.270

whatever your rifle likes. bears usually aren't real big, even the biggest very seldom pass 400 lbs. they don't have real thick hide and if hit well, die quickly. i don't think any particular bullet style has any advantage over others. i wouldn't use a el 'splodo hollowpoint, but that's kinda apparant. biggest thing most folks dont understand is how a bear is built. picture a man on his hands and knees. they have a flat, broad chest like humans, not a deep narrow chest like deer, elk and goats and other animals most folks are used to to shooting. have to shoot accordingly. Lark.

again, old buck, good news on the tag. have fun. glad at least one old timer that's put in the work got drawn. Lark.

Amen to that. over 11 at the rancho neglecto so far this year. and the rainy season is just getting here. be thankful. Lark.

i;ve been told that there is a 7 year cycle. a tree, or stand of trees will go 7 years between crops. if you find a bunch one year, supposed to be 7 years before those trees produce again. pinons are gift from God himself. raw, roasted, however. they are excellent and good for you. really high in fat tho. put em pancakes, cookies, muffins, anything. they are excellent. and they didn't come from a 7-11 and ain't been wrapped in plastic. look for pack rat nests. sometimes they are loaded. i cut down a dead oak that was hollow, musta got 75 pounds out of it. filled up our ice chest and every other kinda container we had with us. a good way is to wait until after the first good hard freeze to open up the cones and loosen the nuts, lay tarps under the tree and shake it or hit the trunk with a maul. the nuts will rain down. pick the tarps up and drain em off. one of the few things i miss about the plant was all my Navajo pals bringin' me pinons. Lark.

glad to hear you got a tag. only been 41 years for me. kinds doubt it'll ever happen tho. i think there's lotsa shennaganins involved in sheep tags. way too many folks with low points get drawn every year and way too many with lots of em that don't. again, happy for ya. shoot a big one. Lark.

there are some big ones in u27. one above saunders cabin that i think is recognized as the biggest in the state. used to have a sign on it even. the firefighter saved it during the wallow too. Lark.

pm'd ya. Lark.

i refuse to judge anyone who is out there trying to hunt. and as soon as i read the word ethical, i kinda lose any desire to read further. ethical=legal. all ethics are is your opinion. if my opinion differs from yours, tough. that's just the way it is. if someone is inside the law, then i'm fine with it. don't care how experienced they are, they are a hunter and deserve my respect and congratulations for trying to hunt. don't care if it's a spike or a doe ir if it has a tree on it's head either. as long as the hunter was out there hunting. one of the biggest problems we have as hunters is folks trying to inject their opinion/ethics into hunting. as long as it's a center fire cartridge, a cheap stick bow over 45lb and a 7/8" broadhead or any muzzleloader it's pretty much legal in Az, therefore completely ethical. Lark.

hater........just another way for someone with no arguement to try and win an argument. sorta like saying if you disagree with a minority that you are automatically a racist. even tho the disagreement has nothing to with race. why is it such a bad thing for someone to think that someone else is completely wrong in what they do? and why does being polar opposite to your opinion make someone automatically a "hater" or a homophobe. seems to me there are a lotta heterophobes lurking here. there ain't a homo anywhere i'm phobed of. but i am afraid of how 2 or 3% of the population can impose what i feel is perversion on the other 97%. and if you honestly think there won't be lawsuits trying to force churches and their members to accept what they feel is perversion, after the doctorines they've based their faith on say is perversion, i don't know what to tell you other you're really naive. this kinda reasoning is exactly what anti hunters and anti gun folks use. "oh you're just to stupid to see the folly in your ways". "you're just a redneck". it's the same reasoning folks use to justify the muslim violence all over the world too. "it's their religion" "don't tell them how to be", and why is this in the bighorn section? disgusting. Lark.

this is what happens when you let the village raise your kids. raise your boys to be men. not just humans with testicles. MEN. guys who get up and go to work and take care of their family and teach their boys to be men also. Men that do what needs done when it needs done. raise your girls to be ladys. LADYS. not just females. ladys that do what moms do, take care of the home and the kids and respect their man for what he does and raise their kids to respect their dad too, for what he does. Ladys that teach their girls to be ladys. if you let the village raise your kids you get village idiots. video game playing, goths, vampires, butt showin' over their pants, stupid hairdo wearin', pierced, lazy, no recpect, loser idiots that don't have an opinion of their own and let others make up their mind for em. kids are like water running off a hill. takes the path of least resistence, unless you guide it. your kids are YOUR kids, not the village's. raise them to believe in what you believe in. not in what some commie believes in. give em meaningful work to do. let em see the value in working. what you are witnessing is what happens when you let the state be your babysitter. just give em more ridalin, turn on the tv, feed em piles of refined sugar, tell em it's up to them to decide what's right, say "Oh it's just a phase he's goin' through". no it ain't a phase. if you let your kid go through phases they stay in phases. now a buncha these tv babysat punks are starting to make the rules. Lark.

happy 87th Old timer. keep that fire lit so i can find you. Lark.

today would be my ol' man's 87th birthday. been gone a little over a year. every day i think of something i wanna tell him. to all the old timers that have taken the trail over the mountain, hang in there till we catch up. Lark.

good night, that's an uncut tub! don't give it away. they are really rare. be careful what you let it go for. there probably ain't a half dozen of the old tubs uncut left, that ain't a complete restoration. i know a guy that has just the body from one that has turned down a buncha $$$$$$$$$ for it. just the body. Lark.

they are fun to shoot. amazing how thick the glass is. Lark.

all i know is if that witch is the answer it was one #%@$ed up question. Lark.

out in aj, take guadalupe west of ironwood. there is an industrail park there. i think it's the first road north, then take a left, there is a place that sells all kindsa tanks and barrels. he has some of those square tanks with the steel tube skeleton for $150 or so. has any kinda tank you can think of. might try him. easy to find. don't recal the name of the place, but he has anything you need to haul water or store water. Lark.

looks like somewhere between arsenic tub and ash creek HQ. Lark.

only .264 i shoot is the real one, .264 win mag. have been for over 40 years. only use 100 gr btsp's zippin' along at about 3700 fps. shoots like a lazer beam. don't care about the minute of angle stuff. as long as it shoots minutes of goat or deer or coyote, it's fine with me. absolutely the best off hand running game rifle i've ever shot. yeah, i take runnin' shots. lots of em. with the velocity it takes a lotta the guess work outta how far to lead em. and if i smoke a barrel, i screw a new one in. i mean really, how often you burn up a barrel? a new one ain't that much. even if you shoot a bunch it'll take you 4 or 5 years. the 7 mag and 300 win are just as hard on barrels. i think the .300 is worse. 6.5/284 is interesting and it's cool to see folks finally realize the genius of the .284 win case. i don't know why folks don't offer the .284 in a good bolt gun. if i had to shoot a 7mm, that's what it would be. i guess if you have the time and patience to pack a mule load o' equipment with you and ain't sneaky enough to get closer than 800 yards from something, the 6.5/284 is cool. but i like my hotrod .264 for a lotta stuff. it's sent a buncha goats, coyotes and deer to valhalla. i love my .270, but the .264 is one sweet round for open country and fast animals. Lark.

only mistake in the process was diggin' it back up. i gagged just reading about it. Lark.

first off, you hafta be plum negligent to let meat spoil. with that said, the most important thing is to get the heat out of it. gut and skin asap. i'm not a fan of the gutless method. no single thing lets out more heat than gutting an animal. deer are easy to cool off. if nothing else you can chunk em up and put em in an ice chest. elk are a lot harder. get him skunt, cut off the front legs. cut the neck off at the shoulders (eat the neck, it's excellent) pull the backstraps out. take off the hind legs and seperate the sirloin tip (front of the thigh) you can either take it all the way off or leave it attached some toward the upper part of the leg, works well if it's hanging. take a saw and seperate the ribs from the spine. don't forget the filets. if you can hang an elk quickly and have a chain saw, split it full length from tail through the neck. might cut the front legs almost off to let the heat outta the chest and do the deal with the sirloin tips. but again, the most important thing is to get the heat out. even if you don't get it real cool right off. if you have water, hose it off. water takes the heat out really well. if you're by a clear creek, put the meat in the creek for awhile to get the heat out. but don't let it get in the sand. hard to get it out. if you keep your prize clean and cool it off quickly it will be much better to eat. i have some photos that show kinda what i'm talking about if someone wants to post em. and never ever ever wrap in in plastic unless it's on ice. no garbage bags, blue tarps, nothing plastic. plastic makes heat and is your worst enemy. nothing beats open air to cool it off. hang it out at night, lay it down and wrap it up in a cotton tarp or old sheets and cover it with blankets or sleeping bags in the day. Lark.

the knobs on the long brow tines are from him beating them into the ground to eat while in the velvet. i've seen several bulls over the years that have had the misfortune of growing extra long drooping brows like that. saw one that had to kneel down to get the right angle to graze. saw another once that the brows looked like funnels on the end, probably 4 inches across, from hitting the ground to feed while in the velvet. saw him several times and a friend of mine ended up killing it with a muzzle loader that fall. first time i've seen sheds from one tho. cool. Lark.

ok Bill, now i'm hungry. sittin' out here waitin' on this exray crew to get done and you go into detail about meat loaf. thanks. my wife made some pronghorn meatloaf the other day. by the way, pronghorn burger is about as good as it gets. with no fat added too. great stuff. it's a cryin' shame goats ain't as big as buffalos. anyway, the meat load was absolutely wonderfull, but the best part was the fried meat loaf samwiches the next few days in my lunch. she would slice it up about 1'4-3/8" in thick, fry it kinda crispy, put it on some real thin sliced dill rye or sourdough bread with a little mayo and cheese. just a little of each. i always ended up eatin' em for breakfast while they were still warm because i couldn't wait until lunch time. oh man they are toooo good. i am so happy i have an elk tag. there have been times we've cut the back staps out of a bull and then made burger outta the whole rest o' the elk. my oldest son did that 2 years ago on a huge bull he shot. can't go wrong with elk burger. happy eatin', Lark.

if you look again at the first part of the lunch meat, it says cook it. there is also meat balls, excellent in italian food. meat loaf was mentioned, another excellent choice. there ain't no end to the possibillities. get creative. one thing that elk, deer, pronghorn etc have that beef don't, is flavor. beef tends needs to need a lotta seasoning. game don't. a little salt and pepper most of the time is all it needs. be real careful with garlic. i can't stand it on steaks or a hamburger made outta game meat. makes it taste spoiled. when folks complain about stuff being gamey or strong it's usually because they ain't used to real flavor. Lark.

run out of ways to use elk burger? BS. there's more ways than Bubba had to cook shrimp. enchiladas, tacos, green chili, tamales, rellenos, plain ol' cheeseburgers. put a fried egg on it, toooo good. use it in hash, taters, onion, elk meat, good stuff. make a big ol' patty and make a chicken fried steak out of it. fry a bunch up and then scramble some eggs in it and make breakfast burros. cook it, mix it with some mayo and whatever kinda seasoning you like, maybe a little celery, etc, run it through a hand grinder to mix it and use it as spreadable lunch meat. put it in beans. make chili. get a jerky squirter from cabelas. makes top shelf jerky. fry it up and sprinkle it on a cheese crisp. put it in turkey dressing. and don't never say you have run outta ways to use it again! Lark.

i make all my slings. Lark.