azslim

I got the nickname Slim when I was in the Marine Corps a few years back. Now I live in Az.

For your meat cooler freeze a case of drinking water bottles, 16 oz, that way your meat isn't soaking in water from ice. A 120 qt cooler will hold a cow elk, have to bone out a bull. Also don't open your meat cooler until you have something to put in it, ice stays longer that way. I pack a boning knife and 4 to 6 pillow cases, send the wife to yard sales to get them, and do the gutless method on game. I put a qtr in each pillow case and use one for backstrap & tl's and one for neck, rib, brisket meat. King size cases are necessary for bull elk, you can get by with 4 for deer. I'll take care of the animal, hang the meat in the shade and head to camp for the pack frame. When you are done you can either wash them up or chuck them and send the wife out yard saleing again. JLG forgot to mention you can use the weed sprayer for a shower, just add hot water. A friend of mine bought a 2 gal stainless steel one and put on a longer hose - it works great for showers. He just sticks it on the burner to heat up the water. I also use hand sanitizer on my feet, arm pits and other stinky spots, then clean up with a diaper wipe. Also have diaper wipes in my pack to clean up after taking care of game or the #1 reason - no monkey butt in the field. A sweat rash 5 miles from the truck is no fun.......

I would not change the rifle into something else, your son will never have another chance to pass on "his grandfathers" rifle to his kids. My oldest daughter killed her first game with her great-grandfathers .270win, the youngest killed hers with her grandmothers .244rem. They plan on passing these guns down to their kids because hunting is not a sport - it is a tradition. If you want to build a rifle for your son start hitting pawn shops, pretty much all you are after for a custom gun is the action and for a couple hundred bucks you will be set.

Hello All. Finally got around to joining as a member instead of just lurking. I work as an EMTB on wildland fires and do a little guiding - make enough guiding to pay for my hunts. I recognize quite a few names from other boards and know a few of you personally. Looking forward to throwing in my 2 cents every now and then. Bill

If you can't save for a few more months to get into upper end glass you may look at Vortex. They make good glass and have a great warranty. And Leupold is coming out with a new spotter this year per the catalog. The Kenai will offer 30x wide angle and 25-80 eye pieces as part of the package to their 80mm objective. Runs around $900 msrp so you can probably find it cheaper. Save for a couple more months and it will be in your price range.