AZDirtyTaco

Cool story and awesome pics! Thanks for sharing. I hadn't considered doing anything with the hide for the exact reason rkv09 mentioned... but you may have inspired me to rethink it a little. Nice work man!

You've covered plenty of ground to know what their patterns are in the area. The tracks will tell you most of you need to know while trying to determine the best spot to gain elevation and wait em' out. Glass hard where you've seen the most activity. With all the recent weather, you should be able to more easily see their current bedding with freshly overturned dirt. Good possibility the herd/s in your spot are bedding up the majority of the day and only giving you an opportunity later in the afternoon. They can be a ridiculously frustrating critter to hunt at times. Keep working and good luck!!!

I like where you were going with this and thank you elecshoc for calling a spade a spade. Did so very considerately as well if I might add. I wasn't comfortable with the comment either and didn't find it funny. Apparently, some did, openly or quietly... Bummer. I like when folks are open about their position on things like race, even respect it to a degree.

The ghetto pigs where I'm at are always active at night and dormant by day. I can't recall having seen one in my neighborhood between the hours of 6:00am-9:00pm and there is a healthy population here. I believe it has more to do with the increased UTV activity throughout the backcountry than it does actual hunting pressure or the number of tags. The farther away from human traffic you get, the more traditional their behavior.

Back in 2001-2002, don't recall exactly... I drove my Wrangler up from the valley to Sunrise with a buddy while following out a fairly decent storm. We rolled out around 10:00pm anticipating just enough time to grab a bite to eat on the way and crash in the parking lot for a couple hours before the lifts started running. ADOT had the 260 closed to all but 4x4 just passed Star Valley. Several stock 4x4's plowed snow for a few yards and called it quits. My Jeep only had a 3" lift and sat on 33 12.50's , but it floated right over and through the top of what was a solid 2.5ft of fresh powder and deeper in the drifts. We cut fresh tracks all the way somewhere around Heber and never saw another vehicle during the stretch. Still one of my coolest memories! Moral of the story... Let stupid be stupid and freedom to have fun to the rest.

I know a couple of herds that will bed under the trees and brush within a few yards of cattle. Pretty much living them. Also have a couple others that seem to vacate the immediate vicinity when the cows show up. Head scratcher for me on why it's one way or the other.

What an awesome story and a wonderfully written piece man! I couldn't imagine your grandfather being more proud of the legacy he left behind. Really love that you shared a pic of the family Jeep too!!! I'm sure there are a few chapters worth to be written for the places it has been, which I would happily read by the way. You are a talented writer and I enjoyed your story end to end. THANK YOU.

Cool phoneskope shot with them all piled up like that and nice work on #20!

Thank you for posting this event. I was able to attend with my son, buddy of mine and his daughter. I was really surprised to see such a large turnout and we all really enjoyed it.

Hey gents! Wondering what your educated opinions are on the minimum amount of arrow weight and FPS needed to take an ethical shot? My son has his 1st archery tag and is currently shooting a 323gr arrow averaging 149fps. I feel like this is going to get it done in the 20yd's and under range, but am not 100% confident and thought it was a good question to pose.

Wow wow....

Outside of the fps, I really don't know what weight he's pulling for sure and I hadn't considered the legal requirement. Good excuse to make a trip to the shop I suppose.

Nah, unfortunately not. Right around 25lbs based on my ghetto draw weight methods.

It seems to have a nice little thwack on the target. 195 would definitely put the confidence level up higher, but I think he's a little ways away yet. He does at least put it where it needs to be on foam 90% or better. I'd like to see him fling em' a bit faster, but I promised the wife I'd hold off on PED's till he's 11.

I just gave the limbs another 1.5 turns and he's now sitting at 25lbs on his draw and that bumped the fps up to 170. I think that going to be his max for the time being.

I hadn't even thought of that... Good call and thank you!

I think a lot of it comes down to individual style. For me personally, I like my spotter and don't fatigue much at all while on it for several hours at a time. I use it heavily during the late morning and into the early afternoon hours. I find it fast and easy to move from the lowest power for FOV to highest magnification for high detail at will while animals are most dormant. I'll grid the hillside or just one elevation when really slowing down and then hit it with my 10's every 10-20min by hand right quick for anything that has gone on the move. I run an older model angled Vortex Viper 15-45x65 and find a lot of deer with it that get overlooked by my buddies. Absolutely an invaluable tool that often times has me debating whether to leave my spotter or the 15's at home when cutting weight on days I am primarily still hunting. When my left eye (closed eye) starts getting a little twitchy from fatigue, I just switch over to my 15's or 10's. When scouting or out on a rifle hunt, I will have all 3 optics in my pack 100% of the time and rotate throughout the day. To answer the OP - angled all day for me. Whether sitting or standing, I find the angled eye piece easier to get comfortable behind.

I'm shocked at how quick they processed those apps and updated the portal... Wow! I think I dropped ours in the mail just last Thurs. Very cool.

Cool post man and helluva way to find the positives in life. Not always easy to do for sure.

Hey Gents! Looking for some input on my recent 1st time use of Duracoat. After finishing the job and removing all of my stencils, there was a significant amount of the adhesive residue that was left behind on the entire job. I'm thinking that the adhesive reacted to the Duracoat because much of the adhesive that I have removed was pigmented in the color from the layer it was applied. I was painting in temps around 70-85 degrees and waited a solid 3 hours or significantly more in-between applications. I wasn't scientific in my measurement of the hardener and feel this might be where my mistake was made. Perhaps there was not enough hardener to prevent the adhesive from interacting with the last layer of paint??? Anywho, I'd like to find out where I went wrong and prevent a repeat of this mess. It has been a complete PITA to remove all of the residue!!!

The Durabake line of paint does require a bake if I recall. It's optional for the normal Duracoat and aids in the curing process to speed things up. I like that garage ingenuity of your box and hair dryer set-up! Definitely will consider it for the next go round.

Loved your story man! Congrats on a cool buck and even better experience with your buddy. It's always better when you have someone with you that can tell the tale! Thank you for sharing.

Holy schmokes man! Legit buck right there... Congrats!

I like the combo of 10's on the chest, 15's and a spotter in the pack. The 10's and 15's are my must haves. I'll use the 10's for at least the first hour of the day, then move to the 15's if there is little to no movement, and by lunch I'm in tight checking pockets with the spotter till mid-afternoon. From there, it's a rotation of the 3 till the headlamp is turned on. Everything I run is in the Viper line and I have always been very happy with the performance. You don't need $2,500 glass to be effective out there. Heck, I had a buddy pick up a Barska spotter from Big5 for like $80 on sale that you could see pine needles at 600-700 yards. I was blown away by how solid it was!!! I say pick up whatever you can afford to get the best tools in the bag you can. Hard to do any job without the right tools. Snap-on isn't right for everyone. Harbor Freight gets the job done too when you need it to... Renting as others have mentioned ain't a bad route either.

So at point is this going to be considered litter on public land? I see cameras and I see garbage that people have left behind as an eyesore for others. Just like the cans of beer that "fell" out of their RZR on the way to check those cams... Doesn't mean I would go as far as to take them, but I also really don't give a dang if someone else feels the need to do some housekeeping. People are crapping out cameras like their own bile nowadays and leaving them out indefinitely. Not a fan. Maybe every game camera owner should have to put their address on their cam. That way people can set cams out in front of their house and get pictures of them going about their business. Err.... I mean - return them to their rightful owner.