.270

340 is pretty big. actually, i was told it scores 444. it is a thug for sure. Lark.

looks like most folks must be out huntin'. merry Christmas to everyone who ain't. good huntin' to those who are. and a happy new year too. Lark.

some years back i might've had to think a little about auto or manual transmissions. not anymore. i'm an auto man. screw all that shiftin'. i did enough o' that on the farm and at work. 20 years or so ago you could plan on an auto going out after 50,000 miles or so of heavy use. my last pickup, an 85 chevy with a 4 speed auto, went over 300,000 before the transmission took a hit. my "new" gmc has 130k+ and it still pokin' along just fine, also with the 4 speed auto. a lot of that with a horse trailer behind it. main thing is to change the fluid and filter often. in a 4x4 i'd say at least every 35,000 or so, if you're using it sorta heavy. don't let em con ya into that "transmission flush" deal they do now. might be ok if they drop the pan and change the filter after they flush it, but the filter needs changed. if it's an overdrive auto, shift it to drive in town and in the hills, too. both types of transmission have their advantages, but if you're a little lazy, you'll like the auto. Lark.

ducks rut? Lark.

good deal Amanda. you deserve something that ain't plum wore out. i agree on the abs myth. i call em anti-stop breaks. and they don't stop you quicker. the theory is that they allow you to steer when hard-breaking. but they actually take a little longer to stop ya. besides, when it comes time to lock em up, who can think about steerin' anyway. all i can think of is "Hold on fellers, this might git rough"! Lark.

if i had to think that much before i got a shot off, i'd get a headache. too cerebral. hunt em til ya jump em, shoot em on the fly. what folks need to do is learn how to guess ranges somewhat, out to about 400 yds. the size o' the deer is how much you can be off and still hit em. most every hipower is flat shooting enough that you can pretty much shoot right at anything out to 300yds or a little more, if you sight it in 3" high or so at a 100 yds. you can shoot out to 400 without a lot of elevation or real critical guesswork. if you can't get within 400 yds, then figure something different or take a hope-i shot. if you think makin' a 600 yd shot is exciting. try and get within 50 or so. see how much your hearbeats then. my oldest son snuck in to like 15 yds on his coues this year. and had a buncha fun doin' it. Lark.

u28 ain't gonna have a rut this year. said there wernt enough participation last year, so they just called it off. Lark.

i see where sue chilton's time is almost up on the commission. yay. she's worthless and a blight on Az. outdoors. also see that our he/she governor has nominated a bonified treehugger, antihunter to take her place. we gotta get napalitano outta there after this term guys. it has to happen. if she gets another term, the entire commission will be some kinda hugger. i hate the commission we have. i mean absolutely hate em. but we gotta get somebody better, not worse. anyway, vote when it comes time. Lark.

beanie and cecil is an old cartoon about a sea monster. i mean old. like howdy doody and lou king old. Lark.

my boys and 2 o' their buddies went 4 for 4 on 3x3's. Lark.

i only have 3 ranges. pretty close, a long ways away and somewheres in between. an i'm surprised that there's anyone here that remembers beanie and cecil. Lark.

heck, rambrent, them guys are awful. there is no room for political correctness. only correctness. they're a buncha politicians that seldom hunt or fish. they're well connected purty boys. i agree with the huevos. there ain't any on the commission or in the director's chair. need some huevos and some guys that feel bad when the wrong thing gets done. not guys that think it's ok to do the wrong thing as long as it helps them politically. the more i think about it, maybe a hugger ain't too bad a deal. she has to better than anyone we have now. Lark.

my neighbor was wonderin'. i applied the first time around. for a change. thanks, Lark.

has the azgfd published a left over pig tag list yet? anyone know when the second drawing is? Lark.

very funny BSwidgeon. i stay home and watch beanie and cecil when it rains, that's how it works. Lark.

you're all too technical. my range finder is the dust that blows up when i miss the first shot. i look for that and adjust accordingly. sometimes i screw up and hit em the first shot and there ain't no dust. it really confuses me too. Lark.

deljack is right, that's why i always shoot with my rifle backward over my shoulder and look at the sights with a mirror. always running game too. plus i'm old and i limp. and can't remember stuff too good anymore. and i'm old and i limp. really, i have to agree some. there is too much technology involved. folks need to learn the country and learn the animal they're after. ya don't have to hunt with a 800 yard rifle, range finders, bipods, huge binocluars, spotting scopes that you can see comets and blackholes with, etc. it's all neat stuff, but it takes some of the personallity out of the game. my dad is the greatest coues hunter that ever was. really. he's shot more monster coues than anyone i know and tossed the racks up on chicken coop. and he did most of with iron sighted guns that most guys would laugh at now. ever hear of a .348? didn't think so. last big one he shot, he used a .30/30. he shot a bunch with his .270, too, with iron sights. seldom ever packed binoculars. he just hunted different. my kids are always pickin' his brain for tricks, and they work. one o' his tricks resulted in a whopper last year, for a friend of my oldest son. but at the same time, if folks wanna use all this technology, that's ok too. it's out there. i don't really agree with long range rifles makin' huggers even madder. they hate us anyway. don't matter to them what a guy kills something with. just that a guy killed something. a guy don't realize what he's missin' until he tries something a different way. leave the big glass home and go hunt one down. you'll see what i mean. and ernesto, wuz you doin' the nekked huntin' deal when them fellers was gonna shoot ya this year? if that was the case, it mighta been me. i shoot every nekked feller is see when i'm huntin'. so it mighta been me, but i can't remember. Lark.

ok, since i got back from elk huntin', i been watchin' the tv. i know that's a dangerous thing, but it give me o' couple idears. last night they had this deal called a "deer view mirror". finally somebody invented somethin' dumber than the cough silencer. you see that thing? anyway, i figgerd it'd be a good gift for treestandman. or for rembrant. that way he could harass himself, if nobody else was around. and when treestandman falls outta his tree, he could look up at it and see how funny he looks. then there was the deal that made a noise like a cornflinger, it was popular a few years back on the huntin' shows. you used it when the batteries in the real cornflinger went dead, so's you could fool them ingnernt texas deer into thinkin' it was dinner time. i think that'd be a good gift for ol' bullwidgeon. if nothin' else he could coax them gooses offa the reservation with it. and to ernesto, he needs one o' them tapes of the bible, so's he can study it and still be lookin out for cula blanca. keep up the good work dude. and wear that blaze orange. maybe a blaze orange jumpsuit and 10 gallon stetson would be a better gift for him, so's them road hunters don't shoot him. and to them goat herders, some lion repelent and maybe a sheep or 2. just for giggles. and a map of places that absolutely nobody goes, so's they don't have to take abuse from jokers like me. or maybe little short topped "goat trailer". one thing about it, a 2 horse trailer would be like a 20 goat trailer. i'd say redrabbit needed more reloadin' info, but i don't know if there is any out there that he ain't already got memorized. maybe we could come up with some phony caliber to keep him busy for awhile. and firstcoueswas80inches, you need a girlfriend. you spend entirely too much time in this huntin' stuff for a kid. wait till you're older and have a wife hollerin' at ya for huntin' too much and neglectin' your kids and chores and job, to get all goofy over huntin'. that way it takes your mind offa the trials of life. mortgages, no good bosses, hair loss, weight gain, that kinda stuff. i think josh epperson needs a few spike antlers to go with all that other stuff he finds, and maybe a sore foot to slow him down some. ain't fair to have that much energy. just ain't fair. and to Amanda, all the luck in the world for keepin' this site up and runnin' and givin' us a place to bs. i know i left some folks out, but i'm tired o' typin'. takes me awhile, one finger at a time. so to everbody else, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. hunt hard dudes. Lark.

the .257 wby is just like a .25/06, only better. one thing to remember, .25 caliber is real barrel twist sensitive. seems to be more so that most other calibers. make sure you have a barrel twist that will stabilize whatever bullet you want to shoot. anything over 100 gr needs a fairly quick twist, in the .25. the longer the bullet, the quicker the twist needs to be to stabilize it. i have an old .250/3000 savage. it will shoot 100 gr and smaller great. shoots super groups, especially for an old lever action. but 115's will keyhole (hit sideways) out of it. twist is too slow to stabilize the longer bullet. that's my only gripe about any of the.25's. a twist that will do a real good job stabilizing the heavier bullet might not group real well with the smaller bullets. most new rifles have a fairly quick twist and anything you buy off the rack should be ok, but make sure. and the real quick twists don't work real well with shorter bullets, like 85's. sort of a catch 22. never owned a .257 wby, but know several guys who do and they all really like em. real fast and flat. Lark.

i have a BS in BS. workin' on my PHD.

then like a dummy i mispelled "Christmas". boy is my face red. Lark.

i think most of the time with coues deer, if you shoot at one, the ones that you aren't shooting at, the ones that aren't with the one you're shooting at anyway, will probably hide real tight. not run off. that seems to be their best means of defense. as far as the one you shoot at, he'll run till he ain't scared anymore or finds a good place to hide. Lark.

what? no cute nanny goats? Lark.

make sure you do what benbrown says. seat em real deep. the all copper bullet is a lot longer than a copper jacket, lead bullet of the same weight and the extra bullet in the lands causes a lot of drag and increases pressure a bunch. copper doesn't weigh near what the same volume of lead does and to get a bullet of a desired weight, it has to be a lot longer. i shoot everything i own, with the bullet touching the lands so i can get as much powder as possible in the case and because it increases pressure, thus increasing velocity and it makes your gun a lot more accurate, because the bullet doesn't have to go looking for the lands, when it starts to move out of the case. when i tried the barnes bullets, the velocity was way off because i had to back off on the powder because of the extra length and barrel drag caused by it and seating them .050 deeper than what i was used to shooting ruined my group size. went from 1/2" groups to 2 and 3" groups, and at a lot less velocity. the reason barnes went to the coating was to try and decrease the pressure the long bullet caused, by slicking them up, so they could get some velocity out of em. they seem to have achieved that somewhat, but looking at the loads that benbrown listed, be real careful. if you use a rifle with real short throat, like rugers have, you can have a real mess. it won't blow up your gun. but you might stick a bolt or blow out a primer if you start out with a max load. even worse, you can pierce a primer and get a little chunk of it stuck in the firing pin. this is a real heartbreaker if you make it to the field and miss a big buck cuz your gun won't go bang. copper bullets are ok, but i'm too old to change and to used to shootin' real fast. just make real sure you're loading em correctly. Lark.

normally, i'm all for wilderness areas. especially real wilderness. seems like lately most of these things they want to call wilderness areas are small enough you can shoot a rifle across em and there always seems to be some hidden agenda that doesn't come out until after the deal is done. just about anyplace that is true is wilderness, is already a wilderness area. places with an abundance of roads, fences, manmade water tanks and other non-natural things just ain't a wilderness. they still allow grazing in the wilderness areas and this causes contention between folks that make a living in the wilderness area and folks that hunt or fish or hike or whatever in the same area. a good friend ranches in the gila wilderness in new mex. the forest circus was in a big tizzy because some hikers complained that there were cowpies in the trail and they got some on their shoes. the farce-estry officials didn't know what they were gonna do about it. they had 2 choices, do something real expensive or tell the hikers to watch where they step around saddles with salt in em. after my friend reminded em that part of his charter with em was to maintain the trails to a certain level, they decided that maybe they would just tell the hikers to be careful. but it took em several years and a buncha study to come up with that solution. i think that instead of making a buncha little cookie cutter wilderness areas, which seems to be the fad nowadays, they oughta take those areas and designate em to where no new roads or improvements can be made there. no new mines can be opened and no prospecting or anything like that can take place. maybe restrict em to no motorized vehicles too and make folks either walk in or take horses, or goats, can't forget about them things. but these dinky wilderness areas don't seem to make a buncha sense and it seems like they always have an alterior motive for it. just my nickel. Lark.