Coach

I want to thank each of you deeply for your responses here. There is so much wisdom in all of them - I really appreciate you all taking the time to share so much.

My youngest son, Josh got his first Javi last year just after his 10th birthday. This year he did it again making a perfect 1-shot kill at 132 yards. We headed out early yesterday to a familiar spot that has been productive in the past. My oldest son, Matt came to help with the glassing. After a short ranger ride we split up and started looking. Josh and I went to one area, and Matt climbed a ridge that would give him a good view of the canyons we couldn't see from our area. Right off the bat Josh and I were seeing coues deer all over, including a couple nice bucks but the pigs weren't where I was hoping they would be. We started making a circle to continue glassing canyons and meet up with Matt. We found a few more coues, including a nice 3x3 buck that should be really good next year, but still no javelina. We eventually met up with Matt and started working down a long ridge glassing both sides. As the morning wore on, we were surprised to have looked over so much country without finding any pigs to go after. As Josh and I discussed what we should do next, Matt continued to glass back into some of the hills we had been watching all morning. Just as Josh and I were ready to move on and look at new country, Matt says, "I got em!". Matt is 15 and I've been taking him hunting since he was 5. As with all young hunters he went through the phase where there are a lot of "false spots", for lack of a better term. But lately he has become a glassing machine. Literally all of the last 3 hard-to-find herds, he found with just decent binocs after I had passed them over with my swaros. He's definately out-glassing dad these days and really has a knack for finding game. I can only imagine what he'll do when I finally get him some better glass to work with. At first all we saw was a lone sow with a red, but we knew the rest of the herd was close by. We repositioned, started working the finger and found the rest of the herd moving in and out of thicker cover below where the first pigs were located. Josh and I made a plan based on wind and terrain to get in position for a shot. To me, this is the really awesome part about teaching kids to hunt - you really break it all down for them. We discussed how the pigs were calm and seemed to be staying in one place, what areas they might move to if the wind changed, how we would plan the stalk, right down to getting to a place we could shoot from. Where these pigs were located was kind of a tricky spot - there were lots of little canyons everywhere leading into one big wash. We had to be above them, and downwind but I knew once we were in range, we would be closer to eye-level and they would be hard to find. If we weren't careful we could walk right into them. After about a 40 minute stalk, Josh and I were getting pretty close. The wind was swirling some, and the area we had seen the javis in just looked like a thick mass of brush and cactus. He was sure we were too far past them, but I was sure they were just ahead of us. I was in contact with Matt on the radio, but from his vantage point we looked further away than we actually were. We had choose whether to move on in or sit tight until we saw one to get our bearings. The wind was right, the pigs were totally relaxed, and eventually we finally see one just 130 yards away. If we had pushed too hard, we would have been too close, and likely bumped them. Josh extended the bipod and and got settled for the shot. The next few minutes we watched the javis move in and out of sight - being extremely careful to locate the sow with the piglet to avoid accidentally shooting her. It seemed for a while we might have to re-position a little higher up, but all of a sudden, one of the herd walked back into the opening we were watching. Josh was set, and asked, "I've got it - is it OK to shoot?". I tell him when he is comfortable take the shot. Boom! The pig drops in its tracks. The rest of the herd bristles up, and checks out the downed pig trying to figure out what is going on, but we can tell it's "game over". As we arrive to find Josh's javi dead on the spot, I got on the radio with Matt to let him know we've got the pig down. He says, "Dad, they just went a little way up the hill - blow your call and see what they do" So I pull out the j-13 and start ripping on it. Matt replies, "Here they come!". Sure enough, as Josh and I are standing there out in the open, pigs start rushing in from everywhere. We've got one coming right at us at 30, 15, 10 finally 7 yards before he sees us and veers off. Another is behind us at only 4 yards and a third is about 10 yards away, but also veering off. I stop calling on the j13 and start woofing. We literally have pigs puffed up and cicling around us inside 20 yards for what seemed like forever but was probably only 30 seconds or so. Either way, it was awesome to have such an exiting climax to an awesome youth hunt. I've really got to hand it to Josh - he's barely 11 and now has 2 javi's and 1 turkey under his belt. He still relies on dad and brothers to get him in the right place, but when it's time to get it done, he is calm under pressure and makes the shot. He's got 2 pigs over 120 yards, and 1 turkey - all one shot, perfect placement. Here's Josh with his piggie. It was HUGE, maybe the biggest sow I have ever seen... Parting shot...

I read his book from cover to cover. Like I said before, this man is a true American patriot and hero.

It was definately all Ravens the first half, and then that huge return for a TD in the second half. Amazing how the momentum changed after the power outage - the Niners were definately within striking distance. I didn't have a favorite going in, but I'm not a fan of anything coming out of San Fran, so I was happy with the the outcome.

Keep at it! If there's one good thing about a slump, it's looking forward to breaking out of it. Hunt as much as you can, try to learn something new each time you go out, and things will turn around for you.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Kyle's family. He was indeed a true American hero, and I hope his legacy will inspire more like him. I know nothing about his shooter, but I imagine he was suffering. It's just like Kyle to take this guy under his wing. How very sad that it turned out this way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn7bkncf1_E&feature=youtu.be

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Absolutely. I love the character up top.

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.