yotebuster

How much was the ticket and how much over were you?

Wow! Have they been refinished?

I'm gonna be the devils advocate on this one and go with gas. I grew up on a farm all my life and have been around diesels and gas engines the whole time. My uncle used to have a saying about diesels. "Trucks, tractors and trains" and I think I agree with him. The upfront and long term costs associated with a diesel are going to be significantly higher. I just bought a new ford 4 door with ecoboost and the max tow package. It handles our toyhauler both in power and payload better then my dads 7.3 powerstroke all day. I looked hard a new power stroke and it would've cost me $18,000 more upfront for it. Oil changes are gonna be about double, not a huge expense but something to factor. Fuel costs in the last 10 years have been about 60-90 cents higher for diesel, although they've balanced out as of late. My ecoboost will get 19 highway not pulling, which is similar to any diesel out there. It loves gas when I pull with it, and will get about 8-10 with the toyhauler on it. My dads powerstroke will do about 12-14 pulling same thing. The amount it sounds like you pull I'd the big kicker. If you hauled for a living that'd be a different story, but for 10-12 times a year as is my case the extra $18,000 is gonna be hard to justify in my opinion. The last factor that personally seals the deal for me is noise and smell. You can't even get near the diesel pump without smelling like a oil refinery. This gets on you when out hunting and you can't get that crap off. They have come a long way on diesel noise but there's no way arohnd that rattle when climbing a little hill into your parking area to hike in. In my part of the world we have to fight with gelling too. So you have to run additive and #1 all winter. This adds so much cost and your mileage advantage is long gone out the door. So I guess I go back to my uncles saying. Here on our farm almost all of our trucks are diesel (Im using the term truck correctly, a real "truck" that has more then 2 axles but that's a whole other story!) all of our tractors are diesel, and if I had a train I'm guaranteeing that'd be diesel too, but I doubt I'll ever own a diesel pickup.

Up here in the prairie they say it takes 10% nest success to keep a stable pheasant population. In some of the heavy predated areas they only get 1-2%. It just blows my mind that with the little ground cover down there in the pines they can even get off a hatch let alone run those little buggers around for 2 months until they can fly with all the hawks, owls, bobcats, coyotes, fox, and lions running around out there!! Amazing!

I find this so sad that it even has to be asked. No offense to the OP but firearm safety is a personal matter IMO that should be dealt with on a family basis not a govt basis. I shot my first deer with a bow at 7 only because they wouldn't let me rifle hunt. I had taken 8 deer with a bow before the state deemed me fit to rifle hunt! I shot my first pheasant and duck at 5, I was safer at that time then most of these cargo pant wearing AR toting jack arses you see at the range these days. Same as any parenting topic, it boils down to one question. Are your mom and dad deadbeat losers or not?

Maybe it's your attitude. Very nice pic and awesome first bull!!

I can't believe those things can avoid predators long enough to grow up.

My only problem with shirt pockets is when I lean over the boat to grab a fish or wash my hands off, whatever is in them falls in the lake.

Can I fit an f250 crew cab short box in it?!?

Do you have a bowhunt or gun hunt? Both of these would be worth keeping in your back pocket if you're bowhunting. If its a rifle tag then keep looking as you can do better. I think both of these goats will finish out a little bigger then they are now. I would say 78-79 on the heavy one and 76-77 on the bottom one. The top mass on that bottom one is something to watch out for. It makes the cutters look bigger and affects the score in a huge way. It's kinda like 3rds on an elk, a little extra in there turns a nice one into a really nice one.

I noticed that too. I wonder if it was from the skull plate shrinking? Awesome buck and mount! Awesome cape too! All around very cool!!

I don't understand why they would put pike in any of those lakes? They're worse then releasing wolves! Here in ND we judge a lake based on whether its been wrecked by pike yet or not.

It could. I would say hunting in the rain would be worse. For the most part the powder in your gun (atleast on modern inlines) is pretty safe. The only exception wod be taking he gun in and out of a warm vehicle on a cold cold day. You just have to be a little more proactive to make sure you keep things protected. 777 is kind of touchy as it is water soluble so it will take in humidity out of the air. Blackhorn is oil soluble so much better if its wet. I'm leaning toward using a shotgun just for simplicity. Grab a pocket full of shells and go. Also it'll be nice to have follow up shots on moose which I'm guessing could be kinda close during the rut. I just bought some of these to try. http://www.midwayusa.com/product/181751/remington-premier-ammunition-12-gauge-3-385-grain-accutip-bonded-sabot-slug-with-power-port-tip-box-of-5 With a 385gr bullet doing 1900 fps these are beating a normal muzzleloader in energy and just behind my ultimate firearms muzzle loader with uses 200 gr of powder and a 300gr bullet at 2350. It's a toss up but I'm gonna take the Benelli out in the next few weeks and shoot it a bunch and see what kind of groups I get. I'll keep you guys updated!

I've been slowly collecting my info. Looking like its gonna be a float hunt. I have an 18' John style flat bottomish duck boat that is super stable that I think we'll take. Still trying to figure out if I can take an outboard or need a shallow water drive motor. Also it's a short range weapon hunt due to the farmland around the river so I'm stuck using muzzleloader or shotgun. My dad has a fully rifled slug barrel for a Benelli that I'm gonna try and get shooting. I have a pretty mean muzzleloader as well so we'll see! Pretty excited! I'll keep all of you in the loop throughout the process!

My sister in law had an elk tag in there back in '07 I think. Didnt see much for deer, a few little 3pts but that was it. I've heard the quality is getting better in there though. Sorry not much help I guess! Is that a general tag or a LE tag?

+1. I called them to figure out what size bore I needed and they sent me a free trial pack with all the sizes in it and instructions!! I was all cranked up to burn my pts in Colorado and ended up not drawing, so I guess I'll have to wait till next year.... Or the year after... Or the year after....

It would have been much easier had they been in an area we could have hunted them. The snow kept the animals on the Park and the few that did come across didn't come across very far before heading back over to safer areas for them The hunt ended yesterday and unfortunately only 15 of the 30 tags were filled. There were guys who hunted 30+ and 40+ days each on this hunt and didn't lay eyes on a buffalo. Is that common? I always thought the success was pretty high on that hunt? Was this year just that much of a tough one due to the snow?

Bump for a good deal. Shouldn't have any trouble selling these!

https://www.thorbullets.com/ Anyone ever try these? I have a sample pack to test bore size. They look pretty sweet! I think they'd be good elk medicine and I believe should be colorado legal?

http://www.rmcoxyoke.com/inc/sdetail/rmc_magnum_ec_loader/6558/201 Here they are. I think they come with adjustable shims for different barrel contours. My family and I used to use them back when we used round balls and they sure made loading quick since you could start the ball all in one.

I don't know if they still make them but they have what's called an EC loader. It looks like a revolver with 4 cylinders. It has a bullet starter built into it. You lift the starter, rotate the cylinder, and then slam down the starter and then use your ramrod. They are sweet. Holds 3 reloads in one unit. I'll see if I can find them online and post a link.

Show us some pics if these big colorado bulls you've been killing murph. Why don't you show us pics of your little rag horns you're so happy to shoot.Honestly. Show me a pic of a 300" bull you took out of Colorado if there's so many big bulls in there. I don't know what your problem is. I never said I killed a 300+ bull there. I have hunted Colorado for many years for mule deer and I have seen numerous bulls 300 or better. You telling someone to soot the first bull they see is ridiculous. Why do you think you have the right to tell someone how to hunt. That statement shows your immaturity and lack of knowledge of Colorado. "Sometimes it's better to be quiet and thought a fool...than open your mouth and remove all doubt". This post wasn't for you to dictate how someone should hunt. It was to help someone get the right muzzle loader to hunt with. "My self and my family have tc encores. They really shoot well. They come with fiber optic sights, but a peep sight is better through my eyes. Look into power belt bullets. They aren't the best bullet out there when you compare em to sabots, but the are legal in CO. It's either that or the old school Great Plains bullets. Also there's no pellets allowed so you need to use loose powder. I would strongly suggest blackhorn 209 as it is far superior to pyrodex (garbage IMO). It's a fun hunt, if you're drawing a unit that takes less then 10 pts to draw, shoot the first legal bull you see. Colorado is not a trophy state, even the best units in co (that take 15-20 pts) don't have the quality of bulls that even the worst AZ unit does. It's still a fun hunt, the raghorns think they're herd bulls (cuz they are) and bugle their tails off. Just don't expect a big one, if you shoot a 6pt you are in the top 1% of bulls that come out of there. My dad hunted the same muzzleloader unit for 15 years in co, they took 5 guys a year and shot atleast 4 bulls a year (they took 60 some bulls out of there over the years) and the largest one was a 260 5 pt. Have fun, enjoy the fact that you get to chase bugling bulls with a firearm and smoke one!" This was my comment about the Colorado bulls. I don't see how that qualifies as a bad comment. The OP was looking for advice on Colorado legal muzzleloaders and Colorado muzzleloader elk hunts. I happen to have first hand experience with both. I appologize for causing Murph's little outburst.

Murphy's entire life revolves around pissing matches. His benign prostate enlargement makes it hard for him to win in a real pissing match, and his moderate mental retardation makes it hard for him to win in a metaphorical pissing match.

Show us some pics if these big colorado bulls you've been killing murph. Why don't you show us pics of your little rag horns you're so happy to shoot. Honestly. Show me a pic of a 300" bull you took out of Colorado if there's so many big bulls in there.

Show us some pics if these big colorado bulls you've been killing murph.