fatfootdoc

My family has some land back in Illinois that is loaded with whitetail and about once every 6-7 years an albino will show up. Those things show up for miles it seems. Especially when they are moving through the forest. Never have got one on film of any kind though. Neat pics CHD . AG

Redman, You will need to pick which of those units you want to hunt. You will not find many if any coues in any of the areas. SO my advice is pick the unit you want to hunt as you will have to designate it on your permit and then call game and fish and see what advice they have about it. ag

Kevin, I will be packing into the west side of the Chiri's, won't be in there until the last 4 days of the Nov. hunt though. don't like to hunt the opener in there, seems to calm down around mid week and the deer really get moving. Have seen some toads in there, last year I was in there I did not have a tag, my buddy did and he missed so many bucks that I decided that I need to get a tag and thin it out some. Saying that now I will miss every shot I take !! good luck!!AG

Bret, Thanks for the info. I am going to see how rattling works on those grey ghosts. I am not really into carp as the meat makes my stomach turn. Here in NM as far as I can tell the kids can take the hunter safety as soon as they are old enough to understand the questions. I have already taken my boy out and let him shoot my 22-250 and he is hooked. everytime I go out to sight in a rifle we have to take it so he can shoot it. Little dude is actually pretty accurate as long as he has a good rest. Hopefully with the new draw that will cut down on the road bombers a little, but I guess as long as they stay on the road and away from where I am hunting it will be fine. good luck on the upcoming hunt AG

Brett, That was us, that was my boy Merrill, he was 7 and he has been bothering me non stop to go hunting since then. Was it worse this year than last? It seemed bad last year on the road, at least very few showed any ambition to get out and walk. did you see any lion sign in there, I found a lion kill last year that was fresh on the last day of the hunt. AG

Great Bucks!!! I had to change my New Mexico license from the early November hunt to the late archery hunt since I drew out in AZ for the Nov hunt. My wife may have been a little irate if I was gone 12 days hunting(Whats her problem anyway?! ) That unit is good but those BEM(booger eating morons) on the 4 wheelers road hunting drive my nuts. The first year I hunted after getting out of the GULAG(read residency and medical school here ) a 400 lb road hunter almost finished me off before I could even make my first student loan payment. He rode all over the flat I was glassing( no roads of course) then rode up to where I was glassing. guess he was going to see if he had got anything stirred up other than me. Anyway I wave at the MORON and think he sees me, start to walk out and the next thing you know I hear him cocking his rifle . Guess I should have waved with all of my fingers extended instead of just the middle one , Anyway I stopped moving and yelled at him and he finally saw me. He went on his fat four wheeler way and I went back to camp and changed my underwear. The moral of the story is the roadhunters in 23 are VERY bad!!!! Congrats again Brett on the awesome deer. AG

BEWARE of cheap good quality binoculars. That is an oxymoron. I decided to try those Barska's just to see how they stacked up. Well really after using them they dont stack up, they pile up like the crap they are. I don't know if they are even good enough to let my son practice with. They don't gather alot of light and the outer molding peels off of them. so back to the fujinons I go. did not know they even made scopes, I would be wary of them. Better to spend the money and buy proven optics than have to buy new ones every year due to poor quality. AG

Great deer, did he end up hitting it with the first shot? ag

I have read a few articles that discuss yearling bucks with spikes vs fork horns. The thought is that the forkhorns actually tend to go on to grow bigger racks. I dont know if that is a flawed study though because if they were not studying deer that were feeding on the same land then it will be different as nutrition as well as genes determine antler size. The point is, if it is true, that we would be insuring that bucks that did not have the potential to grow large antlers would not be culled and that the bucks that do have the potential for them would be taken. If this is the case then we would end up with a skewed gene pool for smaller racks in a worst case scenario. I am not for antler restrictions and think that it does not matter how many spikes get shot, some still make it through the seasons. I pass up the smaller bucks anyway but I have a little boy chomping at the bit to bag a deer next year and if we see antlers I would like to be able to tell him to fire away regardless of if it is a spike, forkhorn or whatever. AG

Was on the internet and there are magazines for the 300 and 270 wsm at ammoclip.com for $60 , they do not have any more capacity though. They say they are factory original polymer(PLASTIC ) Might be nice to have a spare clip. That was the cheapest I could find. The others listed the price at over one hundred usually. ag

It is amazing how having the right caliber magazine will make the bullets load better. I was thinking about the magazines and I will look up the Tikka web site and see what they have there. AG

It would be nice if they had an extra capacity clip that was a little more durable. Those extra rounds would be nice to have when the buck fever hits. Let me know what you find out. Thanks AG

That is the only bad thing I can see on my gun as well, they make a dang good gun and then put a plastic magazine on it. Does not make much sense to me. AG

What kind of problem were you having with the clip? ag

Unfortunately I have to work opening weekend so I am heading to the Chiricauha's on the 16th and packing in a few miles and hopefully will see some toads. Haven't been in there for a few years so it should be an interesting hunt. Hopefully will get to see how the new .300 wsm performs on big whitetail. ag

Everything is straight from the factory, I usually shoot the rifle along with my others after I get done reloading, I start with it first and then move down in caliber. But it really does not kick much harder than my 30-06, of course I have the walnut stock so a synthetic is going to kick a little more of course. ag

I have a Tikka T3 300 WSM, the recoil with 150 gr bullets is a little worse than a 30-06, but not nearly bad enough to cause flinching. The rifle has an awesome action and is superbly accurate, however the magazine will prevent quick reloads and only holds 3 shells. I will use this on my Whitetail hunt in November though. Overall the rifles are light, this will increase the recoil a little, I have the 24 in barrel , you can get a 22 inch barrel but will sacrifice some accuracy for less weight. AG

Great Buck!! I go up there wood cutting and it seems like the deer are finally recovering. Did you see quite a few deer? That unit was almost entirely hunted out at one time. It is nice to see them coming back. AG

.270 Let me see what the non resident license fees are next year, we might be able to work out a deal!!! AG

I grew up in AZ and now live in NM, still enjoy deer hunting in AZ, as gnoto put it $500 for non residents, is a little steep for a license and now since you have to have one before even applying for a big game tag that would probably keep me from hunting there. It seems some of you hunt deer in NM, I know bullwidgeon has a few times as I saw him in 23 last Nov and saw their parties deer(very nice). So it would be nice if the license and tag costs were equivalent. It would be nice if whatever solution they come up with will be fair for all parties. With people having to pay up front for a license and tag, that will cut down on the nonresidents applying for AZ. I wish NM would go back to that as it does keep the knotheads from applying. So for a transplanted Arizonan I would really like to be able to continue to hunt there and have it be economically feasible, if not I guess I would just have to sell my kids AG

Doug, I had not thought of trying the 180 grain spbt for decreased wind drift, do you have any idea what kind of velocity you are getting with them? I am shooting a TIkka T3, the magazine does limit length on that rifle as well. Thanks AG

Does anyone have any pet loads for the .300 WSM? Pretty new to the gun and am still deciding which loads I am sticking with for the hunt. Will be using 150 gr SP BT as far as bullets go AG

AZ4LIFE It would not surprise me if he was there with them. He was actually qouted the other day saying he was a hunter and he like to sneak a little, track a little and then bag them with his DOUBLE BARRELLED SHOTGUN! This was for deer by the way. You ever tried a double barrel for Coues?(How about Liberals?) AG

I am shelving the trusty old 30-06 this year in favor of a .300 WSM, trying for a little more power at longer range. Should be interesting. If I could only make fur fly like I make dirt fly I would be in good shape. AG

With my luck the BEM's(booger eating morons) will be camped in my spot in the Chiricauhas when I get there this Nov. AG