The Claw

Keith, Great job man! I can't believe that is your son. He is almost a man now! been a long time. How are things? Guess good enough to do some huntin. Did not realize this was your first. I can't wait to get my oldest out. Not quite there yet. So how is the fishin this year? Congratulation again buddy. Glad to see things are well.

Broc, Very much congratulations on that pig of a deer. WOW! Hey, I seem to remember Jed saying something about you going to dental school. Is that correct? Are you done? That is a long haul. Congratulations again. Cade

That's plenty far enough to hammer down on a monster bull in a month or so!

Maybe its just the pics, don't know. Always good when there is ground swelling vs. ground shrinkage. Can't wait to see kill photos. The guy who killed the bull is a friend of a friend. I haven't spoken with him but I am sure they are on cloud 9, regardless of true score.

So Yes, were you able to get a hold of the department for clarification? What I recommend is to not only call the office but be sure to go directly to the top, possibly the Director of Law Enforcement to get your answer so that you do not get misinformation from someone lower. As we all have experienced with "draw time" that can happen. I have learned that what the previous poster, sdrhunter has posted is correct, but don't take my word for it either. I do find it interesting about the "special tag" wording but the way I read that is the "special tag" holder and and those aiding the tag holder CANNOT be flying within 48 hrs of their hunt, so that would mean the last day for them to fly would be the 12th, correct? Who knows but please call the office to clarify.

So how do you call for yotes in that area? Gives a whole new meaning to a distress call! Kinda like hunting man eater lions in Africa! That is creepy just looking at pics.

I second everything said! Have always had reputation for top notch gear and very knowledgeable staff. I purchased my 300 RUM from them some time ago and it has treated me very well. In life successful people in any realm surround themselves with other successful people or companies. It is no coincidence that if you talk to successful hunters they all know and rely on Outdoorsmans in one way or another.

I know a lot of guys who could do a good job. A couple of them mentioned by JeffCros and 30-378 I can personally vouch for as top notch as I am sure the others are as well. Whoever you decide on in these economic times I would make sure you check references and the QUALITY of the reference. Also, I would want that outfitter to spend the most time scouting possible to maximize my hunt. Not all guides out there do this and rely on past knowledge. I would want someone who will GUARANTEE scouting time and show proof of that scouting to get real expectations before the hunt. That is not very hard to provide to the hunter this day and age and really we should demand that as consumers these days. Choosing a guide that has local connections to the area or is at least close in approximation would help assure this in my opinion cause costs to the outfitter are minimized then. These are all things I would consider, PERSONALLY. Don't know if all mentioned outfitters fall in that category but you have at least a few there that do. I would recommend calling each of them and asking them these questions to do due diligence.

Thank you to all those who have posted. I am not going to state anything with regards to the use of The Claw as of course I feel it is the most effective shooting support out there.......but I am heavily biased and I, and you, would rather hear from unbiased users. What I did want to state that I never want to be interpreted as trying to get free advertising on CW out of respect to Amanda. Anytime someone wants to contact me with questions on its use I love talking to respected hunters so please call me or check out the website. But, if you do decide it will work great for your hunting practices and would like to purchase one please know that there are a couple of strong CW supporters in Jim White and The Outdoorsmans that are dealers so I encourage you to contact them with regards to The Claw as well. Thank You all.

Just got back from a weekend bear hunt on the Mescalero. First time there. Was actually a tough hunt in some BEAUTIFUL country. It was a good time having good friends Matt, Jay, and Dick there. Was my first bear hunt so I was very happy to harvest this nice 300 lb class chocolate in a short time. She was an old sow with gray in the face and a nice skull on her. 22" with cape on. Cape is in great condition. Wish we could have spent more time there enjoying all there was. We were glassing bachelor bulls (and LOTS of them) above timberline at 12K feet!

I need one of them barrels then!!!!!!! I remember when you first got it.......it is a beaut. Glad it is shootin' well and can't wait to see some pics of some critters that get to meet the 210!

You noticed he was shooting a 28" bbl vs. stock 26" bbl, but still, I would only expect about 150 fps faster than the 26" bbl. I shoot 200 grn accubonds at 3180 fps with 93 gn Retumbo so I am suprised at your speeds a little, Houston. That is great you are having accuracy with the 210 VLD. Usually it takes a faster twist to stabilize that long bullet. I couldn't get them to fly well out of my 1 in 10 bbl and I tried almost every kind of combination. Decided it wasn't worth shooting out the bbl and just went to the trusty ol' Accubonds. Goes to show that some guns just like some things better than others.

Whitey, It does look like a spotting scope doesn't it, LOL. But in reality, it is a Nightforce 5.5 -22 X50mm with sun shade on. The eyepiece looks bigger because I have a scope cam mounted on it where I can record the image seen through the scope. I am doing some T and E for the camera and it is phenomenal. They are primarily used in ops but it has proven to be a neat little tool in the field, although I didn't have it recording on the bear kill because the kill happened so fast. You can bait on the Mescalero, which I have never done before (actually I have never hunted bear period before, only helped friends). We sat a couple baits that were set up for us but they were inactive with no past sign even. The next morning we tried glassing above timberline with no bear sightings and even tried some spot and stalk and calling for a real short time. Then we met a member, Taylor Smith, who was kind enough to put us onto one of his baits. When we found the bait, a bear had hit it that morning. We sat his blind for a few hours but was a little uncomfortable with some swirling wind and being that close (60 yards). It down poured on me and Matt for 3 straight hours and soaked us to the bone. When it finally stopped I really wasn't comfortable with wind so we moved down wind and down a grass cut about 150 yds from bait. I just stood up inside a pinion elevated on the tripod/claw making a good make shift blind. it was getting low light and we were starting to slowly get our gear gathered together when all of a sudden I caught movement to the side. The bear had come out of the tree line further down from the bait as it had before and was following in our footsteps where we crossed the grass cut when we re set up. She had her nose in the air sniffing and walking straight to us at 40 yds. I panned over quickly on the tripod. I didn't want to shoot her head on and risk damaging cape so I just tracked her on the tripod maintaining the crosshair on her chest to be ready to fire at any necessary moment. At 30 yds she got straight downwind of the bait, up the cut, and paused turning broadside to look that direction. That was all I needed as I was ready.........the 300 RUM roared and she was down in her tracks. Happened quickly but was one of the funnest moments I've had in recent memory.

It would be interesting from a study standpoint to cause people to loose bonus points if they received a left over tag and see how many would still buy left over tags...........not many we suspect. So if people wouldn't buy them then that would mean more people would rather have quality vs quantity as far as deer management. That should be a tell tale sign for the Game and Fish. I see their need for income but could they possibly come up with more ways to scale down and become more efficient to cut costs and thus reduce the need for more tag income?

Johnathan, Good question. I have an archery background as well and I will tell you that the East Cape region where I was would be a great archery hunt. Just like hunting coues in southern Az. You would have no problem spotting and stalking here. In fact, I would not go anywhere else for it. Pierre has guided many archers in the past but his hunters are usually our of shape guys and they WANT to sit water. But you would be successful spot and stalking here. That is how we hunted but just didn't need to look for opportunities to cut the distance down to bow range. Feel free to contact me if you have any more questions.

Thx Phil, Did u get any tags? I just found out we have a mutual friend in Jim Parker. We plan on meeting up while scouting for elk and sharing some camp time and watch some Africa footage. hope u drew some tags.

Thx guys. The great thing about Africa is you just see a lot of game. If you just want to shoot something representative then it is a laid back, low pressure hunt.........vacation in the truest sense. But like game here, if you want a true trophy then it takes some sweat and luck from what I can gather. I think that is another reason why many go back time and time again, either to shoot more species or sometimes to best their previous trophy. It was a good time. Squeezed a lot of action in a short amount of time. Shane, I let Pierre know that I think a lot of people would be interested in maybe even doing just a Kudu hunt in this type terrain and hunting for as low a cost hunt as possible and then add trophies as you want. This is kind of how they all do it anyways except most PH's won't let your base package be just one animal. I told him to see what he could work out for a group. Would be fun to hunt a while for some real big Kudu bulls in a way we hunt over here for stuff. You could literally shoot an average bull in an hour there so just shooting a Kudu is relatively easy but passing up bulls in search for a Gold Medal bull would be fun in its own right but when you have other animals you want to shoot while you are there it is hard to keep passing up bulls. Just plan on shooting more animals when you go....happens to the best of us. We'll plan on going in TWO years........next year you'll be guiding me in Alaska!

By the way Az Hunter, I agree with your perception with the "Big City" and I was born and raised in this Big City. It is sad to see the disconnection between everyone. I would love to be living in an Arizona small town if I could keep my wife happy there, without the aid of the Mailman!

Here is an ironic ending for me regarding this topic. So I have received a "few" of these photo radar things in the mail. I though they were just a nice city service to provide some nice head shots for posterity so they got neatly filed in my personal records bin (ie waste basket). Well, then the city was kind enough to send over to my house this nice gentleman you all have referred to, to tell me this head shot service is only free for the first, I don't know 5 or so, but then there is a fee involved and that I should mail this fee in. So I reluctantly agreed to pay it, eventhough I didn't really want or agree to my headshots, afterall I didn't want to seem unappreciative and offend the City. Well the part I thought you all would be interested to hear is that the judge who works for the city I guess really liked me cause he sent me a letter back with the check in tote stating that my fee (err, ticket) had been dismissed as I had requested (I guess he requested this for me). I thought he just really liked me but then I saw that there was a BIG list of other people's names he liked that he included in this case to try and relieve the City from this "head shot" service they are providing.

Hey Game, Don't want to detract from that beauty but I couldn't resist after seeing those pics. I am sure that the whole point of the handgun is to shoot "free" but if you ever need a little more stability for a longer shot, The Claw works ridiculously well with those. In fact, that's the only time where I feel like I'm cheating because it is so hard for me to shoot a handgun well with my little handgun experience. Congrats on the new toy. Hope you get to thump some critters with it.

Scott, I will make try and make a post tonight. did u make it up scouting?

Scott, Beauty. After experiencing the plains game last month I now have a desire to tote one of those around through the thick stuff for my next African adventure. It is a beauty! You'll have to give me a full report on the recoil difference on and off your Claw. We've shot 50 cals a bunch but the Fifties are so heavy its no big deal. That Nitro will be a good test. Now, forget about Africa for a couple months and focus on finding that monster Muzzy bull!

Sounds like a traditional good time. Wish I could of been there to enjoy. Was planning on it until I realized it overlapped with prior plans that put me out of state. Friends said it was a success other than down attendance. The low attendance for fundraisers is across the board. My office donated to and attended the American Cancer Society's annual Jewell Ball which traditionally is the best in the nation. It was way down in attendance and funds raised this year. I share this because there are many on here that had a lot to do with the banquet and donated a lot of their time to making the ADA banquet a success. I heard it was well done so low attendance should not be taken as a personal disappointment or failure. It is a true reflection of the economy right now. Thanks for the hard work guys!

Tim, Is that Cade, the oldest? Wow been a long time. How many do you have now?

Scott, You are correct. This is the best way I can explain the use of The Claw.......The greatest attribute of The Claw is that it affords the user the opportunity to make a shot under ALL shooting/hunting situations! With almost all other shooting rests out there you are limited in one or more ways in trying to make a shot. You have to choose whether to shoot prone or sitting or standing and even then if the terrain is too unstable or the animal is moving locations a lot then you have a hard time adjusting for the shot. The Claw eliminates all these unfortunate issues. Having said that, it DOES NOT make the shot for you. If you have an inaccurate rifle before using The Claw......You will have an inaccurate rifle while using The Claw. If you do not have the caliber and load to make an accurate, terminal shot out to 1000 yds before using The Claw........you will not all of a sudden be able to make those shots with the same set up just because you shoot off The Claw, obviously. Now, it can extend your comfortable, effective maximum shooting distance. If you feel real comfortable shooting out to a certain distance off a bench but then in the field you can never feel comfortable shooting that distance because of not being able to get a comfortable rest......well that's where The Claw steps in. It is like a fully adjustable bench rest. Also, if you have never shot off of The Claw....it does not hold the cross-hairs at absolute rest. There is still what I call micro- movement (The Claw) instead of macro-movement (other supports). The exciting thing to think about is that the cross-hairs are at absolute rest when the unit is just sitting there and only the shooter can move the cross-hairs so if the user can practice and get efficient at learning to shoot a little different then you will never be limited by the shooting support, only by the rifle itself. So for those, like June, who are afraid of making shooting too easy I would be hesitant to jump to that conclusion. In fact, if anything people have that assumption that it won't move and then come to the realization that it still takes proper shooting techniques to be accurate with The Claw. Again, it's huge benefits are being able to always have a solid shooting support with you in the field that can be adjusted to shoot under ANY circumstance! That is why we feel so strongly in the benefits of The Claw. I am happy to hear all the positive comments on customer experiences, especially those here on Coues Whitetail.com because of the class of hunters that are found here. Please remember, Jim White and The Outdoorsman's currently have units and we would encourage you to contact them and support them with your business.