Coach

Holy cow, Jed. I'll go on record today, that kinda stuff just doesn't seem to happen for us normal humans. How you guys keep doing stuff like that, I'll never know. Great job getting in that position to start with, and wow, getting it all on film. I think that's the part that gets me so envious. I took Matt out this morning, and between the videos he and I came up with, the whole family was sea-sick. Lots of great footage opportunity, but even I couldn't watch it afterward.

Very cool! I bet you're hooked now. Thanks for the story and pictures. That's super cool.

Thanks for the report, Brian. I was considering going out early this week but with the front moving in, and a pig hunt next weekend, it will probably be a couple weeks before I get down there.

Went to 27 today with my oldest son. We didn't see any javis, but saw lots of elk and tons of turkeys. One huge group of older toms were strutting and gobbling like crazy. I figured 27 might be a long shot for pigs, not an area that I've consistently seen them, but figured I'd give it a try, if nothing else, to learn the unit better. It was a fun day for both of us getting to see so much game and play with the thunder chickens, but didn't even find any good pig sign. Prolly the last tag I burn on 27 for piggies. I'll be out next weekend in a different area. Maybe it will be better.

Great job. I really enjoyed the story and pictures. Very cool.

Glad you added the picture. Looks like a very nice job!

Hold on, let me get some popcorn!

Another awesome video! I've really enjoyed all the vids you've posted. Great job. I wondered about the absence of the kill shot on video too. If you do put out a DVD, I want one!

Obviously, this is a subject that has a lot of interest, and a lot of good information. I've shot more than my share of rifles over many years and I've seen some interesting trends. Jack O'Connor was a pioneer of rifle hunting, reloading, ballistics research and wildcat experimentation just to name a few. He favored the .270 Winchester. He killed just about everything that walks with a .270. Roy Wetherby hunted the globe while designing "world-class" rifles and cartridges that redefined an entire industry. His favorite round was the .257 Wby Magnum, with which he harvested game around the world from light-skinned to some of the most dangerous. You can easily get wrapped up in the numbers, the ballistics charts, whatever. Bottom line, today, there are more options to hunters than ever before when it comes to high quality rifles and ammunition. You'll find your .270 camps, your .308 camps, your 7mm-08, 7mm mag camps, ultra-mag, short-mag, this and that until you can't take it any more. Here's my short summary: I find most "ultra" anything unappealing. Too much powder burns barrels out very quickly. The 7MM and 270 ultramag died off quckly because of this. Often as soon as the rifle is broken in, it's almost worn out. And aquiring the ability to shoot these guns at the range where the real "pay-off" occurs is at the cost of barrel life. I also don't care much for belted cartridges as they are a little harder to reload, and seem to have a shorter case life and are more suceptible to failure. There are a number of "old stand-by" rifles that have proven themselves for years. The 25-06, the .270 Win, the 7MM Win Mag which many long range rifles are based on, 7mm-08, and of course the .308 Win that has been an established "sniper riflle" caliber in our military since Viet Nam and even before. The british used .303 mausers when their life depended on them in war times and many more to put food on the tables when they got home. Given the history of great guns a bullets we now have to choose from, if I had to choose 3, here's what I would pick. .300 WSM, .270 WSM and either 25-06 Win or .257 WBY. As far as the gun, take your pick. Most "American" brands are manufactured overseas. Most Weatherbys come from Japan, the list goes on. I'd take an over-the-counter Savage 110, medium countour, accu-trigger .300 WSM and put it up against custom rifles all day long. Savage button-rifled barrels are renouned for accuracy, the "accu-trigger" completely redefined the idea of "factory" triggers, as they provide the kind of reliability, adjustability and precision that was once only available by custom gunshops. In addition, they were able to totally eliminate the dangers of most "custom" trigger modifications. Savage did something ground-breaking with their trigger system. Some of the old codgers on here might remember the idea of the old Hawkins style rifles. They had a "set trigger" and the actual trirgger. If you've seen an old Hawkins or TC .50 caliber muzzle loader, you know the idea. There are 2 triggers in the guard. The one in back "sets" the first one - meaning it puts the primary trigger a hair a way from firing. Savage took the idea of a set trigger, and the idea of a trigger-based safety (from Glock) to create a trigger that was actually a trigger within a trigger to create the "accu-trigger", which, in my opinion, totally changed the world for production rifles. In short, they created a trigger that could compete with custom jobs, "Jewell" and other after-market triggers, and gave it to the normal hunter, available at any WalMart, Cabelas or whowever sold mass-production rifles. So now you can buy a .300 wsm, .270 wsm with an incredibly accurate button-rifled barrel in either synthetic or wood for under $700 with a trigger that rivals what custom shops produced just 3 years ago, and still have cash left over for a great scope. And would you believe it, you can buy a Vortex rifle scope for a couple hundred bucks that is just as good, and has a better warranty, than Leopold, Nikon, Pentax etc. If ever there was a "buyer's market" for a solid hunting rifle, it is now. Just don't get too caught up in the ultra mags, euro-glass and gunshop triggers. You can get the same quality for a lot less money by doing your research.

Man, you guys really did have another amazing year! Congrats and great job with the stories and pictures.

"People like to see dynamic things- log on, take a quick peak at what's new and go on. " Exactly what the "View New Posts" feature does, as Amanda suggested. Give it a try.

Wow - that thing is just amazing! Great buck and huge congrats!

Very cool! I love the video.

Cool vid!

Man, I stayed away from this thread as long as I could. There is, without a doubt, a certain machismo in a lot of hunters these days that has to do with "long-range-hunting". It wasn't that long ago that a 400 yard shot at a deer with a rifle was considered extreme, or a 70 yard shot with a bow. In the past 2 days, I've had some random encounters with other hunters talking about effective range, etc that got me thinking about this again. Yesterday, I was preparing for a HAM hunt in 27 for Javelina with my grandfather's old Hawkins .50 cal. A buddy and I decided we would try one traditional black powder hunt. For us, that means no conical or sabot bullets, no fiber optics or magnified scopes. Basically, round ball, patch, iron sights and black powder. We relaxed the rules enough to allow for loose pyrodex or other synthetic powder. I was able to establish that within 50 yards I was competent with the cap-and-ball Hawkins, but to follow up with my 1858 Remington Navy pisotl( .44 cal cap and ball) I had to be inside 20 yards. While pounding away at the cinder pit with Grandad's old Hawkins and the repro 1858 rovolver, I met up with a guy waiting for part of the range (the part I was using). The guy was nice enough, and well intentioned, but all he could seem to talk about was long range shooting. How his 356 fps bow made 120 running yard shots OK, etc. He told me how his cousin was having a sweet 22-250 set up to take 900 yard shots at deer. Now, not wanting to come across as some "know it all" I had to ask, just what grain of bullet are you guys planning to shoot out of a 22-250 at 900 yards. He responded something like 45-50 grains. You know where the conversation goes from here - over 3200 fps, only drops x inches, yada yada - so I ask, <b>how much energy do you think that bullet has as 900 yards...</b>You would think I just insulted his mother. Fact remains, a .225 cal bullet at 45 grains might not even penetrate most game animals' skin at 900 yards regardless of the muzzle velocity. Of course, my line of questioning was dismissed by stories of grandpa X, taking a huge something or other at over 1000 yards back when things were simple. Another guy, just today, my brother-in-law, lives somewhere way in the West valley. Good guy, ended up in the white tanks area 140 yards from a nice muley buck during archery season. His buddies gave him a ton of crap for not taking the shot - 140 yards!!! I told him I'd be pissed if he DID take the shot - granted, he's around 7' tall maybe 320 pounds and pretty f'ing lean. I didn't say I'd kick his butt for it - LOL. His buddies told him just hold over by 4 to 6 feet....Go figure. My point is, there is a disturbing trend going on. Right now, technology is byassing skill levels, and people think they can buy "long-range-hunting" tools, but they aren't willing to put in the time and practice to make use of those tools, whether they're archery or rifles or even black powder. You can buy the technology today to shoot 120 yards with a bow, 1000+ yards with a rifle or 500 yards with a muzzle loader. However, that technology still depends on people. People who have an acellerated heart rate when the shot comes up, or who are shooting offhand, or any number of circumstances. Anything can and will go wrong at that point. I have nothing but admiration and respect for the guys who can consistently make tough, long yardage shots. My complaint is that for every hard-core guy out there who puts in the time and effort to extend their hunting range, is 8 guys who think they can buy the same proficiency by slapping down a credit card.

That's pretty cool, Clay. I like it. Just wondering, with a free mount would you look at a full sized javi, or maybe a bear rug? I just neve thought of doing a Javi rug. Regardless, I like your choice. I've never seen a Javi rug, and it turned out really nice. Kudos to Wild Heritage on a very good job.

Could be pretty cool. I've noticed how many night-vision type tools are being sold these days by companies like Cabelas's and Bass Pro for coyote hunting. I wonder how that will impact AZGFD's ability to combat poaching. This could get interesting.

Does anybody have specifics of when this show will run? I'd like to see it.

Wow! Thanks for the report, Brian. I figured with the low front moving in the fishing would have been off. I sure hope to get into the fast bite this year with the boys. We hit it pretty good a couple years back but the last two springs it seemed we would always show up 2 days too late. A cold front would be on the way in and push the slabs back down, then while we are all at school or work the next week people would slay them. Rinse and repeat...

Great job! Way to get the kids out there hunting and giving them the taste of success!

That is simply awesome! Congrats! First big game archery kill at age 10 is amazing. Great job!

102 5/8

Congrats! That's a great looking buck for sure.

That was super cool. Man I love those little piggies! Thanks for sharing the hunt.

We had a super fun (although unusually easy) hunt for my two oldest sons' youth Javelina hunt. Friday morning before 9 AM we had the herd located. After a bit of a stalk we had circled around to keep the wind in our favor and got inside 100 yards. A couple of missed shots ensued but each of them redeemed themselves with good one-shot kills.