Coach

The falls are steeper than they look... But the reward is worth it... Back down a waterfall... So do we head North to Fish Lake...Naw, let's go back to Lone Rock... Super tired boy at the end of a fun day.. His big brothers crashed hard...

Not sure how many pix I can post on a single thread, but just wanted to share our Summer vacation fun this year. Last year, we had a ball exploring Southern Utah, so this year we planned to retrace parts of our journey and add some new trails. Funny thing is, our original plan was to do the Sunrise 3D shoot, haul up into Utah, to Panguitch as fast as we could, stay over and then head to Fish Lake. Here are some pix from the shoot. After the shoot, we headed for Utah. The plan was to spend the night at either Lee's Ferry or Page, and then head North. We wound up at Lone Rock on Lake Powell, just a mile or so N. of the AZ/UT border. We only intended to stay one night, and almost got stuck in the soft sand. However, waking up to an amazing Lake Powell sunrise, we decided to stay for one more night, then another, then another...Lake Powell is amazing. Nick's Redneck Jaccuzi. Camping right on the beach, doesn't get any better than this... The mighty fishermen on Powell. One more night... So, after our brief "stayover" turned into several star-filled nights on Powell, we eventually made our way North through Kanab and up to Panguitch. Based on last year's fishing, we knew the best bet was to rent a boat and attack the fish head on. This is a 24+ inch cutthroat.... And this is about a 20" football, 3.5 pound rainbow... More to come - fast action at Panguitch Lake, Utah...

One more from Panguitch, the Elusive Tiger trout...Even the guy who rented us our boat for the day, who lives there has not yet caught a tiger, but my boys wanted so badly to see one tiger landed, and God made it so... So, we take a day trip from Panguitch to Kanarra Creek, about 9 miles South of Cedar City. One of the best hikes we've ever taken... Where the creek turns into a slot... More to come...

Lost a post in there - More action from Southern Utha's trout lakes... Dad hooks a hawg... Another huge bow... Check out this bow...

Took the family on vacation again this year to Southern Utah, and caught a bunch of big old, shrimp fed trout. I'm not a fan of trout, can't find a good way to cook 'em, but these trout on the smoker came out un-freakin' believable. So, you start with large bodied trout with red flesh. Here in AZ, this probably means Sunrise or Crescent. Brookies and browns are better, but if you get a large bodied rainbow with reddish meat, it should be good too. First, you make up a batch of brine. I use a good handful of kosher salt, brown sugar, garlic, maybe some crab-boil and a dab of Zatarain's creole. Make enough to completely soak the fish for 24 hours. Split the fish in half, leaving the skin on. Put them in the smoker using apple, peach, any good hard smoking wood. If you use mesquite, be a little sparing - it's easy to over-smoke trout. DO NOT USE OAK. As they are smoking, baste a *little* bit of your brine over them from time to time, maybe a little soy sauce. If you aren't careful, they can come out too salty, as you are more-or-less drying them as you are smoking them, so the flavors in the brine can overpower the actual trout until it becomes way too salty. It's not beef jerky - the flavors will soak in naturally. Smoke for 5-6 hours or until the skin comes off easily and the flesh is flaky. Great food for packing on a hunt. Lots of protien, good flavor, good source of "pick-me-up" energy.

I may be a little off-base here, but 55 grains at 4000 FPS??? Have you ever shot an airsoft gun? Little plastic BBs .2 g shooting around 350 FPS. Their flight pattern is very irregular due to being so light for that speed. Sometimes the actually curve upward in flight. I would suggest your "abnormal" bullet performance is more a result of pushing too light of a bullet at that speed than anything else.

Nice pix! IMO, some of the most scenic shots of the North Canyon aren't from the "tourist" spots, as you obviously know. I don't think many people know they can literally camp on the edge of the Canyon, just a couple miles South of Sowats overlooking Fishtail canyon, and all that. Last time I was up in that country, I enjoyed seeing a clean leftover camp with little kid shoe prints literally on the edge of the North Rim, overlooking some of the best of what the North rim has to offer - miles away from the visitor center. Thanks for sharing your picutures with us. I'm sure your date was impressed.

Amanda, when you use only 4 batteries, do you have them all placed together- ie. 4 at one side or the other, or can you stagger them with empty slots in between. Just curious.

Don't know about you guys, but I'm buying Rosetta Stone, so I can speak fluent Spanish the next time one of my boys has to go to urgent care or the ER. "No habla engles, ?esta pora libre???" I'm all with Broken Wheels on this one. Why should I speak to the nurse in English, or provide an insurance card. We can't be turned away, and my copayments are out the roof these days. If I can't buy steaks at Safeway for free, why should I pay for stitches or things of that nature? Tounge in cheek, of course - maybe...

Covert II all the way. You gotta get Amanda's "Bear Box" and I'll show you how to make it even more secure. Keep in mind, you'll never make it "theft proof" but I can show you how the only way to steal it is to cut down a big tree with a chainsaw, and take the whole thing, attached to a serious log, home to dissect. I bought a Covert II from Amanda last year, and put in 8 Energizer e2 camera batteries. Kinda pricey batteries, but they have taken hundreds, maybe thousands of pictures and are still running strong. I left the camera for over a month in 24A and got tons of pix off of it, then just for fun, put it out on our "compost" pile in the back yard (we're on +/- 2 acres backing 10+ acres of undeveloped land) and we get pix of coyotes, fox, javalina, racoons, skunks and every feral cat and unsecured dog within miles. What makes the Covert II better than any of my other trail cams is: 1) battery life 2) its ability to take night shots with no flash. 3) reliability. Anything that goes in front of the cam, get its picture taken, day or night, close or far. 4) customizable: with every Covert camera, comes a little ipod-looking device that you connect to the camera and set it up to take pictures or video, with all kinds of settings. It also has amazing range, does just what it is supposed to do. I have a whole storage container filled with sub-par trail cameras I either bought cheap (moultree, wildview), or built myself with the "do-it-yourself" (pixcontoller) kits. None of them hold a candle to my Covert II, and I'll be slowly replacing all of my 6 or so cams with Coverts. They aren't cheap, and you don't want to place them just anywhere, because they will be stolen eventually, if you put them where they can be found. I've come across many $200+ cameras literally strapped to a tree with nothing more than a nylon strap. IMO, it's these guys who get their cams stolen. When I encounter these cameras, I just plop my hat over them while I'm in the area. If you want your camera to be "secure" the best bet is to have it in a steel box that is lag-bolted to the tree it's on, and try to keep it out of plain view. I also put a cable lock on mine, but if someone finds it and is dead-set on stealing it, there is nothing keeping them from cutting down the tree and taking the whole thing with them. Good luck, and try and post your trail cam photos on here. J

If you can find a forum that specializes in Alaska fishing, I'm sure you'll find a buyer. My uncle is a guide out of Seward, and all the hard-core Silver Salmon guides use downriggers. Also anyone fishing for Lake Trout (Fish Lake Utah, Great Lakes) use them.

Dang - one of those bucks is a congo...I'm not usually one for tall racks, but that guy is packin' fo sho.

"You knuckle-headed moron, you are looking at last year's regulations. Good thing you don't work in Game Management." I did the exact same thing this year when my kids got drawn - started wondering how in the heck they drew for a unit I wouldn't have intentionally applied for, wondering if I had written the wrong number down...funny how checking the correct year's regs makes all the difference!

LOL - I'm rolling on the floor here. I guess we all know where NOT to take a cat pelt!!!

Will the binocs you have accept a tripod mount (threaded hole in the front/center)? If they do, I would suggest the Jim White adapter like these: http://www.coueswhitetail.com/bookstore/adaptors.htm The adapter screws into the binocs and stays there without digging into your chest. The "female" portion is attached directly to your tripod head. You can then easily insert your binocs into the female adapter on your tripod without the bulk of your current setup. These are the lightest and most compact binocular/tripod adapters I have seen anywhere and they work extremely well. Simple but effective. As for heavy tripod, IMO, not needed. The Slik Sprint Pro is under 2 pounds, extends to over 64 inches and is more than strong enough to hold any binocs. I use mine with Swaro 10x42s and 15x56. In heavy wind, big binocs will shake even with 6 lb+ tripods. I've got a Bogen 3205GN legs and 3130GN pan head - what many considered "creamed corn" when I bought it. Weighs in at around 6 pounds and probably cost me over $350. These days, it gets used for the spotting scope at the gun range (gotta-have for a full-sized spotter), still shots with the big SLR, or a quick set of legs when driving and glassing. No way I'll carry that thing around with me to hold up a pair of binoculars. The Slick Sprint will more than handle a pair of binocs @ around the same wieight as a water bottle, and fully folded, 12-16" ???? really small, light and strong, compared to even cheap wally-world tripods with plastic head compontents. Just my opinion. Bottom line recommendation: Slik Sprint Pro tripod, Jim White Adapter (assuming your binocs can take an adapter). If your binocs don't take an adapter, look at the Vortex Diamondback or Fury lines (Viper if in your price range). This is IMO, the fastest way to have a very good glassing setup for minimal $$.

I think you have definately chosen a great all-around cartridge, but maybe not for a light pack-in gun. And since you specifically called out 2 rifles I don't have experience with, I didn't reply earlier. However, you might look really closely at the Remington 700. This is the action many custom rifles are built upon, and for a good reason. Best action available today. I also wouldn't overlook the Savage Model 14 classic. Great wood, decent action, great barrell, and probably the best trigger available on a non-custom gun - and sells for a lot less $$ leaving more money for a good scope. Whatever gun you choose, put a good scope on it, and a good recoil pad. Anything .300 is gonna have some bite, and any .300 magnum is going to try to punish you. I wouldn't recommend a light gun with that caliber. Not to sidetrack your post, but if I were going to go for a light "pack gun", it would be in .270 WSM at max, but probably something in the 6mm or 25's. Maybe a .257 Wby or WSM. Light guns generally don't do as well with big, .30 cal magnums as they do with 6mm, .270 or .257 - just my opinion.

Maybe too many cheetos then...lol. I based my assumption on head size compared to body. I'll glady defer to you guys who know more about lions than I do.

I'm a big believer in blinds - moreso than treestands. Maybe I'm too ADHD to sit a treestand all day without moving around, but a good blind conceals your movements, and holds in scent remarkably well. They're especially good for kids, because they can fidget around as long as they are quiet and not get picked up by animals. As for brushing them in, it's just a matter of breaking up the outline, keeping it from looking unnatural. Stick to the shadaows, pile some branches around the front and top of the blind. Just enough to break up the shape. As for leaving them, well, my Double Bull Matrix blind is probably the best piece of hunting equipment I've bought in a long time, so I won't leave it somewhere that it could be stolen. I think the best approach, if you are hunting an area where someone might find it, is to buy an "el cheapo" blind, brush it in at least a week before season, then a day or two before the season when you can monitor the traffic in and out, take down the cheap one and put up the one you want to hunt out of.

Nice cat - is that a momma? Looks like she's nursing, or just has a jelly roll - lol.

"I gotta wonder what rabbit he's gonna try to pull out in the next couple months and years." Amnesty.

Enough!!!

Wow, what a great buck. No surprise EBJ picked it up. Congratulations on a heck of a buck! Sure would like to hear the story behind him if you get the chance.

My prayers go out to Garret and your family - with all my heart. Jason

The last week of the bow hunt is almost always better than the first, IMO. If I couldn't take off the whole hunt, I'd rather be out there the few days of the season than the first.

Assuming we get the normal spot, there will be a cluster of campers on the South side of Pole Knoll. We do some great "Mexican BBQ", hanging by the fire, driving rangers and quads around, shooting archery targets, shooting the breeze, throwing horseshoes and playing "cornhole" (yeah, laugh, but you gotta try it out). Some "low stakes" (read chips only) Texas Hold'em in the late afternoons. In the evenings, when the grownups are telling hunting stories around the fire, we usually set up a big projector playing movies for the kiddies on a big sheet on the back of one of the trailers - popcorn and sodas, they love it. If you happen by our camp, stop in and say hi. It's a nice group of families enjoying the white mountains, always happy to welcome in some new friends. Look for a big blue Ford Excursion, some big trucks, big tan Dodge Quad, a blue f-250, no tellin' what Casey will drive up in but it will be big, lots of campers and lots of kids running around.