Coach

Thanks guys. Toby, it was a 22-250.

Wow, that is awesome! Great job to the kids. From experience, I know it takes a lot of hard work on the part of the mentors to create the kind of opportunity you guys had. Great job, and kudos getting those kids out ther hooked on something that will stick with them. You rock.

Well done Chayse, and great job dad getting him out in the field and making it happen.

Hey Toby, nice write up and congrats to Cristal on a great looking boar. I sure do enjoy reading stories like this about families hunting together and youth hunters getting to experience such a memorable experience. Nicely done.

+1, this site is the best. I absolutely love the community that has been created here and always look forward to seeing what is being posted daily.

Yes! This exactly what enacting states' rights was intended.

Nice job. Congrats on a first piggie.

Right now is the wrong time to buy bulk .223 ammo, high-cap mags or stripped AR lowers. Prices have never been higher, right along with demand. The demand is based purely on speculation, and realistically speaking, the looming bans on all these items will fail. There is not even enough support in the Democratically controlled Senate to push these plans to the Republican-dominated House, where they would surely be shot down, if they ever made it that far. Sit tight, wait for the current frenzy to subside, and retailers and wholesalers will be overstocked. We've seen this before, when Obama was first elected. This time it's a little different because he has pledged his "full weight" behind gun, magazine and ammo restrictions. But unless he does so by executive order, he has to get through both houses of congress, which is... well "highly unlikely" is an understatement. I honestly believe within a year AR lowers will return to the $100 medial price range, high-cap magazines will return to the $12-$20 price range and bulk .223 ammo will be much closer to the $.33/round we're used to seeing. Today, it's a seller's market and $80 lowers are going for over $300. $13 PMags are selling for $70-$100, and bulk ammo is double to triple what we saw just a few months ago, if you can get it. Every company that produces, procures or redistributes the items that are included in the pending legislation are working 24/7 to fill their warehouses. In the likely event that the current hype recedes, there will be a surplus of these items, and prices will return to what they were 3 months ago, maybe lower.

Nice job, and huge congrats on her first deer.

Mixed feelings on this one. #1, he should have made sure his record was cleared. #2, the background check should have caught this before the transfer took place The good news is, he wasn't hauled off to jail with yet another felony on his record. I'm all for law-abiding citizens owning guns, and some of the gray areas surrounding past felony convictions or often "trivial" restraining orders (mad x-girlfriend gets a restraining order just to pi$$ you off) can get muddy. That said, I'd rather see the enforcement efforts going into the kind of follow-up that took place. He does have a felony record, and until *officially* expunged, he can't vote, can't own weapons etc.

Awesome buck, and huge congrats to the hunter.

Man, I just keep re-reading the story. What an amazing buck! Huge congrats. I've watched your posts here for a long time, and they are always fun to read, but this one really stands out. Great story, and awesome photos throughout. Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy. Nicely done.

I usually hate to gloat over sports that I had nothing to do with, but after all the trash talk from ASU, it was awesome to see them get spanked so hard today by my Alma Mater. Great Job, Wildcats!

No problems there, firstcoues, I spent 5 years at UofA and launched a great career out of it. IMO, it's usually the devil fans that never actually never stepped a foot in an ASU classroom.

elkaholic, everything you posted is true. But I disagree with your premise that the drugs were the cause. In every single instance you posted, there is a mentally ill person. They wouldn't have been on these medications if they weren't diagnosed as mentally ill. These are the cases where every attempt had been made. The person at risk was properly diagnosed, the medication was made available. I'm not saying this to be combative or call you out in any way. I live in a home where ADHD, certain medications, in a way dictate our life. I could easily be one of those parents stabbed to death or beaten with a baseball bat in my sleep. It's one thing to recognize that all of these episodes occurred by people under the various medications you described. You could easily draw a correlation between the meds and the subsequent behavior. In reality, it isn't that simple. Every case you cited was a mentally instable person harming someone else. The fact that they were prescribed anti-depressants and other drugs didn't cause them to act out, IMO. In every scenario you laid out, there is a mentally ill person who has been identified as a threat (pre-requisite to the drugs they are on) and was failed to be treated properly. I don't want to get too far off on a tangent here, but the way things really work is this. If you are hurt, you can go to the emergency room. If you have insurance, you'll pay a co-pay, then get treated. If you are mentally ill, even if your or your parents have "top tier" insurance, you won't be seen. The kinds of places that handle mental illness are NOT COVERED BY INSURANCE. They can cost 40-50K per 4 week evaluation. There's a huge gap in our medical "industry" at this point. Obama-care doesn't bridge it either, despite the costs. Mental illness is not even considered in your typical "paid-by-employer" package, and Obama care doesn't solve it either. Bottom line is this - we have an entire generation of mentally instable people, dependent on medication to make them feel "normal". Each and every one of them is a tinder box ready to explode.

A little late to chime in, but +1 on the Savage. I've seen some "dirt poor" savages in .223 with cheap optics that shoot at the level of some high dollar bench rigs on prarie dogs. I'm talking $350 including the scope, that flat-out shoot like a lazer beam. If you could see more than an inch of the p-dog at 350 yards or less, it was toast - every time.

The only issue I've ever had was due to payment. I sold a gun on Gunbroker and the buyer bought a money order from his small town bank. My bank didn't recognize the MO and flagged it as potentially fraudulent. In the end, it all worked out. I sent the firearm to reputable FFL, and he refused to release it until the banks got together to verify the validity of the payment. BUT, and here's the big BUT - my bank was extremely sensitive to the money order, and informed me that I could be held liable if I accepted it before they conducted a full investigation. So, what I learned, is the safest way to do one of these transfers is to use USPS money orders to protect yourself and the buyer. Check out this link. http://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/gunsamerica-endorses-usps-as-exclusive-form-of-non-credit-card-payment/

savagman, I respectfully disagree. If ever there was a time to stand up and show your face, the time is now. Don't show up armed or acting like a vigilante, just make your presence known. Look at the broad picture here. Weeks ago, something aweful happened. Something you or I could not prevent, and all we can do is try to understand, then look at how this isolated incident is being used. More "kids" in Chicago die in a normal weekend than died at Sandy Hook. More kids have died from the flu in the last 8 weeks, than at Sandy Hook. More kids die in pool drownings and bee stings annually than Sandy Hook. Why, then does this single event attempt to change minds? You can't believe what you are told, and you owe it to your family to look past the hyperbole. The truth is right before your eyes, my friend.

loco4coues and Amanda, awesome visuals. The vitals on Javis are relatively small, as you have shown. As anyone on this forum knows, I'm a huge fan of Javi hunting, but it seems a lot get hit badly and lost, as they sometimes don't bleed like a deer, or even if they do bleed, they can cover a huge amount of country once wounded. I recently tracked a hit Javi for close to 3 miles. At times there was good blood, other times nothing but tracks until the next blood spot turned up. It was probably the longest tracking job I ever took on, and at about the 3rd mile in, when we were sure the pig would be hunkered under the next bush. We found the spot on top of a ridge where he/she rolled in soft dirt and clogged the bleeding wound. We found only one more place where a single hoof scuffed a rock with blood. In all my years hunting Javelina, most "hard hit" don't move very far, even when the herd takes off. This time, it was like tracking an elk. It just kept going and going. Those who have been hand-and-knees following the smallest blood drop know, there is a point at which you know you're either right on it, or the wounded animal is no longer in shock, it's fully aware that it's hurt and fully aware that it is being followed. It just keeps moving and when the time comes, it instinctively knows to use dirt as a coagulant. If there is something to learn here, it's shot placement. Javi's have a small "kill zone" and they are very protected by bone and hide. A well placed shot will result in a short tracking job. A poorly placed shot will often result in a long tracking job and ultimately a lost animal that will probably die from the wound. Javi's aren't as hardy as elk and deer. I've seen photos of elk and deer with broadheads and bullets inside them that have been callused over. I saw an elk once that had an arrow embedded between then neck and inside the ribcage. The entire left lung was collapsed and the arrow was covered in fat and flesh. Similarly, I have shot deer and found pieces of branch and thorn so deeply embedded, that they couldn't be expelled, but the tissue just grew around them and isolated the area to avoid further muscle damage and blood loss.

Still cleaning out my office and I have some things people might want. They're too good to toss, too old to sell. If you want them, they are yours. The hard part is, I'm in Lakeside (Show Low) area, and this time I'm not shipping. 1 Moultrie trail cam 2 Wildview trail cams 1 DIY trail cam made from a Pelican box with PixController board and 2 Olympus Camedia D360L Cameras 1 Sony CCD TRV112 video camera in Video8 with cords batteries, case, etc. 1 Linksys wireless-G game adapter If you want this stuff, let's make arrangements for local pick-up.

Man that was awesome!!! What a great job Kaela, and nice job on the video and whoever was "woofing" them in.

Well, I haven't had a chance to get the pictures off my camera yet, and TOTALLY failed to get a picture of Matt's first archery Javi, so for now the story will have to do. The whole family headed out Wednesday night for a long weekend of hunting javis. My oldest son, Matt was hoping to get his first ever with a bow. He's got 2 or 3 now with a rifle, and wanted to use his bow last year, but it just didn't work out. We set up camp Wednesday night and the wind was howling. We got up early and went to our first glassing spot, and it was super cold and windy. As the sun started to finally light up the hillsides, Matt says "I got 'em" and sure enough he outglassed dad and found the first herd. Honestly, as windy as it was, they were in the last place I expected them to be, right out in the open. Matt grabbed his bow and rangefinder and went after them. Having hunted Javelina for years, to me this was a 10-15 minute stalk. But Matt has been getting mentally ready for this for so long, he didn't leave anything to chance. Once he left me, I kept an eye on the pigs and tried to track his progress... 20 minutes pass, 45, and hour...I'm wondering where in the world he is. The pigs are still relaxed, so that's good, but I'm thinking he should have shot a long time ago. After it had been an hour and a half, I didn't want to call him on the radio and mess him, up, but I was starting to get worried a little. I grab my pack and bow and take a hard angle downwind and move back toward the pigs. Just as I get in range, I hear Matt on the radio - Dad, I just double lunged, come on in... I had to laugh, as I was looking at his pig bedded about 40 yards away. I snuck on in and had another one feeding below at around 35 yards. I waited patiently for it to turn broadside, drew, shot and hear the whack of a solid hit. The whole herd gets up now and I've got pigs from 15 - 30 yards all around me, but I felt my first shot was good, especially with the sound. The pigs eventually vacated, and we went to claim our "double". Turns out, my arrow was sticking out of the dirt right below where this pig was standing - no blood, no hair - a complete miss. I consider myself pretty accurate, especially at that range, but let's just say I was totally humbled. We continuned to hunt the rest of the day, found another group, but with nobody to guide us in we spooked them without ever knowing it. Late in the afternoon, we headed up a road and saw a single boar going over a little ridge right off the road. We started stalking in a circle around where we had last seen him, and found two pigs right below us in the wash. A quick change of approach and we are now about 25 yards away and busted by the "boss" boar. It's really thick and we can see him taking the herd out of there. I start blowing the Javi call, since they are clearly onto us. Now, I've used this call many times, and 9 times out of 10, it has little effect, sometimes, the dominant boar will come back. As soon as I started blowing this call, the entire herd puffed up and started running and bouncing right at us. Time for rookie mistake #2 of the day, I've got a pig 12 yards away in a tree with a little opening. I shoot, think - OK this time I've got him, only to find my arrow broke in half before ever reaching him. Once again - I'm feeling like a dummy. After that shot I had pigs in every direction from 12 - 30 yards but didn't shoot because I thought I had hit. Once again, no blood, no hair, just a broken arrow because I wasn't patient enough. I have to admit though, having all those pigs come crashing in...my adreneline was pumping. But it was a bad call to take the shot I did. I thought I could do it, but all it takes is one limb. So Day 1 is done, Matt has his first Javi back at camp and skinned in the dark. Day 2, we head back out. Pretty much every herd I know to hunt was chased out of the country yesterday. This time, my middle son Nick is with us. We hit all the standard spots and turn up nothing. So around 11 we hike into an area we have only seen from far, but figure there should be some pigs in there somewhere. About a mile or so in, we're up on a hill looking at some awesome country - no pigs. There's a huge knob way off in the distance where I had hunted with a friend a long time ago and he killed a nice buck in there. We decided to cut the heaviest darn tree in the area to make a pole and carry it out - just dumb kids learning to hunt. But as I talked about the story, Matt says, "Dad, you've got to look at this, I think I've got pigs." Sure enough, Matt finds a herd at least another mile in. It's mid-day, hot and the pigs are waaaay over there, and even if we do get to them, it's gonna be a LONG hike out. But hey, we're here, why not make a move? We watch them move over the ridge and start our move. I figure it will be 45 minutes to an hour before we can get to the last place we saw them. Sure enough, we get over there, and really start sneaking to relocate the herd. On the next finger over, I see them feeding and start working up the ridge into the wind. Then I hear the "WOOF". At least 2 stayed behind on this ridge and I had one broadside at 40 yards but before I could draw, a closer one that I could only see once it started running took off. The one I was watching followed. Back now to the main herd - about 200 yards off on the lower part of a steep finger. I get the boys back on the radio, tell them I'm going after them and start the stalk. Given how long it took to get to them from the first time Matt saw them, this last part seemed pretty quick. I had the wind, but it was a fairly open hillside. I drop down a steep, thick hill and start moving toward a Palo Verde I had picked out just above them. When I knew I was close, I started really taking my time - one small step, pause, repeat. Eventually, I see the tops of backs moving in front of me around 50 yards away. One step at a time, I narrow it down to around 35 yards, the 30, then 28...Finally I'm inside my "comfort zone", and know there is no way I'll miss. I've got 2 pigs in range and one of them makes the mistake of waking uphill and into an opening. I draw, settle my pin and loose the arrow. It found it's mark and the pig only went five yards and started making circles. The rest of the herd started puffing up and running around me, but I knew it was done. Whew, long story, lots of fun chasing pigs. I'll add a picture of the boar I shot.

Man that is just flat-out awesome. You guys did amazingly well. Great job.

Keep in mind, there are a huge number of shops with the license and equipment to mill out mil-spec AR lowers, and I guarantee you they are all working around the clock with the intention of producing as many "grandfathered" lowers as they can. I can't say prices will drop, but these guys saw what happened in '04 and let's just say, those with the means are basically printing money right now. You gotta hand it to Obama and Biden, if ever anyone who ever even thought about buying an AR15 is buying not just one, but as many as they can get, that time is now. I can only imagine how many shops have stopped everything else, just to get as many lowers or hi-cap mags in their inventory as possible. Way back in WWII, when Japan was considering an armed invasion, a Japanese general stated (paraphrase) that attacking America on its on soil would be be pointless because there would be a man with a rifle behind every blade of grass. IMO, that's what the founders wanted, and I'm proud to be one of those armed men.

Awesome TJ, what a great write up. It's like we're all with you every step. I want to commend you on being so aware of the nursing mothers with reds. There's a lot I love and respect about you, your awareness, respect for Javis and patience, are right up there. What a great story - and who better deserving of another intense javelina hunt?