Coach

No link, google it yourself. When the United States Department of Agriculture wants to buy ,40 cal sub-machine guns, followed by the Department of Homeland Security buying 1.6 *billion* rounds of ammo, you gotta ask yourself one two sided question - Are they planning for a massive invasion, or is that hardware meant for YOU?

You're baiting me, lol

Here's a fun but humbling test. Go shoot in optimal conditions, then run around your house 3 times (or equivalent) and make a shot under a second. I've done it with a bow and rifle and I can tell you what you think you can do vs. what you can do when puffing and full of adrenaline are very different. I've always been an advocate of practice the way you'll hunt. It's nice to have a long range setup and shoot over and over again, but force yourself to lay down against a tree after sprinting up a hill a couple times with cotton mouth and shaky hands. I've seen the best archers I know blow an easy shot, and I have more than once betrayed my practice and have blown a shot due to adrenaline, shortness of breath, or being caught in the moment. Shoot all day, every day and get to know you and your bow. If you can make a lap around the house, do a dozen quick push-ups. If you still hit where you are aiming when your heart is jumping out of your chest, you're ready for the bull of your dreams to walk out in front of you after a long hard hunt.

I'm sure I'm pegged as a crazy right wing nut job, and I'm ok with that. I'm more right than left, more libertarian than right, more turned around than a cat in room full of rocking chairs. I'll tell you this, if you like personal liberty, dislike big gov, want sanity in our ruling class, just go on youtube and search Bill Whittle or afterburner. Most will love it, others won't, but you can't be a fence turtle after an hour or so.

Snapshot, I've got to get you in touch with my dad. He has teeeeny nymph fishing down to a science. Some of his flies are so small I don't even know how he can tie them on - #22-26, but he catches 22-26" bows on them all spring, summer and fall. Knows what they are eating and when.

I think it's absolutely absurd to make an out of state person buy a license when they may or may not even get drawn (or step foot) there. In fact it's just thievery. I'd like to put in for AZ, NM, UT, CO, NV and several other states. If I draw, I'd be happy to buy the state license and tag. But making me buy a license just to apply - unjust govt money grab.

Funny that the awesome trout Snapshot just shared was caught on a Pheasant tail. Since my AK trip I've found probably the most "universal" fly is a brass bead-head pheasant tail nymph. On lakes, it's an easy retrieve, just start at the top and let it go deeper with each retrieve. On rivers, there's a definite technique. You can't just toss it out there. It's an over-hand loop where you pretty much have to land the nymph at head of the pool, keep all your line above it without a lot of slack line to drag it down. If it moves too fast (the line is pulling it) it doesn't look natural. It it's being pulled by the line at all it won't be hit. When you get the roll cast to where the line is above the fly even in faster water, you have a few seconds where the fly is drifting naturally in the seam between fast and slow water. As soon as the current takes your line below the fly and starts pulling it, you roll again, putting your line above the fly again. Always work upstream rolling the line above the fly where the fast water hits the slack water. JMO.

Ok, not wanting to derail this, but I've always been curious. Never done shrooms, never wanted to - always knew they were present, as is Peyote. Waaay back at football camp I remember some of the more 'druggie' types running through fields and looking for little thin mushrooms growing out of cow-pies. Hair thin stalks and the tall, gilled head. And watching Young Guns, when they need to follow the "spirit path" and Lou Diamond Phillips is cutting some black bulbs off the top of the snow... Those look nothing like what Google shows for images of Peyote, so what is a real shroom, and what does peyote look like in the wild? Not gonna eat any of it (or make tea out of it, lol), I'm just wondering.

I'll see if I can dig up the actual book to answer your question HUNTnTAT2. Probably won't find it, but if you search AZ mushrooms on Amazon it will probably be the first one in the list. lol.

I actually bought a book a while back, in efforts to better identify the edible mushrooms in AZ - and this book was specifically dedicated to AZ. The portion of the book dedicated to edible mushrooms was quite small, and each of those had a list of "watch out" mushrooms that looked very similar in the non-edible/highly dangerous portion of the book. It also mentioned that even the edible varieties usually have little or no food value, just good for taste if you get the right ones.

Bump for a very nice Ranger.

Awesome job, Jaycie! You did great. That part about getting tossed back on the shot brings back memories of one of my sons from a few years back - he ended up in my lap wondering if he shot a turkey or the turkey had shot him. Those 3.5" mags have a bit of "snap" don't they? LOL. Of all the story, the part I liked the best was you and dad out there together sharing some time together. That's the good stuff right there. Great job, dad, getting her out there and creating some lifelong memories.

Good call, I have a Savage 25-06 I was considering offering in trade. It's an awesome gun - great accu-trigger, shoots like a lazer, but I hardly ever use it because it's so heavy. It's the 110FP with a 1" bull barrel and weighs in around 12 pounds with the 4-16x50mm scope. It would be an awesome antelope rifle since you don't have to hump it up and down mountains all day, but at even with my bonus points in the teens, I don't know if I'll ever get to use it for that. One thing for sure, it's a lot of fun to go blast p-dogs with.

Agreed that's hot! Sweet looking rig. Can't wait to see how it does.

Great advice above, especially getting a guide. When I fly-fished AK the first time I thought I knew what I was doing and my dad is an excellent fly-fisherman. Hiring a guide to teach us little tips and tricks on the Russian was key. Each river is a little different and the right guide can help you save time finding out the right technique. Best of luck, and please share some photos of your trip. rclouse79 - great photos!

Good thread. I grew up shooting a recurve, but haven't shot one in a long time. My dad gave me his Howard Hill longbow. It's a great setup with cedar shafts and turkey vanes, bear broadheads. I would love to shoot something with it.

That's an awesome smoker. I have the same one, and they work great and are easy to use. Bump.

I see a lot of people collecting mushrooms off the roads around big lake in the fall, but I don't know AZ mushrooms well enough to tell what is what. We used to pick coral mushrooms in Oklahoma, and they were delicious (deep fried, of course). I've seen a few out here that look the same but haven't had the guts to try and eat them. Apparently there are plenty of poisonous look-alikes in the fungi-world.

We were fishing the Black today near Georges Basin and had to leave early because of a good sized fire just across the river on the San Carlos side. The only info I can find about an active fire on the San Carlos is the Basin Fire - anyone know more about this fire? It was a little spooky watching huge plumes of smoke from a wildfire only a couple miles away with pretty decent winds, and we didn't see any slurry planes, helicopters or other evidence that it was being contained.

Very cool! Nice find.

I did a write up of the story a while back. It was a backpack trip. I'll try and find a link.

A $5 roll of cloth camo tape fixes shiny things.

Awesome write up, TJ. That had to be an amazing hunt to be on. Great people, looks like some great food and some absolutely beautiful birds. I'm really happy for you, Peg and Amanda, and getting to share it with good friends making memories that will last a lifetime. Pretty much sums up all the great things about hunting in one trip.

Lost my Garmin 60csx on my boys' turkey hunt. Man that sucks. Ended up buying another off ebay today for $173. I guess that's part of taking toys in the field.

I've gotta try this out. Looks like a lot of fun.