Coach

I have an older pair of Cobras. They are very clear and don't trasmit that weird, end-of-signal "bleep" that motoralas do. Also, you can set the call to a vibrate mode which is great for hunting.

I had a buddy in the valley call me yesterday a little panicked. Said he couldn't find ammo for just about anything. Went to 2 Wal Mart stores and Sportsman's Warehouse.... Said when the wheeled the last pallet out, people were buying it by the case before it could even be stocked. Luckily in my neck of the woods I know several guys who handload in bulk.

Great Job guys!!! Now let's get those dog back on the Blue!!! Cats are going nuts down there!!!

And if they were on YOUR property???

And thank you for your service - I truly do appreciate it. The point I should have made more tacitly is that our country is in real trouble, and it is time to start dropping all the hyphens and consider ourselves Americans period, regardless of previous cultural identity. I apologize for the "pick a f@#king country" remark - that was probably uncalled for.

Rembrant - Very well put my friend. Sums it up quite nicely. And Birddog - are you serious? If so ... pick a f@#king country would ya??? This is America - it's not Africa, it's not Mexico. If you want to live here, GREAT but be an AMERICAN - no hyphen, no adjectives, and leave your backward, bloodstained country on it's own soil. I have friends who are black, indian (notice the lower case - they're not from India), Indian (yes, they're from India), Scottish, Welsh, German - sorry no friends from Britian, but they do have good manners... point being, the whole "Melting Pot" idea was pretty great early on when other cultures wanted to come join the ONE culture that finally overcame all of that tribal, fudalist-monarchist oligarcyhy crap that had failed over and over again. What emerged was the greatest nation in the history of the world. Now, it seems everyone wants to sleep under the roof of that culture while failing to embrace it and hang on to the very culture they fled. I don't care what anyone's skin color is, their words, actions and deeds tell me whether they are Americans. Now, this great country that has been the cornerstone of the free world, is in total collapse, and this "Stimulus Program" is nothing more than the very wealthy divying up what's left amoungst themselves before the sh!t hits the fan. Think of the "priveledged" loading life rafts on the Titanic with their prized possessions while the underclass gasps for breath. I know, I'm ranting, but I'm also watching good friends wonder how they'll feed and house their kids in the years to come, given the severe cutbacks at our already impoverished schools and generally dead economy. Some of these people are teachers (maybe of some of your kids) who are being asked to work for basically nothing, others are struggling small business owners. There's no bailout for these guys. No "golden parachutes". So yeah, I'm ranting, but dang it, I'm pissed.

I've seen that tree many times - back in the day, you know, when arrows weren't $10 a pop I thought of sticking one in there. Now I just look at it as the sign that you're now in the middle of archery deer country.

Very nice!

This part is a little bit confusing to me... "Considering the well-known decline in hunter participation and the fact that a primary reason for that trend reported by hunters is lack of opportunity to hunt, reducing tags is a very unfortunate step to be forced to take. This scenario is well worth avoiding." The demand for hunting in this state so far outweighs the "supply" in terms of available tags and the harvests that the habitat can support (unfortunately not always aligned). I don't understand this continued argument from G&F about the "well-known decline" in hunter participation. Everywhere I have hunted over the past 20 years looks like a freaking ZOO compared to what it did when I started - and as a result there is a lot less game. During quail season there are hundreds of people where there used to be maybe a couple dozen at the most. We used to regularly see deer and javelina while just walking around quail hunting or driving from spot to spot. Now you have to hike into the nastiest, most secluded canyons you can find because they've been hammered so hard - and then chances are good you'll not even see a pig or deer. While I don't mind that for myself, it's not exactly conducive to getting our young kids or wives involved in hunting. Maybe hunter participation as a percentage of population is in decline, but let's face it - you simply can't increase the number of hunters in the field just because the population of the state is growing - the amount of hunting pressure the habitat can withstand is relatively fixed. If you want more opportunity, figure out how to get our deer, antelope and javelina herds closer to the carrying capacity of the land. Think about it, if we had antelope populations in Eastern AZ that were anywhere near those of Western NM (or even on the Bonito prairie on the Apache Reservation) we would have thousands more big game tags to issue hunters. Solving that ONE issue would do more to generate opportuntity than all of this bogus tag shifting and doubling that they've done for deer. And hunting antelope is a much more attractive way to bring young and new hunters into the sport than starting out with coues - arguably one of the hardest species to hunt. Sure, there are some areas with left-over javelina, and even some deer tags, but IMO, that has more to do with the fact that those units are typically very dangerous WRT smugglers etc. Who wants to take their kids on a hunt where there's a good chance they'll run into armed drug mules? Ok. I think I'm done venting for now.

Great Topic, and this is something I would love to hear the Commission respond to. I was hoping to put myself, my wife and my two sons in for elk and antelope this year with the hopes that at least one of us would draw - however the total amount of checks I would have written would have been OVER $800. Most of that would get refunded but still - in these times I just can't see forking out that kind of money as an interest free loan to G&F. Ended up just getting BPs for the kids for antelope since the draw odds are so slim and my wife opted not to put in at all - too expensive she said....Kind of goes against the whole "new hunter recruitment" goal, IMO.

I like it! I have a euro mount that I was gonna do with some heavy manzanita. What kinda cost would be involved in something like that? And the copper sounds cool too. Food for thought, I found an old mule shoe just feet away from where my buck fell - would like to somehow incorporate that in the plate.

You makin' more of those claws? Stick one on a monfrotto quick change plate and I might just be buying one!

Not to start a sh!t, storm, but do you really think a .270 WSM is gonna kick harder than a 7-08? A handloaded 130 gr. or less .270 can be pretty darn light. Maybe your response was directed at something else - if so, my apologies.

+1 for the .270 WSM. Don't let the "M" scare you - they kick like a regular .270 and have better ballistics. And if you handload, you can go really light for target sessions so they get comfortable with it, and even the standard OTC 130 gr. are going to have similar kick to the 25-06 depeding on the rifle. You can also go heavy for elk etc. if you want. BTW, Gino - that .270 WSM Howa you traded for my .300 Wby (in part) is going to be the new "kid and wife" gun. I was able to buy a wood stock on Ebay for $12.50 that I'm gonna cut down and put a good simms recoil pad on. If recoil is still an issue I can have a brake installed for about $200. Gonna top it off with one of gr8fuldoug's Pentax scopes. I have a really good feeling about that gun. I've already seen some of the deer you guys have dumped with the .300 so I'm glad it's working out for you.

Bump - that's a great deal on the scale - if I didn't already have one, I'd buy it.

Well, my oldest son Matthew has the JR pig hunt in 6A/B starting Friday. We're headed that direction tomorrow morning. Wish us luck - hopefully some good pix will follow. Jason

Thanks everyone. I've got the 22 HAM hunt so I should have a weekend of scouting/semi-hunting to find some pigs before Nick's hunt (he has 22 general). I don't really care if I get one on the HAM hunt - going to try with an 1858 (replica) cap and ball revolver if they make it easy - I just want to get some located before the footrace when the general season starts.

C'mon, it's only a TRILLION dollars he wants to hand out to his friends for getting him elected despite his utter lack of experience or qualifications. You didn't really think that kinda stuff happens for free, didja? Besides, just how much inflation can wasting a trillion dollars on pork projects cause anyway? Isn't it worth having "change"?

I use the slik sprint pro and really like it. It is very light and compact, and hold binocs nice and steady. The ball head may take some getting used to, but works really well IMO. Good luck! Jason

I have a pair of the Perfekt hunters and really like them. You do have to condition the leather on the tounge regularly to keep them from squeaking, and they won't be as light our stealthy as your pronghorns, but overall the best boots I've ever owned - and there have been lots.

Man - that video is AWESOME!

ttt I'm shameless

Up in my neck of the woods. I heard a little about that last week.

Great job guys! My hat's off to Jakob on some fine shooting! Great pictures too.

Awesome! Congrats to Garrett!