COOSEFAN

Alright boys and girls, still no takers on this ammo! I'll go $225.00 if anyone is interested. I'm not runnin' around town anymore like I was, but I will be at the ADA banquet tomorrow and I'll bring the ammo with me. If anyone wins a .300 WSM come find me, I might be willing to go cheaper but that all depends on whether or not I'm hangin' out with Mr. Daniels and his friend Mr. Coke...they've been known to alter my better judgement at a banquet or three over the years Thanks for lookin' at least, JIM>

Great job and thanks for writing the story and sharin' the pic! JIM>

Thanks for the reply's! That eel thing is a Morey Eel. I caught that while fishing with a live squid as bait. The deck hands definitely didn't want it aboard but I was able to swing it over for that one pic! It was one un-happy critter about being hooked and was writhing around just like a snake, I was told that it was a rare catch. You can kinda see my hook is in his lower jaw and there is still the tentacles from my squid on the hook, his teeth were more impressive in real life than in the pic! The red fish are Vermillion Reds and we caught several species of other red rock fish, I really can't remember all the names. We did catch a bunch of Sculpin which have poisonous barbs all over that were cut off before bringing over the rail, the fishing was really fast and furious so I never got the time to get pics of those or the others. The other fish we caught tons of was Whitefish, some Bonita, Lingcod and Calico Bass. We were very fortunate to find the Albacore Tuna, I think we were the first boat of the season to do well catching them. We caught the Tuna at around 110 miles offshore and caught 23 of them. We got into the big YellowTail at around 130 miles out and caught 39 and lost quite a few because of the lighter tackle we were using. The Barracuda were a blast and you can see the biggest one that Manny is holding, but fortunately for Manny, he had the only surface iron (topwater lure) and it was the hot ticket as he caught half of all the 'cuda's on the boat....he wouldn't share that lure with anyone...even if their life depended on it! I think we caught 24 Barracuda's and a total of 455 fish all together for the trip....not including the ones we threw back!!! My other exciting catch was a huge Sea Lion that took my anchovie and almost all my line! I set the hook in em' and held on as he hauled butt away from the boat. He was jumping just like a dolphin while trying to shake the hook and fortunately the line broke at the hook just before he stripped my reel completely. Those dang critters are a serious problem while fishing out there and so are the seagulls and scuba chickens. We were constantly having to un-hook birds and re-bait or re-tie hooks because of the birds and seals, very frustrating to say the least! I just had some of the rock fish for dinner tonight and it was awesome.....pretty rare for me to like fish, but this stuff ain't exactly "store-bought" either! LOL! Thanks, JIM>

Here's some more pics.....

Howdy guys and gals! We've got our new website up and running! It's still under construction, more hunt videos will be added as well as a finished and fully stocked photo gallery... shouldn't be much longer! It was brought to my attention that at least one person is having problems getting the site to open or is freezing up his laptop? This is only a problem on his laptop so I was wonderin' if anyone else is having the same problem on their laptop? It seems wierd that the problem is associated with just the laptop, but I'm clueless on computer stuff anyway Thanks for any input! JIM> http://www.mullinsoutfitters.com/

I couldn't imagine walkin' up on that, what a monster! Congrats to the finder and thanks for allowing the pics to be shared here! JIM>

Thanks Terry, I'll be watchin' for the email!

Thanks for researching that Gary and sharin' your findings with us. Whether it was acceptable or not, a rangefinder lessens the chance of wounding and losing game.....that's the most important thing and in my mind makes a rangefinder a very ethical tool to use NOW, BACK TO THE TOPIC! I recently acquired Christian's new product, the Range Snap, and I love it! I haven't had it in the feild much yet, but I've been wanting something like this for many years. I think the one hunt in recent memory where I REALLY wished I had this product was on an archery Antelope hunt. I tried all sorts of things to make using my rangefinder fast, easy and with as little movement as possible. Nothing I tried worked really well and i drug my rangefinder all over the prairies while belly crawlin' and was frustrated. I think on those archery Antelope hunts you use your rangefinder more than any other hunt, plus you are dealing with a critter that has binoculars for eyeballs! This Range Snap will become a "must have" product for those hunts, as well as any spot n' stalk archery hunt! Also, when helping somebody on a hunt, I usually am responsible for multiple tasks during the hunt and with the time saved and decreased amount of movement while using the rangefinder, I am certain this Range Snap will be a valued peice of equipment...and with how cheap it is it's a "no-brainer"! I'll be putting it to the test this season and will post up photos as I get them. I can tell just by first glance that it is very well constructed and will attach to multiple areas on your clothing or pack and you can attach anything you want to it! Great product Christian! JIM>

Why buy postcards when you can just steal Doug's photos off this thread! Amazing photos Doug, thanks for sharing! JIM>

Hey TJ, A friend of mine has gone several times with an outfit out of San Francisco and he talks very highly of the operation. I think they've mostly targeted sharks and says it's a blast. Also says the people are extremely nice and courteous, food excellent and the fishing great! Here's the info: SoleMan Sportfishing http://www.solemanfishing.com/

Awesome pics and gorgeous fish Chrissy, congrats to you and your pops on a great trip! JIM>

LOL! Grong....if you wanna see somethin' gay, just open up your "Sent Messages" folder in your phone! I guarantee there's quite a few folks on this site that will agree, I'm always scared opening up your pix messages! LOL! Thanks all, I'm relieved that the problem isn't happening to anyone else! The site is coming along pretty good, still lots of things to do with it. Thanks again, JIM>

HOLY COW!!! That right there is a day you don't have to write down to remember! Way to go TJ, huge congrats to you! JIM>

Huge congrats to you Casey! You should be proud of yourself, that took alot of determination and persevearance I'm sure! Imagine all the cool guns and toys you will be able to buy now!! BTW.....the first thing you need to do is burn all of your mis-matched, faded, oversized camos you always wear and finally buy some new ones....... I might know a Kings dealer if yer interested Congrats again on achieving a huge milestone in your life! JIM>

With work and side jobs i've had absolutely no free time to get up north this year and it's been killin' me! I barely have been able to sneak out and fish but that at least has kept me from going insane! I finally got a side job wrapped up and was able to head up north last Friday night to hit it hard on Saturday, hoping to at least find a small brownie that somebody missed. My brother and his family along with some friends of ours were heading up as well to get the kids out for the weekend so I knew that it would at least be fun to hang out with my nephews. My boy "Drake" begged me to take him along and as usual I was glad to take him, my other kids stayed home to keep momma company. Drake and I woke up early and headed out to a spot that gets quite a bit of shed-hunter pressure but it's thick enough to give the quad riders a hard time so I knew we at least wouldn't be crossing many quad tracks. We covered close to 4 miles and found nothing but a few "headless" dead elk, but it was freakin' awesome to be back in the woods after such a long time stuck down here! Here's Drake protesting the idea of jumping off the cliff like I did! We headed back to camp to grab lunch and then headed to another spot that tends to get overlooked by most and isn't very friendly to the quad riders. Drake and I zig zagged for about 2 miles finding nothing and by now I'm getting frustrated that I hadn't even found a rag brownie which is, at least, something to expect in this area this time of year! I was at that point when you start thinking about how could ALL the sheds get picked up? Why can't I just find one, heck I'd settle for a chalk white raggie at this point! I heard about several guys that took truck loads out of this area this year and I really started thinking they had indeed found them all! I think I was on auto-pilot and just aimlessly wandering around dreaming of big antlers when I came through a clearing and instantly something grabbed my attention to my left in the shade.......TINES....LOTS OF TINES! WHOOOHOOOO! My first glimpse! I didn't even move my feet before taking this "as it lay" pic! The sight of what lay just 15 yards away actually startled me and that addictive feeling of excitement and satisfaction rushed through me! I noticed right away it was a set from last year and I couldn't believe a huge set like this had sat here through all the elk and deer hunts and through almost 2 shed seasons!! I walked around the magnificent pile of bone taking pictures and soaking it in for over 30 minutes before finally picking them up for the first time! This was my biggest matched set and it's just freakin' awesome! More AIL pics, and Drake posing with our prize! And when I finally got my hands on em'! A cool pic of Drake, he was about as outta shape as me! Here's one with Matt and one with his "man-cubs". It's not every day you find a matched 370" class set layin' on top of each other, or at all for that matter, so that's my excuse for taking so many photos! I didn't break a sweat hiking deep canyons, didn't sleep on the ground and didn't spend weeks in the woods, but at least this set wasn't layin' on the side of the highway like the set I found last year, so it means a lot more to Drake and I! Thanks for readin', JIM> BTW.......Sdrhunter has live TC photos of this bull in velvet when he grew this set in '07!!! Hopefully he'll post a couple of them up! Thanks Shane

HA! You caught me! Seriously, I can't believe how much that picture is flying around!!! I'm sure everyone has gotten that email by now....or multiple times is more like it! My initial email that i sent out was hi-jacked by a guy in Ogden UT named John Jones. Mr. Jones took credit for my picture and it's spread like wildfire ever since. With the help of some friends we tracked down Mr. Jones, who actually lived in the exact area which is described in the "revised" email, and we called him! He denied the whole thing but it was very clear in his voice and stuttering that he was guilty of stealing and claiming my pic and adding a false story! I really don't care about my picture being sent out, I just can't stand the fact that it's got false info attached and especially because there are numbskulls in this world like John Jones, whoever he may be, that feel the need to steal somebody elses pic and claim it as their own! Get your own pics.... you numbskulls! BTW.....thanks to all you guys that have been setting the story straight!

Thanks guys! For those that are curious, his Right side is 169", and his Left is just shy of 158"! His width appeared a bit wider than average in the TC pics and he had probably 3 or 4 inches broken off on his left 3rd. Hopefully Sdrhunter gets the live pics posted, it's awesome to see him wearin' this set in velvet!

Yeah, that might've been me that said that. I have the 80HD and bought the HD because I heard that it was better for clarity and color which is better suited for digiscoping as well as general use. The HD is better, if it's $500.00 better? I don't know, I didn't compare the HD with a non-HD, I had the money at the time and wanted the best one. To be honest though, after having it I realized I don't use it near enough to justify the money I spent on it. I love my 15's and spend 95% of my time behind them and 5% of my time behind the spotter.....a cheaper Nikon or Vortex may have been a better investment for me because of my style of glassing, but I have a hard time looking through cheap spotters. I get headaches easy if I deal with much eye strain such as the fuzziness or blurring you get with cheaper scopes on higher power. That was probably my #1 reason for going with the 80HD, it is amazingly clear and bright, even on the higher powers. Either way the Swaro scopes are the best out there, you'll be happy with either one. JIM>

Awesome finds there! I really like that clubby side rack, the one-of-a-kind finds are the best! Thanks for always sharin' pics from your trips! JIM>

I for some reason have a knack for glassin' up lions or just running into them on occasion. I have stopped counting, but I would guess it's in the high 20's probably. One year I saw 9 lions just while hunting the SC Rez between the bear and duck seasons. I've seen one get it's butt kicked by 3 javalina....shortly after that it met the business end of a muzzleloader. Watched a female carry one of her kittens in her mouth as she jumped boulder to boulder down a mountain, the 2nd kitten tried his darndest to keep up which was funny to watch as he'd tumble off the boulders. I've glassed one up that my buddy "GTT" later killed, and another that a client missed several shots at in Mexico this year. I've only seen one while running hounds and that was a blast, just wasn't big enough to kill. Seen several pairs and a few groups of 3 especially on the SC Rez, don't know why, but seems more rare to only see 1 by itself there. I shot and lost one last year that had a partner running with it, and saw a 3rd lion a few days later. Had one lion sit just off the trail watching my friends, my brother and my dad as they packed out a bear, my brother shot that lion at 20 yards as it didn't feel like leaving. Even had another lion eating off an elk quarter that one of our clients had just hung in a tree...the client was only a few yards away putting his gear together when he noticed one of the quarters swinging side to side! He tried to scare off the lion but instead of running it actually came towards him before finally walking off! There's definitely more lions out there than most would think, and you can only imagine how many times you have been very close to one and never knew it! JIM>

Congrats on your tag mulie hunter!!! IMO, it's never too early to start scouting. If you are scouting early, or very early like right now, you should just concentrate on learning the unit. Get all the maps and study them and check on Google Earth to see if your unit has clear satellite pic's, if it does then you can fly around and get a good idea of contours, unmarked roads or trails and even hidden water sources. You can print out these images and take them along with your maps and hit the hills to see it in person. Don't worry about finding the elk until closer to your hunt. I would start looking for the bulls you want around the middle of July and expect them to move during the month of August. Some will not move very far, others may cover 30 miles, you never know, but weather throughout the year will have an affect on this and some bulls really like to travel far while others seem to stay close for some reason so it's a gamble. Trail cameras are a great tool to see the quality of bulls and to determine patterns. I would utilize them more in August and Sept. when the bulls are full grown and moving so you get an accurate idea on what to hold out for and where the bulls are right before your hunt. 7W can be a great hunt but it can also be one of the most frustrating hunts. The hunter pressure in some of the good areas can get outta control and the rut there seems to be hit or miss every year. If the rut turns off in the areas your hunting, then move higher or lower in elevation to find the action! Also, 7W is an area where you may need to be very aggressive with your calling. It doesn't take long before the bulls have heard every brand of cow call on the market, try quietly sneaking in close to a bugling bull and then hit em' with a bugle and rake a tree, that's been the ticket for me when they get call shy. So pretty much, scout now to learn the country, scout later to determine the quality of bulls in the area, and scout hard the week prior to your hunt to pattern the bull you want! Best of luck to ya! JIM>

Is this the same white chevy tahoe you saw Jade? It took me from about 40st and I-10 all the way to the offramp at Gilbert and 60 before I finally caught up and got this cell phone pic today. They got off at Gilbert right after taking this pic. Always cool to see the stickers out there!

WOW!!!! I got some serious goose bumps reading about your encounter Amanda, VERY glad you didn't get bit!!!! I wouldn't even wish that on my worst enemy...no fun gettin' bit! I couldn't help but wonder if your TCam would have triggered on the snake had you set it up prior in that spot? That would be a first I bet! Glad your OK!!!

Congrats on the elk tag!!! I think that's a great idea to switch to the fixed blade head for your elk hunt, you'll never hear anyone complain about a fixed blade head not opening up I've always had good luck with the trusty ol' Thunderheads and Muzzy's. It's easy to get wrapped up in all the different heads out now, but as long as it's razor sharp and fly's accurately it'll kill an elk. The most important thing to do with any head is tune each and every one. Congrats again on the tag, sounds like I need to move to Yuma in order to finally draw a tag for myself... you all cleaned house this year!!! JIM>

The funny thing is that the 3 on the left actually make the one on the right look halfway decent The scary thing is that Chrissy has kept that photo readily available for like 2 years or something.....has it been that long ago??? Regardless, one day would be too long to keep that photo around!