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Very cool John! That was the Original Grayling Green right there! Thanks for sharing about Esau! Nick

Never say never guys...every year at the Sheep Clinic they ask if anyone got drawn the first time putting in and pretty much every year at least one person raises their hand. You can't win if you don't play! Seriously though, that license is one of the coolest random things I've ever seen posted here!

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Hey Ike, What is the spine deflection on these? .500? I may be interested! Thanks! Nick

I am pretty much a dedicated archer unless I draw a once in a lifetime tag. I will hunt with a rifle on a family hunt or use my shotgun for birds, but since I've started harvesting big game with my bow there is no turning back! I only apply for archery deer and elk hunts and also buy the OTC deer tag. I only apply for archery only Pronghorn hunts now since I've killed one with my gun. I will apply for the Spring Any Buffalo hunt which is General, but for fall my choices are the Archery hunts. This has an effect on the "Pie Chart" allocation that Game and Fish uses to divide tags amongst weapon types. It really hurts the bowhunters when folks apply for rifle hunts as their first choice, then end up hunting OTC and taking a deer with their bow because they get counted in the overall mix as a "rifle" hunter. I'm not sure if the Department even considers the second choice in this equation. I know at one time they did not, and I'm not sure it has ever changed.

Thanks for sharing here Darr!

I got the traditional bug bad after ruining my compound bow on a hunt and had no backup. Since then I have not had anywhere near this much fun with archery since I was a little kid. I now own 3 recurve bows: a vintage 1960 Bear Kodiak, a new Grayling Green Super Kodiak, and a Whisperstik Kajikastik takedown. Each has it's own flavor but I'd say the Kodiak is my favorite! Welcome aboard!

Let's make one thing absolutely clear, I am NOT advocating an earlier season for archery hunters. Any time within the 2 or 3rd week of September is fine and dandy with me. Many bulls are extremely vulnerable at this time, particularly if you know what the heck is going on! You don't need a bull to bugle to kill him. Many times they are more vulnerable at this time because they don't have a giant harem of cows. My preference is for them to just leave it alone and if anything quit the crap they started last year with other weapons going before archery, period, end of story! One thing is consistent with this proposal...the archery hunters are again taking it in the shorts! First we lose our ability to take a doe in January, which they said we would get back when numbers came up, clearly that hasn't happened. Then we are forced to accept permitted archery hunts. It's clear that has only had limited success due to the shuffling and back and forth on tag numbers and units that this applies to. Then we are given an arbitrary harvest percentage of 20% of the total harvest, anything above that and we lose a season. Haven't seen many if any seasons added for archery when success is low! Then we see that number miraculously got to 15-20% of the total harvest, again out of the blue with nothing to substantiate that number. We constantly fight to keep our tags in September for elk when the Department just wants to sell more tags for November because they know darn well, they can get a bunch of people in the field, sell a ton of permits, and nobody kills jack squat! I'm getting pretty tired of this constant assault! I sure wish Tice Supplee was still the Game Branch Chief. She was a dedicated archery hunter and we never had to deal with any of this nonsense when she was around!

Any proposal of that nature is completely back asswards! I also agree with the point made above that this could be a result of the archery hunters complaining about the season starting too early. Often times their point isn't made well and the Department will use that wishy washyness to do whatever it is they've been trying to accomplish. In this case it seems like the Department has been heck Bent on putting some sort of Premium Hunt out there for elk. Looks like they're going after it through the backdoor! I don't agree with any general elk hunts being held before archery or muzzleloader. Whatever happened to the notion of primitive weapons being at a disadvantage? I'll be sure to make my comments to the Department and Commission when the time comes.

Bought a Rifle from ClintB and a shotgun from KennyAZMan. Both totally good to go! I've sold a pair of binos for a heck of a bargain which included a donation to the site and given away a few things here too but I guess the guys either didn't like me, the deal, or just haven't posted yet. This is why some of us don't like threads like this. Too much like the Prom or something. Not everybody is quick to say something nice or they just don't see it or whatever. Too many other stand up guys to list that come on this site that I've either met at meetings, in the field, or otherwise. I'd say 99.8% of the people who come to a site like this are legit!

My starting point for all the caliber rifles I have is the Remington Core lokt. It shoots really, really well out of my .270 and I get decent performance out of some others. The terminal performance on a ram, a pronghorn buck, a few elk and a deer have all been excellent. Of course there are much better and more expensive projectiles out there, but this one just plain gets the job done and is an economical place to start. Another round that I hardly ever hear bad things about is the Nosler Partition but those are kinda pricey for some calibers unless you roll your own. Best advice I can give is to get a few boxes of different ammo and see what YOUR gun likes, because each and every rifle barrel is a bit different when it comes to what cartridge works best for it. Good Luck and have fun at the range! Nick

Prayers for a complete and quick recovery. May the Lord be comfort to you through your ordeal.

The best chance for most of us who have taken a desert ram to take a Rocky ram as well is for tag numbers to go up dramatically. Not impossible, but not likely to happen quickly. I just hope I live long enough to have a chance to take a Rocky ram as well. I'm happy to draw whatever tag. Good Luck to all of you guys out there trying to live out your dreams! Great info Dan!

He's a grand daddy alright! Sweet pics! Now if they were only right side up...

X 2 on taking a look at Western Mountaineering. They have some semi-rectangular options for those that mummy bags don't agree with as well as your standard mummy bags. The down they use is top notch and you can confidently use your bag to the degree rating stated even if you are a "cold" sleeper. I would also recommend taking a look at the Kifaru bags. They use synthetic insulation but it is lightweight and backpackable, similar to down.

The unanimous decision and rationale is right on in my opinion. It's sad that this had to go to the Supreme Court.

What a senseless loss of life! I pray that you and his loved ones are able to find peace with this someday. Sorry bud!

I think someone yanked the post this comment was directed at...just saying!

I think its hard NOT to catch fish at Powell! LOL! The wind blew us off the main lake one year and we stayed in a small cove way back into a finger canyon. We fished right of the back of the beached boats in the small cove and caught smallmouth, largemouth and striped bass, catfish and bullheads, crappie and bluegill, and last and certainly not least, a big scaly ol carp! It was awesome! We caught all of these fish on either anchovy chunks or nightcrawlers. I haven't caught a walleye there yet, but I'm sure they are there if you know how to catch them. Another year I got up at the buttcrack of dawn to the sound of breaking fish off the beach we were camped on. I brought my crankbait rod with a small topwater bait down to the beach and started casting at what I thought were stripers but once it got light enough to see I could tell they were spawning carp. I kept at it and soon enough a big school of stripers came through the big bay we were on. They stuck around for 10 minutes or so and I think I managed to land 4 nice fatties before they left! It was fast and furious but totally epic! I'll never forget the incredible fishing in that lake as long as I live!

Nice work!

I totally agree with the Gary Yamamoto single tail grubs for Lake Powell. We did great on the smallmouth with those. I used some sort of smoke colored with black flakes and did really well.

Gotta have a few not so good trips to make the really good ones stand out! Way to go to get them out there at least! You did good!

More good soaking rain up on the Rim over the weekend and probably lots of other places. Most years its like a tinderbox up there by now, and it was soaked with standing water everywhere up there. Weird timing compared to most years, but I'm sure the critters will take full advantage. Thank You God for your Showers of Blessing!

Has anyone ever fished for trout at Knoll Lake or Bear Canyon Lake over Memorial Weekend? Which would you recommend? I'll be bringing my wall tent for shelter. Is one better than another for the fishing, how about the scenery for camping? I would prefer to be camped near water but don't want an army of people all around me either so may get away a bit. Any insight would be great!

Now that's funny right there!