singleshot

Hey bowhuntinmaniac, your absolutely right about Muzzy's. They have sucked the life out of many a beast. Including Mr. 111 5/8 on page 2.

I usually try to see the flight of my arrows to the target. Good follow through (keeping your eyes glued to a tiny spot on the animal even after the release) will usually allow you to see impact. You should also hear a meaty thwack! Watch the reaction of the animal. Most predators and Javelina will bite at the point of impact before bolting if they are unaware of your presence at the time of the shot. Deer and Elk usually come uncorked and tear off on a death run after impact, mowing down small trees and brush to escape. While following any blood trail use your binoculars to scan ahead. At close range binoculars pick up small details, flecks of blood or pieces of rib bone etc. I have recovered several animals quite a ways off from the last blood sign that were mortally hit. A high entrance and or exit sometimes leaves little or no blood because the animals chest cavity fills up. One more thing, Shoot Muzzy's "They're bad to the Bone"

Take a tour of the double circle allotment in unit 27 ( 45,000 acres ) very little water ever established, very little wildlife. Now tour the anchor ranch wich abuts the double circle. 10,000 acres, a hundred years of backbreaking work to establish water. Abundant wildlife, probably the single largest population per square mile of mule deer in unit 27. They ranch holistically wich means keeping cattle constantly on the move and the forest service doubled the cow calf count because of fear of fires. Profiling ranchers makes about as much sense as profiling the nationality that makes up the majority of a prison population. There is good and bad in all walks. The anchor ranch pays more in state and federal taxes each year than the average wage of a college graduate, the profit being enough to sustain two people. The range maggots being referred to are the healthy and able bodied sponges in our society soaking up the welfare, food stamps, and health care that the backbreaking people provide for them. We lose the public lands rancher, we all lose.

Take a tour of the double circle allotment in unit 27 ( 45,000 acres ) very little water ever established, very little wildlife. Now tour the anchor ranch wich abuts the double circle. 10,000 acres, a hundred years of backbreaking work to establish water. Abundant wildlife, probably the single largest population per square mile of mule deer in unit 27. They ranch holistically wich means keeping cattle constantly on the move and the forest service doubled the cow calf count because of fear of fires. Profiling ranchers makes about as much sense as profiling the nationality that makes up the majority of a prison population. There is good and bad in all walks. The anchor ranch pays more in state and federal taxes each year than the average wage of a college graduate, the profit being enough to sustain two people. The range maggots being referred to are the healthy and able bodied sponges in our society soaking up the welfare, food stamps, and health care that the backbreaking people provide for them. We lose the public lands rancher, we all lose.

I like the NEF youth models. Drilled and tapped, short length of pull, the tupperware stock I could do without, but all in all a great value. My Dad who is very knowledgable of firearms recently told me about the Mossbergs you mentioned at Wally's. Felt they were a great firearm for the money. He didn't like the box magazine or the tupperware stock but the reviews have been excellent. He reccomended I buy one for my daughter in .243. She currently shoots a 7.7x58 Jap. She is 12 years old and 85 pounds. We load it light for targets but she shoots full power loads for elk. In the heat of the moment recoil isn't noticed.

If any of you guys know unit 28 very well I glassed up what I believe is a hot air balloon crashed in the desert between Whitlock Cienaga and the Dunes. It's probably a weather balloon but it was a long way off. The closest I could get by road was about 2 miles. We packed out the "black box" from one of those things once and sent it back to Davis Monthan and never got so much as a thank's or postage. It appeared to still be partially inflated.

Beautiful mature buck. If he's a two point this year, after the spring we had in 2005 thats probably as good as he is ever going to be. Love that mass. Maybe somebody else can shed some light.

I worked for Phelps Dodge as an Instrument Technician for hydromet. I quit after 21 years and now work for the University of Arizona on top of Mt. Graham on the Large Binocular Telescope automating equipment. If I can just convince my kids to use the college benefit I get with this job I should be able to retire at 67. 28 hours on the mountain, 12 hours drive time weekly. Sure beats the daily two hour commute to Morenci and I get paid for the drive. Hunted Coues deer my whole life. Quite a few years I even had an extra tag in the late hunt. That was back before it was cool to hunt coues. I only wish I would have had good optics back then. Our motto was " knock em down as they get up and the big ones will come with the little ones". And thats what we did. Killed some forkies, killed some toads.

MY father killed an antlered doe in wisconsin years back. It was in full velvet in November. He also harvested a Pie Balled or gray with large white spots. The tanner gave him two pairs of gloves instead of one and he had a purse made for my mother. My brother killed a carp in unit 28 on the Hackberry ranch that we first thought was a monster ( remember the Bushnell 7x35's), it was a four point about 26 inches wide in full velvet, sans testicles ( could have been that his wife had them in her purse). He had the buck mounted.

Times have changed. Myself and my children have been fortunate to have had a father and grandad to pass down firearms. I wish my children were as enthused about them as I am. They have cell phones, and video games and all the things I hate. But they also have the outdoors. Buy those kids a new rifle, the most important thing in all sportsmans future is passing down a hunting heritage.

Thanks kevin, The old battered pump and lever guns that came from the Wisconsin woods are the ones that are irreplaceable. My new Ruger #1's, hopefully will have sentimental value for my kids, but for me they don't mean much. I purchased an Ithica side by side 12 gauge from of all places the JC Penney catalog for $350 when I was 13 years old. Money made from working in the cotton fields. I was a small kid and the recoil was punishing but the trade off was a crumple of feathers and wings falling from the sky. My father, an artist in walnut, put on a recoil pad after three consecutive nights of losses in our rivalry. A limit of doves for the least amount of shells. I don't remember noticing a difference.

Gone are the days when a kid woke from his bed and ran to the window to look at the cottonwoods growing along the canal. If the branches were blowing, it was going to be a tough day hunting dicky birds. When all a kid needed was a good mixed breed mutt for a companion and a Daisy Red Rider. To crawl up in an old timers lap and listen starry eyed to the tales of the hunt. The thrill of the suspense when the trap chains were heard before the catch was seen. And finally the day arrives when your out in the field with that first big game tag in your hand, holding a rifle that has seen a thousand miles, worn, scratched, faded. It wasn't a shiny new one, it was the one that was available, it was wonderful.

Something to think about is the NEF handy rifle. They build a real nice single shot rifle that can be purchased in a youth model with a shorter length of pull. They come drilled and tapped in a wide variety of calibers. An added bonus is that you could purchase two of them for the price of a good bolt action. A single shot hammer rifle is also very safe for youth to handle. I grew up shooting a 6.5x55 swedish mauser and it did everything I ever asked of it. Great caliber for the handloader, but factory rounds start at 140 grains. My son has taken elk with the 140's but we load 100's and 120's for whitetails. I agree with .270 though, buy him a 30-06 or a .270 and get him used too shooting that one rifle for everything he could ever want to harvest.

.270, The old man is doing good. They moved to Alpine about five years ago and still own a small home in Safford. They only come to Safford when they absolutely have too. I wish they would have done that twenty years ago, and they do also. Weve managed to hammer a few toms in the spring when he gets drawn. He has an old LC Smith double he nicknamed deliverance and gets excited as a little kid when they come in a struttin. He still turns out a few beautiful gunstocks each year. He's building one for myself right now that was broken in half on the November ten day hunt in a bad fall. He regrets not writing down all of the stories that old cowboy had to tell. It's a shame that none of his children have written a book about his life and adventures. It's hard to imagine a twelve year old today making a three month journey by himself from deep down in Mexico back to the blue to save himself twenty two dollars that he earned on a cattle drive. Take care and if your ever in Alpine stop by and visit, third house on the right in the Highlands.