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Racoon and a pink flamingo

Ice fishing shack. dang global warming!

Raccoon

I'm an empty-nester now, but the days of young babies, new financial commitments and never feeling to have enough time seems like it was yesterday. All these new things can make you feel a little overwhelmed. Stay the course. Hang on to what you got, but go back to the basics. My grandpa used to say "beware the one gun man". Pick one weapon as your 'release' and get to know it inside out until it becomes part of you. Hang on to your reloading stuff. I found mine to be a great release or escape. It was something that took concentration thereby relaxing me - and I never had to leave the house. I was always right there if my wife or kids needed my help. You will slowly acclimate to the new changes in your life and as you better manage your time, things will get easier. Kind of like a heavy pack. You get used to it the farther down the trail you get. Hang in there. You sound like you are going to be a great Dad.

Yes, worth opening half of the unit for hunting.

I want to say thanks to all the guys that take part in this forum. You guys made researching this hunt easy. Coues Whitetail was everything it was supposed to be and more. I scouted this buck in July and found him on the second day of my hunt. I was able to get close (150 yards) and seal the deal with one well placed shot. I'm very proud of this buck. The warden was able to age him between 6 - 8 years which makes it all the better. Thanks for the conversation as always and enjoy the pictures! Reece

On my archery elk hunt in 5B S, in the north end of the unit, I came across the remains of two structures. One was clearly a bunk house with a 8 by 10 base and the roof flashing for a timber stove still present. The second, about 400 yards away, was something industrial. My best guess is it related to logging as there are no shafts or tailings. I have encountered old rail grades a ways to the west that were once used for logging, but nothing close to this structure. The pictures came up out of order, 2, 3 & 4 are the bunk house site.

I wouldn't sell anything, unless you need the money. I don't sell guns i buy them😏

Buy a bow... you'll never look back. Ed F

My second Goulds tag! Drew the early hunt in 35A, which was my 1st choice. I got tag #14 out of 15, with 11 bonus points!

Killing a nice coues has always been something that has eluded me. I’ve killed a bunch of them over the years but never one that i would consider nice, or big. I have been fortunate enough to take some real good elk, mulies, antelope, bear, etc. but coues have always kicked my butt. Having killed 3 between 95-98” my goal is always to take a 100” buck. This year was no different. I’ve been chasing one particular buck for 3 years now but i have never seen him hard-horned. My goal was simple this year, kill that buck. I have hunted him endlessly through archery and rifle season with no luck. I spend a LOT of time scouting and running cameras so i know most of the deer that are in the area i hunt. As soon as the bucks shed their velvet this year, i lost track of all the “shooter” bucks i have been watching. I can’t for the life of me figure out where they go. Well, the opening morning of my rifle hunt rolled around and Jason, my brother and myself found ourself at our glassing point. Jason had a tag with me and my brother was there to help out. We started seeing deer right away but nothing special. After covering all the country in our immediate vicinity, my eyes started to wander to the country I’m sure we all look at with the thought of “why am i glassing so far away?” I mentioned to my brother that i could see a couple deer waaaaayyy out there and he told me pretty much what i was thinking to myself. Why the he!! was i looking over there. I figured i was looking at a couple does anyways, so i got back to glassing the more approachable country around us. A few minutes later my brother told me he spotted some more deer waaaay out there where i was looking and one looked like a decent buck. Not getting too excited, i pulled out the big eye and looked him over. He was a decent buck, but not what i was after. We kind of forgot about him and got back to business. A little while later someone was looking over him again and he seemed a lot bigger than we thought. Another look through the big eye confirmed there were two bucks. We could tell they were both at least decent with one being larger than the other. We watched the bucks bed and made a plan. Jason and i would make a very long and what should have been “low percentage” stalk to see how the bucks looked from much closer. The stalk worked out great. We found ourselves 450ish yards from the bedded bucks. After a quick look, i decided to try to shoot the bigger buck. A few minutes later he stood up and walked through a narrow shooting lane. I fired and the shot found it’s mark. Buck down. After the celebration ended we noticed the other buck was still standing there and Jason decided he was big enough. A few minutes and one shot later we had two bucks dead within feet of eachother. I never got a great look at the buck i shot i just knew had a good frame and could tell he had a bit of funk on his rack. When we got to the bucks, i was pleasantly surprised. He was not the buck i was after but he is one i could not pass. Jason’s buck was also a little better than we thought. Nothing like an opening morning double-down on a couple good bucks.

I got this on my backyard cam in N Phoenix coming to water. I don't think domestic cat, what do you guys think? Any of those three would be unusual around the neighboorhood.

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

Congrats on the upcoming family. That will obviously take more of your spare time. I used to work a 4-10 shift and spend most Fridays at the range and tinkering with my guns and loads. Then came a shortage of qualified employees and I found myself working 5-12's. So much for Fridays at the range. I had been a rather skilled shooter and 0.5 MOA or less was the norm. Now 3 custom 700's with NSX scopes have sat in the safe all year untouched. I had an archery bull elk hunt so the practice time got dedicated there. My parents moved, a major chore because my father and I maintain a fairly complete fabrication shop. A very good friend had a serious run-in with cancer and needed quite a bit of help with chores around the house. When I do get back to the range It will probably be more along the line of 5.0 MOA. I'll work it back down to something respectable when time becomes available. In the mean time I know I still have my toys and will get to play with them again in the future. They are expensive to replace. If you like what you have keep it. You will find time to use them just like I will. Right now it is still a good feeling knowing they are sitting in the safe just waiting on me.

San Fran fan or not .a alltime Great died today. Willie McCovey died at 80. He along with Willie Mays made the Giants very exciting in the 60's He hit over 500 HR's before the Roid era. Being lefthanded myself my 2 favs. growing up were the Willies. McCovey and in Pa. Where I grew up Willie Stargell. They were feared like no one today Both gone now. Rest in peace MR. McCovey................BOB!

Dry conditions you are good for a week or so. Wet conditions means new powder everyday.

Well 1st off. CONGRATS!! Honestly it sounds like things are looking up for you, even thought life is getting super busy. Having been thru the newborn/young kid cycle I know what you have coming and are planning for. I would def keep your core reloading gear. Maybe in a year you are back in a place to do it again, maybe not. Do you get an ammo allocation to work with your duty pieces? If so then I could maybe see letting the gear go. However the thing about reloading is.. well, it does not change over time, I mean not really at the core of it. sure maybe new powders or bullets come out, but press, dies, brass do not change. As long as stored properly that gear could sit for 10yrs and still be good, and ready when you pull them out. Rather than take a "loss" selling used, and then have to buy it again later on, just hold onto it. Maybe let some of the guns go with matching relaoding items if they have value right now and you are not going to shoot them for the forseable future. Just keep one gun to scratch that itch if you need? You could also use the reloading gear to make ammo for your duty rigs, especially if you are having to pay for the ammo to practice for sure keep the reloading gear. Is your press single stage or progressive? Even 9mm ammo you can save a considerable amount of $/box by reloading. I know many people scoff at it, but a box of 50rnds only costs me $6.10 to reload, versus over 14 to buy from a stock, or maybe 11-12 mail order when I place has a super sale/free shipping. Plus the reloading for service weapon will be more plinking ammo, and that is something that you can do when you have a spare hour here and there as a way to "get away" from the rush and stress or work/family. You can also break down your LR round creation and hunting round creation the same way. Spend a hour sizing a batch. week later trim, etc, etc.. over time you gradually get to point all you are doing is dropping powder and seating bullet. Some guns also just have a specific load they like. If you have a good load developed for one of the ones you have then stick with that gun/bullet and sell the others. then when you feel the itch you have a round/gun ready to go and can switch up practice one day. Long and short I think it makes sense to keep options open, trim back to only one LR rig that you use for LR&hunting but keep the reloading gear to feed it and service guns.

So, blowing white smoke sounds like it needs a head gasket after the overheating incident happened?

I think it will go over better than you think. There are 3 groups of guys. First group is a guy that shoots a sub moa hole at 100 yards and is confident that he can now shoot 1000 yards with his $6,500.00 custom gun and the same amount of money spend on optics. That guys is very dangerous and you got to see him in action the other day. Second group is a guy that shoots out to longer distances and realizes that it is really hard to shoot past 400-500 yards and you need a superior skill set to shoot past 600 yards. These guy will likely cap off their effective range off at 400-600 yards and will work to get closer if the critter is past that range. The third group of guys shoot a bunch and they are probably more into the shooting than that hunting. They live to mess with guns, reloads, shooting and everything that has to do with shooting a long distance. This group has a chance of consistently (not just getting lucky) of hitting a target past 600 yards with only one shot.......not needing a box of ammo. There are very few guys in this group. Personally I don't know one that fits in this category but I'm sure there is a guy or two on this website that fits into this group. I put myself into the second group.

Don't let me leave out my favorite picture! I did this hunt solo and am super happy with the pictures I got out there hoofing it on my own.

It was freaking hilarious. I was just getting ready to squeeze off a shot at 1181, and a squirrel popped up about 10' to the right and behind. I ranged again real quick, and told the spotter to watch. He was sitting on top of a rock, and it was far enough away that I got back on target after the shot broke to watch the hit. I hit about 1-2" low on the angled rock, and the shrapnel blew him 20' in the air spiraling in a tangle of....parts. My spotter said, "No....FU<#!NG.... WAY!". I remained calm like it was no big deal..... I consider it my best shot ever.

Yeah, lots of pictures. Don't want to over sell it. Just making sure its current condition is accurate. $1500

Dress warm

So what if he is e-scouting? He offered info on other units & isn't that what this site is for to share information & help others?

Said goodbye to Remington tonight. So hard to put her down. She gave us years of love and memories. Her body just couldnt keep up anymore.