.270

nope. not at all. if you use radios or electronic calls to help you take game they won't be recognized by either b&c or p&y. p&y doesn't even allow electric arrow nocks or electric sights. in fact, if you use anything electric, p&y won't recognize it. the way i understand it, if you hunt bear or lion and the hounds have tracking or shocking collars, the trophy can't be entered. but all these things are legal in every state i know of. what i stated was that both groups have changed their rules from time to time, as technology improves and as the demands of sportsmen and conservation change. a few years ago if you used a bow with over 65% let off, p&y wouldn't recognize the trophy, but they changed and now allow any let off. they pretty much had to. try to find a bow with 65% or less let off now. personally, i have a real problem with both groups because i think the quest for records is detrimental to the sport in a lot of cases. but i do like the idea of recognizing the animal and like to know roughly what a trophy scores, because i'm a guy. and i do appreciate the original reasons for starting the clubs and like the idea of sportsmanship and fair chase and i like the inclusion of all sportsmen, no matter how they hunt or what they hunt with, as long as it's legal. Lark.

do they still make circe calls? i always did best with a circe magnum. i have big hands and the long barrel really fit me. as far as the sound, jackrabbit was always best for coyotes, bears and lions. seemed like cottontail worked best for bobcats and foxes. when i hunt coyotes i always howl with a diaphram elk call before i use the rabbit. it always seems to me that varmints and fish were a lot alike. sometimes everything works. sometimes nothin' works. sometimes just one particular thing in one way works. Lark.

cabelas had the primos powerdogs on sale for $100 the other day. i bought 2 for my kids for Christmas. they were on sale at bass pro for $150. they are pretty good too. and they don't weigh a bunch neither. Lark.

fair chase as described by the b&c is updated and changed regularly. when the original bylaws were written there was no such thing as radios and other electrical devices and airplanes and helicopters and snow machines and all kindsa stuff, that are all against the fair chase rules of b&c now. that club does a pretty good job in updating things and changing with the times. but electronic stuff ain't against the law in most state laws. and there is still nothing in the b&c rules about what range you can or can't shoot at. and there are reasons it is that way. because they also don't want to alienate "any" group of hunters. when b&c and pope and young were started, nobody used scopes, had binoculars or spotting scopes, 4x4 pickups, compound bows, graphite arrows, razor broadheads, range finders, goretex. thinsulate, etc, and the list goes on. but all that stuff is ok with both clubs now. they change as the world does too. Lark.

yeah, we don't want him marryin' up with no ugly one. can you imagine what the kids would look like? "hey ethel, which end is the head?" crown royal? that ain't whiskey. that's some crap that folks that don't know what whiskey is think is whiskey. about 5 gallons o' uncle bill's corn licker might work. depends on how partik'lar the buff is. what kinda ring you gonna get her? nose or ear? seriously, you guys oughta think about this deal. bison is as good as it gets in the fryin' pan. i mean topnotch. price it out at basha's sometime. and it is worth it. a couple guys could go in on one. if both of my freezers wernt full i'd look into it. told my wife about it and she was disapointed we didn't have room for one. mmmmmmmmmmm, buff'ler hump. the mt men would kill a buff, cut out the liver, skin back a leg a little and make a sort of cup with the skin, squeeze the gall bladder bile into the cup and cut up chunks o' raw liver and dip it in the bile and eat it while they skinned the rest of the ones they shot. if you buy one, you can try it. Lark.

my daughter had her baby that way. after a couple weeks of sciatica a month ago, i can relate a little. real women are tough. cute kid. good health and best wishes to all. Lark.

you mean "mesh" windows? i never have any problem. but i use a .270. Lark.

we'll probly hafta kick in for a buncha cheap whiskey too. might hafta get the buff drunk to get her to go for it. anybody got any bison in rut pee we can pour on casey? Lark.

a couple years ago we were pig huntin' and i walked up to an old drift. (drifts run horizontal, shafts run vertical) i did a little mouse squeek, thinkin' maybe there'd be a varmint in there and a fox come runnin' out. surprised me so much i didn't get a shot at it. the next day at the same drift i did the same thing and out come a fox again. only this time i was ready. but i missed. do you realize how ignernt it is to shoot a .264 in a mine drift? bullet went richoceting all over the place i'm still sorta deef from it. you talk about noisy. well, i lernt 2 lessons there. wear ear plugs and take a shotgun. Lark.

maybe we oughta all pitch in and buy one for casey. he ain't never gonna get a girlfriend. i think it'd be a good match. gotta be as good as a mail order bride. and if he gets tired of her he can kill her and not get in trouble. Lark.

is it deer season? do you have a tag? then h e l l yes you go huntin'. forget about the weather. just hunt. Lark.

the only winchester ever chambered in '06 is the model 1895. an original in decent shape will cost a couple grand. browning makes a new model now that is a nice rifle. they are probably in the neighborhood of a grand. for the simple one. they make a couple other grades that are real expensive. the browning is made in japan too i think. it seems like winchester made the '05 again for awhile too. but i don't recall if i ever got to hold one. if he wants a lever '06 to hunt with and shoot a lot, i'd look at the browning BLR. looks a lot like the BAR. real short throw on the lever. the bolt rotates a lot like a bolt action, when it locks up. real nice rifle. and you can put a scope on it. the only way to put a scope on a '95 is a side mount. they even make in .300 mag. (the real one, not the little one).

well everbody, you all have a Merry Christmas and happy New Year. hope you're all healthy and happy. don't much matter after that. i know our camp has a lot to be thankful for. we were able to do a buncha hunting and fishing and camping and travelling in this great country of ours. our granddaughter is getting better everyday because of the wonderful doctors and health care we have in this great country. shot a buncha deer, pronghorn, elk, pigs, coyotes, turkeys and all that stuff because we are free to own and use guns. i'm outta here on jan 3. headed to halifax, nova scotia to start up a power plant for awhile. be sorta cool to see how them canuks do things. guess i'll hafta get me a canadien to english dictionary, eh, and a tape measure that has American on side and metric on the other. how much is 8 feet? just wonderin' how tall i am in meters? so next year has some possibilities for adventure too. anyway, hope your kids get all they want from santy clause, you can cover the visa card, you're all healthy, get drawn for everything you apply for and are so happy your cheeks hurt from grinnin'. Mery Christmas. your brother in the outdoors, Lark.

to me, using a compound bow instead of a recurve or longbow is comparable to using a long range rifle instead of an iron sighted '06 or some other "old style" rifle. as technology improves, so will hunting equipment, and folks are gonna use it. Lark.

This blogger adds up all the hunters in just a handful of states, and comes to a striking conclusion: The state of Wisconsin has gone an entire deer hunting season without someone getting killed. That's great. There were over 600,000 hunters. Allow me to restate that number. Over the last two months, the eighth largest army in the world - more men under arms than Iran ; more than France and Germany combined - deployed to the woods of a single American state to help keep the deer menace at bay. But that pales in comparison to the 750,000 who are in the woods of Pennsylvania this week. Michigan 's 700,000 hunters have now returned home. Toss in a quarter million hunters in West Virginia , and it is literally the case that the hunters of those four states alone would comprise the largest army in the world. His point? America will forever be safe from foreign invasion with that kind of home-grown firepower. Hunting -- it's not just a way to fill the freezer. It's a matter of national security. Lark.

i don't think there is a bad bull elk tag in Az. there are some hunts that you really have to hunt hard. maybe even really really hard. but there is a legitimate chance for a big bull in every unit that has permits. with 8 points you're getting to where you should get a good tag soon. 3 seasons ago i had about 11 or 12 points and said heck with it, i want a tag and i applied for a unit that had good draw odds, but not a great unit and got drawn. the next year with just 2 points i got a u1 late bull tag. points help, but not as much as luck. decide where you want to go and apply. good luck, Lark.

bill, i'm still planning on having the U.S. military with nukes and warthogs and tanks and green berets and marines and ships and apache longbows and tomahawk missles and claymores and .50 bmg's and jets and bazookas and hangernades and all that stuff backing us up. i don't think china could ever just waltz in here and take over. they'd hafta fight a fairly decent military just to get here. they might own a lotta debt, but they don't own us or the military. Lark.

bill always screws everthing up with facts and numbers and junk. i still think one good deer hunter has to be worth at least 5 chinamen. and if they do crash the economy, i'm sure obama has an answer for it. like another stymulus. and they might well crash the economy, but they won't be able to crash American heart. there are still enough good folks to pull the wagon outta the mud if we have to. i ain't too worried about china. and when we get rid o' obama in 2 years, they'll be nice again. we can still vaporize em if we have to. Lark.

2 years ago i shot an elk at 740 yards. on the last day of the season. took me 7 days. not counting all the time i put in before the hunt. walked my butt off. tromped all over the unit. then had to punk it out. does that mean i shot him and didn't hunt? i've also shot bulls at less than 10 with a bow. is that ok? did i get "too" close? there ain't anybody that has hunted more of this state than i have. a few of the shots i've taken were a long ways off. does that mean i ain't a hunter? just a shooter? i'm glad you hunt hard. but so do a lotta other folks. just because they hunt different than you doesn't make em bad or less of a person. at least not in my eyes. but i like all legal hunters. guess i'm wierd. Lark.

the draw odds for bull elk and pronghorn are as follows: not very good. apply and hope. i had two bull elk tags in a row, in 08 and 09, so it might be a long time before i get lucky again. but somebody has to get drawn. good luck. Lark.

i shot a lotta stuff with a muzzleloader in the past. i always really liked the XTP's too. .44 in a .50 and .45's in a 54. i always had better luck with ff blackpowder. pyrodex always seemed susceptable to hang fires. but i did some shooting a couple years ago with the pellets and 209 shotgun primers, and it worked real well. but the XTP's are a really good choice for bullets. killed a lotta bucks and bulls with em. killed a bunch with maxi-balls too, before they figgerd out all this sabot stuff. but they are real range limited. but i did shoot a 700 a bunch and it seemed to be really good. real accurate, after i figgerd it out. Lark.

boys, boys, settle down. a hunter should at least support all forms of legal hunting. even if they don't like some kind of hunting, for whatever reason. stick together guys. for a lotta years i was primarily a bow hunter. at least for most stuff. spent a lotta time running hounds too. usually just used a pistola then. now that i'm old and wore out and have a phony right shoulder, bad knees and bad back, it's all rifle hunting anymore. and i do have a rifle that i can shoot a long way with and i can do it. even if it does have a skinny barrel. been thinking about a crossbow tho. anybody hate crossbow hunters? have a william tell fobia? but remember, while we're fighting with each other, the anti's are sneakin' up on us with a big bag o' $h!t and are gonna smack us all with it if we ain't careful. the way to fight "divide and conquer" is to close ranks and don't let em outflank ya. i'm sorta shocked by the anymosity that there seems to be against the long rangers. never thought there were that many folks who felt that way about it. we may not be on kissin' terms with each other, but we're all still in the same foxhole. like it or not. i'll suport anybody that hunts legally, and frankly, can't understand why that is controversial. and fishes legal too. trust me, they are after anglers too. here is a scenario to think about. the nra supports any kind of shooting. any kind of firearm. ANY kind. rifles, pistols, shotguns, muzzleloaders, "black" guns, machine guns, anything that burns powder. there are a lot of folks, even shooters, that don't know why anyone would need an "assault" rifle, or high cap mags, or a machine gun, or night vision, etc. and that is a good question that i've asked myself. and it brings the nra all kindsa grief. but they still support it, even tho it would make life easier on em, for awhile. they support all forms of shooting, because if they give up on one group, everyone loses. that group is gone. plus they're gonna be pissed because they got abandoned. and the number of guys that are left is smaller, making it easier for antis to attack them. so they support everyone that shoots. everyone. they stick together. they fight hard for each other. heck, they put W in office when he ran against gore. if you don't know how i'll explain it later. as hunters in general, and Az hunters in particular, we need to all be in the same foxhole and be willing to put up with the smell of everyone else. stick together, no matter what. Lark.

last saturday was one of the worst days of my life. took some friends to my cousins ranch to hunt lions for a few days. as they rode off and i stood there watching em, it really hit me hard. back is too screwed up to ride anymore. at least right now. i kinda doubt i'll ever be able to ride all day, day after day, again. i spent all but the last 2 days of deer season in bed with this sciatic garbage. take care of yourself. one little car wreck that didn't look to be bad, wiped out 4 discs. add the accumulation of working hard and being especially active and it can really take a toll on you. just as bad as a really bad accident, like the kid casey talked about. be thankful for health. at least i don't have to live on pain pills, like a couple guys i now. but man that hit hard when i realized i had to stay at the cabin. and they caught a big tom too. guess i'll hafta learn to cook better. Lark.

i'm flyin' right over RV. i'll wave. nave a Merry Christmas. Lark.

lions make deer leave. by eatin' em. Lark.