.270

when ya get it back, weigh it, and that's how much you get. the quality of the butcher has a lot to do with it. and also, its amazing how much a carcass compacts when you cut it up and package it. main thing to worry about is how good o' job the butcher does. with a good butcher, you're gonna get all the edible meat there was on the carcass. take out most o' the bones and such, and the weight shrinks considerably. again, take it to a good butcher. with a clean shop. we used to alway try o add about 10% beef fat to the burger, but anymore prefer it with no fat. Lark.

i was just tryin' to make fun o' 7mm/08's, not cops. Lark.

guys with 7mm/08's do it all the time. shoot and then duck when the bullet bounces off. Lark.

rednecks? that ain't right. we all have teeth, nobody's folks are related and nobody has any tatoos. the rifle is an old model 94. it was made in 1895, the first year of the .30/30. Skeeter's brother, Earl, traded some ol' trapper out of it in the 30's and gave it to Skeeter. the barrel and magazine have been sawed off to 12 inches. only holds 3 in the tube. the forepiece and the butt have been shortened way up too. the hammer is filed way down. it's pretty unique. real handy to pack on a horse. scabbard ain't much bigger than a holster. winchester made a trapper model of the 92 and the 94. some of them had 12, 14 and 16 inch barrels. this isn't one of those. this is a total custom job. with a hacksaw, file and chisel. it has an octogan barrel too. cool old rifle. hard to shoot straight, but Skeeter was deadly with it. he only had 3 guns. that one, a colt woodsman .22 auto pistol and an old model '01 winchester .22 single shot his dad bought him when he was a kid. they're all 3 still around. the rug from the bear is in the old pima museum. along with the same photo. the ford dealer in safford, hal shorbe, was delivering a new pickup to the ranch and went with them to check the trap and he shot the bear and had a rug made and gave it to skeeter. it was a cattle killer. there is another photo taken at the same time where Georgetta and Leroy were trying to plug their noses because of the stink from the dead cow and it looks like they are both pickin' their noses. i wish they'da took more photo's of dead animals. he was a predator getter deluxe. wolves, bears, lions, coyotes, bobcats. Lark.

an early rifle isn't a guarantee of a 400 bull. how many legitimate 400 bulls get killed every year? now, how many were with auction or raffle tags or on a reservation with a good herd? like they said, forget the score and have some fun. Az in the fall is a great place to be. yeller trees, howlin' elk, nice weather. and if you have a rifle elk tag, it's a heavenly experience. for sure shoot the biggest one you can find. good luck, but if they get hung up on "score" it will diminish the experience. Lark.

probly about 15 years ago we were muzzleloader elk hunting in new mex. archery elk was going on too. while dragging a buck to the road we ran into some guys from utah with elk tags. they sia d they had put a treestand on a water hole a month or so before the season. the day before the season they were there and a uso guide came in and put up 2 treestands on the same water hole and told them they had to leave because uso was there and they the right to everything, because they were uso. they told em go to h e l l it was public land and left. next morning early they walked in and the tree they had their stand in was cut down and their stand smashed. and the uso punk and his client were in theirs. they had some words and the uso punk laughed at em so they went back to the truck and came back with a chainsaw and proceded to cut the tree down the uso punk was in, while he was still in it. guess it got western after that. i thought the utah boys handled it very professionally myself. Lark.

monstercoues, everything is public record. look it up and see how many violations i've had. c'mon. it's easy to do. this happened on the 8th. the season ended on the 9th. you saying they couldn't have waited until the 10th? all the goats gonna be gone? the azgfd did a big diservice to hunters with their actions and then their explanation was even worse. there is no reason what so ever for them to do arial surveys during a season and then for them to try to justify it with scientific reasons makes it even worse. do it in the winter when they are herded up. don't screw up some guys hunt after he waited 35 years for a tag. if they wanna do something out of an airplane, shoot some dang coyotes when the does are fawning. if an outfitter or hunter of even joe public pulled the same stunt they would have been prosecuted. i think 2 cats has shown a lot of restraint. this oughta be on the evening news. Lark.

one handed? Lark.

just watched elk chronciles. worse than a waste of time. they were on the double h ranch in new mex. the guy that owns its kid was hunting. shot a nice bull at dark. which in my book, ain't too smart with a bow. when i still bowhunted i would usually quit each day maybe a little early, to keep from hitting and losing one. anyway, he shot it and they just said oh well, we'll come back tomorrow and get it. not even a token effort to track it. then they even waited a couple extra hours the next day, to let the other elk clear out, whatever that meant. no sense in even trying to retrieve the meat after it spent the night dead in west new mex in september. a well hit animal can only go about as far as it can hold it's breath in most cases. if you're gonna hunt, you have to do the hard work that it takes to retrieve and use the meat. it's bad enough that folks do this crap, and folks waste the meat a bunch of the time, but when they film it and then try to be heros about it, it really pisses me off. if you aren't gonna do everything you can to eat what you kill, and to take care of it as fast as you can, you need to stay home. and this is rmef's show. wow, they are sure good stewards of elk, if they will actually promote this kinda crap on tv. shows that horns is all that matters. these animals die for us. they need to be respected better. especially by the guys that are making money off of em. this is bull. i quit supporting the rmef a long time ago because of phylisophical differences. glad none of my money goes to this kinda "sportmanship". sometimes things happen and an animal will get away overnight, or even completely. but to just go back to the "lodge" and wait for the next day is pure crap. feed it to the coyotes. these guys need to be prosecuted for this kinda crap. don't any o' you guys do this. it ain't right. Lark.

imagine me making a peace sign. now ignore my index finger. dork. Lark.

a guy waits 35 years for a tag in this state and the bunnycops come in with a airplane and buzz off all the goats. makes sense to me. what are ya gonna do in sheep season? naybe some of that helicopter herding? there isn't any way you can justify this action, so quit trying. Lark.

i have 2 piece leupold medium rings on mine. i probably coulda used the low rings, but the mediums fit me better. they're 30mm yube scopes. mine is a 44mm objective. it's a model 70 winchester rifle. .264 mag with a 26 inch barrel. Lark.

there ain't no way to justify that. i don't care what their reason is. pronghorns herd up big time in mid winter. lot better time to do their surveys than to do it during the dang season. another reason to cuss the azgfd. like they needed any more. Lark.

only aminal you can cornfuse me with is a fox. Lark.

what's bill quimby's opinion on it? Lark.

every state has laws against wasting game meat. if you shoot an animal, especially an elk in warm weather, and for whatever reason, choose to not find it asap, you're wasting game meat. you aren't being a good sportsman and you are being a slob hunter. they make flashlights, bloodlights, lanterns, torches, etc. there isn't an "ethical" way to justify shooting something and not doing everything you can to retrieve it in time to eat it. if you can't, then don't shoot it to start with. they even waited some extra time the next morning so as to not get in the way of someone else who was trying to shoot an elk off the same bait. if they lost the blood the night before, they should have been there before light to get after it again. have you ever, one time, seen em field dress an animal on a hunting show that they can drive to? one of these days some anti hunter is gonna pick up on the fact that most of these hunting shows let animals lay around for days after they shoot em to take photos and other economic reasons and they are gonna raise heck. and joe hunter, like me, is the one that's gonna end up paying for it. what they did on that show last night was pure bs. and it was condoned by the rmef. Lark.

pretty serious charges for these fellers. be interesting to hear the names of everyone charged. bet there are some guys on the list that don't want folks to see their name on it. Lark. http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ap-hunting-kansas

didn't one of the big time "guides" get in a buncha trouble last year for blocking the road going into a tank to keep out the competition? i don't think they ever paid a fine, so try that. apparantly it's legal, or they would have. i agree, they shoulda left, and quick. but the woods are fulla a-holes and whoever it was is their king. that's why i would spend all my time trying to get in close with a call and shoot one, this time o' year. most everbody goes home this next sunday, and you'll have a lot less competition for the last 4 days. good luck. Lark.

how often do you drink water? everytime you get thirsty. same for deer. there ain't no set time or schedule. it all depends on the weather, the amount of water in the feed, availability, individual preference, and whether or not they're thirsty. Lark.

i posted a photo of one on youtube once and the cops came to my house. it didn't look like a heart tho. stinkin' cops. no sense o' humore at all. Lark.

i'm glad i ain't leavin' again until next week, so's i can watch this one develop. and, i do not know them, whoever it is. we gonna get another spellin' lesson? Lark.

is that a deer and a coati mundi in those photos? Lark.

i lust for a jumpin' jack too. there are some big differences in the costco and jumping jack. the jumping jack tent is made of real heavy canvas. the costco is made out of pretty thin synthetic canvas. jumping may be synthetic too, it's hard to tell anymore, but it is a lot heavier. and the costco trailer is rated at 2000 lbs with a leaf spring axle and the jack is rated at 3500 lbs with a torsion bar axle. the torsion bar axle gives you a much smoother ride and a lot more clearance and there ain't an axle and springs under the trailer to hit stuff with. i think it'd be pretty easy to overload the costco, if you load a couple quads or a side by side on it. it comes down to what you require. if you aren't going to use it real hard and don't have a ranger, the costco might be just the ticket. but there are some valid reasons that the jumping jack costs more. Lark.

the code talker program was one of the most ingenious things the military ever thunk up. absolute genious. and the guys that did it were truly dedicated to the cause. a few years ago the last surviving WWI vet passed. won't be too long and the WWII guys will have passed too. there has never been an effort by an society that compares to what the allies, and especially the Americans, accopmplished in WWII. everyone, from eastern blue bloods to kids from the rez contributed. Lark.

when i go hunting i'm out there to kill something. unless it's javelina anyway. but since i've learned to appreciate the whole deal, it's a lot better experience. and it was good before. when you can enjoy outdoors with family and friends, you've gotter made. Lark.