Jay Scott

By Darr Colburn I got my new KUIU Ultra 6000 pack in the mail the other day and ripped open the box like a kid at Christmas. I put the pack on and was immediately impressed. I can honestly say this is the first pack I have ever put on that I felt fit me perfectly. The frame seems to be a little narrower and the shoulder straps and hip belt both fit and rode where they should. The second thing that blew me away was the weight of the pack. The Ultra 6000 weighs a mere 3 lbs 9 ounces. I like the new clips they put on the straps. I had the Ultra 6000 out the other day while scouting for sheep and it worked great. I can tell you that this pack will be my go to pack for this season. The size and weight of the Ultra 6000 make it feel like a small day pack. KUIU hit a home run in my opinion with the new Ultra series of packs. I ordered the bow holder, rifle holder and the hydration bag holder along with my pack. This pack is priced right at $350. Small light frame along with padded shoulder and hip straps. View the full article

We have been so blessed over the years at Colburn and Scott Outfitters to have hunted with many great people and have shared some awesome experiences and adventures. This year is going to be another one of those years. Darr and I have the privilege of guiding the Arizona Desert Sheep Auction hunter and have a couple of Arizona general season sheep hunters in some of our favorite units. Scouting is going very well and we are expecting good results for our hunters this year. We are going to get back to the question from the earlier post. Go ahead and write each of your estimates down and then when you scroll to the bottom of this post see how close you are to the actual measurements. So what does this ram score? How long are his horns? How about his mass?  Here is a comparison photo of this ram 27 months apart. Darr and I nicknamed this ram "Pretty Boy". You can see from the photos he filled in his mass. Look around his ears, See how it seems the horn has gotten much closer to his ears. This photo shows how he broomed off the tip of his left horn a bit. See how it is a bit rounder in the 2013 photo? Over time rams will square off or broom the tips of their horns. Another thing to point out is when looking from the side or from straight on, having a ram with a horn that drops even with or below the jaw is a good indication of a good sized horn. Look at this rams body as he got older. See how blocky his shoulders got. Look at his pot belly. How about his the roman nose. Paying close attention to body characteristics can give you a good indication of age as well as counting the growth rings discussed in an earlier post.  It is evident in this photo that 27 months worth of growth has really helped the size of this rams horn. This angle really show the maturity of the roman nose. Here are the actual measurements of this great ram that was harvested in 2013. The scores listed are the actual game and fish scores from when the ram was checked out. How close were you in you guesses? One thing to note here is notice that I always try to keep track of a rams mass per side. In the photo above you can see this ram has 51 2/8 inches of mass and the photo below has 51 1/8. That means the ram has a total of 102 3/8 inches of mass. This goes back to a general rule of thumb that I use when field judging sheep. A book desert sheep will generally have 100 inches of mass then all you have to do is estimate the horn lengths and you have the estimated score. For instance, if I thought this rams horns were 36 inches long plus 100 inches of mass I would score this ram at 172. This would be my first glance estimate. This is where it helps to know the total mass per ram that has been harvested in the unit you are hunting. I try to have every ram from the unit I am hunting base measurements and mass totals. I keep them in my records for future ram evaluation. This photo really show a good depth of curl. I will dive further into this in a future post. Look how the horn coming out of the head goes up and back. It does not lay flat and immediately drop down. Then the horn goes back a good ways then drops down making a large open curl. Usually big open curls like this tend to score very well. Also note how this horn tips up which gives the horn even more length. Be very careful of tight curled rams. They tend to be short on horn length. This ram is nice and long. How did you do? View the full article

I had the great honor and pleasure of knowing Chester and his family. I hunted with Chester on several occasions and he was a true joy to be around. He was a mans man that was tough but had the great touch of gentleness. He was a man of great integrity. He was a Godly humble man that loved his family. He loved his horses and his cattle. My prayers go out to his big extended family who will miss him everyday but cherish the legacy he left behind. If there ever was a man that was SALT of the Earth... it was Chester. May God Bless his family.

Scoring and aging bighorn sheep on the hoof can be challenging to say the least. It is a common goal of sheep hunters to try to harvest the oldest and most mature rams that we can. Depending on the area, an 8+ year old ram is what most desert sheep experts consider mature. So how do you tell how old a ram is? I was always taught to find the 4 year ring and then count from there. The 4 year ring is usually the darkest line (ring) on a horn. The 4 year ring mark is made on the rams horn because that is the first year the ram reaches sexual maturity and experiences his first breeding season or what hunters refer to as the rut. They don't feed a whole lot during this period and their horn shows the signs of lack of nutrition during that period. See the photos below of prominent 4 year rings. Some are easier to see than others. A good rule of thumb when trying to determine age of a ram is look for the 4 year ring to be as low as possible on the horn or closer to the ground the better. Another way to think about it is if it is level with the ear that is good. Keep in mind, if you got a panel of sheep experts together they would probably never always agree on the exact age of every ram. This is meant to be an exercise not an exact science. In the photos below look for the 4 year ring that is clarified by the red line. This ram pictured above and below is probably 7-8 years old. This ram appears to be 6 years old-Photo by Julie May This ram appears to be 5 1/2 years old Notice there is no 4 year ring. This ram appears to be 2-3 years old. Ernie's ram was aged by AZGFD at 9 years old Claude's 2013 AZ Raffle ram was aged by AZGFD at 9 years old I would guess this ram to be 7 years old This ram was aged by AZGFD at 9 years old Back to the ram from the original post. Once you determine the 4 year ring then simply try to count each dark line on the horn as it travels towards the rams head. Usually a sign of a 10+ year old ram is when the 4 year ring is level with the ear. If you see that it is a good indication of a old mature ram. In the picture below, the red line shows the 4 years ring, the green line (5 yr), the blue line (6 yr), the purple line (7 yr) and the light blue line (8 yr) ring. I believe this ram to be 8.5 years old  This is the same ram but a much more up close look at the rings. The colors are the same in both pics above. Find the 4 year ring then count each dark ring on the horn towards the eye or base of horn from there. If you have any questions in regards to this post please send them to jayscottoutdoors@gmail.com and I will try to clarify or answer them as good as I can. If you come up with a stumper I will outsource it to find the answer. View the full article

Photo by Darr Colburn Check out the latest installment of From the Field with Colburn and Scott Outfitters. View the full article

By Darr Colburn My youngest son Paul age 9 completed his hunter education this past weekend at the Youth Outdoors Unlimited Inc. hunter education camp. This is the second time we have attended this camp and these guys do a fantastic job and really cater to the kids. Youth Outdoors Unlimited Inc. is a 501C 3 non profit that relies on donations to host these camps. They provided breakfast, lunch and dinner for the people taking the class as well as their family members in attendance. The camp does not cost a thing and is put on by all volunteers. I highly recommend taking your son or daughter to this camp if they need hunter education. The camp fills up fast so preregistration is a must. The hunter education camp is usually the last weekend in July or first weekend in August and takes place just north of Happy Jack, AZ. We had lots of rain but the show went on and everyone left with their certificates. I saw lots of familiar faces at the camp. It is really great to see the future of our sport so eager to learn and get started hunting. A huge thank you to Youth Outdoors Unlimited Inc. for all you do for the kids. Make sure to check out the other camps they put on throughout the year for the kids. Woody and the crew making breakfast. View the full article

First and foremost, let me answer a question that has come to me by way of email after my last post, "Is there a difference between Rocky Mtn, California and Desert Bighorn Sheep scoring, aging and field judging?" The answer to the question is scoring and aging will be pretty much the same for every bighorn and thinhorn sheep for that matter. The complex part of the answer comes when field judging. Each of the bighorn have different body sizes and characteristics and that is an important part of determining the size of their horns while in the field. Now that we have briefly covered aging a ram in the last post lets go over what makes up a bighorn sheep score. To keep it simple, there are 4 mass measurements per side or each horn. The mass measurements are the circumference around the horn. There are obviously two horns so there is 8 total mass measurements. Then you measure the lengths of each horn (see Horn Length chart below). You add the mass of each side and horn length of each side to get you one side or one horn total. Then you add both horn totals together for your gross or total score. (see above chart, add column one and Column two). Then you need to compare each mass measurement to the other horn and deduct the difference (see chart above, Column 3) to get your net score. In order to get each mass measurement you need to measure the length of each horn. Take the length of the longest horn and divide it by 4. Let's use a 36 inch horn as our longest horn so 36 divided by 4 equals 9 inches. So there will be a measurement taken at 0 (base) or D1, 9 inches or D2, 18 inches or D3, 27 inches or D4. The first mass measurement is always taken at the base of the horn where it meets the head, which is called the "D1" measurement on the Boone and Crockett score sheet, then you continue 9 inches down the length of the horn to the second measurement and so on. One thing that confused me when I was first learning about how to score sheep is guys would talk about the 1st, 2nd and 3rd quarters. In essence what they are talking about is D2, D3 and D4. So the Sheep lingo goes BASE, FIRST QUARTER, SECOND QUARTER AND THIRD QUARTER. For this example our longest horn is 36 inches, lets say or shorter horn is 34 inches. You still start at the Base then measure 9 inches, then 9 more to the 18 inch mark, then 9 more to the 27 inch mark. Side note and more of a field judging tip, the mass measurements (D1,2,3,4) of each horn make up about 60% of the total score of your ram so finding a ram with good mass is essential to a high scoring trophy.  Back to our ram from the first post, when I am evaluating a ram I am trying to split the horn into each quarter measurement. I am looking for big chips or dents in the horn that may greatly affect the score of that ram. In this case the horn seems pretty smooth where each quarter measurement falls. Here is an example of having a quarter measurement fall directly in a bad spot, crack or dent in the horn. Claude's ram lost over 3 inches on this D2 or Second Quarter measurement. This unreal ram gross scored 185 3/8 even with this unlucky measurement. It would have grossed darn near 190 if it matched his opposite side. Keep in mind though all rams have dents and cracks so in essence all rams lose a little here and there. View the full article

What does this Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Score? How old is he? How long are his horns on each side? What are his bases? What is his mass per side? What is his total mass? How does his body look compared to other sheep? Does he have a big head? Is he a shooter? How do I know if he is a shooter? Is he old enough to shoot? Is he a mature ram? What makes a mature ram? These are all questions that I ask myself when I glass up a new ram. Sheep hunting and in this case Desert Bighorn Sheep hunting is something that gets in your blood and most people that do it one time are hooked on it for life. This happened to me in 2009 when my good friend Glenn Hall drew a coveted Unit 44B North Arizona Desert Sheep tag. I dove in head first and have been hooked ever since. I cannot get enough of these little buggers. I will attempt to make this post series as educational as possible. I am still learning lots of things about how to age, field judge, score and hunt these awesome animals. I wouldn't feel right about it if I didn't thank a particular guy who has helped me learn along the way. There have been many along the way but this one person gets calls at really odd hours and circumstances. Greg Koons, of High Desert Outfitters, who is a friend but has been an incredible mentor to me in this sheep hunting quest for knowledge. Greg has selflessly helped me at every turn. He has always answered my dumbest questions and has welcomed me into the "sheep fraternity" with opens arms. This fraternity is sometimes hard to crack into because of number of years on the job and experience. This is definitely an activity that you have to earn your wings. I have always appreciated Greg's willingness to share knowledge about an animal he so dearly loves. Greg to you I say "Thank You". The next post I will dive into all of the questions from the first paragraph. If you know the exact answer to the questions above don't spoil it for those that don't. Special thanks to my friend Kent Inglett for sharing the above photos. View the full article

Last night after dinner I went looking for some wildlife to film and photograph. We saw a bull moose and then a cow and calf moose but it was too dark to film. I caught up with this nice group of elk that included cows/spikes and calves. They were really communicating with each other and it never ceases to amaze me how nasally they sound. I heard many herd talk sounds during this encounter and it was fantastic to hear the different tone and intonation they use. I really love my new Swarovski 95MM Spotting scope with the Swarovski TLSAPO adapter. I feel my images are getting better and better as I get more used to the new setup. The Canon SL1 has proven to be a real champ as well. The learning curve has been steep for me but it is starting to take shape. Thanks to Cody at the Outdoorsmans for setting me up with all of my great equipment. I am completely sold on the Swarovski TLSAPO. I hope you enjoy the images. View the full article

By Darr Colburn Here is the video from our 1.5 day fishing trip aboard the Prowler out of Fisherman's Landing in San Diego, California. We had a great trip and brought home lots of yellowtail and yellow fin tuna. View the full article

By Darr Colburn I had been watching the fish counts out of the San Diego landings and really wanted to take my boys Parker and Paul on their first tuna fishing trip. Ted and Gowdy at Phoenix Fishing Supply got my reels filled with new line and got us the hooks and gear necessary to go fishing. The counts were looking good so we decided to run over and jump on the Prowler out of Fisherman's Landing. My good friend Bryan Otts joined us for the trip. We got to the landing around 6pm and got checked in. We walked over to Mitch's Seafood to grab some dinner and watch the returning boats unload. Mitch's Seafood is a great place to eat dinner and watch the boats. After dinner we loaded our stuff on the Prowler and met captain Buzz and the crew. Buzz and the crew were super friendly and we had a good feeling about the fishing. Once the boat was loaded we headed out to get bait and then on to the fishing grounds. We would be fishing Mexican waters in the morning. We got all our rods rigged up and listened to suggestions from the crew about the bait (sardines) and how to fish them. We headed down to try and get some sleep but Bryan and I slept very little the first night. We started fishing the next morning right at first light. Buzz had seen a large patty and we pulled up on it. The boat came alive with hookups and chaos. "Fresh one" and "I got color" were heard constantly for 30-40 minutes. Paul was still sleeping but Bryan, Parker and I caught 4-5 yellowtail a piece. We went back to the patty 4 times and ended up putting around 100 yellowtail on the boat the first hour of fishing! Paul woke up just in time for the next patty stop. The boat came alive again as yellowtail started coming over the rail. The captain started telling everyone to release the yellowtails since we were at our limit. We did pick up a few yellow fin tuna as well on the stop. Paul landed 4 yellowtail and one yellow fin at that stop. Parker and Bryan also hung several more fish. One hour into the trip the boat had limits of yellowtail! Captain Buzz started searching for tuna and we had a couple of really good stops for yellow fin. We trolled and stopped all day picking up a fish here and there. We got on a couple more decent bites in the evening and picked up several more yellow fin tuna. The boat total for the day was somewhere around 150 yellowtail (limits), 103 yellow fin and 3 dorado for the 24 anglers on board. We released lots of other yellowtail that were not counted in the totals. All the people on the boat were very friendly and the captain and crew bent over backwards for us. The crew really went above and beyond to help my boys catch fish. This was one of the best off shore fishing trips I have been on. We will definitely be getting back on the Prowler for another trip. Once we got home the work began packaging the 29 fish we brought home. Paul with a yellow tail. Bryan Otts with a nice sunset yellow fin tuna. Parker with a nice yellow fin tuna. The smile on Paul's face says it all! Colburn boys with a yellow fin double. Paul fighting a yellow fin tuna that would be just ounces away from being the jackpot fish. View the full article

We made the voyage up to Wyoming and it was a great drive from Colorado. I was able to get out and get a few quick photos of some wildlife. The grandeur of the Grand Tetons amaze me every time I see them. My friend, Eric and I floated a section of the Snake River today and had a bunch of small beautiful Snake River cutthroat come up to the big attractor dry fly. Our God is an awesome God! View the full article

Here a couple more videos of Lots of exciting things are happening with us after the recent deer and sheep draws in our home state of Arizona. We should have lots of great photos and videos of our hunts to share with you guys over the next couple of months. View the full article

I had a good day fishing with my friend L Dean on the Roaring Fork yesterday (see video below). Lots of tricos in the morning then the PMD's started coming off around 11am. There was quite a bit of heckling going on yesterday in the blue boat. We saw a few Green Drakes and even had one land on my oar. Lots of fun! View the full article

Camerann why would you sell those little gems? Best long range optics on the market.

I went fishing today with my friend MJ on the Fork. We had one of those kind of days that we as fisherman dream about. The fish rose consistently all day to MJ's flies. The river came up a little due to the rain last night and it seemed to really energize them. We kept joking that the only time he didn't have a fish was when we were re-tying or drying the flies off. Thank God for Brown Trout and clear water! View the full article

It has been a couple of real good days of dry fly fishing! Caddis and PMD's are the ticket right now. Water is dropping fast and soon the fishing will slow down a bit. Jeanne got into the action as well! L Dean, Mikey and MJ all caught fish on our adventures. View the full article

Darr and I are rolling out a new series on our You Tube channel called From the Field with Colburn and Scott Outfitters. It will be scouting and hunting clips from our adventures. We hope you enjoy! We will be adding many videos in the future! View the full article

I floated with our dear friends, Jack and Sis Olson, today and the action was really good on dry flies. The water is so clear and the colorful rocks in the water make for a beautiful float. The dynamic duo caught some great fish and had a few doubles in the same runs and holes. Good times with great friends! View the full article

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Danny and I had a great float today on the Roaring Fork. Dano fished dry flies (caddis) all day and had pretty steady action. The water has finally came down and the pockets/holding water are very accessible for dry flies. The rowing has been great and the fishing is getting even better. Jeanne is warming up her rod and going to rip a few lips soon. Good times enjoying God's creation! View the full article

The sheep rut seems to be slowly but surely coming on. Darr has been scouting a bunch and working on a killer tan . The photos he has been getting are pretty amazing and I am beginning to think professional wildlife photography is right up his alley. We can't wait to share all of the photos and video when the time is right. It is hard to believe that these sheep don't seem to be bothered one bit by the temps over 100. The monsoon seems to be perking up and things are looking very bright for the fall hunting season with Colburn and Scott Outfitters. I keep praying that the forecasts are true and our moisture comes stronger than normal. That would be fantastic! We are going to be rolling out a new video series called FROM THE FIELD with Colburn and Scott Outfitters. I hope you enjoy! View the full article

I had a great night with my friend, Terry Cooke, fishing with caddis and Green Drakes. View the full article

I have had some fun fishing with friends over the past week. We have fished the creeks and floated the bigger rivers. The water is finally coming down and the clarity is much better for dry fly fishing. I have seen a few Green Drakes and incredible floating and dry fly fishing is right around the corner! It is surely a blessing to be able to enjoy the outdoors with friends and family. Dano and Nicole bringing one to the net Jeanne is saving her energy for dry fly fishing that is just around the corner! Bald Eagle was fishing also JD pulling in a trout L Dean need the net for this monster fish! View the full article

The desert sheep rut is progressing in Arizona and it should be an interesting next 30 days. Rams are popping out of the woodwork looking for some girlfriends. Exciting stuff! View the full article