Kilimanjaro

good looking kitty mount..

Killer 'stache and braces, DB.. I sure they will both bring you great fortunes this season..

Mike, She'll be in the safe one of these days!! Not this yr, but in the next few yrs..

What do I want next?? A custom built left handed 416 Rigby on a Montana Rifles action with a grade III walnut stock with an ebony wood tip, with a 30mm 1X4 Swaro to top her off.. Yep, that's what I want.

I think I may attend this shindig to learn a thing or from the elk pros and hopefully pick up a pointer or 2 from the guys who are in the "know"..

I like my TC Triumph alot thus far.. Easy to load, shoot and clean.

Asinine.. And I post that for myself and all the others who feel the same way. Fire away. As you said, back to bigger and better topics like something that petains to hunting..

Should I be so lucky, there will be PLENTY of tasty elk backstaps for all CWTer's for the Nov hunt in C!!! I will even set them aside just for the ocassion... You now have my word.. I've still got to get the bull down though!

myself as well..

Which do you guys prefer in your frontstuffers.. I've been tinkering around with mine just about every week and have at least narrowed down the bullet weight I want to shoot out of my gun.. As of late, Ive also been messing with diff pellet loads... Ive been trying 90, 100, and 110. Thus far, Ive found that 110 shoots the best groups at 100 yards. Been shooting Pyrodex pellets. I've heard that you can really tighten up your groups by shooting loose powder and have been wanting to try it out. Any ideas or comments? These muzzleloaders are a finicky bunch!!

Hence the reason I am driving 750 miles, one way at the end of this month back to TX, to break blood on the muzzleloader on a fallow deer and sika deer before I take it elk hunting! There's NO WAY I'd take it out in the field without at a bare minimum of at least 1 kill under it's belt..

BEAST!!

Great bear, Cade... That Mescalero is a pretty piece of property.. We used to go there from TX to chase Merriams turkeys in the spring..

That is a cool picture of a rather large Klipspringer!! Those little guys are Africa's version of Coues deer.. I love hunting them! There is nothing on the whole continent quite like them.. Unique little guys for sure. Cool pic!

I grew up calling the WT in the pic an 8 point, but that's back in Tejas.. I'd LONG since learned western count prior to moving here to AZ from when we hunted NM each year as kids for muley bucks with my kin from there and were ribbed by my cousins who thought Texas count was crazy.. I've been in AZ over 6 yrs now and I've pretty much brok the old TX habit of counting all the points. But in all seriousness, I have NO idea who came up with saying a deer such as the one in the pic is a 3X3.. "Are you BLIND??!! See those 4" brow tines sticking up on top of his head??!!!" I'm good with either!

Thanks C+S. It is good to know I can make other people laugh. I thought I was only amusing myself. Really the IA are not a problem at all down here. In fact they can help you immensely. Last hunt I hired a couple to pack out a deer and some others to cook my meals. Practically a fully outfitted hunt for five dollars and a plastic jug of water. If you want to do the same, just camp right on a major travel corridor like the Elkhorn. Don't worry. Their trails are easy to find. Look for an endless line of backpacks and water bottles. Once you set up camp, place a sign at the closest water source. Trabajar Aqui! With a map to your camp. If your lucky you could hire enough IA's to turn your little boring Coues hunt into an African safari. I like to have a gun bearer and trackers. I make the others carry all my gear on their heads just like a Tarzan movie. I also tell my newly hired servants to call me Papa like I'm Ernest F---en Hemingway. So you can see the IA's really add a special quality to a hunt that you just can't find in any other unit. Everyone should hunt the southern units to get this unique experience. Bob I like that idea, especially the Papa Hemmingway remarks.. Hmmm, my leftover 36 tag just may turn out to be a fully outfitted affair!!

What I would give to have been able to hunt India back in those days.... Tiger, Guar, Asian leopard, Asiatic rhino, Himalayan bear, etc.. Guar shikar (one of my dream hunts that is sadly no longer available): Bengal tiger shikaris: Typical mode of transportation when tiger hunting: Rhino hunting in the jungles of lower Nepal: Lead was administered in rather large doses in those days... I hope if that re-incarnation is true, I come back as a Brit born in those times.. I like this vintage forum!

Yeah, I've also found that the Barnes are harder to load after the 1st shot that the T/C's.. On a clean barrel, they aren't hard, but are still harder than the T/C's still. I usually swab a patch with a dab of bore butter after every few shots with the Barnes to help that problem.. Wish there was an easier way, but that's what I've found helps best..

Let's see a pic of that H&H!!! i LOVE that caliber!!

Well guys, I FINALLY got her dialed in where I want her!!! Here is a three shot group from earlier today.. Casey and I went out and put some lead downrange today.. I shot the muzz and Casey put alot of led into the air with his AR and El Chupacapera. At the 200 yard line, I put in a 2.5" group with the same load, then load up a round for Casey and he puts the dang bullet into the red dot bullseye at 200 with the muzz!! Helluva shot! Oh yeah, we put a handful of shots through Brutus.. He was a crowd PLEASER!! Just getting that beast out of the gun case had several onlookers waiting to see what a real life elephant gun will do downrange.. After the 1st shot, just about everyone on the range had to stop what they were doing and come see what kind of cannon made that kind of bang!!! 3 shot grouping at 100 with the muzz. 90 grains of BH209, 250gr Barnes TMZ with a 209 primer. Great day at the range!

I did the bear hunting in Aug......just once. Hunting in 100 degree + heat wasn't as fun as it was made out to be!! Did see some bears though.. just no shooters.

I was 11 and I took a fat WT doe back in El Dorado, TX with a little Rem .222

I have a 300WSM built by Match Grade Arms in Houston that will ALWAYS be a better gun than I am shooter.. It can drive tacks. Also had a 300RUM built by Hill Country Rifles.. I took game with it ranging in size from pronghorn all the way up to giraffe bull. Great gun that I wish I hadn't sold. Still have a 300 WBY as well.. just HATE buying ammo for it and havent taken it on any hunts in about 5yrs. The WSM is a great round, and the ONLY disadvantage I can see it having is if you decide to take it to a country where getting diff ammo might be a problem. Other than that, potatoe, poTAtoe. If I were you, I'd get a RUM and be done with it.

Not a problem Amanda!! As you know, I am an Africa nut through and through, but if India were still an option, I would be ALL over it. There is (was) such a diversity over there. I can only imagine how fun it must have been over there 100 yrs ago.