lancetkenyon

So for a couple updates... This was back in July. So, with a two week family vacation to Alaska out of the way in June, and work allowing me a little bit of free time with a 4 day weekend, my daughter and I had plans to finally get up to the unit and do some serious scouting/hiking/shooting. Got the keys to a friends cabin to make life easy and loaded up the truck and hit the road Thursday morning around 2:45AM to be in the unit by first light. Before sunrise, we were spotting elk all over, totaling 68 animals by sunrise, unfortunately it was too dark for photos for all but a few of the elk. A few nicer mature bulls, one stud bull, some raghorns and spikes, and a lot of cows/calves. They really seemed to be hanging around the few tanks that still had water in them and then bugging out to thick stuff at sunrise, as this spring has been really dry in AZ. Phoenix has gone 122 days with no rain, and the higher country was not much better. The monsoons are on the way, but I hope it is not too late for antler growth. We also saw a decent antelope buck with 9 does, a couple small herds of deer (10 total with 3 small bucks), 2 jake turkeys, a lone coyote who almost stopped long enough to get lead poisoning, a bunch of jack and cottontail rabbits (which my daughter took one at about 200 yds. off a sitting position bi-pod), and we glassed up a prairie dog town at 363 yds. with about 15 dogs as far as I could tell. Now numbering 13 or so. My daughter connected on shot #1, and I connected on shot #2. Not bad. A .25-06 Ackley slinging 115gr. Berger VLDs @ 3400fps launch the dogs pretty well. Ran into Williams, AZ for some good BBQ ribs for lunch and headed back out to find a suitable 1000 yd. spot to try some long range shooting and sighting in the .270Win and performing a ladder test at around 400-600 yds. or so. A fun and productive day so far....until.....I got a call from my wife at 3:30 saying she had just been rear-ended on the highway and totaled her 06' Mustang......crap. So much for the long scouting weekend. Luckily we were just setting up the steel and so we took it down, loaded up and hit the road. My daughter was having a blast as we bombed down the dirt roads, rally style at about 60mph heading to the highway. Fortunately, even with the holiday weekend, we only saw one other vehicle all day. Hit the highway and called the cavalry (my older daughter) to pick up my wife and shoot some photos of the damage to the car. So we made it home about 6:45PM and thank God, my wife is doing fairly well. Sore back, but that is it. The next day was spent looking and buying a new car for my wife, which we have been discussing anyway, this just made it about 6 months sooner than planned. A fun day none-the-less, as spending time with my daughter is always a good time, and being in the woods and seeing game is a bonus. Hopefully we will be back up a bunch over the next few months in preparation for the November hunt my daughter has coming up. One of the raghorn bulls Antelope buck A cool cave we found while hiking a bit Luckily we were hiking when we saw this guy, and the guns were in the truck One of the two jakes we saw Lucky coyote Mmmm...powdered sugar donuts, breakfast of champions!

Different situations call for different rests. I have a couple of Harris (as seen on the front of the rifle in the stowed position), but one of the best setups I have personally seen used is this one. It can get you up over tall grass/bushes that a normal bipod cannot, and makes for a literally rock solid rest. This one is quick to set up too as log as you do some pre-shot fitting. It can be deployed in about 3 seconds if you are stalking in on known game. You can use just the front tri-pod, just the bi-pod (in front), or both in this combination. My daughter took her javelina off this setup and we deployed it in 3 seconds when the pigs showed. Front is a Primos, rear is a Bog-pod. And the Primos tripod can be used with binos by simply unscrewing the rifle rest and screwing on a tripod head of your choice. If you are going to be camped out glassing near a vehicle, this works great too! But heavy to carry around....surveyors tripod and a Sightvise. Harris 13-23" being utilized (works for sitting and high prone shots. For low prone shots, this bipod is too tall. Good one for keeping on your rifle while still hunting, and can be deployed fairly quickly. This is in the short position, and you can see it is pretty high for prone shots. It works great for sitting shots though when the legs are extended. Too short for kneeling though.

I would take a pair of 5 year old Swaro ELs over a brand new Vortex Razor all day long. There is a pair here in the classifieds for $1500. Get them quick!

I like Fletch-tite Platinum too. Bad thing with feathers is rain will get them wet (unlike plastic vanes) and my effect arrow flight. I use a powdered "waterproofer" to help with this while hunting. But when dry, they stabilize very quickly, and fly great. When you shoot an arrow through another feather, you can still shoot the feather without too much effect on flight, unlike vanes which tear a big hole in the vane. Feathers are lighter than vanes, so you get a little better speed out of them with the decreased arrow weight.

Also, I know they are pricey, but did you check Bruno's Shooting Supply?

I say post the photos. A thief is a thief.

I hunt with my AR for Javelina and varmints. My daughter took a big pig shooting a 69SMK this past February. I think it would work just fine on Coues out to 400 yds. or so.

Great times! What unit?

Just got back from dove hunting, and while putting away my shells, I found some shells for a gun I no longer shoot. It has been retired in honor of my great-grandmother who originally owned it. With that being said, I have 2 full boxes plus 9 shells of .410. 2 1/2" #8 shot bird loads. I would like to donate these to someone with a KID who will use these. Considering .410 shells are like $15/box, hopefully this will let some kid shoot some more with dad or mom and make some good memories. Let me know if your kid needs some dove/quail loads. Text @ 602-55eight-250eight.

There were thousands of them at a jobsite this morning in the Anthem area this morning.

This is the best deal I have seen on here. I can't believe they have not sold yet. Wish this would have come along two months ago when I bought my Meoptas. Good luck, but I am sure they will go really fast.

Nice to meet you Brett. Enjoy the adapter and post up some pics this fall!

Opening morning we slayed them. Can't wait for Saturday/Sunday again.

I work in North Scottsdale, 101 & Shea area. I will be back at my office by 11:00 or so if that helps.

I just bought a pair of 15x56 Meoptas, and they came with a I Phone 5/5S adapter for digiscoping. Since I don't have an I Phone, and don't ever plan on getting one, it is up for grabs. I am sure it will fit other binos, so whoever wants it can have it. They are $60 new....WTF? I am in north central Phx., I-17 & Union Hills area. http://www.meoptasportsoptics.com/shop/us/5-iscoping-adapter/zmxpuqkm4qnl/ctgMPus.html Text at 602-Five 58-two 508.

Like comparing apples to prunes. Swaros are in a whole other league over the Vortex. I was so disappointed in the Vortex Razor HDs when comparing them to all of the other high end glass. To me, the Razor HDs were in a league with $500-800 glass, not $1200+ glass. I did a big comparison on MY opinion of 10x42 glass that can be found here. http://www.coueswhitetail.com/forums/topic/50663-vortex-vs-minox-vs-zeiss/page-1?do=findComment&comment=485043 I opted for the Meopta binos in both the 10x42 and 15x56 flavors. I could not be happier. I was comparing the Meopta and the Swaro SLC HDs in the 15x56, and there is a $900 difference in price. I actually liked the Meopta color better than the Swaros, and could not tell a difference in anything other than FOV between the two. Maybe a couple feet wider FOV at 100 yds. with the Swaros. But not enough to tell unless you are counting bricks on a wall. I actually got a smoking deal last Friday on my 15s, out the door for $1320 from Cabela's. I had a 10% off coupon, and opened up a Cabela's credit card (which I have already paid off), getting me another 10% cash back, plus $100 gift card on the binos until Labor Day, plus $25 gift card for the credit card approval, plus $25 gift card for spending over $1K! Total savings/gift cards was $492. Not bad off a pair of $1600 binos. The Swaros are $2500, but could have saved $520 on the Swaros too, making them about $2200 out the door.

Slaughtered them! Had a great opening morning hunt with my brother and cousin. Best hunting I have seen in years. Got my limit of 15 plus 3 Eurasians in about an hour and a half, and that was taking my time and picking my shots. Schooled my brother and cousin too, only shooting a box. They got 10 each, with a total of 7 boxes between them!!! More hunters than I have seen in years too, but plenty of birds around. Had a blast! I'll be out again this weekend with my nephew added to the gang.

I buy whatever I can get. I shoot 4" feathers out of my compound, and have never seen a difference in flight between feather brands, and I used to shoot competitively in 3D tourneys for years, until the politics drove me absolutely insane. I use round back, and bright colors make finding arrows easier too. And hopefully you will have some blood soaked feathers in your near future! Good luck.

You must have been in the southern part of the unit. The photos are usually upright from the northern portions... Great job on the buck!

GREAT! I actually picked that one out of a Cox cable underground vault! Pinned his head with a sledgehammer handle and grabbed him behind the head to rescue him. We had excavated to the vault and tied some conduit into it. Then backfilled the trench after leaving it open overnight. A month later, we had to open it up to pull wire and he was in there. Had to have gotten in when we had it open and got stuck. He had shed his skin in there too. All of the other Mojaves I have seen had a greenish color to them.

Go down just south of Gila Bend. They are EVERYWHERE! We built a site out there, and the first day we grubbed the site area clean and left a nice smooth dirt area for the construction. I beat the crews there the second morning and saw literally 20 different sidewinder tracks all across an 80'x80' area. Made for a very watchful rest of the project. I think I relocated about 10 different sidewinders, and a big western diamondback from the area. Saw a Mojave Rattler too....

Nothing wrong with lap dogs!!! Big....60# lap dogs.... No one is safe from the "Ninja cuddle" Sometimes the tables are turned... But they earn their keep around here.

I am ALWAYS finding snakes. I work a lot of remote locations, and they seem to seek me out sometimes. Here are a few. Black King snake (Pima County) Western Blind Snake Sidewinder One of the MANY Gopher (or Bull) snakes Everyday Western Diamondback Not a snake, but a cool opportunity to touch a wild Gila Monster He was a biggun. And really calm too. Pink Speckled Rattlesnake The biggest Gopher (or Bull) snake I have ever seen. Over 6' long and super friendly. I almost brought him home as a pet. Another Western Diamondback Another skinny Gila Monster, about 14" long or so. Another grumpy sidewinder Desert Nightsnake My wife freaked just looking at this photo...

Personally, I found the Razors quite disappointing in comparing the 10x42s with almost all other high end brands. I was quite surprised. I am saving up for the 15x56 Meopta (Cabela's in house brand) myself. At $1599 new for the 15's, with a transferable lifetime warranty, and the clarity they provide over the Vortex, it is a no-brainer to me. Right there with the new Swaro SLC HDs. And built like a tank. I am not worried about the weight difference of the Razors, as my 15s will always sit atop a tripod.

http://www.dvor.com/ sometimes. You have to be a member, but it is free.