biglakejake

that is starting young! my boy just shot the Roberts until he was 15.

Merry Christmas to our veterans and those serving. lee

this is a picture of walking quiet- not many secrets in 24B-but an idea for you for january-above bagley flat campground on saguaro lake. you will need a boat to get there. might be great this winter due to all the displacement caused by the fire. i have seen coues bucks at Usery Park during the rut so elevation is not key. lee

no question. 1973 Marlin Glenfield M60. Yessir!

miss those Christmas eves. 'couse we didn't have that kinda talent but the bottles seem familiar! lee

my mother knew of my wanderlust and that after HS graduation i would not be around too much longer. So in that short period of time she told me she wanted to spend some time with me on my pursuits-camping, hunting, fishing, trapping. It was hard for her when at about 16yo I stopped bringing bass home for the freezer. But one night trip to Saguaro when every popper or torpedo was hit-and hit again-as soon as it landed she threw all of her bass back also. One morning I took her out to run my trapline in Bulldog and we walked up on a trap in the dark with a truly giant bobcat in it. All I had on me was my knocker stick and I did not want to tangle with it like that. I went back to the truck for my .22-"keep your eye on it mom". Years later she was still cursing me for leaving her alone in the dark with that cat. She slept in the truck bed at Roosevelt and in tents at Big Lake and Lyman and Chevelon. Breaking camp one afternoon at Big Lake she points-"Over there between those two blue spruce is where your daddy and I made you on the Fourth of July!". Oh Mom! LaVonne Marguerite Elbert 1927-1990 RIP lee ps i saw mom cry only 4 times. my graduation, my wedding, dads passing, and the time i walked in her front door in a surprise visit and butchered a 40lb Cortez halibut in her kitchen sink. she was gone just a few months later. Grandmother Bessie couldn't have cared less about the dogs but she always wanted to see the cats.

it's gotta be a chopper. somebody go get that thing-its got 'CouesWhitetailCustoms' written all over it. lee

curious. very, very curious.......i'm out of my element...is that a 'chopper?

CLOSE IN THE HEART I watched two men who beauty sought, One searched and searched, but found it not. To the other man all things were fair he needn't search, found beauty there. He found beauty where 'ere he went the roaring gale, the rustling breeze Its music and its laughter lent To all the shrubs, flowers and trees. In desert wast or grassy sod, in winter snow, in summer showers Beheld the handiwork of God In bursting bud, in summer flowers. His lessons from the earth he took from murmuring tree, from singing bird. From waterfall to babbling brook, In nature's music God's voice he heard. Yes, in all things did beauty find in taste and smell, in sight and sound Within his body, heart and mind Life's greatest treasure there he found. Now, if for beauty you have sought, If you have searched but found it not, Then right at home you'd best begin, True beauty comes from the soul within. Milo Wiltbank, Eagar, Arizona, c1957 Gramma Grass Wisdom

-----Before Daybreak----- The selfish intensity and passion of each moment The memories that flood with each repetition Different locales and different companions, but of course, mostly solitary.. Trying mightily to be part of the age-old blood sport of hunter and prey The cavernous darkness outside the truck windows.. Or the glow of fresh fallen snow beyond the tent flap The smell of gun oil and leather, the feel of cartridges-weight forward and lethal This should be shared, I feel, but company would compromise the purity of emotion This is better by tenfold, I reason, than the months of daydreams and anticipation Hours before the light, the darkness is my cocoon.. In the early mountain chill or desert fresh Moon glow silhouetting high rim rock, ghostly saguaros or extinct volcanoes Some night hikes that lead to dawn vantage points will be remembered for a lifetime- Elk bugles thundering from all points of the compass, Climbing Malapai peaks with glasses fogged, Or the skunk at half a pace when I found God is merciful. It is the darkness, the before, like a book unopened that you know will thrill and engross you, memories unrivaled.. Peppersauce Canyon, Cerro Prieto, Roberts Mesa or Kitty Jo mine- Some to be revisited, none to be forgotten.. All enmeshed in memory with each year's pre-dawn rituals. I have discovered-slow I must be for it took 30 years It is not success in the hunt most yearned for, But rather one more preparation before daybreak For the many memories to revisit me. Lee Elbert Navajo County, Arizona Sept. 2001

there is a poem or 3 in every one of those photographs-WOW! lee

any evidence it was a shrine or memorial? or just a line shack? yo tiene nada. lee

in the 1960's he was a store opener cook w denny's, 20-30yo. 1970 he was 40/41 and later he followed the trap and live pigeon circuit around and sous chef-ed when in wisconsin. worked at sportsmans clearing house(steve rothbard) in tempe and then just crewed at trap clubs in tucson & beeline & wisconsin. incorrigible pipe smoker. he used your name re grouse in the white mtns and coues down south. no big deal he just used your name alot. gone now. lee

are there more ruins in the vicinity? baja Arizona i presume?(s of I10) lee

7mm mauser blank round. could be several other rounds-measure OD on forward end.

great name for tough guys and hardboiled broads in film. lee

sold

Seasons over and sounds like some hunters enjoyed a tuna hunt or 2. unlike deer and elk personal best is relative offshore. its the 'how did i do that' deal that you remember. mine will always be a 37# bft on 15lb line and #6 hook. how did i do that lol? now is the time to talk to other offshore nuts and find light load charters for next season or junkets down the gulf side of the peninsula. this late season seaforth full day has a great primer so i'll post it but its long and i did not watch it so beware. excellent primer however. good luck all for next season-we are just blessed to be here in Arizona and within 500 miles of so many world class sporting diversions on range, peak and wave so get out and have some fun. i never got a mearns' or white sea bass but i'll live. lee this pic is kinda special and the special was by accident. that last point in the background is Pyramid Head, San Clemente Island, considered the southern end of kalifornia(4 u trophy). "beyond here there be dragons"-except for a couple submerged banks there is nothing but blue water all the way to the big island of Hawaii. quite a reach.

first address get the postcard. in an envelope of course.

chuck nikolai 1991 Todos Santos off Ensenada.

1964. penasco on the horizon. 1972-the fellow in stripes is rarely in fishing pics...but does hunt some sheep! new years day 1990. 7yo with 34lb white sea bass, farnsworth bank.

1975-1st Coues Deer-already had a burro. ridge south of peppersauce cg, snow blowing sideways, entire san pedro valley socked in. hunting w the 12yo from the next campsite. wow. look at all that hair. lee

i have a set of cabover mounts-the kind where you drill your bumper and the front facing of the bed. show low free. also just two(2) only stepside cabover stake mounts lee