COOSEFAN

Good luck man! I fished there years ago with some friends on a boat. Gorgeous lake and I know there are some great fish in there but we never caught a single fish and i haven't been back since! I know this doesn't help at all, but maybe you can use my thoughts to persuade your buddy to go elsewhere! LOL! Good luck, JIM>

Hey TwoGuns, i really appreciate your very nice sentiments, I too would love to meet ya and chat. Even if ya can't afford a guided hunt I still love to help out any way I can, call me anytime! I don't make as much money as most guides out there because I am the way I am, but I sleep well at night knowing I didn't take advantage of anyone and I'm not anything like the "GUIDE" that was portrayed earlier in this post. The one thing I'd like to add to this thread is that there may be a guide or two out there that would fit right into that stereotype portrayed earlier, but there are far more GREAT guides out there! Those great guides are respectful, courteous and selfless. They are the type of folks who love the sport so much they decided to try and scratch a living out of it by helping others enjoy it as much as they do. They don't steal cameras or spots or think they "own the woods". We are lucky here at CWT.com to have a bunch of these GREAT guides as sponsors! I know for a fact that Lance and his crew with Timberland Outfitters as well as Randy and Josh with Rimrock Outfitters are just a few of the guides that i've described here that are respectful, courteous and nothing like the stereotype they were lumped into in that earlier post! It takes a lot to rile me up, but that one got me...sorry! JIM>

Yeah buddy, yer right on, it's GOTTA be a guide!!! ONLY a GUIDE would do such a thing!!! EVERY GUIDE out there runs down critters with planes or uses quads off road, and THEY ALL think THEY OWN THE WOODS!!! EVERY GUIDE I know is disrespectful of other people's spots and EVERY GUIDE I know is RUDE! GREAT job narrowing it down to who it was, should've known it was a GUIDE! On a serious note, that's gotta be the most stereotypical post I've ever read on here. I really hope you have a good experience one day with a guide, it sounds as though you haven't. Just please don't lump them all into the same stereotype. JIM>

I've been using the RangeSnap attachment for a while now and absolutely love it! I keep mine high on the shoulder strap of my Alaskan Guide bino pouch and it's right where i need it at all times with the least amount of movement! Great job gettin' it done, Congrats! JIM>

Thanks man, I just like helping out where I can

They are usually more visible while still in the velvet so that's expected. Every bull is different, some go amazing distances once they start rubbing the velvet off and then move again as the pre-rut gets more serious. Most bulls will move in to where the concentrations of cows are and that may only be a mile but could be 10 miles or more. Also most bulls I've seen will tend to go to the same areas year after year and at about the same time in accordance with the stages of the rut. This year is a little different with all the feed and abnormal availability of water. I don't think there is a single bad place to hunt in your unit this year, all four corners have elk and have good bulls. A tactic I use and is a huge help is something that is familiar to turkey hunters, "Shock Bugling"! Drive around at night and listen for bugles or concentrations of rut activity and plan your next mornings hunt accordingly. Most elk will be out in the open country or usually lower country at night and will travel back up or into the thick country to bed. Knowing this and studying the terrain where you find the elk at night, you can make an educated guess at where to intercept all those elk in the morning. This isn't fool proof but it's usually productive to stay in elk activity on a daily basis. You can spotlight if you want but that adds pressure to the elk that I don't like doing, you could change their pattern that night and the following morning if you push them around. Make sure you don't even have a knife in your truck if you spotlight tho, they are very strict on that! Best of luck to ya! JIM>

Don't go drillin' holes in your stock just yet! There is a new attachment that is almost on the market that will do exactly as you mentioned and without any drillin'! I'll be testing it out soon and the preliminary tests with a prototype were VERY promising and i'm excited to try it out! Stay tuned! JIM>

Well with all the talk about bears lately I started getting the itch to go. I've killed 1 bear already with a bow but it was on the Rez, which was awesome, but in my mind is a different trophy. One of my lifelong goals, and one that's been fairly high on my "Bucket List", was to kill a bear on state land! I've helped on 1 successful stateland hunt before and have tried several times for myself but have never pulled the trigger...that is until yesterday! With elk hunts right around the corner and coues cams needing to be checked I really didn't have the time or money to go hunt for myself. I kept reading about the successful bear hunters on here and talking to my buddy Bryan, "Butters", about the bears he's been seeing and I couldn't stand it anymore! It was Friday night and I had Saturday and Sunday open for myself so when the wife wasn't looking I stole some cash out of her purse. I then ran up to Wally-World, bought a bear tag, a six pack of Mountain Dew and a package of hot dogs! I then ran home, threw my rifle, packframe and optics in the truck and was on the highway before the wife knew what I was up to! By now it's late at night but I was on schedule to arrive about an hour before light and the closer I got to bear country the better I felt! I love helping others on their hunts but hunting for myself is all I live for and it's been too long since I'd done it. I knew what I was doing was crazy but I just had to do it, I had to be in the woods with my rifle and a tag in my pocket! The weather was right, the pears were ripe and I felt confident I was gonna find a bear and get my butt kicked but I was ready for the challenge! I've been on a ton of bear kills over the years and know full well how hard it can be to kill a bear and get em' back to the truck, even with friends there to help! The country I was gonna hunt isn't extremely nasty, but it's nasty enough and being by myself scared me but what the heck, ya only live once and I was goin' bear huntin'! So, I arrive on schedule, load my packframe and have everything ready to run and gun once i find a bear. The clouds I'd hoped for weren't around so I knew the morning could be a quick one and it had me scanning way to fast with the binos! I finally slowed myself down and just like I had envisioned, there he was, sittin' there pulling fruit off the prickly pear pads! I said to myself, "got em'", and quickly evaluated the terrain and distance. I couldn't see how deep the ravines were between the bear and I but I could tell that a shot was highly unlikely because I'd lose visibility in the thick bottom country. I grabbed my pack and rifle and ran anyway, hoping to cut the distance down from the mile that it was to hopefully shooting distance. My rifle is a new one my friend built for me, it's a custom 7mm built super lightweight and it's range isn't as good as my "Coues Cannon" but we've got it shooting M.O.A. at 600 yards consistently. After a short run my thoughts were confirmed, no way to get closer and still have a shot, so I sat down at just over 1200 yards to hopefully watch were he heads to bed. The sun was close to shining on him so I figured he'd head down or up and over soon. Here's a cell phone digiscope pic through my 15's...... After watching him for a while and scanning closer areas for different bears, he finally headed down into a ravine. I figured he'd be there for the day so my plan was to hike up on a big mountain located directly above the ravine he went into and wait em' out until dark. I hadn't slept in two days at that point and even though the hike was gonna suck, I was excited to get up there and take a nap! As I got closer to that mountain I stopped to take a break and pulled up my glasses to evaluate my options for the climb up. I immediately saw my bear walk between some trees just below the top! He didn't stay in the ravine, instead he climbed out and up the same mountain and was now at 900 yards! My blood started pumping as I knew I could possibly get a shot! I took off running again, paralleling the mountain but gaining elevation and distance on him. The ridge I was on ran past the mountain he was on but would keep me out of the thick bottom and the further I could take it the less angle I'd have for my shot. I stopped in one window, relocated him, threw down my tripod and laid the rifle across my 15's, ranged him at 650 and settled in behind the gun. He had stopped to feed on some pears and I had a shot but I was uncomfortable with the distance and really uncomfortable with the steep angle. Frustrated, but knowing he won't stay long in the sun like that, I took off running again! The ridge i'm on still goes higher and gets a little closer, I just need him to stay put a little longer! Finally, I find another window and can see him walking broadside. I range em' at under 500 and instantly go into setup mode! Tripod down, flip the head over and drop the rifle in the pocket against the 15's, and slide in behind it. I range him again using the tripod to steady the rangefinder, he's still walking so I yell at him, he stops, I get 476 yards on the rangefinder, spin the turret up to 475 and because of the angle I steady the crosshairs at the bottom of his chest right behind the front leg..BOOM! The gun recoils up as I jack another round in while listening to the bullet fly! I can still hear the shot and hissing noise echoing back at me as I drop the gun back on the tripod then...WHOP! I knew it sounded like a solid hit and as I got my eye back in the scope I immediately see him rolling and running down the hill, I hold in front of him and a little lower and sent another round his way for the heck of it and missed. As I got back on him from loading a 3rd round I see him stopped behind a bush, he stands halfway upright and tips over!!! I reached into my pack, got my camera and took a pic right after that all happened..... And here's a different veiw of the setup I end up using a lot, not the best but usually how it happens on the fast setups...... Now, as I sat there amazed that I had finally killed my stateland bear, I came back to reality and knew all my prior concerns would be realized! The sun was up, it was warm and getting warmer, and I had to haul butt! I grabbed my stuff, ran to a point in the bottom where I figured I'd be hiking through later and emptied my pack except for some water, camera and my trusty Havalon Piranta knife. I hiked up there, quickly found him and luckily he'd fallen in the shade of a tree. I was glad to see he was a boar and had a great hide on em with no rubs plus he's got a gorgeous color to him! Probably the best thing that I noticed immediately about him, and one of the very rare times that I've been happy about this, is "ground shrinkage"!!! LOL! I knew he was at least an average sized bear when I shot him but thought he could be bigger than I thought. I was actually relieved when I saw he wasn't a big bear and thought to myself at that moment that he was perfect size! I rolled him down to a decent spot for the pictures and had to get creative using my packframe as a tripod for the camera which was extremely frustrating and knowing I didn't have time to mess with it made it worse! I eventually got a couple pics taken and that's when my nightmare started! The slope was so steep (camera doesn't do it justice) the bear and I kept sliding downhill the whole time while I was skinning and quartering! Not having somebody there to hold a leg or help you roll the critter is no fun! I had to use my head to get it done (literally!) or my face to hold the legs up while using a knee or foot to keep the bear from sliding or rolling! When it was all said and done, I had quarters, straps or chunks of meat hangin' in multiple trees back up the hill towards where I had started! Somehow I managed to keep it all fairly clean and it all cooled nicely in the shade. The pack out consisted of 2 trips, should have made it 3 trips but I REALLY didn't want to hike up and down that mountain again! With the heat, exhaustion and especially because I hadn't slept in 2 days, it was the hardest pack out I've ever done! All the work and exhaustion sucked but I knew what I was getting myself into that morning and I have no regrets at all! The experience, the challenge and the memories of my first stateland "D.I.Y" bear was all worth it! While cutting up the meat this morning I found carbon arrow slivers in one of his shoulders! I never noticed any wounds on him or on the inside of his hide and never noticed any damged meat, even around the slivers! I checked to shoulder bone for any damage or sign of being shot and it all looked normal. I also double checked the hide but we'll have to wait until it's fleshed to see what's there because nothing looks wrong other then my in and out hole from the bullet. Here's a pic of the first peices I found, they were in the muscle close to the shoulder blade, and I found a few more after cutting around so I just threw that part in the trash, don't need any o' that! I did the gutless method, maybe the rest of the arrow was inside the chest cavity somehow? I'll never know, but I'll let ya'll know what we find when we flesh the hide! Thanks if you read through my whole story, I know it was long winded but I appreciate you taking the time to read it! Definitely a hunt I won't soon forget! JIM>

It actually slides in fairly tight against the handle and the 15's thus acting similar to The Claw. I usually carry my tripod with it's legs already out to a point so that all I have to do is drop it, slap the rifle on it and slide into it without having to adjust anything other than the head. This is important if I feel a shot may happen fast and has been the difference in me or a client killing a critter or missing the opportunity. I carry a separate tripod with shootin forks and sticks for the long shots but seem to use my 15's and big tripod more times than not.

I would be WAY to skeered to try and rebuild my computer!!! I've been limping mine along, any day now she's gonna blow up, I just know it! Welcome back and best of luck on the tag! JIM>

Man I'm still waiting for the day when I whack my first one with a bow, I'd be happy as heck with that one too! Great job on a very pretty buck, Congrats!! JIM>

I just hope he knows FOR SURE that is the right guy!!! It's easy to jump to conclusions and it would be easy to wrongfully accuse someone as well. I've lost a bunch of cameras and although I've had ideas of who took them I couldn't prove it without a doubt so I just cut my losses and was more careful next time. I did just recently catch 2 groups of camera theives and vandals but only because I've got video proof of their actions I was able to point my finger and turn them over to the law. If I didn't have the video proof, then nothing would've come of it and it would've been my word against theirs! All I'm sayin is I hope that guy has pictures of that guy actually taking the camera, not just walking by it! Most cam thieves make sure they don't get their picture taken! JIM>

If I had that kind of money I'd put it in my pocket and run! If I had that kind of money and didn't already have this stuff i'd buy...... First, a hat and shirt from the CWT.com store Then, an Eberlestock Gunslinger Pack and I would fill it with....... 1. Swaro 8.5x42 EL's 2. Swaro 15x56 SLC's 3. Swaro 20-60x80 HD spotter 4. Leica CRF 1200 rangefinder 5. 2 Carbon Slik Tripods, one small w/ Jim White Pan Head and one big w/ Manfotto 701HDV Head 6. 1 Havalon Pirhanta knife, blaze orange w/ big box of xtra blades 7. 1 Wyoming Pack Saw 8. 1 Garmin GPS 9. 1 Surefire Flashlite 10. 1 Petzl headlamp, the good one 11. 1 Pair of Kenetrek Boots 12. 1 Canon PowerShot G11 13. 1 Roll of Toilet Paper 14. 1 Package of Baby Wipes That put me way over budget but that's the best tools of the trade as far as I'm concerned, especially the baby wipers I'd still rather take the money and run!

There ya go, leave the Leica's in there and I'll get ya a tag!

I was thinking like you Jay, the scores seemed high, but compared to your guesses, I gave him a 105 main frame, I felt the beams mass and width were a little more than you gave em', and a little more on the abnormals. Who knows, hopefully we'll find out so we can all learn from it! And definitely, great job to Steven Ward, I hope you get your hands on em'!! JIM>

How much will you charge me for it if i'll pick it up on my way through town tomorrow? How much will you charge me for it if I give you a smokin' deal on a Mexico Coues tag? And I pick it up?

Awesome! Gorgeous critter right there! Congrats to your dad!!! JIM>

Thanks everyone! I've recovered and now I'm ready to do it again! HA! JIM>

Here's a couple bucks that my favorite taxidermist just got done for me. Bret Prentice from Game Trail Taxidermy always does an amazing job on all my critters! He takes pride in each and every mount that he does and that I believe is what sets taxidermists apart! Some just pump out the mounts to make as much money as they can, others care about and take pride in each mount and treat each one like a work of art! I took a bunch of pics but you just can't capture the detail with a camera like you can see in person.... Here's a couple other Coues mounts he's done for me in the past....

That's a tough one! Trying to guess if he's gonna put any more inches on or not is super tough! I'm gonna say he's 122 4/8" now and after putting a little more growth on and rubbin' off he'll be 122 2/8" hard horned! JIM> 122 4/8" Now 122 2/8" Clean

I almost always start with north facing slopes if you have any, but they can and do bed anywhere. It all depends on the layout of the area, the weather and if there's areas they might get pressure from poeple. I sometimes hunt wide open antelope country for elk and they'll be just fine layin' out in the hot sun sometimes. Typically though, north facing slopes are the traditional bed areas primarily because it's got the shade and being a slope it should provide some type of vantage or visibility for the elk to watch for danger which makes them more comfortable and they like to be in that top 1/3 of the slope usually. One thing to keep in mind is, regardless where they are bedded, they will try to bed in a spot where the wind is at their back and they can face away from it. That way their eyes and ears are covering what they can't smell and their nose takes care of everything behind them. JIM>

Gorgeous! Congrats! JIM>

Simply Awesome!!! Great job Justin on all the hard work and congrats!! Great buck!! JIM>

That sounds like varmint calling for elk! I have never done that and I won't do that. Not saying it won't work, ya never know, but my guess is that the chances are better that you'll push a bunch of elk out of that area if you do that. And as for the rut, they are startin' it up and gettin' it goin now! The only time I call a bunch is when I'm doing a "lost or distressed calf call" and only to bring back spooked cows or to trigger a bulls cows to come to me. Good luck to you and your wife! JIM>

Awesome haul, great job!!! JIM>