Tommygun

I use the Tripod and Gun claw combo called the Triclawps. Its rugged and lightweight. my wife and nephews love it and have taken a pig and mule from it.

I love the character. What a great first deer. Did you see any sign of illegals down there? How about border patrol?

I took my nephews out for Jr Javelina hunt in 37B for the past few days. Opening day we found sign the javelina were in the area, but did not see any. The next day (Saturday 11/20/10) we tried a new area. We saw even less sign in this area, but continued to sweep up and down many different washes. Around 11am one of the boys jumped up a cow in a big wash and then heard what he thought was another cow since it was making a lot of noise. To his surprise out jumped a pig. I was glassing the area and saw 2 pigs running down the bank to the wash in which he jumped them. We followed them over the ridge and located them on a decent sized hill about 600 yards away. Over the next hour we closed the distance wash by wash using the trees and shrub as cover. It was a great chance to teach the boys about minding the wind, using cover, and staying quiet during the whole process. They did great. We closed the gap to 113 yards and I had enough time to get each of the boys set up so we could count down and (in theory) everyone shoot at the same time. Has that ever worked? Right when it looked perfect and the pigs were nicely centered in their scopes, the pigs began to move. I think they might have heard us because they came out of there beds and started moving down the hill. I told the boys "shoot when you are ready" and the first shot rang out. The second pig in the line did a huge donkey kick. A wave of pride over took me as I knew it was a solid hit. The other pigs took off running. I started blowing the J-13 and one of the pigs stopped immediately and looked around. That's when a different hunter took a shot, but it appears the pig will live another day. The hunter that nailed the pig used a .243 Stevens 200 attached to the Gun Claw shooting system designed by Dr. Kade Smith. I bought the tripod from him and borrowed an earlier version of the claw since his new shipment was delayed. We hoped to use the Claw on the Jr. Deer hunt, but unfortunately we did not get the chance to. We got royally skunked on that hunt and my wife's October deer hunt. While practicing for her hunt, my wife shot the same .243 Stevens 200 rifle from the Gun Claw system. Her shots were in a 2 inch group at 300 yards with 2 of the shots darn near in the same hole. That's sub MOA. She loves it since it takes all the recoil out of the shot. Plus the was 5 months pregnant and found it to hold the rifle without a rest. My nephew said he really liked it when he shot the pig, it was easy to track while it was moving and he felt like there was no recoil at all. The carbon fiber tripod is amazing and light weight. I can easily switch out my binos to the claw in a matter of seconds. The best part of the hunt was my father and 13 year old brother watched the whole thing happen from a hill about 700 yards away. My dad said he had "buck fever" during the entire time it took to stock the pigs. Man, I love buck fever! I am so glad to have another great hunting memory of my nephews, brother, and dad tucked away to think about when I close my eyes at night while I wait for sleep to come. Am I the only one that does that?

Thanks for the suggestions. That is the information I was looking for. I'll spend my time elsewhere. I learned a valuable lesson from this experience- take the footnotes to the hunting regulation seriously. When it says access is an issue, they aren't kidding.

My wife and I just voted for you...Good luck!

My baby sister (10 years old) did not get drawn for the Jr. hunt this year, so I thought I would get her an over the counter tag for Thanksgiving so she could still go hunting. I hunted 36B last years, but with every thing going on at the Mexico border I did not want to take any chances with her safety. I thought further up north would be less risky so I got her a 30A tag hoping to hunt the Dos Cabezas area. After talking to many different hunters and reading posts on this site I understand that access to the Dos Cabezas is extremely limited - so I did not scout in the Dos Cabezas, but rather decided to spend time and focus on other areas. The problem is that the other huntable areas are still very close to the Mexico border that I was trying to avoid in the first place. While scouting the other areas G&F recommended we talked to border patrol about our safety concerns and their advise was "make sure every one in your hunting party is armed." Not the kind of thing I wanted to hear when I will be responsible for my little sister's safety. Does anyone have any knowledge of the Dos Cabezas road access situation? According to game and fish there are two roads "available": Hurtado Ranch and Mascot Mine. They say to get permission were needed. Is that what they mean by available? Meaning it is only "available" if you get permission? Who do you contact to get permission? I read a news article that the Cochise Board of Supervisors was addressing this access issue back in March, but I cannot find any info on what the outcome was. I can appreciate a rancher not wanting to grant access to the public because of the vandalism that so often occurs. It just stinks that responsible sportsmen are the ones left holding the bag. I guess G&F should open a season for vandals and gang bangers-Then I'd finally get to use my 11 bonus points! I am new to the forum. I have been following it pretty much daily for over a year now and am now making my first post. I am not asking for any honey holes or even where to scout, just wondering about roads and access. Thanks in advance-Great forum!