mattys281

I'm not familiar w/ the west part of the unit, but have found the opposite of this to be true. It took me seven or eight trips to find my first herd of pigs this year, but I saw deer every day. Of course, this was also the first year I hunted that unit. I usually have to kick pigs and bobcats out of my way as I'm stalking bucks down there. Some guys got all the luck. I'm following you from now on. I had to work way to hard in Jan for one little javi! Everyone tells me that there's a ton of pigs out there, but I sure didn't see 'em. I was kickin muleys out of the way looking for pigs. Actually, I was spooking 'em, thus the empty deer tag. Anyhow, it's defenitely nice, rugged country out there, and there are some nice deer, but they'll make you work for it, at least in the spots that I frequent.

I'm not familiar w/ the west part of the unit, but have found the opposite of this to be true. It took me seven or eight trips to find my first herd of pigs this year, but I saw deer every day. Of course, this was also the first year I hunted that unit.

I've swapped some e-mails with a guy from AT.com who is a guide over there on the big island. He killed over 20 pigs last year alone, all with a bow. I've also talked w/ him on the phone once & he seems absolutely fanatical. Don't know anyone who's hunted w/ him, but his number is 808-443-1210 & his name is John Williams. Good luck. Matt S.

There is no arguing with success. For me it depends. If it's on a hillside & I think I'll most likely be shooting down hill, depending on the grade, you may not have to go very high, or you may be better served w/ a ground blind than going in a tree at all. On the other hand, if the wind, trail location, etc. dictate that your tree be down hill from where you expect the animals to be then you'll obviously have to go higher. I try to stay in the 10-15 ft above the animal range, but again, I'm new at it myself, so take it for what it's worth. This last season, I didn't get the chance to fling one at a deer from a tree, but I did have a huge booner 6x6 bull elk walk by my tree at less than six yards & then stop & sniff the ground right in front of me at about 12 yards. He never looked up or winded me. Just bugled a few times & continued on after the cows he'd just chased by. That stand was about 10 ft. up. As for setting it up fast, a trick I figured out was to get up to the height you want & get positioned in a comfortable position w/ your climbing belt. I then haul up the stand with the haul rope tied to it & once I've got the stand, I throw the haul line over a limb above me & tie the loose end to the tree stand so that it is loosely hanging against the tree & I don't have to hold it's weight. I also keep the plat form tied up w/ cord until after I get the cinch-belt strapped on, then untie or cut the cord & push down the platform to lock it in. Untie one end of the haul line & let it drape to pull your gear up later. Maybe someone else has a better idea, but that seems to work pretty good for me.

They get easier to set up after you do it a few times. By the end of last summer I could screw in steps & hang one in about 15 minutes, if I didn't have to clear any branches. That was pretty much the first time I'd hunted out of them. Does your harness have a climbing belt on it? BEing able to take your hands off the tree & lean back on that makes a world of difference.

Just listed my Diablo on E-bay today. If anyone's interested, the set-up retails for almost $800 & I have it listed w/ a buy-it-now price of $525. This bow is about 2 months old. If someone on here buys it, you can meet me for pick-up so you don't have to pay the shipping (if you leave close to the Tempe/Mesa area that is) & I'll knock another $25.00 off the price. Just make sure you contact me through here first so that I know who you are on e-bay. Seller id is lmarchery & the item # is 130120235742.

I've also go a bunch of stuff left from when I had my shop open. I could throw some game calls or something like that into the pot? Sounds good to me. Bring out the families & make it fun for the kids. I know it may have already be posted here, but just to confirm, we're on for the 8-10th (next weekend), right?

Nobody's happy about the tag increases, but show me one thing in life that isn't getting more expensive. Cars... nope. Property prices... no again. Gas... heck NO! My X-box crapped out a few months ago & since they don't make it anymore I have to either go without or pony up more than twice the money for the new system that does the same thing. It's the way of the world.

Someone point it out if I'm wrong, but what I read was that they were on "leased grazing land" (2nd paragraph) which means it's public property that he has paid for the right to graze his cattle on. If some a-hole pointed a gun at me while I was on public land, he wouldn't need to hire a lawyer, he'd need a priest.

I know that everybody has a different point of view & varying desires for the hunt seasons, but I think a group voicing a single opinion will carry much more weight than a bunch of individuals. Perhaps we should plan on discussing this at the upcoming CW picnic & then go hammer on them at one of those meetings together.

I believe I've found the problem. I recently read an article where they said that archaeologists had unearthed the remains of an ancient liberal, perhaps even the first liberal. The attached photo explained a lot to me. At least now we know what we're up against.

If you read all the reviews about slick tricks and most of the reviews from wac ems actually they all fly just like field tips. I have some slick tricks on order and plan to do a review on them. I've been shooting for about 15 years now & have yet to see any fixed blade head that will fly "just like" a field tip. They'll group with your field points as long as the arrows are leaving your bow in a straight line and not fish tailing from poor tuning and/or torquing. You can also get crappy broadhead flight from shooting under spined arrows that flex excessively during flight & cause planing. The trick to the new heads they're making is that they're all coming out with shorter ferrules & thicker, more compact blade designs that have less surface area, there by presenting less wind resistance and planing to a lesser degree during flight. I've been shooting the NAP Nitrons for the last 2 years & they group right with my field points w/out paper tuning. I set the center shot & squared the nock point & got good flight w/ no screwing around. If you're going to do a review, make part of that review setting your arrow rest about 1/8 off of center & do some shooting. You'll most likely see those heads that are supposed to shoot like field points end up grouping well to the side of your field points. On a side note, I switched to some heavier arrows yesterday to try to quiet my bow down a little & have to say that it made a significant difference. I don't have a decible meter, but that extra 40 grains sure sounds quieter. Went from about 5.7 grains/lb to 6.4 grains/lb. Guess that no matter how much rubber crap you put on your bow, there's still no substitute for shooting an arrow of decent weight.

Bullsht- they are FERAL- they are not non-game. It is no different than shoot a cow in your pasture. Do you have to have a license for this?? Not only no license- but NONE of the laws apply. You can use weapons that would otherwise be illegal. I have been down this road before with G&F. All I can tell you is what I was told when I called & asked. Since I buy a license every year, it's a bit of a mute point to me. I just wanted to make sure it was legal to shoot 'em, and it is. The hard part is finding them.

Another moron on tv demonstrating his ignorance. Exactly why I refuse to pay for cable - can't afford to throw away my hard earned dollar for idiotic dribble.

In addition to the common sense safety tips, like keeping water & a shovel for extinguishing, digging a deep pit, etc., I'd also enourage everyone to make sure you have the local ranger station's phone number plugged into your cell phone. You can find it easy enough by going onto the forest service's website. We're obviously going to see a lot of weekend warriors out intruding in our woods over the holiday weekend, & we all know how alcohol + careless behavior + huge bon-fires can end up. If you see someone stupid doing something stupid, intervene or drop a dime & let the professionals intervene. I know you don't get service in a lot of spots, but I've been surprised at some of the mountain tops I've called home from.

The topic of uninos & our manufacturing industry (all of it, not just the automotive side) is a debate that I'm not going to touch. I personally think, however, that the larger problem is unchecked credit spending. In the last 20 years the price of autos. has increased over 200% while the average workers wage has increase less than 20%. And that 20% is exagerated by all the CEO's making millions more than they were for doing the same job in the 80's. Every year they cost more, but rather than letting supply & demand level things out, they come out with more creative ways of financing to take off the sting from the purchase price, like 0% financing and 72 month loans. I can't believe people are willing to agree to pay $500 or more per month for 6 years on a car, but they do. The oil companies are the same. They do whatever they want to the price, because we'll continue to find a way to pay and they know it.

I say don't limit yourself to one or the other. Some spots lend themselves to ground blinds & others to treestands. All depends on the location for me.

According to G&F they're a non-game animal, but a hunting license is still required for hunting any animal on public land. You don't need a tag, however, just a license.

That's the problem. They won't "get there". Actually, I take that back. Sheriff Joe would probably jump in his tank & come out personally for each and every one of them. We should all set the MC Sheriff's office on our speed dials & start calling him instead. That's one candidate I really wish would run for president, or at least governor.

I've got one good friend who's a cop & know several others. They definetely have to deal with a lot of messed up crap, but that doesn't excuse shotty work on what he may have considered a "minor" incident. They're not just out there to protect us from criminals, but also to protect our rights. If this guy handled it poorly than you did the right thing - report it to his superior & let them handle it. I knew I guy who worked for Phoenix PD & he once told me that when they stopped cars full of illegals the only thing they could do was run the plate to see if the car was hot. No license, no insurance, not registered to them.... didn't matter. If the plate didn't come back stolen, they let 'em go. He said INS wouldn't even bother to come out unless there was at least a dozen & they were too short staffed to spend the time messing with them when nothing would happen anyway.

I don't usually cheer for the prey, but that was awesome! What a lucky calf.

Carbon Force, Radial X-weaves. Made by PSE. They're on the light side, but the way the wrap the carbon on them makes them really tough. I've been doing a lot of rabbit shooting with 'em & in spite of numerous misses, haven't busted one yet.

I know how you feel. Had a van full of them run a red light while I was going through an intersection about 2 years ago. Fortunately, I saw them & hit the brakes, so they just barely clipped the front of my car, doing very little damage. They hauled butt out of there & ditched the van about two blocks away. Turns out, they had bought the van for cash & never even bothered to change the title or register it or anything, as they were illegal, so when they dumped it, the police traced it back to the previous owner & had no way of linking it to them.

I think I posted this pic once already, but since you brought up buying a PSE.... This was my second one in fourteen years of shooting, nailed w/ my 2 week old PSE Diablo at 20 yards. First was about 12 years ago. How many people are planning to bring their kids? I'm going to try to get mine, but that's not my weekend w/ them, so it'll take some negotiation. I was thinking that if we get enough of 'em, it'd be fun to organize a pee-wee shoot or something like that.

You can count me in. We have our archery club meeting the weekend before, so I'll try to remember to bring it up to the guys there. There's a handful of them that are on here also. P.S. Who was it that was braggin on the 3" groups at 100 yrds in that other thread? You'll have a crowd waiting to see it!