Coach

Nice job TJ, aint getting older a bitch? The mind is willing but the body doesn't always agree. Way to tough it out and take a great buck. I keep looking at that rack - great character - much like the character that put him down. Big congrats, and way to keep doing what you love.

That's really good advice. The neck and lower parts of the legs are something I always struggle with. So much meat there, but it's so full of sinew and connective tissue - the things that usually lead to gamey tasting meat. Gonna have to try this out next time as I hate seeing any edible part go to waste.

Wow TJ, that is just flat-out AWESOME!!! Great job. I love it when people take the time to celebrate, especially Christmas. Great job.

Congrats to Miles on a great first bull! Way to go getting him out there. You'll have trouble prying that Tikka out of his hands. LOL. Congrats on life-long father-son hunting memory.

Holy smokes! Great bear. Can't wait for you to put a tag on that big old bruin.

Great hunt - gotta love those backpack hunts. Great deer too! What can you tell me about that tent? I love Big Agnes stuff and I'm looking at getting the Big Agnes Crater (15) with the pad. I'm currently using an REI Clipper, and it's a little bulky. If I could leave the fly behind that would save me half of the bulk, buy you gotta be darn sure no rain hits. LOL. My buddy used a Kifaru ParaHootch, that was like 11 ounces and packed about the size of a water bottle, but it has no floor and seems like little more than my tent fly and costs around $200. And you have to supply the poles. A telescoping walking stick works perfectly for the tall pole, BTW. Gotta find ways to shave off pounds on those kinds of hunts. My pack is 10 pounds empty, add just my ML (close to 13 pounds) two sets of binos (swaro 10s and 15s) and I'm over 30 without any tent, sleeping bag, pad, food or water. Fully loaded on my last hunt (carrying a lot of extra water) I was about 78 pounds, and that's just way too much for an old guy to pack. I could trim a few by picking a lighter pack, but I really love the Lowe Alpine Saracen. Just a great pack all the way around, but very heavy.

Great job on an awesome bull and huge congrats on the new baby girl! Yeehaw, life is good.

They must have been a couple years ahead or behind me. Dan Wahlin graduated one year before me. The real stand-out players in my class were Jeff Holly, Paul Hoyt, John Acosta, Mike Gutierez (sp?), Kevin Trainor, Brandon Williams & Robbie Golden. Hope I'm not forgetting anyone. Mike, Brandon and Robbie were all state champion wrestlers as well. Jeff was pretty much our whole offense - and he shattered almost every record for running yards at the time. We didn't have much of a passing game in those days. Kevin T could throw, we just couldn't catch. Even when I started my Sr. year as tight end, my nickname was "Iron Hands" Jones. LOL. I could block reasonably well but couldn't catch to save my life.

Big thanks to Audsley - some very good information and a great perspective.

Glad to hear it, Dan. I'm still bummed we never hooked up the years I had the SC tag, but I was thinking of you in the places you told me about. I came so close so many times. Maybe if I save up I can finally do a January hunt there - but only if you can come with. Waddaya say, we got a deal? I'll feed you real well!

Here's a little support for the claim. These pictures are taken from a Christensen Arms .338 Lapua at 100 yards. In both targets there is a "flyer" marked as "fouling shot" that is clearly separate from the following 3 shots.

Got lots of pix of my kids scampering around in diapers in hunting camp, stuffed into backpacks, kissing dead animals with a sippy-cup in one hand...Get 'em out there with you as soon as you can. One of my earliest memories of taking young sons along on a hike, just ages 5 and 3 was, wow, these guys can outhike me all day as long as I carry the slim jims and water... My oldest boy, now 14 could have killed a javi at 20 yards at age 5 had it been legal. He sat along with me and glassed every step of the way. I'll bet you he outglasses me this Spring when pig season comes around because he's pumped to take his first archery javi, having killed a couple now with a rifle. Personally, my dad set me in a couple of deer and turkey blinds in Oklahoma as a kid and told me to "just sit still". Nothing against my dad, but it was a hands-off approach, and I had to come to embrace hunting on my own in my early 20's. We did have a pig hunt or two in the meantime, but we were transplants here from the Midwest, and we had no idea how to hunt the desert, and he couldn't provide much guidance. My two oldest boys now, 14 and 12, have killed 2 cow elk, 4 turkey and 4 or 5 javelina between them if memory serves. Neither of them has yet to take a deer, and I'll do whatever I can to change that this year. My youngest son is 3 years behind his brothers, and has tags for pigs in 23 and turkey in 1/27. I will be working my tail off to make sure he at least has the same opportunities as his big brothers have had in their first years of hunting. In short, take them out NOW!!!

Just to clarify, the RUM has no belt. Maybe thats what you meant? No, 308 Nut, you caught me red-handed. I was sure the RUM used a belted case, but I stand corrected. The .404 Jeffrey that the Ultra Mags are based on is not a belted case. A good read on magnum rifle evolution can be found here... http://www.chuckhawks.com/evolution_magnum_cartridges.htm Thanks 308Nut for keeping me honest.

OMG!!! Holy Tine Length, Batman! You might be new to coues hunting, but that buck is what every seasoned coues hunter dreams of. I hope you can recognize what a truly amazing buck that is, and many really good hunters go their entire lives without seeing a buck like that with a tag in their pocket. Your dad is a great guide, and you have accomplished something many coues deer hunters only dream of. Huge congrats to you. So, you got a story to go along with the picture? That's kind of a rite of passage here, ya know? If you kill a monster, you have to tell us all the details - like what did you have for breakfast, was it cold or windy, hotter than heck, your sister sat on your lunch, you were half asleep when the big moment came up...Let's hear it. A buck like that ALWAYS has a story behind it.

Tough call. I haven't shot the 7MM WSM, but the standard 7MM Win Mag is one of the standard-setting cartridges available. I'm a HUGE fan of the .300 WSM and the .270 WSM and prefer them to the comparable WBY, Ultra-Mag and standard Win and Win Mag offerings. Never had the pleasure to shoot a .7mm WSM, but if I were buying a new rifle today, it would be at the top of my list, just based on how much I love the other two WSMs. If I had to choose, without shooting the 7mm WSM, I would pick the .300 WSM. But that's only because I've been shooting .300 Wby .300 WSM for years. Len at Long Range Hunting, and the "Best fot the West" long range shooters seem to prefer the .7mm platform. Heck, I'll just say, go with the 7MM WSM and tell us how it works out. You might just convince me to buy yet another rifle I have no room in the safe for. In all honesty, after hunting, shooting and reloading for around 3 decades (I'll be 41 in May), the .270 WSM is, so far, the ultimate hunting round for the West. But that's just my opinion, and we all know what those smell like.

I agree with the "backup rifle" suggestions, but you have to figure out what's up with that gun. 6" off at 100 yards means feet off past 300. Something is up with the scope or mounts. I'd have a hard time taking that gun in the field until I figured out what was going on. JMO.

Dang, somehow I missed this thread earlier. What a stud buck - you didn't break the 100" glass ceiling, you shattered it! What a stud buck. Congrats all the way!

I'm sitting on an 88 Toyo extra cab. It's a V6 with Detroit Lockers, sunroof and a camper shell. The motor needs work, probably a full rebuild (around $2K unless you know how to work on the Toyo v6 yourself), new muffler etc, body work to make it look sharp. My inlaws gave it to me for my boys but I'm not sure how much cash and time I want to put back into it. I did one toyo rebuild - every nut bolt and clip, and I'm not looking forward to another. LOL. I can send pix if you are interested. It's a fantastic truck, been on pretty much every road, jeep trial and mining-two track in AZ, Western NM and then some in UT, NV and CO. When the motor is back to tip-top shape, it will be an awesome rig. I'm just not sure how much time and money I'm willing to put into it. I can get better details on the engine work needed - let me know. If you want a "turnkey" truck, there was a GMC Jimmy on the classifieds not long ago. Looked like a heck of a truck for $7k.

Careful now, you guys are gonna put me in violation of the Lacey Act. LOL. Just kidding, but I dream of on day hunting coues on the WMAT - prolly never gonna have any tags for non members, and I don't blame you one bit. That said, WOW, congrats on some true monsters. That first one is an absolute brute. You have to let us know what he scores. He's gotta be in the 130's if not more, maybe a lot more. BTW, whatever happend to RabidApache, AKA Dewey? Last time I saw him he was holding some huge sheds up to his HuntScout hat? LOL!

Last I heard was 10% to guided NR and 6% to non-guided NR.

Wow - Great buck and Great story! I sure hope one day I'll get a chance to go hunt up there!

Just to be clear, if anyone isn't sure how these penny auction sites work, let me explain. You have to buy the bids - usually in chunks (20, 50, 70). Then you use those bids on the auction items. Each time someone bids, "price" goes up by 1 penny. So, let's say bids cost $.50 each. If 100 people bid, the "winning price" is one dollar, but the site made $50 (plus shipping). Of the 100 bidders, only one wins. The other 99 lost their 50 cents. Say one guy bids 10 times - he stands to lose $5 if he does't win. Sure as heck, he's gonna bid more and more. And the deeper in he gets, the more desperate he is not to walk away empty-handed. Why do you think these things are popping up all over the place? So, it only makes sense that this guy would try to direct MORE bidders to the site that's paying off so well for him. I mean who wouldn't want to lose more and more auctions?

Wow - not THAT's a HUNTING TRIP! Congrats on an amazing adventure and thanks for sharing the pix.

We had a great team in 88 but managed to lose in the semi-finals to Parker. Talk about getting too big for our britches - LOL. Lesson learned about getting too cocky and looking past any opponent. I got a State patch for 88, but was just a Jr. and second string TE/DE, so it's not quite the same is it would have been the following year. C'est la vie.

I graduated in '89. Sure wish I could have seen that baseball game. I can only imagine seeing an ending like that in person. And I think you got the wrong Nick - wasn't it Nick Johnson?