IA Born

I often wonder how I stayed with hunting and fishing with all the "stories" my dad and his friends put me through. I guess somewhere along the way, my dad assured me everything would be ok and that was obviously enough. Thanks for starting my own walk down memory lane and reminding me of the fun things I do with my own kids now! Great post!

I used to have a Gorilla Silverback and loved it until I actually used it back in Iowa where its predominantly treestand hunting. After practicing a few times in my back yard, I had to ditch the seat-belt style cinch strap it came with because it was almost impossible to get it loosened when trying to climb back down. I got the ratchet strap that Gorilla sells for it and that made life much easier. And only having one strap made me nervous, so I had to carry a second 6' ratchet strap to secure the bottom near the platform. After hanging it once 20' up in a tree in Iowa, using a set of Lone Wolf climbing sticks, I realized how much better the Lone Wolf strap system is. I sold my Gorilla and bought a Lone Wolf Alpha hang on. With practice, a set of 3 or 4 climbing sticks and a hang on stand are, IMO, the best way to go. You can be very mobile and set up ready to hunt in less than 15 minutes. I've got buddies back in Iowa that have been doing it so long, that they are ready to hunt in under 10 minutes. I'm not that good, but I absolutely have no regrets with the cost of my Lone Wolf Alpha. Very durable; very light weight; and very portable. You can always hang it and use good Python cable locks to secure it and then use your sticks to get up and down every time if you aren't going to be mobile. Climbers are great, too, but they work best on straight trees (Lone Wolf hang ons adjust to angles) and, technically, you're not supposed to limb trees to be able to get your tree stand up (Forest specific rules?). Ladder stands are great, but not at all portable. As for the harnesses, I used the harness my Gorilla came with once or twice to practice with and quickly upgraded to a better after market one. HUGE difference. I got the HSS Ultra Lite and love it. Any of the HSS, Gorilla (after market), or Muddy harnesses are worth their weight in gold and worth every penny you spend on them. I know of too many people who have fallen and will never walk again or who have died because they didn't wear a harness. Good luck!

Plenty of lions in the Huachucas. Was doing night surveys one night a few years ago and there were cat tracks next to mine and around a mud puddle that weren't there on the hike up the canyon. North of Parker Canyon Lake, the Canelo Hills, all over the Huachucas, just like the rest of the Sky Islands!

Another shout out for the Diamond Atomic. My 5.5 year old son inherited his older sister's Diamond Nuclear Ice (precursor to the Atomic) and was pulling 13 lbs last year at 4.5 years old (with a little help from dad). This year, he is pulling that 13.5 pounds like a champ and drilling the target. He's only shooting at 5 yards to build his confidence and form, but he's not far from stepping back to 10 yards. He's using a release without a d-loop and he's doing awesome. I posted a pic a while back if you want to take a look.

Check out Bruce's Lock Shop and Safes Unlimited (same store). When we lived in Tucson, we got our current Cannon safe from him and his prices were great. He used to have a great selection, too. No reason to think its changed. He's on Broadway, east of Tucson Blvd.

Definitely agree with floating the barrel and bedding the action. I've had a a few different gunsmiths tell me that floating the barrel is pointless unless you bed the action. All three of my hunting rifles are bedded/floated and their accuracy went through the roof with quality factory ammo. After I started handloading for them, it just got better!

Love my Thermacell. You can have them shipped from Cabela's or Bass Pro relatively quickly, too.

Awesome pics! Thanks for sharing. YoteHunter, you just made my day with this quote: "I go out of my way to not hurt them while quading and hiking."!!

One of our favorite places to hike! Always our day-after-Thanksgiving tradition! I've always wanted to hike down from Woody Mountain Road, too.

Cool thought! I've been fortunate enough to find the triple crown of antlers. Doing wildlife surveys in SE AZ several years ago, I used to stumble across whitetail sheds and have several of those. I found two muley sheds down in SE AZ, one of which is a huge 3pt side that was over near the Dove Mountain development north of Tucson. I haven't done as much elk shed hunting as I'd like, but I've been lucky to find a few of those, except that none have been fresh browns. My wife found a fresh brown this year while we were out one day!

We have a similar model Rockwood (without the dining area slideout) and a Ranger won't fit on the front. Bump for a GREAT deal on an AWESOME pop up!

Thanks! I have a handful of family and a bunch of friends back there, but there's always room for more Iowa friends! Good luck!

Sweet! Commission?

Once again, I forgot to clarify in my post. You will be the first one I send info to!

Hey Ted- Hope you are getting bites on this. Figured I'd get on here now that I'm back in town and give this a good bump to the top!

When I get some free time in the next couple of weeks, I'll dig the info back up and pass it along. My schedule is crazy right now with major deadlines.

Yes, knowing him from Iowawhitetail.com, i suggested he post his legit rifle for sale down here. It's not a scam and he is a good guy. It may seem too good to be true, but whatever happened to giving someone the benefit of the doubt? I mentioned the proximity to feral hogs in TX and NM. Good Lord!

Sorry, should have clarified that I only have access to these ranches because I'm family and am only allowed to bring immediate family with me. And one of those ranches just got high-fenced as a 300 acre ranch. The land owner decided to use gas/oil royalties to high fence and pay an outrageous price for "trophy quality" deer (bucks and does bred from supposedly 230" bucks). My brother-in-law who has the hunting lease has the choice of finding a new ranch to lease or go along until he can afford his own land. He as a TON of $$ invested as it is, so he's riding the wave to see what happens in the next 2-3 years. They will be making a strong effort to remove hogs from there now, but it will make it tough for me to hunt anything on that ranch due to the presence of $4k deer and fewer hogs. I was planning to take my daughter there this November to have a good, easy hunt at 9 years old before starting out here next year after she turns 10. I do know some areas and can drum up the contacts (using my work credentials) to get into the growing pig problem in southern NM....they want them GONE!!!

I've seen their aftermath in the Agua Fria grasslands on the Prescott NF as well as up on the AZ Strip in a couple of areas, including the Virgin River. I can point you to some of the areas on the strip where your chances of finding them are fairly good. The Virgin River has a bunch of private land mixed in, so that is tougher. As for TX, I'm fortunate to have 3 ranches that let me shoot all the pigs I want for free! I refuse to pay $500+ for 2-3 days and only shoot 2 hogs, which is fairly common on several of those outfits.

Well put Ben! As a Federal wildlife manager, I've had nothing but great experiences working with the AZ TNC on habitat and wildlife protection. One of the best outfits I've ever worked with. I've heard stories of TNC in other states, but had nothing but the best experiences with AZ TNC. Several of our meetings included sharing some good hunting/fishing spots with others. Not to defend the other groups, but not all of their lawsuits against Federal agencies are unwarranted.

My thoughts exactly! I can't wait until next April when my daughter finally turns 10!

All three of my rem 700s have the original factory trigger (pre X-mark) set to 2.75 lbs, which is about as low as you can get them without having problems with the safety. I absolutely love them and 2.75 lbs is plenty clean and crisp for me. In recent discussions with a gunsmith, if I were to swap them out to go lower, which I'm considering, I would go with a Jewell. Tried one of those on a custom rifle and it was set for 1.5 lbs. All I can say is WOW! Know nothing about Shilen triggers and have heard enough about the new factory Rem triggers that I'll keep my old-school ones or switch to Jewell.

x2!! Awesome!

My brother in law in Laredo, TX has a Ruger Mini-6.8 and loves it for hogs down there. I don't know if he's shot any deer with hit, but he's dropped some hogs. Can't imagine it wouldn't be just as good in an AR platform.

X2 for flatline maps!