Schmitty

Well, I spoke with somebody in the know today and it looks like ground has been broken for the new SW in Prescott Valley. It will be located near the new Walmart (Kohls, etc.) on the W. side of Glassford Hill across from the Tim's Toyota Center. I guess there are a few issues with the city of PV regarding a stoplight on Glassford Hill that have slowed Construction progress, but they are still shooting for a Spring 2008 opening date. I still wonder how Yavapai county can support a store like Sportsman's Warehouse, but I'm sure they did their research beforehand. I really don't think that it will have a huge impact on Prescott's gun stores except for maybe High Country. J and G's will still cater to the shoot em up crowd and Bill's Trading Post will still be cheaper than SW. We don't really have any real suppliers when it comes to optics, camping, fishing, outdoor wear, hunting gear, etc. so it will be nice to cut an hour off of the drive time for me. take care, Schmitty

While helping a friend's son with cow tag last year, we saw several bulls while up scouting and hunting. The Most interesting was still wearing velvet in October and had a bunch of odd growth, including a palmated antler on one side. He was running with a real Dandy of a bull, which looked very similar to the picture of the skull posted above. He had very good main beams, and pretty decent tine length all the way around. Most of the other bulls that we saw were raghorns, or pretty busted up from the rut. BTW, we were on the melatone mesa side of the unit. good luck, Lots of elk in that unit to chase. Schmitty

Congratulations on your new family, My only advice is that you better hunt all you can while you've only got one child. It's amazing how when the kids outnumber mama, she doesn't like those 10 day birdhunting trips to Canada anymore. Fortunately for you, you'll have it all in your new backyard. Once again congrats on your little girl. Our two girls are alot of fun. While I'm not looking forward to the teenage years, I"m trying to raise them up right. My four year old is all excited to go out for her second year of dove hunting, and the one year old is driving Mama crazy blowing the duck and goose calls. Best of luck to you and you're wife. Schmitty

They all are whoppers, no doubt! A big thank you for posting these pics. If all 3 were standing together broadside at 30 yards, I'd have to take the typical. He is flat out gorgeous. (Can you talk that way about a stinky critter?) He's got it all, deep forks, height and width and a nice mug to boot. I'll be thinking about those dandies while I'm sweating my cajones off down in the desert chasing pigs in 95 degree heat reminding myself of what a fool I am. good luck to your buddies, Schmitty

AZGFD needs to take lessons from the South Dakota Fish and Game. I applied online for a rifle antelope tag on August 10th. The draw took place on August 14th. Results were posted on August 15th. (BTW, I didn't draw) Received Refund check in today's mail; August 21. I was absolutely amazed. I guess they get enough from those high dollar small game (pheasant) licenses that they don't feel the need to earn a bunch of interest off of my money. Still waiting on my AZ sheep refund. Schmitty

Well I received Permit #1 for the Oct. hunt in 36C in the mail today. Hopefully that refund check for sheep isn't too far behind to help pay for that new swaro spotter I put on layaway. Anybody else seeing tags/refund checks? Does anybody know how the numbering system on tne permits work? i have a hard time believing that ALL of the December tags had been drawn before a single tag had been assigned to the early hunt. I won't complain, as I'm still going hunting. Good luck to everybody, Schmitty

Mine likes the 100 grain Barnes triple shocks the best behind a stiff load of IMR 4350. My buddies is partial to accubonds that I load with H4831sc. Other bullets that shoot well out of my rifle are the 100 grain gamekings and ballistic tips. good luck, Schmitty

plus 1 for PV archery. I think that TC and his Dad will be making arrows for awhile to come yet. PVdon't have quite the inventory of SW, but prices are comparable and service goes a LONG way in the archery business. As for Popular, that store was more or less a joke when in came to inventory and employees. There is a similar store in the new location, Manzanita Outdoors, but I only spent 2 minutes in there while the wife was grabbing something from Old Navy.

Well, it has been 20 years since I sat in Hunter Safety Class along with my fellow boy scouts down in Yuma. I still remember the instructor, a fellow named Gene and quite a few of his stories and lessons. For our field day, we camped out at the Adair range the night prior and experienced a good AZ flash flood and the entire range was under 6" of water. I remember shooting at (I didn't hit any) clay targets over the water and envisioning that I was shooting ducks over a marsh. I'm sure that the online course, while more convenient for many, has no way to equal the experience of sitting in a classroom with other excited kids and a lively instructor. At least they retained the field day. However, I know that when my own kids come of age in a few years, that we will be attending one of the live classes. I do believe that the online version is a benefit for those in remote locations, or experienced adults with a limited schedule. But, for the kids sake, I hope that most if not all will attend the live classes so that they too can reflect on fond memories after two decades have passed. I did follow the link for the practice test and used the birth year of my father (1946) to go for the full gusto. It looks like I'm a bit rusty and scored an 83%. Looks like I'll need to sit in on a few classes with my kids when the time comes. Good huniting, Schmitty

I haven't heard anything new yet, but I imagine it will be over off of Glassford or perhaps just W. of PV across from Glassford Hill (the actual hill) off of HWY 69. When I'm in the irrigation store on Monday I'll ask Bruce to see if he knows who got the Construction/Landscape contract as I'm sure that he's had to bid the drainage/irrigaton materials for the Contractor. I'll keep you posted. Schmitty

Well TAM, it looks like you are going to get your wish. While I was down picking up a can of 7828ssc at the SW in north Phoenix the kid at the optics counter told me that construction had proceeded on a Sportsman's warehouse in Prescott Valley and that it should be open in early spring of 2008. I'll see what I can dig up on the rumor. take care, Schmitty

TAM, I hit Bill's today and he only had 1 can of the regular 7828 in stock, none of the short cut powder. He told me that it would be coming in on his next powder order which is a few weeks out. Did you find any in the valley? thanks, Schmitty

Bill's Trading Post is on the west side of Montezuma a few blocks north of the Safeway in an old building more or less across from the fire station. From the outside, it looks like a nasty pawn shop with old glass bottles in the windows. Bill is a real character, he could sell popsicles to the eskimo's but his pricing is very fair and he's a good fellow. Besides powder and primers he doesn't keep much reloading items in stock. He always has a few used guns in stock, but he will order you anything you want and sell it to you at 10% above his cost. Usually the wholesale catalogs are right out on the counter so you can look through them, tack 10% onto the cost and you know what you'll be paying. I'll head in there today and let you know if he's got any 7828. Schmitty

TAM, Did Bill's Trading Post not have any 7828 in stock? Bill's pretty good at keeping most popular Hodgdon,IMR, Accurate, VV, and Winchester powders in stock and his prices are typically better than anywhere in Phoenix except for Bruno's. I need to pick up a can of 7828ssc as well to try in my new 6.5-06 AI. I was going to swing in today in fact, until I remembered that Bill is closed on Mondays. I'll let you know what I find, Schmitty

The two smiths that I personally use are pretty backed up, so I'm not sure that they would be able to get you taken care of before your hunt. Classic Barrel Prescott, AZ Weaver Rifles Peyton, CO That said, Here's the website for ITD custom gun in Ohio that is VERY reasonably priced, always has barrels in the most popular twist rates in stock and has a pretty quick turnaround. (8 weeks last I talked to him) I've personally never used him, but I have only heard positive things in regards to his work. You can legally ship the rifle directly to him and he can send it back to you without having to involve an FFL. ITD Custom Guns Hope this helps, Schmitty

I also have a T/C Omega topped with a fixed 4.75x weaver grand slam in a talley one piece scope mount.. 3 triple seven pellets and a 290 gr Barnes expander sabots consistently produced 1 1/2" groups. I've only hunted with it one season, but it worked quite well on the cow that I shot last year. The shot was around 60 yards or so and she never made it out of her bed. It's pretty easy to clean and maintain. The action is very simple, the trigger is decent and they have a good reputation in regards to accuracy. good luck with your choice, Schmitty

Great news for many of you! When I checked the results, it gave me the hunt number and that I was permit #0001! I was stoked thinking that being the first permit drawn, I just had to have drawn a December tag. Turns out I'll be out on the early hunt in 36C. Regardless, I can't wait to get out there once the temps cool down a bit and do some scouting. Good luck to the rest of you! I'm still waiting on that sheep tag! take care, Craig

Most all of what has been mentioned above is true. As Doug stated it has to do with how "aerodynamic" a bullet is. Casey had it pretty much right, but the general rule of thumb is that the heavier the bullet for that specific caliber, the higher the BC will be. If you had two bullets that had the same weight, but were of different caliber, the smaller caliber bullet would have the higher BC. For example: a 140 grain 7mm Sierra gameking has a BC of .416 where as the 140 gr 6.5 mm gameking has a BC of .495. This is just a general rule, there are plenty of exceptions due to different bullet designs. For most practical hunting purposes out to 500 yards., Velocity has more to do with bullet drop than anything else. Generally, the faster you drive a bullet, the less it will drop. BC does play role in bullet drop, but you usually don't see it until you pass the 400 yard mark. As it was stated earlier. Today, with rangefinder's, Bullet Drop Compensating reticles and turrets, I find that the wind bucking ability is where the High BC bullets really shine. Let's face it, no matter what you're shooting, once a bullet passes the 350 yard mark, it starts to fall dramatically. This can be compensated for with quality modern equipment. Wind however is like the devil. It can come at you from any direction and at any speed and "reading" the wind is more like Black Magic than a proven science. The less I have to guess in regards to doping the wind the better off I and the critter I'm shooting at will be. It's kind of cool to play around with the Ballistic Calculators and look at various scenarious with different bullets and calibers. I've found that they are fairly accurate when I've tested their results with my own range results within a couple of inches. hope this helps, Schmitty

This is my first post here on CouesWhitetail.com I'm slowly beginning to see the light when it comes to good optics. I bought a pair of used Leica's a couple of years ago and thought that I had arrived. This past week I finally hunted with a pair of borrowed 15's and saw the light. I immediately ordered a pair when I returned. I'm now looking to purchase a decent spotter to help w/ field evaluation and have a bit of fun digiscoping with. I can't afford the very top of the line right now, but I'm looking to get something decent mid range. I've been mulling over used Swaro, Zeiss, Leica (non APO/HD) models, along with the Pentax and Nikon ED models. Budget is in the 1K area. As most of you hunt in similar terrain as I do, I 'm curious as to your preferences. I know that everybody has opinions on what works best for them. I want to hear all that you have to say good, bad or ugly. This scope will be packed along in rough country along w/ all of the other goodies, used sunup to sundown. I also want to fool around with taking pictures w/ a digital pint and shoot on scouting trips as well of various local critters as well. So, 65 or 80 mm? Straight or Angled? Do you even really need to pack along a spotter or will a doubler/tripler work? Do any particular scopes lend themselves better for picture taking? Zoom or fixed eyepieces? Warranty/customer service considerations. etc. Thanks in advance for your help. Schmitty

Thanks to all for your replies. With the angled eyepiece do you find that you have to readjust your tripod when swapping from your bino's to your scope. I typically have to spend a few minutes getting my tripod set up just right for maximum comfort before I begin to glass. Which setup (angled/straight) sould more easily allow me to keep the tripod legs in the same position? Adjusting the stem up or down is no big deal. A critter can disappear out of my bino's FOV in a matter of seconds, I'm just worried that if I have to fool around w/ the tripod much, I'll have a difficult time reaquiring the critter. thanks again for all your help. Schmitty