IA Born

Does Makayla have the early (Oct) or late (Nov) youth tag, Shawn? Jacob has the Nov youth 33 tag, so we'll be down there a couple of times before his hunt. Everything that has been said about the burn and roads/monsoons is true. If you can get in the youth camp, I highly recommend it, assuming (hoping) it will be happening by then.

Thanks, Tim!

I don't know. I pinch my barbs anyway, so I never really worry about that reg...

Thanks, everyone! As much as I drive that way for work meetings, I always forget about the local fly shop! I'll be sending Mulepackhunter a message and, possibly plan to head up on a Thursday night, camp on public land, hit the fly shop and pick brains while getting the local flies. That's what I do every other town I head to, so it makes perfect sense for here!

I wish renting a boat or hiring a guide was financially feasible right now, but its not. Some day, though...

Life got crazy after we posted this and then left for Telluride. 4Runner has been sold.

My wife decided she wants to go back to the Jeep life she had when we first met. We're selling her 2017 4Runner. Its the TRD Off-Road Premium package. We added a trailer brake control, but never towed anything. Its been on dirt roads, but never used the 4WD other than Flagstaff winters. Its in great condition. All the info and pics are in the CraigsList link below. PM me if you are interested and want to come see it. https://flagstaff.craigslist.org/cto/d/flagstaff-runner-trd/7141843376.html

Life got crazy after we posted this and then left for Telluride. 4Runner has been sold.

My wife decided she wants to go back to the Jeep life she had when we first met. We're selling her 2017 4Runner. Its the TRD Off-Road Premium package. We added a trailer brake control, but never towed anything. Its been on dirt roads, but never used the 4WD other than Flagstaff winters. Its in great condition. All the info and pics are in the CraigsList link below. PM me if you are interested and want to come see it. https://flagstaff.craigslist.org/cto/d/flagstaff-runner-trd/7141843376.html

Sorry, was gone for a while and forgot about this. I used to hunt private land near the Stephens State Forest in Southern Iowa, near Chariton. There are several different units of that State Forest down there. I'm pretty sure we were near the 1000 Acre Unit.

As soon as I saw that rod bend, I figured it was a goliath grouper. Its on my son's and my bucket list, but I told my skinny-little-turd son that we'd need five spotters to hold him in the boat!

I've only been able to buy Apex TSS loads on their website. I know you can get the Federal TSS loads from Sportsman's, Bass Pro, and Cabela's. The 3-inch #7s patterned great out of my son's 20g, but just wouldn't eject/reload properly because of the muzzle velocity.

My son drew the 33 youth tag in November. I haven't been in that unit since we lived in Tucson over 13 years ago. Time to do some scouting, both e-scouting (love OnX) and a trip or two down there!

TSS is expensive as heck, but worth every penny. I had my son shooting the Federal TSS #7s (3" 20g) for this spring and he almost decapitated his bird at 16 yards. His Weatherby is finicky, though, and won't consistently eject loads moving under 1200 fps. Federal TSS is 1150 and it didn't kick the next round in the chamber. I had him pattern and test an Apex 3" 20g with #9 shot and it put 60 pellets in the kill zone at 30 yards, as well as ejected the spent case and loaded the next round. I'll be switching my 3.5" loads to Apex next season.

The road is open and Ashurst has been liberally stocked in the last couple of weeks. Its a crazy weekend, but holler if you need something when you're up here. You're about 20-25 minutes from my house.

Back in 2003, we fished with Captain Bryan Bandioli, out of Homer. He's originally from AZ. When he hit the "Interested in Fishing" button on the Homer Chamber of Commerce page, we got letters and postcards from everyone who owned a boat on the Kenai Peninsula. Capt Bryan wrote a personal note about Tucson and living there, and we knew he was our guy. He tried UofA and NAU, but got bored, moved to AK to fly fish for trout and ended up becoming a halibut boat captain. Had an absolute blast fishing with him. He and I ended up sitting on the gunwale on the back, shooting the breeze and working on filling my wife and I's limit. He handed me his personal rod and took my "client rod" back. I caught our last fish on that and it was a blast. He let me club it in the boat. That's Capt Bryan behind me. I don't know if he's still in business anymore, but he was absolutely great to hang out with. I can't imagine he's out of business. When we go back, I'll be reaching out to him first. His website is still up. http://www.fishinghomeralaska.com/

Holy crap! Mike was a good dude. I helped him and his wife pack out an elk up here a few years ago and we kept in touch. Any word on what happened?

You're just lucky I recognized your daughter! I was about to call the cops!

Both correct. I've spent a great deal of time working on fires, both as a firefighter and resource advisor. I've seen all wildlife (deer, elk, bear, turkeys, etc.) back in the burn perimeter before the fire is contained. A typical western fire burns with about 10-ish percent high-severity damage, 30-40% moderate-severity, and the majority is low-severity/unburned. Mosaics are the natural process of a typical western wildfire. Its also very important to differentiate between flame intensity and burn severity. They are not correlated. I've seen plenty of low-instensity flames create high-severity effects because the flames are moving so slow. They sit and burn everything deep into the mineral soil. I've seen high-intensity flames move so fast that there is barely any damage to any vegetation. Of course,these aren't all typical, but they are burning fairly close to a typical fire behavior. A light, steady rain is best to keep erosion minimal, and that will help the green up and keep the deer in there longer. 25-06, I have an inside scoop if you're referring to the Bighorn Fire and you're hunting area. I might be able to get you some info on burn areas if you PM me where you are looking. No promises, to be clear, but I'll see what I can drum up. And, rest assured, you're honey holes are safe with me. I don't roll like that.

I used to have two phone numbers for him. I can make sure you have the right one. Always glad to help, even if you try to steal my pizza in the parking lot!

Lance is my go-to for what stumps me with reloading. I've heard nothing but good about Owens Armory, but you can also talk to Seth Staples with Rim Country Rifles. He's in Parks and he does great work. I can get you in touch with him if you want.

I highly doubt you'll notice a difference between the two tow ratings. That's less than 500 lbs difference. I was originally going to get a Powerwagon, but the towing capacity was the same as my 2005 1500, at 9,000 lbs. The Powerwagons are built to go anywhere, but they aren't set up to tow and we were talking about getting a bigger camper, so towing was key. My 2500 Laramie Longhorn is rated at 15,000 with the 6.4L Hemi. I don't know why I originally called mine a Laramie Bighorn. Its a Laramie Longhorn, so thanks for that clarification and reminder! I looked at the tradesman, but didn't want to lose bed space with the side panel storage, if memory serves me correctly. The cooled seats sure are nice when we're down in Phoenix in the summer!

I still have my 1978 F150 that my dad bought brand new. I loved it and vowed "Ford for Life" until I started driving a Ram. I almost for an F250, but was over the IFS and wanted solid axles again. Of course, two years into my solid axles, leaf springs on all corners 2500, and my kidneys hate me with every bump. Besides, there are worse things in life to admit to. You could admit you own a 6.5CM! BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

That's great. 2018 was the last year the 2500s/3500s had standard column shifters. I was nervous enough with the transfer case shifter being on the dashboard...

I've driven Rams since 1998 or so. The biggest difference between the two is typically what packages are optional vs what are standard. The BigHorn will have more standard features (great features) that are optional in an SLT. Two years ago, when I ordered my Ram 2500, I ended up ordering a Laramie BigHorn because I could get exactly what I wanted for cheaper than adding all of the packages onto an SLT. Just watch the gear shifter. The same time I ordered my 2500, the Ram 1500s went to a gear shifter that is on the dashboard and looks like a radio knob. Be careful!