Schmitty

Great post Doug! Personally, I like the draw the way it is, there is always a glimmer of chance for a bull tag for those without many points. I always pick an early bull archery hunt as my 1st choice and a much easier to draw cow tag as my #2 choice. This keeps me in the woods hunting elk about every other year or so, which is what a guy should expect considering the cow tags usually have a 40-50% draw rate. In 22 years of hunting AZ, I've only drawn one bull tag (last year with two points), I caught alot of crap for pulling a premium tag with only two points. However, it was my only bull tag in 20 plus years of playing the game. I'm still waiting on my first antelope, sheep and buff tags. good luck to everybody this coming fall! Schmitty

Tim, Shoot me a PM as I'm up your way and have a few things you can try. I boughta bunch of pyrodex pellets that on clearance at Wal=Mart a couple of years back. I've also got a few different saboted bullets that you can try out. My smokepole shoots 3 777 pellets and the barnes tipped 290 grain sabots pretty well, so I don't see myself using the aforementioned components any time soon. You're welcome to them if you want it. good luck on the hunt, that was one of my choices as well. Schmitty

I fought the good fight and finally got through this morning after wearing the skin off my thumb yesterday. I even tried calling at numerous times throughout the night as kids were constantly waking me up for one reason for another. Obviously there are alot of other insane, hunt obsessed idiots like myself because all I could get was a busy signal. However, all is well as I received another BP for antelope (an annual ritual), but drew my 2nd choice, an earlier antlerless hunt in my favorite unit so I have no complaints. good luck to all, Schmitty

I know your young bud, but asking a man to give up his exact hunting spots isn't exactly kosher. It's pretty much the same as asking if you could have relations with his wife or daughter while he stood by and watched. Keep getting out there, walk a little farther and you'll find some birds and have a few spots that you can call your own. Schmitty

I watched a few pigs fight over a road killed cottontail the other night. Two of them were pulling on each end with a 3rd trying to get in on the action. They did not want to get out of the road until one proved to be the victor and ran off with his spoils.

I've hunted them in Shackleford county a couple of times, including this year killing a couple on each trip. However, the ranch I've hunted (friend's family) has been working pretty hard to trap/kill all of the hogs they see and it showed this year as we didn't see nearly as many pigs as usual. It is neat country however, lots of rolling grassy/mesquite hills with big free range ranches that are loaded with deer, turkeys, predators and pigs. It's TX so the folks will want to corn the roads or hunt over feeders, but the country lends itself well to spot and stalk. You might want to google shackleford county hog hunting and see what comes up. It's not as thick or dense as S. or north TX. The country reminds me a lot of southern AZ. Have fun! Schmitty

20 plus years ago while hunting deer in 28 we tripped over alot of pigs in the Peloncillo foothills.

I don't think that there are any commercial tannerys in AZ. If you take it to a taxidermist, all they will do is ship it out of state to a commercial tannery. I've seen Moyle's tannery up in Idaho's work and it is very nice and their prices are hard to beat. Google Moyles tannery and you should be able to find their website.

Give Danny Pedersen at Classic Barrel and Gunworks a call up in Prescott. He might be able to help you out over the phone. His website is www.cutrifle.com. He's swamped right now and rarely answers his phone as he's on the machines, but he'll call you back in a couple of days.

I read it a few years back. As I live up here in Prescott, it was interesting that I know alot of folks in the tales and being familiar with most of the locations where the stories take place.

Great Job on a Fantastic Buck!

Casey, Why is it all the cats you shoot have spots on them? I couldn't resist. Nice looking cat you got there! Schmitty

Sorry, but these binoculars were sold back in Nov. Schmitty

I shot a couple whitetail does and hogs in TX with the 90 grain SST out of my .243 just to see the results. i was impressed with the performance, complete penetration on all animals, with decent trama inside and nickel sized exit wounds. Ranges were between 25 and 200 yards with similar performance across the spectrum. As for the Barnes, I've killed 4 deer and 2 elk with the old style X bullet. Great penetration and decent expansion. Results varied with 4 DRT's and 2 who made it 30-40 yards before piling up. I've loaded the new TSX in a couple of rifles with very good accuracy. The grooves cut into the bullet do help w/ the fouling, but they kill the BC. Good luck, Schmitty

Unless you look at it through a borescope, you'll never know. You'd have to take the rifle to a gunsmith with a borescope who knows what he's looking at in order to get a fair evaluation. I'd just tell the guy how many rounds are down the tube and how you've shot the rifle; rapidfire, etc. Chances are if it's a military type rifle it's got a chrome lined bore and there won't be much for throat erosion, unless you've put 10K rounds down the tube at full auto. Hope this helps, Schmitty

Cabela's had a couple of Matrix's a few weeks back. I've got a dark horse I'd sell if you want to save a few bucks. I really like it, but I just got a big bill from the taxman so I need to scrape up a few bucks. good luck. Schmitty

Hey Catclaw you are so deaf I figured you couldn't hear a gun go off anymore! So why worry about a brake!!!! As for they scope smacking you in the face, I've never had it happen to me, but I like scopes with ALOT of eye relief. I've seen guys at the range w/ some pretty high magnification scopes creeping awfully close to that scope bell and all I can think is OUCH! as you just know they are gonna get whacked. The brake looks awfully well made and I'm glad it working out for you! I hate shooting next to guys who have them, but they sure tame those big thumpers. Good luck with your rifle. Schmitty

I saw 4 mule deer bucks last weekend all in velvet, but the two I saw tonight were hard horned.

Personally I let the opening day crowd get out and pepper all of the baby birds and don't start getting serious about chasing the dogs until mid November then we get after them a couple times a week. My old fat pointer is a very good Gambel's dog LOTS of birds shot over her, however we've only been down to chase Mearns once in a down year. She didn't know what to make of those clown birds, so no promises as to how she'll perform. I'd like to get down and chase Mearns for a couple of 3 days this year. I've got a big wall tent w/ stove that comfortably accomodate 3 guys for a couple of nights that I'd be happy to share if anybody is interested. I'd say shoot for either 1st week of Dec. or after the 1st of the year when it's good and cold in the evenings and a guy can enjoy some quail breasts and venison steaks grilled over oak/mesquite coals. Heres hoping for hot barrels! Schmitty

Who did the work? Any projections as far as torque/HP? 2 bolt or 4 bolt main? New heads? I've got a 72 4x4 suburban that needs a new motor, but the new motor has to have sufficient torque to haul the burb and trailer up hte hills, so I was gonna build me a stroker. No generator here, but I've got a few rifles I'd trade away. Schmitty

Jay, Why don't you stick an arrow thru him so we can all know the score for sure! He's a dandy, now go out and find him! Good luck on the hunt! Schmitty

I just got back down the hill from Unit 8. Lesson learned, buy a fall turkey tag as I had two toms at 20 yards with bow in hand. It looks like half the board will be heading up to 8 for the elk hunt as will I looking to fill my 1st AZ bull tag. If you haven't been up there in the past two weeks it is WET, WET, WET up there. There is standing water everywhere! The forecast looks to be dry over the next week, but I'm not sure that things will dry out by then. Good luck to all! Schmitty

As the name of the post implies, which is your preference? I've always shot w/ my left eye closed, and find that I'm a bit more precise on close shots w/ one eye open. However, back it up a bit, throw in some shadows, 3-D targets, etc. I find that with both eyes open the much larger FOV allows for much faster sight acquisition, positioning, etc. with no real significant loss in accuracy. I often find myself keeping both eyes open to settle in on the target and then close the left eye once I've got my "spot" picked out and settle in and let her rip. Just curious as to what everybody else was doing? thanks, Schmitty

I like IMR 4350 with the 100 grain bullets and use H4831sc with the 110's and have had outstanding results with both out of my 25-06. However that gun shoots pretty much everything well.

The shilen stainless barrels are lapped, both grades, while the standard chromoly barrels are not lapped unless you pay for it. Looks to me like you've got a chromoly barrel. Hope you get it shooting! Schmitty