2 Full Curls

One of my Rem 7mm mags has a stainless steel manufacture stamp on the barrel, yet the barrel is blued. The gun was given to me not long ago and I never noticed the stainless stamp until recently. I was always under the impression that a stainless steel barrel could not be blued. Is this the case? If so, is there a chance that the core of the barrel is stainless and the outer is regular steel? One way or the other, how can I tell? Thank you for the insight SW

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Amanda, As azcouesfanatic said... every time I see a lion I am looking to take him down. Unfortunately, of all the lions I have glassed over the last couple of years, only one presented a shot opportunity. I still have a pit in my stomach that I didnt get the job done, but man are they tough critters to put on the ground. Best, SW

I would like to get some opinions on the gun smith work at Guns etc. I have always gone to that store for parts and odds and ends (and received good help), but I have never used the gunsmith (although I have been told that he is good). I have read the other topics here on CWT.com about other quality gunsmiths in the valley (Whitecloud, etc.), but I am curious about the Guns etc. work? Please send me a P.M. if you would rather tell me your personal opinion without the world seeing it Thanks for the input.

I received such useful input about muzzle breaks that I thought Id keep the questions rolling... As I mentioned in my previous post, I am doing some upgrades to my rifle set up in an effort to help myself become a more accurate marksman (although I know the main factor in doing so is putting time in behind the scope). I shoot a 700 7mm Rem Mag and would like to put a bipod on it. To this point I have shot from the prone position while using my pack for a rest. I have done some research and know there are a lot of bipod options out there. What are your opinions on the bipods to choose from? Are there good bipods out there that are lighter weight but that I could easily remove while hiking and then reattach when getting ready to shoot? Thanks again for the comments! SW

Thanks for the info everyone! I'll be checking the Harris models out

My uncle hunts 36c and his camp has seen several lions over the years. I hunt somewhere else, yet my Dad and I have glassed 3 adult lions while coues hunting over the last 4 years and I have trail camera photos of 3 different lions on one drinker. In total 4 of these lions were accounted for within a mile of one another (needless to say its my OLD coues spot) and the other two are in my NEW coues spot. Unfortunately I have not been able to put a tag on a single one yet.

Thanks again guys for all the good input!

Hey guys thanks for the input... thats some good information there. Lark- I am actually putting a new pad on it already, as well as a new stock (that fits me better than my old one). I think I will go ahead and do these upgrades, and see how I shoot her before I do the break. I like the idea of taking away the kick of the 7mm but Im not too keen on the idea of the noise. SW

Huge/Beautiful Sheep! Each picture is awesome but the last one is my favorite!

That is an awesome story... and it is even cooler to me because it also happened to me and my dad this year. Opening morning my dad was on his way to his glassing spot... 100 yards from the cliff edge he picks up a perfect set of drops (about the size of your Dad's shed). Excited, he puts them in his pack and continues on. As it turns out, they were a good omen. About an hour later, my dad shot the buck that dropped those sheds from his glassing point. The buck was 200 yards beneath him as he glassed from the bluff. Congrats to your Dad on a cool story

Jim, Thanks for your response, I couldn't agree more with your comment about "the old timers still being alive". It boils down to what are you really going to do...? Go into a shell and avoid all of society together? There is absolutely no way to avoid exposure to harmful chemicals altogether... we all experience them on a daily basis. It may be the cheap plastic used to make your desk printer that emits vapors, or it could simply be the jar of peanut butter sitting in your pantry containing aflatoxins. I still use my printer, and I still love to eat peanut butter. What I try to do is avoid prolonged exposure to high doses of nasty things. I will continue to have mounts made of my trophies, but I am curious to see if there is a chemical emitting at high doses. I will certainly let you know what I find out.

I was recently informed by a work associate (I work in the environmental engineering field) that taxidermy molds may emit the chemical trans-DCE into homes (this was determined from a vapor intrusion research project). Trans-DCE is a chlorinated solvent and a suspected carcinogen. I knew that dry-cleaned clothes and gun-cleaner also release TCE (another chlorinated carcinogen) into homes, but I had never heard of the trans-DCE issue before. I was wondering if any taxidermists out there had ever heard of this? Supposedly the chemical may be released from the actual taxidermy molds. My house is filled with mounts and I am planning on sampling for this chemical in my indoor air. I am hoping that I do not find anything.... I know we are subjected to stuff all day and that my cell phone may one day give me cancer, but I am still curious to find out if these findings have validity.

As I am sure others will tell you, both methods (water and spot n' stalk) will work. I personally love to do the spot and stalk method for coues and mulies in the winter. If you sit and glass (and be patient) you have a good chance of glassing up a buck (or bucks) ruttin' does. If you are real lucky, and you find bucks in the heat of the rut, then the spot and stalk method can be "easier" than you think. A coues buck in full rut, that is chasing a doe, can be a totally different deer than the bucks you hunt in October and November. They can let their guard down... since they really only have one thing on their mind. Coues bucks in the heat of the rut will also make a "woof"/"bark" sound. I have actually gotten into bucks by hearing them before I saw them.... (just something to keep in mind). Hope you enjoy archery hunting.. it is certainly a test of patience and will!

I choked on my breakfast when I opened this link. That second buck may be the prettiest that I have ever seen... unbelievable. Really nice mounts as well.. good work

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Just to resonate what others have already stated.. this book is absolutely awesome. What I love most about the book is some of the introductory words. Mr. Saad was able to encapsulate the essence of sheep hunting better than anything I have ever read. For those of us lucky enough to have been on a sheep hunt before, this book will get the blood pumping again as you turn the pages. Another great feature about the book is that it is current, and it includes all the great rams taken in 2010. My Dad finished it in one sitting (which I am glad for, because I didn't want to wait to read it), and I have cruised through it in only a short amount of time. There was a lot of work that went into making this book and I would like to thank those that helped put it together. I know I will be picking it up over and over again.

Your story and pictures left me speechless for a minute. What an unbelievable buck... and I am still laughing at your "one-shot" policy. Way to coach her Dad.

There are big antelope and then there are BIGGG antelope. Thats the stuff dreams are made of. Wow

Awesome photo! Thanks for sharing the link desertdog

That is a very nice boar! My dad shot a big boar very similar in size to yours back in the mid 90's. The bear was so big that both he and my uncle had to roll him over to gut him (just like your story)... The bear was big enough to snap a 'come-along' jack rated for 350 lbs that they had in camp (after he had been gutted). My dad could only guess at his weight, until our taxidermist recommended that he use Al LeCounts' weight estimation equations. Mr. LeCounts studied bears here in Arizona for many years and has written several papers on his research back from the 70's. From his research he developed an equation relating chest girth measurement to live weight of black bears in AZ. There have been many other such studies and equations developed over the years by numerous biologists. Below is a link to an article that mentions several such equations (Including Mr. LeCounts). If you didnt measure the chest girth of your boar you can still get a pretty good guess by holding out your arms...that should put you in the ball park (espoecially if you tried to wrap your arms around the bear in the field). Out of curiosity what were the dimensions of your bear? What did square out to? Again congrats on a trophy of a life time and please let me know what you come up with on a weight guess if you try out some of the equations! My link

I would like to see the BP system square the points first (something along the lines of Nevada)...

Was once told by an old timer that used to live in the woods for months at a time that he had several encounters with a black female Jag in a remote piece of Central Az about 20 years ago... who knows if he was just jawin', but he acted like it was true. Back in 2004 I had a buddy swear he saw a black panther in central AZ on a late November deer hunt. According to his story the cat was less than 100 yards from him in the sun for over five minutes. He had a mt. lion tag but did not shoot because he was convinced it was not a lion. We told the AZGFD ranger for the unit, but he scoffed at the notion. Now I did not see it myself, but knowing where we were at (very very remote)and knowing the location of the spot (open meadow), I believe my hunting partner. Either way.. its cool to think about

I'm glad you all enjoyed them. TJ- I was at Canyon. I hope you get drawn this year!

Went out to the lake this weekend with the family and stumbled on these two young guys. I have glassed up some good 160's rams on our past couple lake trips, but they were all too far away to get good pictures... So I was excited when I noticed these guys up in a cut by the water's edge. I apologize for the blur in the photos.. its hard to get a boat to hold still I would love to see the wide-ram in a couple three years.