catclaw

There are a bunch of good systems out there and it somewhat depends on what you call FAR. If 500 yds is far, then you will be well served with a Leupold B&C or varmint hunter reticle. I have both and can hit fine out to 500 with it. Beyond that, you need to start twisting turrets. I still like the B&C reticle and will dial in for a longer shot. I have shot 1000 yd BR competitively and it is not that tough to figure out exactly what your bullet is doing. Sierra's published data was good enough that I could use PEJSA software to give me a 100 yard zero that would be on at 1000 yds. In my case it was 26.4" high at 100 yds. The first round was with 12" at 1000. Darrel Holland has a nice system as well. He uses S&B scopes which are very expensive though. I have both the VXIII and the VXIII LR. I also have the new Bushnell Elite 4.5-30. I think this might be just the cat's a$$ for long range as you can crank it as high as the mirage will allow. All of my Leupie LR scopes are 4.5-14. On my elk hunt last year I hunted with Desert Diesel and he had a 6.5-20 LR. I was going to use my rifle if the range was under 500 and his if over ( in the middle of building a house and all my reloading stuff was in boxes and I had 150 grain partition loads for my 300 that I used in Kodiak the month before) DD's Accumark was using 220 grain MKs and had killed a bull the week before at +- 700 yds so I wasn't worried. When I finally found the bull I wanted through my 15s I set up for the shot (395 class bull). When I settled behind the 6.5-20 cranked up to 20 I saw that the bull had a broken antler that I didn't notice at 15x. I passed on the bull and ended my hunt. THAT is the advantage to the 20x or higher magnification. I agree with Casey that I really don't like 6.5 as my bottom power but depending on the way you hunt, this may not be that big of a deal. Look at your budget and decide accordingly. Amanda- 3500-6500 is not going to make enough difference to worry about it unless you are shooting 1000 yds. Where it makes a difference is when you sight in a rifle at Ben Avery (1200 feet) and then go hunting in Colorado at 11,000 feet and need to take a 500 yd shot.

Casey- did you see that Nat Geo channel had a special on the enigmatic Chupacabra? You should call them and let them photo your rifle for future releases

I have the same tag- I will be hunting a private ranch but there are a ton of good spots. Good luck to you.

I have never had any luck at all with Frank Hayes- I know he thinks Robinson Mesa is his personal playground and it he had it his way, that gate would NEVER open! That road is only supposed to be closed until July 1. If any of the Manuz bunch drew elk tags you can bet that gate will be opened come Novemeber!!!

I'm not sure what you are doing, but there is NO reason your die shouldn't contact the top of your shell holder. If it's not, screw the die in further. If you are screwing the die in far enough to touch without a case in the shell holder and then you can see day light when sizing a case, you have a junky press! It is deflecting too much. Is it an aluminum Lee? If you are bumping the shell holder and see that little band at the bottom that isn't sized, that's normal. Do the cases chamber easily after reszing? If so, you're good to go, if not, adjust the die until they do!!!

I know- just teasing- just that the road that I moved this one off of looks like the same area in your photos! Probably same time of the year! I have found more Gila Monsters in 23 that the whole rest of the state!

Here he is before you ran over him

I have participated in some of the erradications- the biggest of which was the Calf Pen/ Fossil Creek grow a few years ago. The gardners killed a bull elk in that grow. It was amazing to see the amount of work that went into that. They had to have MILES of 1/2" poly irrigation tubing. EVERY plant had it's own drip line. Most people who stumble into them don't realize what it is until it is too late- not that bad stuff always happens, but it could. With the border tightening down, we are seeing more domestic weed that we used to.

Yeh, I'm with T on this one- let's see the big one- we don't know what tank, and besides, my tag is in 10!

I was picked raspberries this week at 7400' and found some fresh scat in the brambles. I would expect to see more sign with the berry crop so good but didn't. Most of my bear spots have been removed from the prickly pear hunts! Grrrrr.

You know you jinxed it giving it all this publicity and stuff. Don't get carried away and shoot a spike with it!!!

I drew the same tag. 31 late Nov. I have a unit 10 archery bull tag and a NM mule deer tag. A decent fall! My son drew 20A junior hunt.

It's certainly not as convenient as some other states, but I'm all for it. The draw process is a LOTTERY- you can't buy lottery tickets at Circle K with a credit card, why should we be able to buy THESE lottery tickets with a CC? Buffalo has certainly got a whole lot easier to draw and probably sheep! I suspect it hasn't hurt the deer hunting apps too much. I would be in favor of trophy hunts with trophy prices-like several other states, but this commission has an agenda that etched in granite and it isn't happening any time soon! I hope they never go back to the online system personally!

Well, what did you get?

Dang, Casey, how do you keep track of the distances of that many bucks? Heck, I can only remember a couple. I can guess on some but there's way to many to be remembering the yardage Longest one that was actually LASER ranged was 365. I shot one in the Cayantano that was easily 500-550. I didn't own a rangefinder back then and it was a risky shot- at a trotting deer no less. Only being able to see my bullet strikes let me walk the third one it- It was the first year that Barnes came out with the X-bullet!

My boy and I got Archery bull tags in unit 10- NO POINTS- I had a tag last year!!!

I hear all these stories and believe most of them- there is still a human element involved. I have two quick examples: A friend was drawn for a muzzleloader deer hunt a few years ago- he doesn't own a smoke pole and ONLY applies for Dec WT tags as he is a school teacher and can only hunt during the Christmas break. He went down to G&F to complain that he didn't apply for this hunt. They pulled his app (the original) and someone had written in additional choices in PENCIL in an obvious different handwriting! Either someone at the Post Office has a sick sense of humor or someone in the draw dept was trying to sell more permits. The second one is that a friend of mine got drawn for an elk tag this year that he didn't even put in for!!! He didn't want to raise a stink for fear that when they found the mistake, they would take his tag away! It doesn't take much for a computer operator to , after being bribed, put you in for 100 bonus points- almost guarantying that you will draw. I have seen too many important, influential people draw multiple <5% odds tags in the same year and succeeding years to believe it's coincidental. Nope, there are still problems down there.

I passed on 25 bucks yesterday alone. I tried for one that I think will go high 80s just before dark, but an errant doe busted me who was about 300 yds from him and I didn't get a shot. Haven't seen a bull worth shooting yet either! Another week to go!!

Manzanita is pretty pricey. There really isn't any place to look at optics and such is there. I don't think Prescott is big enough to support a SW. Might be the first one to fold!!! I will, however, welcome it as I like shopping there. Dennis

I'm not sure what you are looking for in a 20x binocular. The only one worth using that I know of is the discontinued Zeiss stabilized. They run around $5K. There are a bunch of 15-16X binoculars that are worth using in the $800-2000 range. The 30X Doctors are fantastic but HUGE and very specialized.

Casey- your are going to have to get a bigger rifle if you are going to kill one bigger than 80"- you know those stinkin' WSMs won't kill a mature deer- what is going through you head??? Get at least a 300WBY or maybe a 300 RUM... Dennis

Way to go Casey and Doug! Wow, a 34A late tag- almost as hard as Kaibab late but not what it used to be in terms of quality. Good luck you guys.

Oh---- Don't tempt me Doug! I have actually done a fair amount of horse control work and did considerable testing with the first generation Barnes X- They worked quite well for an animal that size. I can say without reservation that a 22-250 makes a very poor long range horse round!!!

It matters very little what brand of call you use. More important is stand selection and the frequency with which you call. I called in a large boar black bear last month with a wooden cow elk call. I imitated a deer in distress and had the bear within 60 seconds. I personally like the Critter calls the best- an open reed allows more sounds than a closed reed. After about the middle of February, you will need to howl to have much luck with coyotes. I used a Dan Thompson Red Desert howler but I suppose there are others that will work. The mouth piece on that call makes a great long-range call as well. FoxPro is the WORSE thing that ever happened to varmint calling. There are a zillion wannabe callers out there educating the predators and making it much harder to get anything in. It's a shame.

They have some real ignorant folks working there that frequently give their opinions whether right or wrong. They won't tell you that you can hunt wild horses and donkeys either- you won't find a word about them in the regulations. The wild horse and free roaming burro protection act only applies on specific FEDERAL lands- BIA, DOA and BLM. If you encounter them on State trust land or private property they are not protected and are considered Feral. You are right about the hogs being hard to find however. I talked to a friend on Friday night that twice saw them while fishing at Blue Ridge Reservoir- but it was a number of years ago.