Coach

I went last Friday and could see them suspended on the fish finder. Of course, got a call from work and was off the water before noon, Seemed most of the lake was 56-58 degrees, the suspended fish were near drop offs around 12 feet but I didn't get a bite before I had to cut it short.

Thanks, I'm gonna send these in. It will be interesting because I bought them a long time ago from a place in France before they had their warranty service country-specific. They actually have the black rubber coating instead of the green, which if I understood correctly was not an option for US sales at the time. Back then, I paid $1117 including the VAT. That's how old I'm getting, lol. As always, I appreciate the feedback and I'll let you know how it goes.

On average, what does it cost to have your optics reconditioned by Swarovski? I've got an older pair of 15x56's that I'd like to have serviced, but I don't know what it will cost. One objective lens definitely has a scratch on it.

Big muley for me.

The breaks off Gentry. When the shots star, they head for the rez. Not a fun pack out.

Honestly, I can't. I've been entrenched so deeply in the "don't give an inch" camp for so long, it's really hard to separate. Most of the objections I've seen and heard here are arguments I have made in the past. From my perspective, this thing IS going to be big, and it will be a major factor in the next election cycle. The "right", GOP, NRA and gun owners have always been on the defensive. The way I see it, if we're going to be defending 2A, we also have to own that space. We know the facts, laws, every bit of reasoning that goes into defending gun owner rights. If we are on the offensive, doing things that make sense, we have more credibility than the reactive crowd who has zero knowledge. In my opinion, we have way more power than they do when we flex our intellectual muscle and bring forth facts rather than emotion. But we can't step up to the table with an all or nothing proposal. Just to be clear, what I've proposed is an extension of what is already law. 18 year olds are already prohibited by state and federal law from buying a hand gun. Those who are challenging the ideas I've proposed, have never come out in support for lowering the legal age to buy hand guns. The idea that they are somehow defending their life or liberty with a rifle is beyond absurd. What I'm saying is that we either own the gun ownership rights debate and police it internally, or we will have some left-wing dip-**** force it on us under their uninformed ideology. And that's a VERY bad thing for us all.

Your words, not mine. Keep digging.

trphyntr, that's an absolute low, even for you.

No fan of McCain here. Hasn't it already been the law that you can't buy a pistol in AZ until you are 21? I hope I've made it clear enough that extending that existing law to long arms could come with previsions that require at least the basic capabilities, and parental consent? Honestly, I'm a little baffled by the direction this debate has gone. Anyone who has studied gun laws in any way knows that long guns are not the chosen ones for either crime or defense. The existing laws already prevent handgun purchases to those 21 or less, unless you buy it in a parking lot. It's absolutely legal for anyone to buy any gun, regardless of age, outside of the background checks, if done person-to-person. What you say is ridiculous, I think is smart - and powerful. Being the ones who self-regulate in an intelligent way, takes the teeth and nails out of the opposition. What is lost by saying an 18 year old can't buy a rifle without some sort of parental consent? Who loses out on that? The gun control debate will be won by the cooler heads. The 100% it has to be all or nothing mentality will lose in the long run. Trust me on this. We get to choose whether we are the ones with knowledge and understanding - AND, the ones with the answers. Or, we could just be a bunch of unyielding gun nuts who fail to see that there are actually two sides to this coin. That's a 50/50 proposition at best. Personally, I don't take those odds given how the media and schools and literally everything is against us. We either shift the perspective, or we lose - all of us.

Excellent post, Trapdoor.

Tell ya what, I have a policy that at work, there are three things I won't discuss. Religion, gun control and abortion. Going forward I am going to extend that policy to CWT out of respect for those here with differing opinions. I stand behind what I've posted here, and have always stood for gun rights for those who are capable to handle the responsibility. Good luck to you all on your hunts, best wishes to all of you and your families. And while I'm at it, God bless.

ctafoya - really great response. This is a strange and difficult topic. There's plenty of young men in that age group that are incredibly responsible - plenty of others who quite frankly aren't very developed yet.

The absolute last person in the world I would want to infringe on is our men and women in the military. I talked a little about exemptions for those with parental backing and the training to be competent. I hope it goes beyond saying, that any member of the armed forces far exceed that. What I'm talking about are these deranged young men raised with no father, already have a history of dangerous behavior. To BeardownAZ, I really get where you are coming from. I've fought this fight for thirty years now. I understand that it feels like giving an inch will be a mile down the road. And you are right - it will if not done right. On the other hand, being the ones who proposed the inch, when it makes sense, creates future political clout that can't be achieved by just fighting everything. I think about Lewis and Clark, and their small team, pulling that giant boat up river into uncharted country. They suffered very few losses. Part of that was mile by mile making friends along the way rather than enemies. I know, a little off tangent, but the point I'm coming back around to is, like it or not, we're going to have to bend. We can choose how we bend, even propose it, if we're smart. If we choose not to bend, we'll get into areas we didn't want to go. Upping the age to buy a rifle without parental consent is a very small bend, IMO, and one we can say WE proposed. That creates political leverage down the road. The kind that makes anti-gunners lose their power and momentum, because they didn't propose it or make it happen. Just try and look at it from a perspective other than your own, and I hope you'll see what I"m getting at.

Never say you're pro gun again. You don't believe adults should be able to protect themselves. You're pro gun control. Huge difference You have your opinion, I have mine. I've studied this issue, have been in lots of debates. You want to put out the one-side-or-the-other argument, that's fine. You said "I don't believe adults should be able to protect themselves". That's a lie. You know it and so do I. Re-read what I said, I want guns in the hands of every responsible adult who should have them. I don't want over-testosterone-idiots in the prime of their criminal potential having access to take their natural stupidity to the next level. If you really want to take this 100% one way, you had better be prepared to defend putting guns in the hands of felons, addicts, mentally unfit, deranged a-holes with histories of violence. If you want to keep guns out of those people's hands, you are pro gun control, per your argument, right?

I'd bet you and I would agree on just about everythingm but I'm going to have to respectfully disagree on this one. I've always thought 18 was too young for kids to buy guns without some type of parental co-signing. And while it's politically impossible, I'm only concerned about the males between 18 and 21 - the girls are far more mature. I'm not opposed to raising the minimum wage from 18 to 21, and I'm not opposed to enforcing background checks for P2P sales. This coming from someone with enough guns and ammo to be called an "arsenal" if someone ever raided my "compound" - I have a separate office from the house and some sheds. Threw that in there so you know I get the rhetoric and stupid, uninformed labeling that usually accompanies these discussions. I'm very pro-gun, but these are tough times. The smart move is those who proactively went right to the 21 legislation. It's proactive, it's very logical - if you look at FBI crime stats is almost all 18-21 year old males causing all the havoc, and done right it doesn't have to infringe. Say you have an 18 year old daughter going off to college. Think of a program like the CCL program where she gets proper firearms training and has mom & dad's blessing to carry for protection, so she has an exemption from the 21 rule. The idea is not just every 18 year old dumb-butt boy who can't see past 10 seconds down the road (we all know them) and has limited understanding of consequences (most of them) are able to get their hands on a gun without their parents' approval. I could cite lots of other stuff but we all have short attention spans, so that's plenty for now.

My son bought one of those harbor freight belt sanders, but the key was that he bought a set of belts specifically for sharpening - really high grit to get a nice polish. I think it even has a leather strop. I'll have to ask him where he got it. I can tell you that thing puts a razor edge on any knife in a fraction of the time my KME ever did - and much easier. I think the Work Sharp is a great idea and more portable, but everything I've ever heard and read about them has lead me to believe they are good for getting dull knives sharp, but not so great for getting sharp knives razor sharp. Keep in mind, that's not from experience, just what I've heard.

Seemed like a pretty legit question - and azcouesandelk did a good job of answering it logically. Just my $.02

Here's my theory coming from a software engineer's perspective. Given that there was 1 leftover tag in several high demand hunts, the first place my mind goes is: Some programmer has to test that any non-issued tags get put in the "left-over bin". So, for testing purposes, he/she puts a little tweak in the code to stop issuing tags at the allotment minus 1, and verifies that the left-overs show 1 tag for that hunt. Then maybe they get side-tracked and forget to remove that little "test" and it makes it to production. You know like maybe they're in a big hurry and overlook it. Just sayin'. Just a theory, but I've seen similar things many times over the years.

2A General. 3 points. Got 19 two years ago. Good luck to everyone with a tag, and best of luck next year to those waiting a long time.

I agree on the leftovers - those are first and second choices most years. You guys are gonna hate me. 2A General Pronghorn (with 3 bonus points) and Unit 1 archery Bull. Somehow I have to take off the whole month of September.

Man, those are some primo tags - I'm thinking computer glitch.

Got either 2A general or 2B muzzle loader with like 2-3 bonus points - sorry man.

Yee Haw. An antelope tag for me, and a bull elk tag for me or one of my sons.

Nice! I love it. Way to make the best of this hunt. My oldest and I doubled up, but not before a lot of hard hunting turning up nothing.

I was just wondering if there is a way to find topics we've started here over the years. It currently seems to be limited to about a year. Thanks, Coach