Hoss50

I have a general 20a tag.

Crispi boots get my vote. I invested in a pair before my kaibab hunt this year, and am VERY happy I did. They are VERY comfortable and give great support. I am 6'4" and weigh 320lb. With my pack, gear, and rifle I am probably pushing 365lb+ loaded down. I bought mine through Ross and they were great. I bought a few pair of Darn Tough socks to go with them and they are good too. The boot I chose was the insulated Nevada.

Or a sawzall

Husqvarna

On a second focal plane scope the crosshair zero doesn't change at different power. If you have a bdc or hold over reticle, the hash marks below the crosshair do change value at different powers. Most of the BDC reticles are designed to be used on the highest power of the scope. That isn't 100% true though. My leupold vx6 with Boone and Crockett reticle has 2 different power settings, and you use the one that more closely matches your cartridges drop characteristics. On a first focal plane scope, the mildot or hash marks mean the same thing at all powers.

Mine wasn't .1 grains. It was 1 full grain. I have seen a lot of pressure signs over the years, but this one load was the weird one. It went from looking good to blowing primers quick. I was shocked that 1 grain went from zero to primer pocket issues that quickly.

Has anyone hunted 20a since the burn? Have the javo gotten back into the burned areas? My typical hunting spots burned 2 years ago behind Mayer, and I didn't get to hunt last year. Any updates?

Typically max loads are not your most accurate loads anyway. Work up slow and learn about pressure signs. The difference between an hot load and overcharge can be very small. I recently had a load in was working up. 1 grain of powder was the difference between being ok, and blowing out primers.

You CAN save money depending on your caliber choices and your shooting habits, and depending on how you consider your reloading time. I don't factory in my "labor" costs, because I enjoy doing it so it is a hobby to me. I know I have saved money shooting my 257 Weatherby vs. factory ammo. I have at least 700 rounds through the gun. The cheapest ammo for that gun is $40/box. The good stuff is $80-100/box. My loaded ammo for that rifle costs less then $1/round for the components with a Berger bullet, and it will shoot .5-.75 MOA. That doesn't include the many other calibers I load for. If you shoot your rifle 2-3 times a year to sight in before season, you will never see a payback or get even close with reloading. If you have an interest try and get into the hobby at a reasonable cost, and learn. Then invest in products that make your finished product better. You don't have to have $200 die sets, chrono's, and other expensive items to product good repeatable ammo. They make life easier to achieve consistency, but you can do it without them. A press, case trimmer, primer pocket cleaner, funnel, powder dipper, a decent scale, a tumbler, a decent die set, a digital caliper, and the attachment to measure case length to Ogive will get you a long way.

Very nice.

Hi, I just got back from Kaibab and during the hunt my hunting buddy and I realized we need to figure out a way to communicate in the field without cell service, and GPS mapping would be a huge bonus. What is the best option for texting, walkie talkie, or etc for field comms? This whole area is very new to me. Learn me please. I am open to different options, I just dont know really what my options are.

My buddies fork went down quick too. It went maybe 20 yards. He shot it from a quartering toward him. Hit right in front of the right leg and made a nasty exit on the left side. This was Berger 135gr classic hunter bullets from my 6.5x55. Mine didn't exit.

Hi All, My hunting buddy and I just returned from our first ever trip to Kaibab. We drew the 12A East early hunt. We were extremely excited at the prospect of a good hunt. We geared up, got great tips from friends, and scouted. The area is beautiful and diverse. Lots of deer are in this area, and we thought this hunt would provide lots of opportunities. Maybe we were looking in the wrong places, but this hunt was way more difficult then we had anticipated. Kaibab does not have big bucks behind every tree as some seem to imply. Day 1 we woke up at 4am and started getting ready. We were almost out the door and 2 trucks flew by. We were not camped near our opening day hunt area, but I had a bad feeling in my gut we just lost our spot. We jumped in the truck and started our drive. We turned of on the road we needed to be on, and my gut was right. 2 sets of taillights ahead of us. We called an audible and went on a road 1 canyon over from our intended destination. We split up and I hiked a nasty cut in the dark to get closer to where I wanted to be. My buddy hit the opposite side of the road. I got setup and glassed some canyons that are known to hold deer. 30-45 minutes into my glassing session 3 hunters work across the hillside I am on. I spoke with them briefly and they continued down the hillside. About 20 minutes later I hear a shot. They jumped a good 4 point. They gut shot it with the first hit, but quickly followed up and put down a nice buck. I watched to see what the shot jumped, but nothing but does jumped. They had mentioned they had parked near where I wanted to hunt originally so I moved back towards that area. I got to the hillside i wanted to be at originally and started working into a good glassing position. As i got to the edge of the canyons to see into the bottom i saw movement. Two 4 point bucks, but they spotted me. They start working up the hillside in front of me but way from me at the same time. I hit a range at 216. I tried to use a tree as a rest to stabilize for a shot, but the tree was dead and was about to fall over. I dropped down to use a down log as a rest and my pack tried to smother me. I got it off and setup. I could see the deer with my eye but couldn't find them in the scope. I had the scope set on 12x from the range. I backed it down to 6x. I found them and saw the first buck was bigger. They were still moving, but stopped for a second after I disappeared behind the down tree. I didn't know the exact range but knew the rifle was sighted for about 225 yrd. I guessed they were about 250-275 so I held a little high and squeezed. Boom. The 6.5x55 barked and the buck bucked. He started trotting and about 40 yards later started doing the newborn colt stanky leg dance and dropped. His buddy freaked out and bolted. I started my hike across the canyon to find him. I knew he was a decent 4 point, but I was very happy when I arrived. I cut him up and hiked him out. We took him to Lacorti's in Fredonia to get processed. Then we started hunting for my buddy. After this experience we were of the idea it should not take to long to get him an opportunity. We were very wrong. The deer went nocturnal with the mostly full moon. We hunted high, low, in the burn, in the scrubs, and no opportunity showed up until the end of day 6. We jumped a small fork horn off a main road. My buddy jumped out and worked in on him and the 6.5x55 barked once more. He is meat buck, but both of these bucks are first deer for my friend and I so we were excited. It was a great hunt, but not nearly as filled with opportunities like we expected. Some days we saw 50 doe. Some days we saw zero deer. They are not dumb, and when the shooting started they proved why they are hide and seek champions. In 6 days after opening morning we saw a total of 3 bucks during shooting light. All were spikes or forks. We are not the best hunters, but we hunted as hard as we could and enjoyed it. We both downed our first bucks, which was amazing. In conclusion though, dont think Kaibab is easy, that opportunity is behind every tree, or that it will be a matter of what buck you choose to shoot. Maybe it is that way for some, but for me the experience is quite the opposite.

I would recommend the rock chucker press. I taught myself to do basic Reloading from reading reloading manuals when I was about 12 years old. My dad bought a used reloading set, and I talked myself with learning how to use it. Get a digital caliper and reasonable quality components to start. I am not a master reloaded, and learn new stuff alot. Lance's post above and many other older posts will get you headed in the right direction.

Also dont be afraid to look in the flat lands to the north with no trees. If there is water there could be elk. I saw some big elk tracks at a water tank that didn't have a tree within 2 miles of it.

I am very pleased with him. It was humbling to see the deer before him and after him at the check station be noticeably larger deer, but I knew he was a big deer, and am very thankful for the opportunity, and happy that I made the most of the opportunity in a quick humane way.

Fly-n-hi total performance center. Ask for Jeremy and tell him Harley sent you. Jeremy is good people.

Yes sir.

I need to get a couple sets of antlers mounted in the Phoenix area. Who would you recommend? Thanks

Just for grins I want to get my deer scored. He isn't a monster but he is a good deer, and I want to try and get an idea of how big he was. Who can I take it to in Phoenix to get it scored?

I assume turret.

I don't think I can really call this a build, it is more of an assembly really. I am excited about it though none the less. I knew I wanted to build this to be a more classic looking hunting rifle that was different than what most people are doing these days. What better way to build a classic non-traditional (to the US) rifle then to start with a Mannlicher style rifle in a well established European caliber that has never gotten its full due here in the US, 6.5x55SE. I have always been a sucker for cool calibers that are not "mainstream" or super common. I picked this rifle up new/used off backpage basically brand new for a good price about 6-7 months ago. Then the research and saving of $$$ began for optics, rings, etc. The rifle is a CZ550 FS (Full Stock) in 6.5x55. The CZ550 series offers the Mauser style action and also there single set trigger which is awesome. The single set trigger is a standard trigger that is pretty clean, has a reasonable weight, and is adjustable. The "set" trigger happens if you push the trigger forward and it "sets" the trigger to a much lighter and very crisp trigger for more precision shooting. My rifle doesn't have quite as nice of a stock pattern as this one in the first pic, but I still love it. I searched and searched for info on scope rings bases, scope, etc for months while I was saving some money. I wanted to maintain a classic look with a scope that had good features but didn't have a giant 50+mm objective and was somewhat compact. My price range was $600-1000 or so. I went to Cabela's, Sportsmans, and every internet site I could think of to research and touch all kinds of different options on scopes. I really liked the idea of a Leupold for the classic Gold Ring look, but it wasn't set on it. The final list of scopes came down to the Leupold VX-5HD 2-10 & Nightforce SHV 3-10. I was set on one of those, and then right before Christmas I found a website with closeouts on a Leupold VX-6 2-12 that I knew I wanted. I didn't have the cash though so I waited with the idea of if it was meant to be it would be available when I had the money. I sold a handgun last month to a friend and lucky for me the scope was still available. I pulled the trigger and brown Santa brought me this. It is a Leupold VX-6 (non-HD) with the Boone & Crockett reticle in the 2-12 power. Now it was ring time. The CZ550 has a built in 19mm baserail system. I liked the idea of the newer style Picatinny rail, and I found a nice one from EGW Guns, but I couldn't mix the oldschool with the new school. I searched and searched and finally decided on a nice set of quick release style 30MM rings from Alaska Arms. I emailed them for info, and the owner gave me a call and we talked at length and he answered all my questions and gave me great info. I was sold. I ordered a set of these last week from Morris @ Alaska Arms and they showed up on Monday! The quality of the product is awesome. I am very glad I made the choice I did. Everything showed up in this nice tin, and was packaged quite well. I knew I wanted to be better at mounting scopes and getting things done right so I ordered these from amazon from Wheeler. I lapped the new scope rings and leveled everything to the best of my ability hoping for the best possible results. I am not 100% done with this build yet, but I finally have a functional rifle, and I managed to sneak out to the range yesterday afternoon to get the scope dialed in to a 200 yard zero so I can take it on my javelina hunt this weekend!!! I plan to get a custom leather cheek riser built along with a nice custom leather sling at some point, but for now I am in business and ready to hunt! Harley

Update: She is a deer slayer. I drew a 12A east Kaibab tag along with my buddy. We both ended up using my CZ to kill our deer, and it did a great job.

Cow or Bull? Be prepared for anything from 50+ degree highs to cold as heck. The wind is the killer up there. Check high, middle, and low. Find fresh sign and hunt hard. I shot my cow elk low in the unit a few years ago when water was plentiful, but the very next season on the same hunt the water down low was gone, and we didn't see much elk til the end of the hunt when we found some in the middle elevations. I like to camp low southeast of Babbitt lake, and commute to higher elevations if necessary. 7E has been getting worse as an elk unit over the last 5+ years. There are to many tags. Hopefully they change that soon. Harley

20a rifle javelina. This will be the first time back since the burn. I am interested to see what it looks like since all my typical javelina spots burned.