billrquimby

How sad we are to hear this! Jean and I are praying for T.J. and Peg. Bill Quimby

"How long before we hit bottom?".....At precisely 8:45 a.m. on Wednesday the 12th of Never, if you are talking about our elk, deer, antelope, javelina, bear, lion, turkey, bison and bighorn. If you are talking about the loss of hunting itself, it won't happen in the short time I have left but it will be here sooner than you think. .......... Bill Quimby

These were wealthy guys who had become so obsessed with collecting everything that walks that it became a full-time thing with them. They had made six to fourteen major hunts every year for two decades or more on their quests. To them, guns were merely tools, like hammers and shovels. They did not purposely abuse them, but they also did not "baby" them. Their rifles looked like crap because they had been on every conceivable type of airplane and vehicle, as well as on horses, donkeys, camels and yaks, across six continents in every type of weather. Their rifles got more use in two years than an average hunter's rifle gets in two lifetimes. These guys could afford to own 300 different rifles (and a couple of them did), but they each had a favorite and used it on nearly every hunt. In interviewing them for the fourteen books I wrote for those eleven guys, not one mentioned a rifle failing them on a hunt. Equipment failure would not have bothered them as much as it would us, however. They could afford to make as many trips as it took to collect a 15-pound grysbok in Africa or an obscure 500-pound argali subspecies on the roof of the world. My point, though, is that not one of them used a .308 Winchester, and the go-to caliber for everything except large, dangerous game for more than half of them was the 7mm Remington Magnum. Incidentally, I don't know anyone (myself included) who wouldn't like to have too much money for our own good. --- Bill Quimby

I have written biographies and ghostwritten autobiographies for eleven international big game hunters with more hunting experience than everyone on this forum combined. These men had hunted in 50 or more countries for 250 or more different types of animals. It should go without saying they could afford any rifle made. (One of them paid more than $200,000 for a one-of-a-kind double rifle and never fired it.) Not one of them used a .308 Winchester, but six regularly used 7mm Remington Magnums for game up to the size of moose and eland, and one swears by his 7mm Remington Ultra Magnum. All nine of them at one time had used .300 Weatherby Magnums before the 7RM came out in 1962. Not one of them could be called a gun nut. For example, C.J. McEroy, the founder of Safari Club International, used only four rifles in his lifetime of hunting: a .30-06 Remington pump for his first hunt in Kenya and Tanganyika early in his career, then a .300 Weatherby, a Sako .458 Winchester Magnum, and a 7mm RM. All of his rifles looked as if he used them to pound nails, break brush and roll rocks. I doubt if he had cleaned any of them. -- Bill Quimby

In the early 1970s, a train killed several cow elk near Bowie. After that, there were several reports of elk being seen in the Chiricahuas. Bill Quimby

I wish you a speedy recovery, Ernesto, el cazador de venados colas blancas grande. Bill Quimby

Bob: I long ago stopped being excited about shooting a deer, no matter its size, and have no need for more antlers. I was slightly younger than you are now when I stopped measuring the quality of my trophies with tape measures. More importantly, I outgrew my fascination with "trophies" when I realized that if outfitters and governor's permits can't get you a record whatever, there are people who will breed and grow it for you if you have the money. ---- Bill Quimby

After nearly seven decades of hunting in Arizona, several truths have become evident to this old codger: One is that while wildlife management may still be an inexact science, it has come a long way from a century ago when it meant simply catching poachers, killing predators, creating refuges for game to “spill out of,” and protecting female animals and birds. Still another is that our state’s wildlife agency is not our enemy even though its mission is not and should not be to manage wildlife for a minority of trophy hunters. Oops. I almost forgot to mention that hunting and fishing are viewed as anachronisms by an increasingly larger number of voters every year and that we hunters and anglers too often are our own worst enemies. And, finally, we should be careful in what we wish for, because we just might get it. ---- Bill Quimby

"I remember going to Yellowfront as a kid in Lake Havasu loved that store!! Sure do miss the good ole days! " ......... Heck, I remember when there wasn't a Lake Havasu City, and I remember the controversy when it was learned that our State Land Department had sold the land for virtually nothing to the developer. Those were the really good ol' days! ............Oneshot: I apologize for highjacking your thread. Your canteen was a nifty find. ........Bill Quimby

Ahhh, Yellowfront. Bob Hirsch and I did several publishing projects with those stores and sold a lot of maps and booklets in the 1970s. We even sold hunting regulations for a few years by beating Game and Fish to publishing and distributing them. (We had them printed on Sunday, the day after the game commission approved them, and in Yellowfront's stores on Monday, while G&F didn't get theirs out for three weeks.) Yellowfront had a few military surplus items, but it also had lots of new items. It was not like the stores that sold only surplus for the first ten years after WWII. Those stores had a special smell, like mildewed canvas, gun oil, and rust all combined. There would be big piles of stuff everywhere, and you could poke around and find anything from clothing to rocket boxes to airplane compasses to field stoves and nearly everything else that was used in that war. ------ Bill Quimby

Probably from the 1960s. There were military surplus stores in nearly every town in America after World War II, and they sold surplus U.S. Army canteens and just about everything else dirt cheap as long as it lasted. After their military items were depleted, they started selling stuff from Japan. I used a WWII U.S. canteen as well as a canteen like the one in the photo for a while before they started making them in plastic. Aluminum canteens would last forever, but they gave water a funny taste. .... Bill Quimby

"It's a sort of tent/sleeping bag used for backpacking " ........Thank you. I helped a retired Australian hunting outfitter prepare his memoirs for a publisher recently, and he used "bivy" to describe what we would call a "campsite" up here. It was the first time I had heard the word, and your using it makes me wonder about its origin. It is not in my on-line dictionary........Bill Quimby

Pardon my ignorance, but what's a bivy sack? ==== Bill Quimby

I called in two mountain lions a couple of years apart in the early 1960s while using hand calls. Both times, I was so surprised to see a lion that I flubbed the shots. I also used hand calls to call black-backed jackals in South Africa in the 1980s. Predator calling hadn't yet reached that corner of the world, but my South African friends had been reading about it. One of those friends and I went out one night (it was legal) and stood in the back of his truck and set a spotlight so that it was pointed straight up, and we shot jackals when we could see their eyes as they approached. After a leopard circled the truck, I never again called in Africa. This was in what then was Zululand, and it would have been illegal for me to shoot it. There was a quota on leopards and my friend was not a licensed professional hunter. I was relieved that the leopard decided against jumping into the truck with us. They have been known to do that at times.----- Bill Quimby

"I knew they are actually peccaries but they look a lot like a pig and well you know..." ...........Yep, I know. I call them "pigs," too, and I've hunted true wild pigs in Africa and Europe. I like the way you wrapped bacon around your javelina roast. I will try that if I ever hunt them again. --- Bill Quimby

"It was a great pig and it was even better showing these guys the tusks where the Javelina get their name." ,.................. WampusCat: Good story and good photos, but javelinas were named by the conquistadores, the first Europeans to encounter them. It has nothing to do with their tusks, although it would be easy to think it would because of the English word "javelin." ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, In Spanish, the word for wild swine is "jabali," and adding "ina" to it indicates that it is a young or small animal. English speakers have trouble discerning the difference in pronouncing "b" and "v" in Spanish. Thus, "jabalina" became "javelina." Both literally mean "little wild pig" even though javelinas are new world animals called "peccaries" and not pigs. -----Bill Quimby

Nice to know that dealers can replace a lost tag now. In 1993, when I finally drew my desert sheep tag after nearly four decades of applying, it was stolen along with my 3-month-old Chevy Silverado and about $3500 worth of camera equipment, tools, a .357 S&W, and a pair of 10x50 Swarovski binos. I still was writing outdoor stuff for the Tucson Citizen, and I knew just about everyone working for AGFD, As soon as word got around the Tucson office that I wanted a duplicate sheep tag, everyone there appeared at the counter with comments like, "In the entire history of Arizona, no klutz has ever lost a sheep tag. We have no precedent for issuing a duplicate" or "Sorry, just one tag per year per species, We don't issue duplicates to outdoor writers, lawyers, car salesmen, or PETA members." After having lots of fun with me, they finally issued the tag. Bill Quimby

All of the calibers suggested will work, but it would be hard to beat a 7mm Remington Magnum for an all-around rifle for everything in North America except brown and polar bears. The largest moose are not "tough" animals and a 175-grain Nosler Partition will put one down easily if you put it in the kill zone. If recoil is a factor, although the 7RM's is not uncomfortable) you might consider a .270 Winchester with 150-grain bullets for moose and 130 grain bullets for everything else. (Just ask Lark.) I've shot nearly every caliber from .17 to .600 at one time or another, and the recoil of the .300 magnums is at the very upper limit of my comfort level. Bill Quimby

"To each his own I guess.I hunt every chance I get and I don't lie,so I suppose that logic is flawed."................ No. You don't lie. It was the former. You just haven't had the opportunity to hunt that much. Even you have admitted that you might miss one day.........By the way, the operative word in "missing 5, 10 times in a row" is "missing."...............Bill Quimby ..........

"But I've been around many excellent shooters in my life,including guides,military trained snipers,even a PH from south Africa...and never have I seen ANYBODY demonstrate that they consistantly (9 of 10)could hit an erratically moving target(coues lung and heart sized) offhand at 100 yards. Not even close." ................................Have you considered that military-trained snipers do not practice shooting moving targets offhand? I have hunted with many guides and professional hunters in a dozen countries on six continents. Several were excellent shots, but they grew up hunting dangerous game in countries other than comparatively safe South Africa.................... We can debate the meaning of the word "consistently," but we should be able to agree that, with modern rifles, a little Coues whitetail does not need to be hit in the lungs or heart to kill it, and shots that break bone anywhere except a lower leg will put it down for a follow-up shot............. Incidentally, of the 200 or more big game animals I've taken, I have wounded and lost only three. That is three too many, of course, but I do not hunt to decorate my walls. I hunt because I must and I will hunt until I can't. ....... I will repeat what I said earlier. Anyone who says he has never missed an animal hasn't hunted enough or is lying. To that I will add that the same applies to wounding and losing an animal. For those who have shot only a few standing or bedded animals, it is the former........Bill Quimby

Darn! I hate the way everything I post on this site appears in one paragraph, no matter home many times I hit the return (paragraph indent key). Now, all of my quotation marks and apostrophes are missing. What's next? ..............Bill Quimby

This thread got me to thinking just how many animals I have killed while shooting offhand, and whether they were running or not. Its hard to remember the details or everything Ive shot in 66 years of hunting big game animals, but heres what I remember about my first of each of the ten Arizona species. ................... MULE DEER -- I was 12 and killed my first buck with my fourth shot as it ran uphill 150 yards away. Offhand, open sights........................ JAVELINA -- I was 12 and it was running through ocotillos straight away from me. One shot, offhand, open sights............ COUES WHITETAIL -- I was 19. It was standing about 80 yards below me. One shot, offhand, 2,5X scope.............. . PRONGHORN -- I was 20 and missed four offhand shots as it stood watching me from 80 yards away. It was running when my fifth shot killed it. Offhand, 4X scope............ ELK -- I was 20 and it was standing about 125 yards below me. One shot, offhand, 4X scope. ............ BISON -- I was 21. About 30 yards, two shots to put it down. I was sitting with my elbows on my knees. 4X scope ............. TURKEY -- I was 21. It was running through grass straight away. 50 yards. with a .270, one shot, offhand, 4X scope. ........... BLACK BEAR -- I was 30. It was in a tree, 40 feet up, I hit it five times with a .357 Mag and once with a .44 Mag. From a rest, revolvers. .......... MOUNTAIN LION -- I was maybe 35. It was fighting dogs. I jumped onto the ledge and shot it at 15 feet. One shot, offhand, open sights. ............. DESERT BIGHORN. I was 57. It was running when I hit it twice with two shots at 35 and 45 yards. My left arm was in a cast, so I shot one-handed, 3-9X scope at 3X. ,,,,,,,,,,,,, The point of this post is not to brag, but to say that If I had not fired a shot unless I had a perfect rest, 80% of my Big Ten animals would not now be decorating my home and cabin.......... I was fortunate to have grown up in a different era than most of you, and I had lots of practice shooting moving targets offhand as a youngster. Seeing a 9-year-old kid riding a bicycle with a BB gun or .22 rifle on his handlebars in the 1940s did not result in someone calling a cop, and it didn't take long to ride to where I could safely shoot. ............ With a BB gun in our backyard, starting at about age 7 or 8, I clobbered literally thousands of scurrying ants and shot at maybe a thousand vanilla wafers that we tossed into the air like skeet targets. (I may have hit 100 at most, but it did teach me to keep a rifle swinging on a moving target.)....... I cant tell you how many thirty-cent boxes of .22 ammo I shot at moving creatures on the outskirts of Yuma before I bought my first Arizona hunting license and deer tag ($5 total) at age 12, but it was a considerable number............. Bill Quimby

"Even if someone could make that moving offhand shot 1 out of 3 like you say,those odds are way below what I consider an ethical shot." 100%DIYazCOUES: ........................... Please read again what I wrote. I said that several countries require hunters to hit a 100-yard target the size of a paper plate offhand at least once out of three shots before they are issued a license. That target is stationary. The moving target is the kill zone of a European moose, which is considerably larger than a paper plate. ........ "Ethical hunting is difficult to define because it differs from place to place. In southern Africa, for example, hunting with a rifle anywhere near water or from a blind except for lion or leopard is considered unethical. (Some hard-core ethical African sportsmen frown on ambushing any animal from a blind, and believe even the cats must be tracked to where they are bedded.) Throughout Europe, bears are baited and shot from blinds at night. In some southern U.S. states, running deer with dogs is legal and considered ethical. While baiting any Arizona big game animal is illegal (and therefore unethical), it is the only way bears are hunted in other areas......... Such differences are why I define ethical hunting as actions that are accepted by the majority of hunters in a particular area. ............. Your personal standards of ethics are to be admired, but they by no means are shared by the majority of Arizonas hunters, judging by all those multiple shots that are heard all over this state every hunting season............ Be that what it may, what I was trying to say is that for those who practice shooting offhand at standing and running targets, such shots can be made consistently. The same can be said for those who assemble the proper equipment and practice a lot so they can shoot 500 to 700 yards or more at live animals. ....... Practice at either endeavor can make a shooter capable of making such shots with an acceptable rate of misses. .......... However, just as you are convinced that shooting offhand at standing or running animals at modest ranges is unethical, there are many who believe that until wind drift can be accurately predicted for every shot under every condition, long-range shooting falls into the same category. Bill Quimby

"I gotta disagree bill.I have taken an offhand shot at a big game animal only once,25 yards at a still javelina.I know I can make that shot and it was a heart shot. But I'd never take a 100 plus yard offhand shot,especially at a running animal.unless you're a world class shooter,which I certainly am not,that's an extremely low percentage,unethical shot.we are talkin one out of 20 for a clean kill at least!lI'd never disrespect the animal like that. I'm sure there are people on here that'll say they can make that shot consistently and ethically.I call serious bs on that,its all ego speaking. " .... ... ... If you cannot consistently hit the kill zone of a deer at 100 yards while shooting offhand, you need to practice. Start by removing your rifle's sling and try dry firing for 15 minutes a day for a couple of weeks before moving on to live ammo, then shoot 200 or more shots at a 14-inch circle. For practice on running game, try shooting jackrabbits out to 150 yards. To hit a running animal with a rifle, you need to get the horizontal crosshair on the animal and force yourself to keep that rifle moving in front of it, just as you would a shotgun. In some countries, hunters must place at least one out of three offhand shots into a 100-yard target the size of a paper plate before they are licensed to hunt game. At least one country requires hunters to hit the kill zone of a moose-size moving target. When we competed in the metalicas siluetas league in Sonora in the early 1960s, we fired 40 to 60 rounds of centerfire ammo offhand every week at smaller-than-deer targets from 200 to 500 meters away. Killing deer-sized game offhand at 100-200 yards was not a problem. Age and lack of practice has caught up to me, but I would not pass up a 50-75 yard offhand broadside shot at a running deer or antelope today, especially if it was running from right to left. Bill Quimby

Anyone who says he has never missed an animal has not hunted much or he is lying. I missed the lion in my avatar at 30 YARDS at first light, but easily killed it when it returned to the bait at sundown. The cause of my miss had nothing to do with any of the three things elkaholic listed. As for not shooting when no solid rest is available, hunters need to practice shooting offhand. Some of my best animals were taken when I suddenly encountered them running broadside or straight away at 50 to 100 yards. They gave me no opportunity to do anything except throw up my rifle and kill them. Bill Quimby