brademan76

I've also thought about the same.

Question - I've seen people on craigslist selling their game meat... is that legal? In my home state it is absolutely illegal.

Recoil is a product of velocity and payload, so I guess 3/4oz steel vs 3/4oz lead you would assume recoil would be the same. So shooting a 7/8 load of lead at the same velocity should produce more recoil. Nothing to do with lead having a higher density/mass I guess, just that you can get more weight in lead into the same space than you could with steel.

I'm going to start out with having him try the AA loads. The density is why I've always avoided steel shot, but switching to steel isn't intended to be the fix for this issue, though. Its strictly a professional/personal issue, especially now that I'm the lead biologist for our condor program. Dad always taught me to lead by example and this is a good start, especially for my kids. Cool. I'm not even speaking to the toxicity issues of lead vs steel, just that recoil is going to be different.

Steel isn't the answer even though its above 1300, especially only 3/4 ounce load- remember its less dense than lead. Shoot the AA super sports with 7/8oz lead @1300, they should have enough pop. If not you'll need to shoot game loads.

I have bibs/puffy pants. The base layers are for a different hunting style/application where there is no room for them.

I can't imagine losing 3 dogs to one based on what I observed with their teeth and skull/jaw anatomy- they've got claws but they aren't going to kill anything with those either like a bear or cat might... Were they hounds or teacup yorkies or what? He did get ahold of one before I intervened and it was able to hobble off... bit him on his muzzle but wasn't much of a wound. It did swell up pretty good though so I've got him on antibiotics to avoid a bad infection. They were lion/bear hounds. Good ones too. It was a great big, lone male. Looked like it latched on to the dogs and scratched their stomachs out with it’s claws. One dog died on site, another a few hours later and one a couple days later from infection if i remember right. Really a bad deal. The real big ones probably push 25-30lbs. Last one i shot was somewhere in that range i bet Wow, that is nuts. I suppose I could see them being able to rake a dogs guts out with those back claws if they were super strong and nasty. Hopefully I'll have a chance to kill a big male next time!

Since I moved here and learned about these guys I dove into the regs and was delighted to see that we are allowed to harvest one per calendar year. Searching and asking folks who reported seeing them I knew they would be tough to target em. Knowing it would be a chance deal if I did encounter them, I luckily came across a group of them while quail hunting this morning. My shorthair and I got into a long oak-strewn finger off of the main canyon working for birds and pretty early I thought I smelled skunk. Well my dog has been skunked a few times and must enjoy it because he never has learned to lay off them. He starts ranging out pretty far and up a ridge and I lose track of the jingle of tags on his collar so he is either out of earshot or pointing, so I continue working up the draw looking around for him toward where I last saw him. Not being quiet, I'm whistling and giving a shout for the dog every min or so, about a third of a mile up the draw something starts running down a tree in front of me right in the main bottom of the finger. Realizing right away that it was a coati, I quickly took a shot at about 35 yards with 7.5 bird shot. He makes it down the tree with a less than a delicate landing, so I knew I hit him but thought I may have just winged him based on his position on the tree when I shot. Not wanting him to escape I got to him right away and was expecting to have to finish him off... nope he was dead within seconds of hitting the ground. So now I'm looking this thing over admiring how unique it is and ecstatic that it worked out as well as it did, I'm expecting my dog to come to the sound of the shot any second. All the sudden I hear chattering and screeching and thrashing and he's in the middle of the group (which I hadn't even seen) about 50 yards away. They are scattering and he is giving chase. He's a freak about squirrels and anything four-legged that he can kill, (any rodent, coyotes, cats) so he treed a young one and I had to beat the crap out of him to break him from his kill trance and then drag him out of the area. After calming the dog down and getting the coati tied to my shooting belt thingy we run into a nice covey of quail about 50 yards back the way we came and get a couple males! Turned out to be a stellar day- a beautiful limit of mearns topped off with a very unique trophy! Got home, tubed it out (it was a female), and am planning to tan the hide. I also quartered it up (including saving the tail, ha), so if anyone is so inclined as to want to try some, let me know! I'm still not sure if I will eat it or not... Surprisingly fatty (some might say greasy) but good color and smelling meat. The hide didn't have as strong of a skunk smell as I thought it would- about the same as any other varmint/raccoon.

Took me a while to get around to heading south, but I'm thankful I did. Have had a great couple of solo hunts (12/23 and 12/27) exploring new, less-trafficked areas for the polkadot rockets. Beautiful country, great dog work finding coveys and then singles by my 11y/o shorthair. Thankfully my shooting is keeping up with his finding and we have put two limits in the bag in with relatively short mornings before it gets too hot. As it is, he needs about 2 days to recover after a day (3-4 hours) of hunting in this country. Enjoy the pics- more on the coati in another post.

I can't imagine losing 3 dogs to one based on what I observed with their teeth and skull/jaw anatomy- they've got claws but they aren't going to kill anything with those either like a bear or cat might... Were they hounds or teacup yorkies or what? He did get ahold of one before I intervened and it was able to hobble off... bit him on his muzzle but wasn't much of a wound. It did swell up pretty good though so I've got him on antibiotics to avoid a bad infection.

Thats for sure. I was lucky to have the opportunity with a shotgun vs a big rifle. The hide is in great shape!

Definitely didn't smell like a butt, the hide was a little skunky but not bad.

Did the 500 @ 5 mins per pound, then 275 for approximately two hours afterward (until meat thermometer hit 130). Did an 8lb rib in and 9lb boneless at the same time this way. They both came out perfectly medium rare in the middle and more medium on the outer couple cuts.

Not worth it. 2 scaup and a cinnamon teal.

Was walking out of a waterfowl hunting spot today and a group of people with big cameras was walking in. I assumed they were birders, so I hid the ducks I had shot in my decoy bag and walked toward them. As I got closer one of them got on his knee and was snapping photos of me. When I got closer I greeted them and the guy who snapped my photo said he was with the AZ Republic and if he could put my photo in the article they were doing about the conservation area, I agreed and had a brief polite conversation with the group before leaving. Now I'm wondering if I should get ahold of them and tell them not to use my photo or my name in the article... Funniest thing was in the parking area one of the vehicles that belonged to the group had a Nebraska license plate, but it wasn't your standard state issued one... it was one she paid more for- a Mountain Lion Conservation plate *facepalm*

Cool experience, thanks for sharing! Guess a guys got to produce documentary-style BBC Planet Earth quality footage of the chase before he can be believed...

In what scenario do you plan to use it?

Nice man! Wasnt' able to get out this week. Will call you about hunting this Fri or Sat if you'll be around.

Delw must be mad his kid is getting picked on on facebook so he shows up here for a pissing match no one else cares to compete in. Well done, sir.

Can't begin to imagine being in your shoes... has to be amazingly difficult to keep your composure and be an anchor for your family. Stay strong. Blessings to your family. Wishing you all the best this Christmas and for a refreshed and outstanding new year.

Hey Cody, I'd be happy to hook up with you sometime. What part of NM you in? I was just there this past weekend for a couple of quick hunts. Only got into 1 covey of mearns, but shot a lot of scalies!

Great writeup and what an adventure! To top it off one wicked awesome buck! Nick's is great too!

How'd the hunt go? Any luck?