Elkhunter1

If you download the hunting regulations you will find the draw results and odds for deer on pages 49 and 50 for the previous year. This will give you a base idea for next year.

One technique not mentioned is one that I have used with my brothers with good success. If there has been a good all nite rain then hit the flats, walk a grid pattern about 50 yards apart until you cross fresh tracks. Follow them slowly until you glass him up, then the game is on!!

What are you looking to get out of it?

My wife and sister-in-law found this large case and immediately thought of my trail cameras laying all over the house. I came home from work and found my cameras and this case on my bed with a note that said, "put these away!" I asked her what in the h311 is this? She responded with, "just open it." This case has Ethafoam inserts in it, all I had to do was fit my cameras in it. It had cut-outs already in it so fitting them wasn't hard. This is going to save me a ton of money and time trying to find all of my cameras and equipment. I recently purchased three of the smaller ones, so I have a lot of welding to do. I think I could fit one or two more in it, what do you think?

What scope is she using and is she using a youth stock? We've been practicing for a couple of months now and he's just getting good at 100 yards, but I think he's struggling with his scope so we have to keep it at the lowest power setting.I think she has a Vx 3 3x9 and a youth stock. Have him sit in the house with the sliding door open and pick out an object in the distance and practice acquiring it at low power, as he gets better at it then increase the magnification in his scope. That is what I used to do. I've been reading all over the internet trying to figure out what might be wrong and I think I just figured it out. It seemed as though he couldn't get close enough to the scope at the higher power to see the full view and I was just reading about length of pull. I measured him and he Is length of pull is around 12". His .243 is over 14 1/2". Measured my girlfriends .270 and it's right on at 13 1/2". I think after his hunt next weekend I'll be cutting off a couple of inches from the stock which should put him around a youth stock length. Then I'll get him a new scope to work with. There's been enough responses to give me confidence that he can drop a bull elk with his .243 if he can get better shot placement as he grows. Yes the 243 topic with respect to Elk has been talked about several times here on CWT. I have every confidence in the caliber. I would make sure the shot that he takes is with a calm and collected demeanor. TAKE YOUR TIME!!! He will get it done.... Good luck!

What scope is she using and is she using a youth stock? We've been practicing for a couple of months now and he's just getting good at 100 yards, but I think he's struggling with his scope so we have to keep it at the lowest power setting. I think she has a Vx 3 3x9 and a youth stock. Have him sit in the house with the sliding door open and pick out an object in the distance and practice acquiring it at low power, as he gets better at it then increase the magnification in his scope. That is what I used to do.

If he has good shot placement the 243 will be more than enough to take down a Bull Elk. My family has taken several over the years. My Niece has taken them out to 250.

SWEET! You said free range, does that mean DIY? How much would one be looking at to do a hunt like yours? Looks like you all had a blast.

AZLance looks like we are on the same page, different paragraph!

They need to issue everybody a tag that needs to be displayed like the G&F is doing. With that there is NO dispute as to the dates in Forest. All they are doing is attempting to bypass the national 14 day rule. I think the head of the Forest Service up there is on a POWER TRIP.

They will employ the same method they use with the treestands and cameras: just say it's abandoned and take it hoping you don't challenge them later.

I think they still use an abacus though.

What about using the spot as a base camp while you hike in a spike camp for several days? Was thinking of doing that next Elk season. Hopefully they will resolve this squabble before hand.

I want everybody to take a minute today and thank a soldier a serviceman if you see and to respect and honor all that sacrificed and all that are currently serving

These family stories never get old. Great job!!

If you lived in Tucson you could head to the Three Points Rifle range. They have 1000 yard range. I like the 500 silhouette rams they have.

Same thing used with the springfield o3-a3 during both wars and Korea.

I received an E-mail from the Senior Editor of North American Hunting Club wanting to publish my article on Javelina hunting. That E-mail was the most exciting E-mail I have ever received. He advised due to size limits they edited out some of my photos, lets see if they edited some of the text. Here is the full article. http://www.coueswhitetail.com/forums/topic/25148-javelina-hunting-arizona-style/?hl=%2Bjavalina+%2Bhunting+%2Barizona Thank for looking again! I can't stop grinning!!!!!!!!!

It shoots just fine ya dang idget... You guys just crack me up!!!

The posing of the picture made him look much bigger. The infamous Chuck Adams pose.

hearing that right behind you whether you're calling for them or not really gets your hair to stand up, don't it.

Javelina hunting "Arizona style" By Stephen Forrest Photos by Mychal Forrest Listening to the weather report the night before opening day I knew it would be one of the coldest days seen in southern Arizona in over 80 years. When I got up at 5am the porch thermometer said it was 16 degrees, "in Tucson." My son and I readied the truck and gear for the days hunt. I knew going into this hunt I had only two weekends to get it done. This was Arizona's HAM hunt, handgun archery muzzleloader. Yes I could opt out and hunt with a smoke pole but hunting with archery gear has and always will be my first love for hunting big game. Some of my gear might be old but it more than adequately does the job. My bow and arrows are the old workhorses of my gear, a Pearson Spoiler Plus at 70lbs. topped with a Sonoran Bowhunting fiber optic sight and AFC 2300 carbon shafts. The rest of my gear is: a Cabalas' day pack with h2o bladder, Bushnell sport 450 rangefinder, a Garmin GPS, Pentax 20x60 and Alpen 10x40 binoculars and the most lethal broadheads I have ever seen, the Swhacker from Sonoran Bowhunting in the 100 grain two blade. To successfully hunt out west one must be able to sit and glass enormous tracts of country. I will often glass animals out to a mile and a half away using a tripod and my 20x60s. When I get in closer I switch to the 10x40s. It goes without saying you must use a good scent eliminator like Hunters Specialties Scent-A-Way-products. Good gear can save your life, some of the must haves. Sitting on the ridge waiting for the Sun to rise, I witnessed one of the most spectacular Sunrises I had seen in years. As I glassed for the small grey and black animal commonly called "pigs," I realized that we were the only living creatures stupid enough to be out in this ridiculously cold weather. It must have been 10 degrees or colder on that ridge. Hoping the warmth of the sun would bring the pigs out of their beds, my son and I froze, waiting. Although we didn't find the pigs we were blessed with that spectacular sunrise. With a sunrise like this, you don't need to get an animal! After about an hour of constant glassing I decided we needed to move to another vantage point and continue our pursuit of the little "pig" called Javelina. It wasn't until after noon that they decided to join the party. After a brief stalk I was in position to get the shot I was looking for, except for that one branch on the Cat Claw bush about 10 yards in front of me. As I moved to my left to clear the obstacle, I stepped on three little ones bedded under a Cat Claw bush to my left that was all but invisible to me. All I could do was watch as the herd of pigs grew in size from the eight I could see to around fourteen that ran over the ridge and out of sight. The rest of the day was used in trying to relocate the herd without success. Having good glass is key to hunting the west. As we started to enter Interstate 10 we witnessed a three car roll-over accident. Being a former EMT, I had to assist in any way possible. After several hours and putting two patients on air evac helicopters it was time for me to now write my statement to the Department of Public Safety. After arriving home around 9:30pm I heard that my brother Rick had been successful in the area he hunted. Javelina, like feral hogs are very social animals and will bed together in one big pile. This can make them very difficult to spot as they bed under trees and shrubs. They also root up the ground like hogs, but in reality there are not from the hog family. This has created some heated debate among biologists, some say they are a large rodent similar to the Capybara of South America and others say they are of the hog family. Either way you look at them,they make good table fare. The terrain in which they live can vary from flats near water sources to steep rocky mountain sides. The flats are best hunted after a good rain during the night. You can cross tracks and follow them to there bedding areas. Every step you take in the hills could mean disaster; roll an ankle, fall onto your rear, or take a tumble down the hill and break a leg or arm. To hunt the latter one needs to be in good physical condition. Javelina don't tear up the land nearly as bad as hogs, but they do a good job of it. Several native plants are always on the Javalina's menu. One such plant is the Shin Dagger. This plant lives up to its name, if you are not careful it will get you. They also eat Barrel Cactus, Prickly Pear, Mesquite Tree beans, and any roots or tubers they find. Rooting I found near a water source. The second and third days of the hunt was spent battling the weather, and watching the Border Patrol do battle with the illegal immigrants that frequent the area. In the last ten years, hunting in Southern Arizona has become increasingly more dangerous as the illegals and the drug traffickers become more prevalent and bolder. I have found numerous illegals and several bundles of Marijuana over the past two years scouting and hunting Southern Arizona. Arizona Game and Fish has allowed bow hunters who hunt in the southern hunt units to carry a handgun for personal protection. This is only one of several trail cam shots The second Saturday was found to be a more pleasant day with the low temp. around 38 degrees. I was back in the same area from the previous weekend and eager for some payback, as they eluded me. I had a 5 to 10 mph wind from the east and once again they were not wanting to play early in the day. After glassing for two hours without seeing any pigs, I decided to slowly work the ridge they were on last time. This ridge runs east to west and has deep cuts on either side. So as not to overlook the possibility that they were bedded in either cut I slowly worked a zig zag pattern from cut to cut walking into the wind being sure to glass every bush and tree they could be bedded under. After about an hour and a half I spotted TWO pigs walking opposite me on the far ridge. I quickly back tracked 100 yards to get ahead of them. As I eased closer to the edge of the ravine for a 20 yard shot to the trail they were on, I spotted them as they came around a small bend in the ravine. They were only 30 yards away. I eased to my left to clear a small Mesquite tree. As I drew back the pig bedded right on the trail. I ranged him at 23 yards, and was going to shoot when I asked my self, "where is the other pig?" Thank God I asked that question as it was answered when I pulled up my Alpens and saw the other pig bedded right on the other side of my target. Now it was a waiting game. As the time passed and I grew more impatient I heard two juvenile pigs "arguing" over something trivial to my left. What I saw would surprise even my brother, "the best hunter I know." The herd grew from TWO to TWELVE. I now had pigs at 10, 15, and 23 yards away. All were bedded in piles with no shot opportunity anywhere. Again with the waiting game. After standing there for over an hour my knees and back started to feel the strain they were under so I knelt down to take off my pack and rest my "football" knees. Minutes later there was a shot from about 1000 yards away. That got the big pig at 10 yards to stand up and move around. I drew back and rose up to take the shot, 15 yards. The arrow flew true and accurate; he ran about 25 yards and fell over. The other pigs didn't know what had just taken place and stayed there. I had pigs all around me for over 30 minutes, even while I set-up to take pictures. Javelina hunting Arizona style is rough and tough, but if you just hang in there you will persevere. The swhacker does its job very well!!!

my pleasure, stuff sounds good I'm going to try some

I couldn't think of anything better!!!

Great job!! What caliber is he shooting, 243, 30-30, 270?