COOSEFAN

The Boa was slithering below me on a rock shelf. I put my leather gloves on and jumped on him like it was a crocodile fully expecting a battle but it hardly flinched! It was the most docile snake I've ever found. My client did a little more than flinch tho, let's just say he was NOT a snake lover! LOL! JIM>

Going thru pics and late for work but found this one, figured I'd post up quick. Not a rattler but one of the coolest snakes I've found over the years. It came slithering up to me while glassing off a small rock knob! I actually heard it slithering over branches and leaves before actually seeing it! This was just north of Hermosillo, MX.

What kind of snake is this? I had assumed it was an AZ Black but it's not a juvenile so I don't understand why it would still have that coloration. I've found smaller Blacks that were already completely dark colored before and have only seen really small juveniles with coloration like this. The snake was north of Globe around 4,000 ft and around 2 1/2 foot long. I had been sitting within a couple feet of it for a long time while glassing, only when I got up to pack up did I notice it, was close enough I was surprised I never set the tripod leg on it! Thanks, JIM>

Great thread CrotKlauberi! When I was younger I had a huge interest in rattlesnakes but after getting bit by a Sidewinder I've since curbed my enthusiasm and try to keep my distance now. I was given antivenin for the bite so the fear of antivenin not working if bitten again has me super cautious nowadays! Photographing them was my favorite part and still is when I come across one. I'll try to add some pics here when I can. That 3rd pic down of the Speckled is amazing! I never realized rattlesnakes were habitual to anything outside a traditional denning site, was that bush near a site and you were finding it around the same time annually? That's an awesome variety of snakes you've seen there 520hunt, thanks for sharing! JIM>

Hey cwnova, sorry to see you get jumped on like that! I don't see anywhere in your post you asking for directions or locations! You did it right by taking the time to share your background, your thoughts and asking for folks to share experiences or insight. This site is full of very knowledgeable guys and as you've already seen there will always be somebody willing to help via PM's. Welcome to this great sport and to this great site and best of luck to you! BTW, 19A is super tough and I agree with the others, there are better options for somebody that may have limited time to scout and limited experience. If you wanna bounce some ideas around or need any advice PM me anytime. JIM>

Exactly! Everyone seems to be assuming that particular tree was there 100+ years ago and the rifle was laid against it! My bet is that rifle was on the ground or buried even and then lifted up with the tree over the last 10-20 years. What an amazing find that would be tho! JIM>

Leica is the best and if you can find a used one in your price range jump on it. I made the huge mistake of giving my Leica CRF away as a tip last year and been struggling with a backup Bushnell I have and couldn't stand it any longer but didn't have the cash to replace the Leica. Yesterday I went and bought the Vortex Ranger 1000 to use as an archery rangefinder. I didn't research it but figured it most likely wouldn't range much past 500 anyway like most cheaper rangefinders. Contrary to what was previously stated, I bought the Vortex because of how bright the display is and how clear the optics are. It is very well built, very compact and surprisingly ranges and scans faster than I expected. I used it today for the first time and it did a great job ranging a fat broadside piggie in the wide open at 27 yards! LOL! I didn't test it to see how far it would range but it worked great anytime I used it so far. Jim-

Thanks all! It's been a good one! I appreciate it! Jim-

Howdy folks, I'm still way behind on getting caught up but I'm gettin' there! As most of you have already seen, I've had the priviledge of hunting with some great friends on the past couple hunts and we were fortunate to fill all of our tags thus far this season! Included in that success were several folks that were experiencing our great sport of big game hunting for the very first time and those guys made some amazing shots to take their first animal! Those shots and their success would not have been possible if it weren't for the new product that we used and the reason why I'm writing this testimony here. A friend of mine, David with Aristotle Engineering, designed and produced a great new adaptor for hunting rifles that I feel greatly increases your accuracy in a hunting environment. This new product is the "Rifle Railz" with the "Loc Jaw" attached creating a solid hard mounted platform from which you can attach any tripod adaptor plate. There are other products on the market that achieve the same end results but with David's new product the adaptor weighs less, looks like a factory part made for the rifle, and in no way "clamps" or "squeezes" your stock in any way. I have 2 long range rifles and both have taken a ton of work in constructing, load workup, and sighting in and my first concern after attaching the new Loc Jaw/Rifle Railz was how it will change my POI and consistency. Both my rifles are touchy in regards to where and how the gun is supported and even shoot differently depending on if you are prone or sitting. With that in mind I was certain I would have to re-zero my guns after attaching the adaptors and I gave myself several days prior to opening day in our hunt unit to get the rifles dialed in. I always check my zero before a hunt close to the hunt area to make sure elevation and environmental changes haven't affected my zero and I know practicing that has kept me from making mistakes in the past. With the adaptor attached, a target at 600 yards across broken terrain, and no wind I slid my 7mm onto the tripod. I have been using an older heavy Bogen tripod with a pan head which is very stable and a set of shooting sticks that have shortened top ends. I call these sticks "Chopsticks" because you use them in your hand like chopsticks to adjust elevation under the rear of the gun. The tops are shortened so they don't "dig" into your cheek when your in the scope. With everything in place and an unbelievably solid hold on the target I fired my first shot and it was perfect! The tripod seemed to absorb some of the recoil and to my surprise the crosshairs were still fairly close to the target so slamming another round in and locking back on target was faster and easier than if I had shot off my normal shooting fork! Two more shots and I had a 4" group at 600 yards which was awesome because I was in a hunting situation, sitting on my butt, shooting in the same terrain I would hunt in and off my normal hunting tripod! Very content with that gun I then pulled out my .300WM and proceeded to do the same thing with the same results! Adding the new Loc Jaw/Rifle Railz adaptor didn't change my POI at all and actually helped me achieve tighter groups and faster target acquisition on follow up shots! I was sold at that point and couldn't wait for the hunt to start! What I noticed on the hunts that followed is there were very few opportunities for us to shoot prone! I like shooting prone as the closer to the ground you are the more stable you are but we learned quick that prone shots wouldn't be an option for us. The grass was very tall and the only clear spots were on steep slopes that you couldn't shoot prone from anyways. Having the ability to "lock in" and have an extremely solid rest in a sitting position was imperative to our success on those hunts. If we were limited to only shooting prone we would've had to pass up shots or would've taken too long to setup and would've missed the opportunities. Another huge advantage is that we always had the gun on the tripod ready while we were glassing. We were hunting thick country and when you find a buck you don't have much time to setup, range and shoot so by having the gun ready to go we drastically cut down the amount of time it would take to get a good solid shot off. After watching 5 bucks killed with my guns utilizing the Loc Jaw/Rifle Railz setup I've become a huge fan of it and so has everyone that witnessed those kills. I've shot of this setup a bunch now and have never had more confidence in my rifles than I do now. One thing I think is important, no matter what setup you are using, having something to support the rear of the gun is imperative! Supporting the rear of the gun will take out any wobble, heart beat or breathing and that's very important for those shots out past 400 yards. With this Loc Jaw/Rifle Railz setup attached and the tripod adjusted in a snug position, supporting the rear isn't as neccesary. Under 400 yards it's very steady and you can pan around and follow your target very easily and solid! I've got custom shooting sticks that were hand made but any Steady Stix or other shooting sticks work fine but I would definitely cut the top parts down so they don't dig into your face. By using sticks in this manner it allows you to sit closer to the tripod than those other setups which require a post or brace that attaches to one of the tripod legs. Also, practice with your setup at home and the more you practice using the "Chopsticks" and tripod setup the better and faster you will become. Eventually you will be able to quickly setup and adjust your gun without even thinking about it and it could make the difference of whether you kill or never even pull the trigger! Obviously your rifle needs to be dialed in and proven at the distances you plan to shoot at an animal. This adaptor will only enhance and help you achieve what you've already proven to yourself as your effective range and all other factors with long range shooting still need to be accounted for. No matter what adaptor you use you need to practice with it to make sure the adaptor hasn't altered your rifle in any way. I've heard other folks talk about similar adaptors and how you can just slap it on and go and that just isn't the case at all. Adding the Loc Jaw/Rifle Railz adaptors to my guns didn't affect my accuracy but that's not a guarantee it will do the same for all guns. So try it for yourself, practice with it and I'm sure you'll agree with me that it's the best thing I've added to my setups! You can order the Loc Jaw/Rifle Railz from one of CWT.com sponsors, the "Outdoorsmans", and I'm hearing that soon we can buy them from Amanda here in the CWT.com store! If you haven't seen this little video I did recently here it is again. It illustrates a couple great shots made using the Loc Jaw/Rifle Railz setup! JIM> Just click on the below pics to watch videos....

I just wanted to give a shout out to Josh Epperson and the crew at Rimrock Outfitters here and not have it get buried in the replies on his recent post. A friend of mine had purchased one of the statewide auction Coues tags this year and with some major changes in my life I wasnt able to put much time in to help him. Fortunately Josh found an amazing buck very early on and selflessly and professionally he committed to staying on the buck and helping my friend with his hunt! I can't explain how impressive and amazing it was to watch for 10 months and thru the changes in seasons that Josh was able to stay on this buck! When the time came that the buck was finally in a huntable pattern there was no doubt Josh would be successful in helping my friend take the once in a lifetime buck! Josh and his dad Randy are two of the nicest, most respectful, down to earth, no B.S. guys you'll ever meet and add the fact that they are huntin' machines you end up with one of the best outfits anybody could hunt with! Thanks so much for all the hard work, amazing talent and care you put into my friends hunt! You guys rock!!! Jim-

Here's another pic. Again, I'm sitting back and reaching out to him so he looks bigger but if you look at my arm or rifle you get some perspective.

Also, my hand is on my knee propping up the deer so my hand is actually farther back than the deer as well! Again, wish I had gotten a pic of me holding him up with 1 hand like an average Javi saying "What the ****!" while the rancher laughed at me and said "I told you so"!!! Still, longest 1 shot kill I've ever made and great story for the memory bank. Jim-

Trying to do this via phone, hope works! Here's the "dwarf" I killed. To this day I kick myself in the butt for not getting better pics illustrating how small he is. Truth is, I was trying to make him look bigger because all night I was on SAT phone calling friends and family telling them I just killed the biggest buck of my life and what a shock it was to hike up the next morning to find out it was just an illusion! I killed him at last light at 756 yards on top of the highest mountian around so had to wait till daylight to go get him. I just knew, rack compared to body size, it looked like a giant and we had seen a 120+ (if normal body size) and a 135" (killed a week later) running together on same mountain the day before so I figured it was one of those! Most interesting thing is ranch owner warned me previously about a different "type" of whitetail living in the higher elevations of the ranch, I dismissed his warning as just "myth", until had the proof in my hand! We've killed a handful of bucks out of there, never again on top of that mountain tho, and all have been normal sized. Compare my hand to the body of the deer to get perspective, I'm sitting behind him at almost arms length which makes him look bigger. This buck was old and very worn down teeth.

I believe I killed one and have a photo but no time right now to dig it up, it's on here buried in archives. I don't believe the size or shape of the rack has anything to do with determining if it's a "Fan Tail", but more so the size of the body. I also don't believe it's a different specie, just dwarfism but who knows! I killed a big racked buck that I doubt even weighed 50lbs and was the size of a javelina. Because of the antler size compared to his body at distance on the hoof, I thought I had just killed a 120"+ deer! What was interesting is the ranch owner warned me previously about a different specie of Coues that were much smaller and lived higher on the ranch… He laughed at me and said "I told you so" when we walked up to what I was sure going to be a 120" but instead it was more like a large jack rabbit with antlers! Roller coaster of emotions that day for sure! JIM>

So glad to hear TJ will be OK! I too gave up the quads after several close calls and went with the side x sides. TJ your positive attitude and kind nature are what make you a huge asset to this great site! Hope you are back on your feet soon! Jim-

Howdy all, I finally got some time to sit down and slap a video together. There's no fancy footage and because it happened during our "dress rehearsal" for the hunt the video wasn't over the shoulder and not the best, but I think it's awesome…for obvious reasons! Ha! I called it a "dress rehearsal" because my buddy and I had to pull an all-nighter because of a broken Rhino and last minute shopping. We didn't' even have enough time to make it to Plan A before light so we opted to hit the Plan B spot. We arrived 2 hours before light with still a 1 hour Rhino ride to the spot. Our trucks were loaded for the full hunt and had intentions of doing a "backpack" hunt into Plan A but with no sleep at all we figured we would hit Plan B first, take a nap mid day and then attack our backpack hunt that afternoon. We left the trucks loaded and just grabbed the essentials, jumped in the Rhino and off we went. We made it to the parking spot for the Rhino and started our walk in with several bugles up ahead to keep us awake! I had not seen a shooter class bull in this area but I loved it because it had potential for one to show up. You'll see on the video that my buddy hung back and let me sneak in to the bugles and go "shopping". The first bull was a cookie cutter 6x6 and exciting but not what I wanted. I waited for him to move off and then moved up to look down at the other bugling bull in the next draw. When I first located him he had his head back bugling and I could see his insanely long G2's and G3's and turned to my buddy and said "I'll shoot that one"! The video shows what all happened next. What you don't see is the whole time leading up to the shot, I kept questioning what I was doing because I had waited so long for a tag of my own! I had dreamt for many years about all the call-ins, close calls, pass ups, and just the overall experiences I would hopefully get on my own hunt, but there I was getting ready to end my hunt in less than an hour! Once I was where I felt I needed to be and the bull started stepping into my shooting lane all that questioning and hesitation went away. He was indeed the biggest bull I had seen during my scouting and although his top end was shorter than I had hoped, his bottom end made up for it and I knew he would at least hit my predetermined mark of 360" class or better. As you'll see, both my shots hit left which I'm sure was my bad habit of gripping the bow hard when excited, but fortunately with the slight quarter to angle and good penetration this story had a happy ending. Surprisingly, even the second arrow penetrated the chest cavity but wasn't needed as the first arrow did the job. I was using the cut on contact Grave Diggers for the first time and after seeing that penetration through an elk shoulder at 55 yards I swear by em'! They were also the best flying broad head I found.…I just need to remember to relax my grip when the adrenaline's flowing! This was the biggest bodied bull I've ever walked up on and even his head was huge which all made his rack look smaller, so as I walked up to him I realized he definitely surpassed my goal of 360"! As he is he's mid 370's and if his right G1 was intact he would be closer to the 380" mark! You'll hear me say in the video, "Ever since I was a kid", and it's been ever since I went on my first bull hunt at 10 yrs old that I dreamt of walking up to a big bull with my arrow in em! I've killed bulls since but nothing like I had always dreamt about, until that morning! Thanks everyone for all the awesome reply's on that previous thread and for any you post here. I have very little free time nowadays and what little time I have I spend with my daughter so even tho I read new posts here daily on my phone I just haven't had time to log in and post anything up till now, so i'm sorry for that delay and take care, JIM>

Thanks again for the awesome reply's all! A lot of my emotion came from the build up of knowing I didn't put the arrows where I wanted them and the fear of wounding and losing the animal. I had practiced hard pre season and was shooting better than I've ever shot before but I still messed up in the heat of the moment, fortunately I got lucky and the arrows penetrated better than expected. I'll always remember looking over that bush and seeing that hoof way up in the air!!! I didn't even see the bull, just the hoof and that's when the flood of emotions hit me, awesome stuff and an incredible experience! It's not often I get to be in front of the camera but to have that all on tape to re-live over and over again is an amazing bonus to the experience. Thanks again everyone and congrats to all of you that had successful Elk hunts this past season! JIM>

I used the cut on contact GraveDigger on my elk hunt this year and will swear by them from now on! I made a bad hit into the shoulder at 55 yards but it still penetrated enough to hit both lungs! One thing I haven't noticed is noise while in flight as mentioned earlier, mine fly pretty quiet. JIM>

Awesome job scouting man and gettin' it done!!! Great buck, great pics, great vid, great job!!! JIM>

Absolutely awesome Coues buck! Huge congrats Jody on yet another amazing buck! JIM>

I've gotten quite a few comments about my "khaki's"! For the record they are 5.11 Taclite pants, I think for the money they are the best hunting pant you can buy! Camo pants are overrated, your legs are usually covered up in brush or grass, just need to match the terrain color and don't wear tan. Most predators are tan and that'll catch a critters' eye fast. Also, there was a lot of cat claw where I was at and a $50 pair of 5.11's handle cat claw better than my $200 Sitka's, and they actually aren't loud like you would think. I still wear straps around the ankles to minimize any rubbing noise or unwanted critters crawling up my pant leg! HA!

Thanks all for checking it out and the great reply's! I obviously would love to kill a 400" class bull but you gotta keep your expectations in check with reality and this wasn't the year to be that picky in most units. I never saw or got cam pics of any bull exceeding 360" during my scouting! I had set my goal at 360"+ but I guarantee if any solid 340-350" class bull came in bugling he was gonna be wearing my tag! I waited too long for this tag and wasn't willing to go home empty handed and no matter who you are, there's nothing to be ashamed about with any 340+ type bull! Now, if I had actually seen bigger bulls I would have set a higher goal but still would not have passed up my bull! I usually don't like the short top bulls with all the length at the bottom but the way his tines curl up he just looks really cool! I'm still super stoked about the whole experience!

So awesome man, congrats to you! It was nice meeting you up there, I could tell you were "in it to win it" and not surprised to see you with a biggin'! We passed you on our way out to get my dad's bull and saw your beautiful bull sticking up out of the bed of your truck. Congrats again, that's a great bull for that hunt this year! JIM>

Howdy all, I don't have much time as I'm turning right around and heading north again, but wanted to share this with ya. Ever since I was a little kid chasing Elk with my dad I dreamed of the day I would walk up to a big bull with my arrow sticking out of him! It's been 28 years since my first Bull tag and I've had several since but that dream didn't come true until yesterday morning!!! My hunt lasted only 45 minutes but when I stopped this bull in an opening at 55 yards I knew I couldn't pass him up! The bull then gave me a second opportunity at 78 yards so I put a second arrow in em' just for for insurance and It's all on video! I've lived vicariously though others over the years and it's always exciting but nothing compared to wrapping your own tag on that huge rack!!! Thanks all, congrats to the successful hunters already and best of luck to those still hunting! Take care, JIM>

pm sent, keep me posted! JIM>