high rise hunter

I'd take the over on this. Thinking sometime between the 7-10th.

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I've always sold my unwanted bone to Trinity Walker. He's up in Eager but sometimes makes trips down to the Valley. If you want to reach out to him shoot me a PM and I'll send you his number.

That is a really sweet bull, Congrats! I'm very jealous you've been able to pull 2 tags over a 6 year span!

I put the Adam's Adapter bracket for the 664s on the scale and it was right around 21.7 oz but that exact thought crossed my mind. Along the bottom of the bracket, either bigger holes or a little bit smaller footprint would shave some ounces. Carbon fiber is a very interesting idea.

That pupillary distance I found is very finicky and certainly only set for one individual. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like there's one do-it-all big eyes set up if you consider the following three elements: 1.) light and compact enough for backpack hunting 2.) good FOV and light gathering 3.) higher magnification zoom. Easy to get 2 of the 3. At 6.5 LBs this set up would certainly be the closest though

These are pretty intriguing to me. I have the twin Kowa 664s and optically they're way better than the BTX with the 85mm. One thing I really miss with my current set ups is the lack of zoom except for a swap of eye pieces on one of the Kowas. The 1.7x extender for the BTX seems like too much of a pain in the *ss to mess around with but the Swaro variable eye pieces would take care of that. @Sky Islands @huntnhard Out of curiosity, have either of you put the dual swaros up next to the BTX with the 115mm objective?

Did you guys recently get an email about the AZ Big Game Super raffle now being called Conservation First USA? Says you now must be present within the state of AZ to purchase raffle tickets. That seems like an odd change to make. I would think that will cut out a lot of people who normally purchase tickets thus a lot less funds generated.

I packed both the Kowas and BTX 85mm everywhere I went and 9/10 times I was reaching for the dual spotters. The 664s to my surprise optically blew the BTX out of the water. The FOV and light gathering is significantly better. (Side note - I believe the FOV and exit pupil is better with the 85 then the 95 paired with the BTX.) A few take aways: -The dual spotters took a little time to find that perfect sweet spot for my eyes pupillary distance. This was a bit of an annoyance. The BTX is much more refined in this aspect. It's so easy to look through and you instantly get this perfect "circle" view that is crisp from edge to edge and seemingly provides more eye relief which I love. The BTX is user friendly. -I forgot how much I prefer straight over angled glassing. Target acquisition is so much faster with the dual Kowas then the BTX. FOV probably plays a factor here as well. -I also packed a 20-60x zoom eye piece for the 664. The eye pieces switch out very quickly and easily and was a good option if I wanted to get a closer look at something. Unfortunately, I left that piece on top of hill down in the 36s so hoping I can find a way to get back down there to scoop it back up. -The Outdoor Vision protective case on my BTX doesn't allow me to use the sun shade. Having the sunshades readily available on the Kowas was great. -The Kowas required more tripod (or longer leg extension) given the straight vs angled spotting. I definitely noticed this with the wind and at times was not able to get quite as steady as the BTX. -The dual spotters are noticeably heavier than the BTX with the 85 objective. So much to the point where I cringe thinking about packing them on a big, long backpack hunt. On my scale, I have the BTX set up at 100oz and the dual 664s (including the zoom eyepiece) at 133oz so basically 2 LBs heavier. The BTX also takes up a lot less pack space. For this reason I think the BTX is the better backpack "big eyes" setup and Kowas better for everything else and even doable for shorter ~3 day backpack trips. I'm certainly left wondering how the BTX with the 115mm would compare to the dual Kowas. This would mostly level the playing field in terms of weight and size. The 115 would give 5x extra zoom; FOV would still favor the Kowas but would light gathering match?

Breaking them up is strange. Also the elk, antelope and turkey ticket purchase deadline is in 3 weeks?!

Fellas - not sure what's going on with the PMs. Feel free to text me at (92zero)75zero-11zerozero.

I have 4 brand new SEVR titanium 2.0 broadheads. They are 100 grain, standard 8-32 thread. Initially bought 5, used 1 but decided to stick with what I've been using forever. Also included the hex wrench and wedge tool. $45 TYD | Paypal, Venmo, etc.

Man did I miss out on all the fun! Congrats!

March and April is right. If you go mid/late March you'll see a lot of bulls still packing, usually smaller ones. Bigger bulls will drop first.

This tag price increase looks like it's just for the special draw? Will be curious to see if this would better odds in the special and worsen the regular.

I just picked up a couple 664s and been putting them up against the BTX 85 in the backyard the last 1.5 days. They're impressive spotters that together optically outperform the BTX. Headed down south in a couple of days so will really get to test them out then.

Sold

Beretta A300 Ultima 12 Gauge, 28" Barrel Brand New, recently got in an auction but have no need for another shotgun. I'm in NV, $725 shipped to your FFL. Price drop to $625.

I'll be driving through the Valley later this week.

Rather be lucky than good! Well done, sweet buck!

Man that is awesome! Thanks for posting up

Haven’t hunted them myself but been spending a lot of time in Hawaii recently so been doing some limited research. I believe Molokai and Maui are the best options but DIY isn’t very realistic, would likely need to go guided. Lanai could be done DIY but a bit of a logistical nightmare. Very limited places to stay and would need to rent a capable vehicle. Following along for more insight.

I think late rifle is more of "sure thing" to kill a 300" bull but I much prefer an archery hunt so that's the direction I'd steer.

My hunch would be tuning as well. I can't honestly remember having a broadhead break off from an arrow in the last ~10 years. Could be the inserts though. I use Victory shoks that anchor relatively far down into the shaft as well as extend over the outside of the shaft for added impact protection.

Totally new to me as well. I like it!