Coach

Yeah, I agree with you guys. IMO it's not necessary. The access up there is great, but I preferred the dirt road feel. I live here in Lakeside and spend a lot of time up around Big Lake and all of Unit 1. The good news is, they'll never pave it all (I hope) and there are still lots and lots of great roads to go explore. It doesn't really surprise me that they want to continue the pavement all the way through 3 forks to Alpine, but that is such a great road already, I don't understand the need. There are a lot of cool campgrounds off that road, that will lose appeal if it's paved.

If you want to hire a guide, it would greatly increase your odds, but it's still not a sure thing. I've heard great things about the Bundy family up there, Ryan Hatch obviously is a great resource. The McClendons guide and hunt up there all the time - maybe putting down some money for a scouting package would help out. I got a very generous offer from a well respected guide who knows the area, but you just have to decide if you want to go with a guide, or go self-guided. When I went up there, I wanted as much info as possible, but still wanted to do the hunt unguided. I wouldn't trade the "self-guided" experience for anything, but without a doubt, I was going up there with some good ideas of where to start and what to expect, due to the generosity of many guys who were willing to share some of their past experience.

HuntScout.com has some really good hunting maps. http://www.huntscout.com/

I saw the same thing - it's crazy how just plain dumb some people are.

I accidentally got the 3A/3C late rifle hunt. Meant to put in archery as my second choice. There's some burned bp's.

Can't answer all your questions - but I would say the 300 WSM is a better all around round than the .270 WSM just because you can load it heavier. I have both, and reload for them and really like them both, but if I had to choose one, it would be the 300. It will do just about anything. The .270 WSM is my 2 of my 3 sons' favorite but my oldest and I prefer the .300. At 800 yards, I would definitely side with the .308 over the .270. As sjvcon mentioned, plenty of good charts out there. Retained energy at longer yardage always favors the heavier bullet. I would not shorten the barrel to 20". I think the accuracy would suffer compared to a 26" barrel.

One really cool thing about the Badlands - not sure if the other brands mentioned here have this - they have a hook attached at the bottom you can hang your bow from while you use your binos or range finder, instead of setting your bow down on the ground every time you need your optics.

Sooner or later maybe we'll get p-o'd enough to do more than complain about all the illegal, anti-America, anti-constitutional stuff going on - maybe not. And I'm not exempting myself from that in any way. We citizens shouldn't have to - there's enough Americans out there who have sworn an oath to prevent these kinds of abuses, from police and sheriffs to county commissioners to generals and judges, and of course our.. wonderful...elected officials. We should NEVER even have to entertain the thought of doing ourselves, the one thing we put them there to do.

For some reason the link in the opening post is not working for me.

Nicely done BeardownAZ. Class act for sure.

Welcome to the site. Good folks, lots of info.

Very cool picture!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj9qvBwOeMA Fun watch.

Those mohawks are awesome. Here's my oldest son's first ever "big game" kill with one - this one is 6mm I think. Can't remember - he borrowed it from his grandfather. Dang bullet exploded on impact but luckily we found the pig.

First off, my hat is off to you stepping up helping them out - that's the action of a real man, imo. Secondly, what a scumbag that guy is - makes it hard to focus on the question at hand. I think you should get this young man out shooting your AR. It's probably the easiest gun to learn to shoot on aside from a rimfire. If he can drive tacks with it at the ranges you plan to shoot, it should be OK, but I worry that if the water-hole sitting thing doesn't work out and he has to shoot further, a 55-65 grain bullet isn't optimal for big game to begin with - at longer ranges, it obviously loses a lot of energy. Maybe have him shoot the 30-06 once he's comfortable with the AR to see if he can handle the recoil. If you buy something, .243 is an excellent choice as others have said. Best of luck to you, and thanks for taking the time to step up - really says volumes about your character.

Just glad he's OK.

We got 2 youth deer tags so far. My buddy drew 13B (most likely) or 13A. Looks like a lot of good tags for folks this year - congrats to those that drew!

I started hunting out of a camper a long time ago, so most of my camping is either in a camper or a Montana wall tent. That said, it's almost hard to come by a bad tent these days on any budget. If you want a really good tent, the Kodiak are the bridge between cheap tents and more expensive outfitter-style wall tents. That said, I've spent many nights under cheap tents or nothing at all - and I prefer the latter. A good canvas wall tent, Cabela's Alaknak, and similar are the top of the line tents, but they are pricey. You can get a good nylon tent - coleman, etc whatever Walmart or Target is selling for under $200, and these tents aren't bad - I've spent a week in a Coleman 8-person Nylon tent in freezing conditions with rain, sleet and snow. They are actually better than most of the old cotton tents I grew up in. To me, it's a question of what you want to invest in. If it's a season or two, go cheap and light - nylon, easy to set up. If it's a few years and you really want a quality tent, go Kodiak - much higher quality. If you're really going to spend some time out there a good wall tent is as close to a cabin in the woods as you'll find, short of course to a camper.

Welcome, Scott to the best hunting and shooting forum in AZ. IMO, you've found the best group of friendly, family-oriented hunters on the web. I hope you enjoy your stay here.

The right doesn't even know what scandal to cover, the left addresses none of them. There is nothing short of catching school kids on fire and throwing them off the top of the white house that would get anyone more involved. The sad part is, nothing will be done and no one will be held accountable. The "most transparent" administration has done exactly what they promised. They "fundamentally transformed" America into an autocracy while the world watched and stood by complacently.

Wow - awesome to hear so many of you are getting "hit". Gotta love it. Looks like we're in for some serious hunting stories this fall. Congrats to all of you drawing tags. I hope you make the most of them.

Very cool - love the Molan Labe Kokopelli. I'm thinkin' blaze orange.

Wow, that's really cool - I love the sheds, the rattler, especially the gila monster. Thanks for sharing

Man, that's a smoking deal. The spot hogg and drop-away are worth close to what you're asking. My middle son is due for an upgrade - I'll see if he's willing to drop some money on a bow more his size.

I live up here, and while I'm all for fire restrictions when it's dry and windy, when we get the kinds of rain we've gotten over the last week, I'm glad to see the restrictions scaled back when it's safe to do so.