catclaw

I have used a lot of different things but mostly I use 85 grains H4831SC and 165 grain Hornady flatbase and SSTs. I have killed more game with the same load and 165 grain X bullets than any other combination. Work up to this-my rifles have all had custom chambers and barrels. I get about 3400 fps with the 165 grain loads. I have a 1-12 twist barrel. You might not get this with a 10 twist. If I were setting out to hunt elk with it- I wouldn't use the SSTs. I am also going to start working with Bergers in it as well. These are mostly an advantage for long, long ranges. Out to 500 yds, the regular bullets work pretty well.

That is a very small bear. Bucks look 100% whitetail to me...

I used to drive to Bushnell tanks to do my long range shooting. unfortunately, the Forest Disservice has permanently closed Bushnell tanks to everyone but the cattle permit holder, who is free to use the area as he pleases.

I was glassing in the southern part of unit 27 on a late whitetail hunt and watched a lion chase down a deer and kill it. I watched a hunter play hide and seek with a WT in 36B for like 10 minutes. It was hilarious! If you see someone skinny dipping while glassing- are you a voyeur??

Those photos distort his rack and make a score impossible, but it is a really good bull.

Just because he comes in and you get a few pics of him on the trail cams, doesn't mean that he is going to be carrying a white flag and a surrender attitude on opening day!

I am hoping this one will fill out just a little more. He is tempting but I'm not sure I can trip the release... Will he add another inch all the way around?

Nothing better showed up this week. The bigger one that jumped off a spring didn't come back- yet. I won't shoot that buck unless he can put 10" before Sept 10th. It ain't gonna happen. I am very good at passing on stuff, I have eaten a LOT of tag soup. Probably a very good buck but not what I want this year. I already have 20 full scouting days this summer. I am not going to "settle". I just don't know how much more they will grow before the early season is over. I suspect that this buck won't rub out until the end of September. I saw some 320+ bulls this week still in velvet. Each has his own schedule I guess. I will keep looking.

I just returned from taking 11 scouts on a 50 mile hike in the White Mountains. We hiked from below Big Lake to Eagle Creek. We saw bears, a nice ram, deer, elk, turkeys, skunks and all kinds of birds. We fished in Black River and hiked to some cool places. We only got rained on once and we made it to a cabin in the forest just as it started coming down. We managed to keep from breaking any bones or any lacerating any body parts! A few sunburns, numerous bumps and bruises as well as a bunch of sore feet were the extent of the injuries. At the end of the trip I set up some steel gongs and let them shoot the gongs with a rifle. Every boy was able to hit the 250 yd gong shooting off the Claw. We shot several hundred clay targets with shotguns and overall they had a ball. The last night I had a steak fry as they were getting a little tired of Mountain House! I doubt they will forget this experience, I know I won't!

He is certainly a very nice buck. I just want something in the 110 range and this one won't do that unless he grows at least 2" more per point.

I have not killed a bigger one with my bow- the weapon is immaterial, it is purely a matter of whether this is a first week deer or not. I am more interested in how much more he will grow by, say, the first of September. My biggest archery deer is a 178 mulie. I want a 110 class buck and won't take something smaller the first part of the season. We saw a bigger one than this. Should know tomorrow how big. If this one could grow an inch or maybe two more, it would be real interesting. I was surprised at where this one showed up. These suckers continue to impress...

I dunno- I think I can do better.

I saw 2 bulls in unit one Monday that were over 375. There are a lot of bruisers this year!!! Holy cow- get out and find them for Pete's sake! The bulls I saw haven't cowed up at all so they will still be hanging together!

For all teh talk, I have never seen a single photo posted of a thief or vandal. On ce they realize that their mug is on the recoding media, they are gonig to take the camera. Perod. There are a lot of bluffers on here. If I ever catch someone taking one of my cameras, they will wish they had never stepped in the woods that day--maybe best I never catch them!

I have a Wilson unit that Niles radio in Flag installed in my truck and it is a worthless piece of junk. It was $500 wasted dollars! It makes ZERO difference in my calls.

We fished a third day and the coho bite was awesome. It seemed as if a new wave of fish had moved in as there were much better fighters than the previous fish, stripping line, dancing on top of the water and making it twice the fun it was the day before. We were soon loaded on cohos and trying to fish for Kings wasn't happening too well as the cohos were taking all our bait and we just had to let them go. We decided to go catch some black bass. After the coho bite, the fish box looked like this! The bass are a hoot. I don't know if they are really bass or not but that is what everyone calls them. When you can find a spot that has them and a bite is on, they will practically jump in the boat and surrender! When we found them hiding, I quickly tied on a jig and went to hauling them in. They don't need bait as they will hit a bare hook sometimes. I caught one on a bare mooching rig when I was trying to pull it in before we were over our limit. We had the boat full in nothing flat! Here is a bass- With limits of silvers and bass we went to the bottom. Here is a yellow eye we caught- these are probably the best eating of all the salt water fish I have ever had. We caught a pretty nice ling cod but it was outside the slot so we pitched it back in. It coughed up a salmon when it hit the deck! This was the biggest ling that we caught this trip- 46" long and pretty hefty. I have caught them up to 50# before but not this year. They have to be over 55" to keep or in the 30-35" slot. We headed back in and called it a day. Next morning we drove into Craig and hopped in a float plane that took us back to Ketchikan. The float plane was a Cessna 208 with floats and wheels. It landed in the harbor and then once in Ketchikan, landed on the main runway- sweet airplane! When We got to Seattle it was over 100 degrees- I guess the hot weather just followed us. It was a great time and I got some great fish. I had king salmon for dinner last night- oh my, it's pretty hard to beat that! Until next time...

I am leaving tomorrow with my son to do some fishing in Alaska. We are going to Prince of Wales Island. This will be my 3rd trip there (POW) Kings are peaking, silvers are coming on strong and there is always the yellow eyes (my favorite) and the halibuts. My son is sure excited to go. He loves to fish and this will be overload! I will take some pics this time since I have him there to take them of! This is as bad as waiting for opening day!! Dennis

I guess the hot days are getting to the deer finally. It was family day at the water park!

No, I had 4 cameras on this tank. my buddy didn't have to move a muscle as the trail cams did all the heavy lifting! He was the one on the tank. I got to sit a different one and only had elk and a lion come in. He also had a fox or two and a cow (I think) come in. This is what he was waiting for.

They would wade out in there and eat those underwater weeds for hours! Sitting on a tree stand waiting for a bear was painful!

He has been hitting the donuts pretty hard!! What a fatty.

Back from bear hunting- saw LOTS of elk and deer and a kitty- no bruins. FISHING... We went out again the next morning to fill the boat with silvers. The bite was decent but not as good as we had hoped. We caught a few here and there and tried a few different waters. Levi then hooks a King! * They fight a little different than the smaller fish and everyone else pulled in their lines until the king was landed or lost! Getting some advice on how NOT to lose it! * Finally in the boat * Levi's first King Salmon! * We picked up some more ling cod and made another good day of it. I wasn't so tired this day- I guess I finally got caught up on sleep the night before. Here are the best fish of the day. One more day to go...

DAY 2 continued We finished up at the King hole with no kings and a few more cohos that we had to release as we were alreadyhad our limits. We went out to some deeper water to find some halibut. We rigged up three big rods, two with bait and one with a jig. After about 30 minutes, my son hooked into something good. We pulled the other two rods up so he could fight it without worrying about a fouled line. When we decided it was a large halibut, I climbed on top of the boat to take some photos. * The fish reached the surface I switched to video at this point as Bobby had to beat the fish to death before he brought it in the boat. I don't know how to put a video up or I would. Bobby and I dragged it into the boat and the tied the tail to the head with a shark hook. We later slid it under the fish box with a little portion of the tail sticking out. The fish weighed 147# or so. We finished up with a few more fish and called it a day. We headed in for the docks and I can't remember being so tired. I guess it was a combination of jet lag, late sunsets and never taking a break all day. I slept from 8 pm to 5 am without stirring that night. Here is the wheelbarrow load of salmon. The day's catch all displayed on the bragging board. Bear hunting opened today- gotta go, finish this when I get back

As I was saying, Day 2 We headed out about 6 am to hit the salmon. We started in close as there was a bite only about 5 miles out from the lodge. We caught a dozen or so cohos and a bunch of humpies. It kills me to have to release all those humpies- they look just as good as the cohos (silvers) but are soft fleshed. My son caught the first keeper and it was off to the races. We had as many as 3 on at one time. The limit is 6 cohos per day. * The kids were having a ball. Kaden is only 9 and fought these suckers tooth and fin... * * We fished this spot for a couple of hours and then went off to more fertile waters. This time, a 45 minute run. We started mooching for Kings and immediately picked up a ling cod. There is a slot limit on lings- I think it is 30-35" and over 55". The first one was just outside the slot so back in he went. These ling cods are amazingly aggressive. They will bite the bait when their stomach is so full they can't swallow what they already have in their throat! I have had a big one chase a smaller one all the way to the surface. They have some amazing chompers and you want to keep your hands away. * more to come

Hahaha Red Mountain wasn't even built when I went to Mt. View so I went with a lot of guys from out there.