Rio

Well I ended up getting two scopes, my brother needed on for his as well. Picked up the Zeiss 4.5-14X44 with the Rapid Z reticle, this one is for me. I got the vortex viper 4.5-12X40 with bdc for my brother. I'll have to head back to town though to get a different set of scope rings and mounts, the one's I picked didn't work at. Thanks again for everyone's input, really appreciate it. Karl

Was wondering what you all would recommend as far as a mid range scope for 300 winmag, I'm looking for good low light functionality and clarity, something good out to 400 to 500 yards. Thanks in advance for any suggestions or help. Karl

Red Rabbit, I was thinking about that over the weekend as well, I tried to get a sense of that last week when I was going through them, I'll have to check that again today when I pick one up. Thanks for the input, appreciate it. Karl

Thanks for all the input folks. I stopped by Sportsmens tonight on the way home and took a look at the Leupold vx3, nikon monark, zeiss conquest, vortex, and burris, all in similar ranges (i.e. 4.5-14x40~). For me, the leupold and burris were tougher to establish the focal point, seemed to be very sensitive, but the zeiss nikon and vortex were very easy to establish the focal point, and seemed to provide some eye relief once I was looking through them. I know that the focal point will improve once they're mounted on the gun, but I'm still worried that it could be an issue for me. To be honest they all seemed very clear, but that was in the store to. I liked the reticle on the zeiss and vortex, I'm not sure that I quite like the reticle on the nikon though, seems like there is too much that will get in the way of the view. Right now, I'm actually leaning towards the vortex, but the zeiss was nice. I'll use this weekend to do some more research, I have $250 in gift cards for Sportsmans that I can't use until Monday, so hopefully I'll have made a decision by then. Once I make a decision I'll post back here. Thanks again for all the input. Karl

Red Rabbit/Cramerhunts, thanks for the suggestions, I'll check those out along side the zeiss as well.

Thanks for the input GameHauler, really appreciate it, I've been interested in Zeiss based on some of the comments, but have no experience with them, I'll have to stop by one of the shops in town and see how they compare to the other brands.

Big bummer, blanked on both elk and deer, we'll have to see if they have any over the counter deer tags after the dust settles. At least my brother, nephew and I drew out for Oryx in Nov/Dec, so we'll have some thing to look forward to.

All I bought one of Jim's pups from his last littler in February. Jim's a class act, as this is my first bird dog, he provided a ton of information when I picked up GeeGee, volunteered to answer any of my questions as I progressed my work with her (which he has), and has just been plain extremely open in volunteering information and help. So far GG has shown a very strong birdyness (if that's a word), and is a quick learner, just seems to want to please and be around/involve in anything I'm doing, and has taken a real liking to water. Here's some recent pics of her on a afternoon exercise walk.

Muleyman PM me I give you some area's to concentrate on, I had this unit for mule deer last year and had several trail cams out, for the most part the mule deer and coues seemed to stay apart except for a few areas.

Scottyboy, sorry but you'll have to wait for tomorrow since it was a prepay for those species. Only way to know about earlier results is for the non-prepay species like elk where they're hitting the CC.

I've been checking online today, nothing yet. Also sent an email to game warden to see if he knew when the credit card charges were planned, i.e. this afternoon, tomorrow afternoon, etc. I don't want to hassle with going to the NMGF website and getting now response on Thursday.

Those are some great looking browns, and the scenary is spectacular, thanks for sharing.

+3 on the advive from jim, if you go with fly's, make sure you have some soft hackle pheasant tails, just put a couple of split shots about 12-16 inches above and as as Jim said slow your troll down. If Cresent is not too weedy, the soft hackle pheasant tail do really well, you could even tie or by bead head softhackle pt. AZ peacock lady's do really also. Good luck, sounds like a great time.

I prefer loose as well, lot easier to fine tune your loads, especially if messing with both powder and projectile. I've also converted from pyrodex to triple 7, it's much cleaner and I think it just performs better.

Lionhunter, I can help you out, but it'd have to be in the evening or on the weekend. Just a recommendation, at some point you'll probably want to make the investment and at least get the state topo, it's a better deal if you get the lower 48 state package though. The reason I say this, is I've had senarios where I've been messing around with my unit, and ended up loosing the maps I had loaded, not sure why and it hasn't happened since, but it'll be nice to be able to reload what you want. I also use the Nat. Geo. software for waypoints, I think between these 2, you can cover just about all points of interest, i.e. water holes, springs, windmills, roads, and if I remember correctly Nat. Geo. had some private land identified as well, which is help ful.

responded to your other post.

Lionhunter, Do you have the mapsource topo software? if you do it's a very easy process to load them up to your gps. need to use the map tool, select each section you want loaded to your gps, and then there's an option in the tool bar to import to your device. You'll need the usb cord. As to whether or not you can hold the entire state depends on the size of card your device came with. I'm way out in the west valley but could probably help you out. Let me know. Karl

GameHauler, I ran into several this past January, here's a sample, I can give you more info if want as well, let me know. Karl

Jamaro, did you have your own guide outfit or did you guide for one of the shops up there? I haven't been to the San Jaun for a couple of years, but used to make it up there quite a bit, only used a guide couple of times to see what it was like floating down it, sure helped with the dead drifts, pointed out how much work we needed to do on our mending in general.

Hammy, Traveler has some good info. I fly fish the rim/white mountain lakes quite a bit. For fly fishing we typically use a 2 fly setup, with a bigger fly on top, such as a woolly burger/wurm or a bunny leach, and a smaller fly on the bottom, typically a nymh such as soft hackle pheasant tail, bead head pheasant tail, AZ peacock lady, hairs ear (with or with out a bead). The key as jarmaro indicated is getting your depth correct. With fly fishing we typically use a sinking line and can vary the depth based on our retrieve of the line. If you use a casting bubble, just move it up and down the line until you get strikes. Also, vary your retrieve if you're not getting strikes. We're typically using a float tube and concentrating our cast from the shore back to us, if you're on the bank, just do the opposite, and also suggest casting with the shore line at varying ranges, i.e. 5ft, 10ft, 20ft, etc. PM me if you more info on the fly selections or have other questions. If you can get to sportsmans, they have the cheapest fly selection in town, and I believe you get a break if you buy a dozen or more, I believe you get them for 99 cents or $1.99, don't remember for sure though. Oh ya, forgot to mention, if you don't have a fly with a bead head they may not sink, you might want to put a small split shot on your line about 12-20 inches above your fly to get it down. Don't use a big split shot though, go with the smallest ones you can get by with that will cause the fly's to sink.

Guys, this is a great idea, but make sure you have cell coverage before you dive into this solution. There were a couple other manufactors last year that had the same thing, ScoutGaurd or something like that, it was very expensive, plus the investment in the addtional cell phone plan. Most of the places where I would have like to have this feature, I had no service, places like unit 39, 41, and 42, get's very spotty the further you get away from cities. Had the same thing in NM in the units that I hunted for deer. The plan is with AT&T, and my experience is there coverage is not great in the south west states, I get much better coverage with verison, and I was having problems getting coverage. Sunsetfarms, I think we may have had camera's set up on the same water catchments last year looking at your previous post. I ran into a game warden last November/December time frame, Dan Uriquedorez (not sure of the last name spelling), he gave me some info on various water sources, and offered a deal, for every pic I sent him he'd send ones that he had recieved or got off his reconyx's. I believe some may have been ones you previously posted. If you're interested in sharing notes/pics on unit 39/41/42, let me know, I'm planning on setting my camera's back up this month. Karl

Great pictures, I haven't been out at all this year, plan to get out later this month, and those pictures are just more motivation!

Mike, that sucks, I'd post the pictures like the others said, never know, some one might recognize them. I pulled all my camera's at the end of January due to the amount of attention they were getting, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before one went missing. I've been wanting to set them back up, but I'll probably be reconsidering now, especially since you said yours was off the beaten path! Hope you're able to get your camera back. Karl

Great video, enjoyed all of them, this was definitely the best. Look forward to more in the future!

RoughCut, just sent you a PM that should help.