when the military got into a shootout with some smugglers. It sounded pretty awesome. Same hunt, we glassed up a patrol in some funky military camies cruising and escorting some civilians. We just backed out and left the area. This was back when we could get 2 Dec tags so it was a while ago. I will still go down there, but I won't take my family. My friends have had more bad experieces with Border Patrol than with the UDAs themselves. I never have myself though. I applied for a sheep tag on the border but my deer hunts are closer to home. Too many good units much closer is the main reason I don't go down there. I could shoot one of those drug runners if I had to but anyone that doesn't think this would start a sh!tshorm is sadly mistaken.

What a circus the last two days are at the G&F office! I was camping for the past 10 days so I had to drop mine off in person on Tuesday. There were vendors set up (sorry I couldn't stop and talk Amanda) and a blood drive going on! Talk about catering to a captive audience!!! I wonder if the main office was as bad as Mesa was? I was there about 1 pm, I can't imagine how bad it was by 5 or 6 PM! I am feeling good about this year.

Why would it be a felony? Just because it is a sheep??? Not sure what you are getting at.

That was painful to read- i don't think I took a breath for 90 seconds, but a good story none-the-less. I hope you are hooked now.

I heard that one time about 4 peaks too. It simply isn't true. Coastal Alaska, Coastal BC as well as Washington state have far higher bear densities that we can even imagine. States like NC and PA have far higher densities too. I have spent a fair amount of time on Mt. Graham and I haven't seen any more bears there than I see in many other places I hunt. I do believe it is ripe for bears coming into town and having theoretical conflicts though.

AMEN

I guess this canyon never panned out as I don't see any bear pics attached??

I am not necessarily defending G&F but I think they have a pretty good handle on what they can and can't do with bears. Could be that certain bears have such a high re-offend rate that it isn't practical to turn them loose, only to have them tear something up. Perhaps there is a liability issue to deal with there too. Maybe this bear wasn't healthy. We had over 20 bears come into Mesa one year when it was really dry. Obviously, they are further from home coming into Mesa than Thatcher. Most just disappeared and made it back to the hills, but many were tranked. It is probably pretty expensive to relocate a bear. I suspect if someone wants to form a bear support group that is willing to do the relocation to acceptable sites with volunteer manpower, G&F will be all ears! I don't get worked up over this stuff. They send a couple of guys out, dart a bear, transport him 2 hours away so he isn't close by, tag him, let him go and he is killed by a hunter or car 3 weeks later... it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Females bears are far less apt to wander than a male bear. Probably a pretty good return on their investment to ship them off.

People get too emotional about all this. It is sad that we are elevating crimes against animals to a higher level than crimes against people!! It should not be a felony just to kill it. Now if he exploited it- sold it etc-then I wouldn't oppose it. As for the fines, it is a class 1or 2 misdemeanor. There is also NO culpability requirement for 99% of the title 17 violations. Under most statutes in title 17, if you are hiking along, trip and fall, you rifle goes off and shoots a deer, you are just as guilty [of the same crime] as the guy who sees a big buck on his trail cam- drives out and hunts it down and shoots it intentionally. There is also a caveat in the title 17 that says that if any officer knows that you broke such and such law, and did NOT arrest you, HE is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor. Talk about screwed up laws. The dept will refer you to the commission now for one quail over the limit for a 5 year suspension of your hunting privileges- quite heavy-handed to say the least. Let's not give them anymore authority as they have zero oversight. No, the courts will have their day with this jackass and he will lose his hunting rights and pay a fine. He probably won't get more than 30 days in jail unless he has a previous criminal record. They should give him about 500 hours of community service in areas that contribute to wildlife; picking up trash at the lake, repairing damaged signs, clearing trails, painting stuff that is neglected... They should publish his photo on wanted posters, ban him from Bass Pro, sportsmans, Cabelas and any other sportsman supported vendor until he proves sufficient humility and rehabilitation. Thanks my $.02