Coach

Nice! I did my Rock River up with some Magpul goodies and an ER Shaw barrell, YHM floated 4 rail fore end, Aimpoint Comp ML dot and a nice foregrip. I see you bought a nice higher end magpul stock. Nothing pulls it all together better than the Magpul PMag with the window...you know you wanna show it! Nice rig. My other upper is the RRA 16" stainless bull barrel with a Pentax scope. Sure do love the versatility of an AR.

Nicely done, Allison and Joe! Huge congrats on a first pig and an awesome family outing. Thanks for taking us along!

March 23rd 3:00 PM.

I wonder if AZG&F would entertain the idea of soliciting hunters with the equipment to doze around these tiny ranches blocking access to huge amounts of public land. I know several hunters who own construction equipment that would probably donate their time and resources. I'm not talking about anything shady - something done completely in accordance with the law, that doesn't leave AZG&F trying to foot the bill for all these easements. I bet a lot of sportsmen and women would be glad to donate money as well to get legal access. I know I would. Food for thought, anyway.

This is certainly not meant as a reflection on Doug or Cameraland, but the math here just doesn't add up. I know this is a Swarovski corporate incentive, not something Cameraland devised. But.... $700.00 for a 10x42 SLC-neu $850.00 for an 8.5x42 EL $900.00 for a 10x42 EL Anybody can sell those same binoculars on ebay or any hunting site for a lot more than that. Am I missing something? Heck, I'd take out a loan and buy as many used sets of swaros at those prices as I could get my hands on. The 10x42 SLC-Neu typically sell used for at least 1K, and 10x42 ELs go for $1400 - $1600 regularly on ebay.

Wow, holy smokes. There are some amazing goats on that video. Great job, and thanks for sharing that!

Yeah Cade, I actually found your first post to be sincere - not wanting your business to get dragged into this mess based on the comments made by a co-owner. I've since then become a little more passionate about this issue. Quite frankly, I think this is one of those "You're with us or you're against us" moments. This topic is too important to plead the 5th or sit it out and see whether this harms or benefits you. This is one you have to get informed about and pick a side. I have chosen my side, which is to oppose this bill and any future versions of it. I won't do business in any way with anyone who either sides with this bill, or has an active career centered around hunting and doesn't overtly oppose it. No time or room for fence turtles on this one.

Good idea. I found it interesting how many "Newbie" posters came out of the woodwork. Not to mention how many emails I've gotten from ADA and SWF asking for my opinion. The latter was especially interesting as it was linked to a "survey" conducted by SWF that was eerily similar to the one AZGFD did a while back. You guys remember this: Q: Would you like to have more opportunity to hunt in AZ? A: Well, duh, of course! And look what happened. Massive tag over-allocation, hunt restructuring to put literally thousands of hunters on top of eachother at the times they would be least likely to even see a deer - even if there weren't 50 other guys on every ridge. Rut hunts gutted to the point that drawing a late December coues tag is about as likely as drawing a 13B Muley tag. Now SFW took a page right out of the "dirty trick" playbook and mass-emailed anyone they thought would take their overtly biased "Survey"... The further this thing goes, the more obvious it becomes that this is a sham - an attempt to get you and I OUT OF THE WAY of the "real hunters" that have lots of money, hire top-name guides and really believe that THEY have more rights to hunt Arizona than us low-life, paycheck-to-paycheck rednecks do. I sure hope we get enough people fired up to tell them where they can take their Utah-modeled pay-to-play hunting model and shove it.

Awesome Lance, that is some beautiful country. I haven't been back there in some time, but it will always hold a special place in my heart. Thanks for sharing your adventure.

PAC 12 tourney, that means NOTHING to ASU or their fans. They could lose every game of the year except against UofA and still call the season a success. Go figure.

That is fascinating, to say the least. My day-to-day job is software engineering, and we’re constantly adapting to the ways people use technology. It’s mostly centered around meeting their expectations. The problem is we're constantly asking them to tell us how they think things should work. The whole philosophy these guys are using to make software learn from people is 100% counter to the “old-school” approach, and looks to me like a foundation for some truly ground-breaking achievements. Thanks for sharing this.

Wow, that's a healthy looking bass right there. Great job.

Wow, outstanding trip. Thanks for sharing it with us!

June, you dissin' the "golden child"? LOL.

Nice reply TriClawps - very professional and to the point. Count me as a potential future customer. Great idea, by the way. I started trying to garage-shop my own, but it would be too heavy. Gonna have to ask the wife and kids for one for my birthday. Good hunting, Coach.

Carl got my reply this morning.

Hey guys, we had a heck of a youth hunt going 4 for 4 with my two older boys and two buddy's daughters getting their pigs. This year, my youngest son, Josh, turned 10 on Jan 28th - a little late to put him in for the youth hunt so I had to put him in for the general hunt so we'd be sure to get his field day in. Josh has been chomping at the bit to finally have a tag of his own, and he's gone along on all his brothers' hunts. Finally it was his turn this weekend. We set up camp Thursday night and were up by 5:30 on Friday - he was ready to go. I haven't been hunting during the general season for quite some time, so I was surprised to see how many other hunters were out. We got to our glassing spot early, but there was a truck parked just a little bit down the road, so I figured there was no sense glassing where these guys were probably hunting. We head down the road a bit to where I intended to hike in a ways and get away from the roads. As soon as we hit the top of the first hill, I see some javi's moving off a hillside into a drainage but coming right toward us. In hind-sight, we could have just sat tight and they would have come right to us, but I wasn't sure if they would hit the drainage and go up or down, or continue to us, so we busted tail off the hill and started sneaking to the edge of the drainage. Well, of course as soon as we get about 10 yards from the edge, the whole herd is right there coming straight at us. The one in front must have seen me duck and motion to Josh to get down because they came up a little to our right, just behind some bushes and cactus. I could see them clearly at 15 yards, but Josh just couldn't get one lined up as they moved in and out of cover. They worked their way past us before we could get a shot, and the wind was now unfavorable, so we backed out and circled around trying to get ahead of them. As we approached the top of the hill where we had first spotted them, they spooked slightly and ran single file through an opening. Again, Josh wasn't in position for a shot (first hunt ever, bless him). This time they seemed a little more spooked and were heading into some thicker brush, so I thought we were probably out of luck and would have to find another herd. However, we continued to sneak over to where we last saw them and just sat tight for a while to see if we could hear or see them again. Finally, I catch them on the next ridge over working through a wash into a bedding area I had found during the youth hunt. I point them out to Josh and tell him it's going to be a little longer shot than we had planned, but they were relaxed and we had plenty of time to set up. We work down to an opening where we can shoot across the canyon and extend the bipod. We picked out the pig he was shooting for and I told him when he felt comfortable to squeeze the shot. BOOOOM! Thwack!!!! When he shot I kind of jerked my binocs so I didn't see the hit, but I sure heard it. He whispers, "Dad, I got him!" I find the pig again and sure enough he was hit hard - he laid down, then stood up, and started walking in circles. I could see blood on his nose so I knew it was a good hit. I had Josh set up for a follow-up shot, but could tell the second shot missed as he tried to follow the herd out of there. We busted down the hill and over to where he was hit. I was a little nervous - sometimes those little buggers are tough and don't give you much of a blood trail, and this was some thick stuff. There was good blood where he was hit and I started following the trail to see where he went. Well, turns out he only made it about 10 feet. Josh's hit was a little low but clipped lung, and the boar was still alive, but immobile. We put a finishing shot in to make sure he didn't suffer, and it was done. Josh took his first pig less than a month after his 10th birthday. Whew - I can't tell how much pressure that took off dad. LOL. Funny part is, we had these pigs at 10, 12, 15 and 30 yards during the stalk and couldn't get a clean shot. The shot Josh made was 154 yards sitting on a rock with a harris bipod - pretty impressive shot for a 10 year old, IMO. BTW, Thanks to Mark for loaning us the perfect "pig rig" his Ruger m70 in 22-250 and for loading up some great rounds. I know, too much story, too few pix, so here are the pictures... We have a tradition where before each kid's first javi hunt, I draw a javelina target to practice on... Blood at the point of impact... Josh with his pig... Dad & Son shot... One more...

If I'm not mistaken, there is still a youth Unit 1 turkey hunt this Spring. Not to derail your thread in any way, gotcoues, and if there is ANYTHING I can do to help out the youth hunters in your camp, I'm there. I just want to make sure nothing happened that I'm not aware of WRT some youth hunts in Unit 1 for turkey. I've got 3 unit 1 youth bird tags I hope to help out with.

I know we all thought this was dead, but obviously the big names and big money behind it aren't going to give up without a fight. Time to pull off the kid gloves and tell every "sportsman's group", club and legislator exactly what we think of it. Not one dollar to your club or one vote if you let this P.O.S. legislation see the light of day in Arizona. The people of Arizona know where they stand on this, now it's time to make your voice heard.

Always happens on my kids' Spring Break, when I'm far from cell service. 3 more weeks at least.

I'm no photoshop expert but that looks a lot like Obama's birth certificate. Just sayin' Actually, I do spend a lot of time in photoshop, and it doesn't take much to see how unnatural the lines are around the cat. It reminds me a lot of the picture of the lion sneaking up on a guy posing with his elk kill. I've seen variations of this where there are several lions behind him, and a chupacabra.

I've got this exact model - bump for a very good tripod. I sure like mine. It is a tad heavy for hiking, but for a spotting scope it's perfect. Also, when you're bouncing from place to place it's nice to have a good steady 'pod you can set up fast and stand behind, even with heavy optics, it's hard to beat.

Looks like one brookie in there. I used to LOVE ice fishing Sunrise. I'd catch a whole bunch of brookies back then and bring them home and smoke 'em. Closest thing we have up here to smoked salmon. The 'bows on the other hand, I just can't eat. Still would be fun to take the boys up if the action is hot.

There are college sports going on right now??? Wow, I must have missed the memo, while waiting for baseball season to arrive.

Awesome job, Ashley! And great job dad for working so hard to make it happen. Fantastic story and write-up too. Sounds like you guys had a great time and made some memories that will really last.