mattys281

Come on now. Who hasn't gotten one of those after a close encounter w/ a big bull.

Have you found that they visit a scratch at any type of interval, or does it seem completely random? If you knew he was coming back every 5-7 days or something like that, it'd be worth sitting on.

Thanks. You guys just confirmed that I make the right choice by not wasting my money on cable, satelite or whatever the new thing is. I'd rather be outside.

Sure looks like a pretty coat on that dog. Going to do something with it?

I packed into Bear Wallow Wilderness 3 or 4 times before the early archery deer hunt & then we were there for 5 days straight when season opened. Sometimes it was just a sprinkle, but it rained every single stinking day that we were there. I know we need it, but I would've liked at least one sunny day! Maybe I'll get a couple this year. Ron: Tried to sneak in a last weekend of bear hunting mid Nov. in 27 & that was all I did see. Had a pack of 3 or 4 wolves run by at about 50-60 yards. Tried to call 'em back with a cub bawler, but no luck. They sat there, just out of sight & howled at me for a couple minutes & then took off. I wanted them to come in close enough to hit w/ the 300mm zoom on my Canon, but they weren't going for it. Still an awesome experience & at least I got to see them.

Thanks for the tip, Ronaldo. Now that we all know what great shape the White Mountains are in, we'll have to concentrate our early hunt efforts over there. Would you suggest unit 1 or 27? Anyone want to chip in & rent a bus?

First of all, you're my undisputed new hero if you can hold 3" at 100 yards with any bow! I'm good for a 10" group at sixty when the wind is calm, the sun's right, no birds are flying and all the stars are aligned properly, but on a lesser day.... we don't need to discuss that. That XT is an awesome bow, but after I shot it, I thought, "That was nice" & then took my PSE home w/ no regrets. After shooting the Vectrix, I'm having trouble deciding whether I want the 33" incher or the XL at 36". Being one who preaches shootability, I'll likely go w/ the longer one, as it also has a 1/2" more brace height and you only lose 1 or 2 fps. This bow may not be the greatest thing since fiber-optic sights, but to me it felt really good and sounded even better. The whole way home I played the "if I sell this on ebay & put that up too, & maybe take a couple bucks out of the savings acount... I haven't gave blood in a while.... Maybe I can get one before my April hog hunt" game. Again, that's just my .02 worth. Go some place where you can shoot it head to head against the XT. Bottom line, I still think that if you put a bunch of the "top line" bows in a shooting machine, they'd all be pretty close on speed & accuracy. You just need to find something that inspires your confidence, whether it's because it's popular & cool, because it shoots great, or because you feel like you bested the rest of us by paying half as much. I really don't think you could lose buying a mid to top range bow from anybody.

PSE has made about a hundred different short brace height models over the years. Thg G-force was under 6" as I recall, my Mach 12 is supposed to be 6 3/4", but has never been better than 6 1/2", & this one is 6". If you're one of those guys who is a human shooting machine & always nails perfect form & a smooth release, knock yourself out, but I'll personally be switching to something w/ a little more forgivness built into the brace height. Were I to buy another PSE, it would definetely be a Diablo w/ the NRG Hybrid cams. From what I've seen, I think its the best compromise of speed (up to 310), generous brace heigth (over 8") and compact geometry (33" ax-to-ax). It's a parallel limb design & one of the lighter bare bows on the market right now. Good solid set-up w/ a suggested retail of around $600.

I personally think that "el nino" is just a meteorologist phrase for," We don't know what the heck is going to happen."

It is a big dose of "humble pie" for me to admit this, especially since I'm a PSE dealer, but..... deep breath, okay, here it goes..... I shot a Hoyt Vectrix yesterday. Best bow I've ever had my hands on. I've also shot a Matthews Drenalin and a Switchback XT recently, and I would take the Hoyt hands down. You can feel zero recoil or "jump" and that thing is so quiet that it's amazing. My Mach 12 is set at 58 lbs. w/ limb jacks, bow jax on the cables, dampeners on the quiver, Lore Stabilizer, etc. I though it was pretty quiet, but shooting the same arrows on that hoyt at 63 lbs. with nothing but the stock dampeners.... It was so quiet that it made my 12 sound like a tank going off, even w/ the 5 extra pounds of draw weight. I had planned on purchasing a Diablo for my next bow, but needless to say that decision is now in question.

I've been into the Bear Wallow, Galiuro, Superstition, Woodchute, & Kendrick Mountain wilderness areas, that I can think of off the top of my head. Every one of them had a little plackard thing at the beginning of the trail that showed the little pics of the Jeep, Mountain Bike, & Motorcycle w/ the circle & cross out on them, indicating they're not allowed. Foot & pack animal access only. They also usually have a little info center right at the trailhead with a sign-in sheet that has notices on it, and these also usually explain what access is allowed and what isn't. The ones around Bear Wallow Describe in detail why mountain bikes aren't allowed, and that they have established numerous other trails in the national forest that are specifically designated for mountain bikers. I can't speak for every wilderness area in the state, but mountain bikes are off limits in all the ones that I've ever been in. However, it is important to note that these are all federally designated wildernesses that I'm refering to. The rules for state designated wilderness areas, such as the White Canyon & numerous others, may be different. There are also pieces of land that are designated as "primitive areas" and, again, come under a different set of regs. I used to be pretty into mountain biking when I lived in Prescott & had some friends that were into it. They always complained because they felt it was unfair that horses were allowed into the wilderness & they weren't. From what I've read it seems like the main reason the bikes are kept out is to preserve the wild atmosphere, which is what most people go into wilderness areas to enjoy. There are also trail errosion issues that are caused by the long, uninterrupted tracks laid down by bikes on soft or muddy stretches of trail. The tracks gather run-off & quickly become ruts on popular trails. One bike wouldn't be an issue, but imagine if they were allowed on the Peralta trail or any other popular route that saw thousands of users per year.

They've been making a real effort to designate mountain bike trails in the National forests as the popularity of that activity increases, but in an area that is designated as "wilderness", they are not allowed either. No mechanical access is permitted. Here is a clip from general regulations found on wilderness.net General Wilderness Prohibitions Motorized equipment and equipment used for mechanical transport is generally prohibited on all federal lands designated as wilderness. This includes the use of motor vehicles, motorboats, motorized equipment, bicycles, hang gliders, wagons, carts, portage wheels, and the landing of aircraft including helicopters, unless provided for in specific legislation.

If anyone is interested in this bow, that's a great price. Well below my wholesale price.

Ooops. Brain mis-fire. Guess they would definetely classify as a different species then.

and maybe iron your shirt too! It'll take a woman at least that talented to get me married again. I don't know what's more impressive.... her shooting, or the fact that David Hasselhoff managed to get back on tv.

I think you can hunt them in Africa, but not sure. Never really looked into it. As far as I know, you're not allowed to import any part of a carcass from an animal on the endangered species list, but I would imagine that their cats have to be a different sub-species at least & may no be on the list.

I know this is a deer site & I'll probably be chased out by the deer fanatics via pitch fork and torch light for saying this, but I like having a healthy predator population in our state & think it's fantastic that we still have a few of these rare cats around (with a pulse, not made into a rug ). It makes for a more interesting and exciting time when you go into the woods knowing that you may run into something other than an ungulate.

I agree with your sentiment, but at the same time I think that the future of hunting faces some very real threats and sportsmen can't afford to draw a line between each other. The NRA (& everyone else for that matter) may have over reacted, but I think that they were right for sending a strong, and immediate, message. I've also read many of Mr. Zumbo's articles and don't feel that one incident should devalue his experience and knowledge. Hopefully another publication will pick him up, and this time around he'll keep those kind of opinions where they belong - within close company.

Who'd you hear it from? I put in for cow tags this year to try and improve my odds. If the apps were really down 40%, then I probably gave away my only good chance at drawing at 27 bull tag....

I don't own any firearms at all anymore, but respect and value our right to keep them. Sportsmen need to stick together as ONE group, not divide ourselves into smaller categories and that's exactly what voicing opinions like that does. The anti's love getting their hands on fodder like that. I think he's entitled to his own opinion, but should be smart enough to keep it between himself and his friends. Don't put it in print for all our opponents to gobble up. Bad form, Mr. Zumbo.

Finally got my pics developed from the late hunt. Guess now I know why I didn't tag out & I could never remember eating my lunch....

I second that. He'd of watched my kids for exactly the amount of time it took to go to the bedroom closet and back.

I've always believed in the philosophy that if you can't laugh at yourself, then you've no right to laugh at others. After that post, feel free to fire away at the rest of us! Welcom aboard Jason.

I don't know exact figures here, so could be speakin out my rear, but I imagine it has some to do with the size of thier production runs. It's always cheaper to manufacture 2000 of something than it is to make 500 of the same thing, on a per part basis. They likely sell a lot more rifles than bows. I know that in the aerospace machining gig the most expensive part is tearing down a set-up from an old job & setting the machine up for the new one. If you can distribute that cost across a hundred parts it's a lot cheaper than over ten. Likely the more significant factor, though, is fashion trend. Matthews & Bowtech are "in" right now, so their prices reflect it. I'll stick with PSE.

My sales rep from PSE just told me about this thing last night. Apparently it just hit the market. The numbers are 33" ax-to-ax, 4.1 lbs., 6" brace height, & ibo speeds up to 350 fps. According to him, it's super quiet too. I'm going to try & shoot one this weekend & I'll let you all know what I think.