yotebuster

Wilderness1, you seem to always have the coolest stuff. I really want a super lightweight backpack rifle and have been looking at an ascent in .280 AI. What's your opinion on some of the improved .270 chamberings like the .270 Gibbs and .270 AI? It would be deer/sheep/elk rifle so a 140-160gr would be my goal, are there enough offerings for good LR bullets in .277?

I like the beetles because the skull stays stronger then being cooked. If they get handled a lot they don't break as easy. I had western skulls do a mule deer a few years back and it didnt get properly degreased and its all nasty and oily and grey now. I had another guy with beetles that worked down toward cardinals stadium do a few and they turned out awesome, anyone know who I'm talking about. Forgot his name but I know he's on here.

I was in town from ND for one night and saw a CWT sticker the first night out!!

Cool! My family is all down to get out of the ND weather. I used to love bluewater grill when I lived here but it really went down hill! Atleast our meals weren't nearly as good as I remember.

If that kimber was a 280 AI I'd be all over that!

Blacktail?

I've never looked through the 20x kaibabs, but like all vortex products, but I feel like going up in power to overcome a lack of clarity is kind of a step in the wrong direction.

+1000

What he said! I moved out of state and drew a tag last year I could not have gotten as a NR. Best $650 I ever spent!!

Buy a lifetime license then don't worry about it. Unless you plan on giving up hunting in the next 15 yrs its a win win. If you move out of state, even better, it'll save you $160 a year and get you in the resident pool. Can't afford a lifetime license? Then you aren't any better at managing money then the game and fish so quit complaining about them.

You won't get a bull tag in 3, 4 or 5th choice with the exception if 4b late archery I think occasionally some of those get past the 1,2 draws. Look into limited opp cow hunts (peaks area for instance) if you want to draw for sure.

I think the big thing people forget about it resale. If you watch these forums, swarovski really holds it value. I bought my 15's new for $1799. I would guarantee I could sell them for $1500 in a second. I've gotten 4 awesome years out of them and they're still incredible. Buy a pair of Nikon monarchs for $500 and you'll be hard presses to get $200 for them used. Same net loss except you get to have the quality along the way. I've even noticed a huge difference between resale on leica and zeiss vs swaro. Vortex seemed to hold value well for a while but now its slipping. In my opinion they offer to many grades of binos from the vipers to vultures to kiababs etc. That hurts the resale as people don't recognize the name as they're constantly changing them. Everyone knows that swaro SLC's are awesome, hasn't changed much in 15 years.

Double buck used to be a sponsor over on rutnhard.net. I was always blown away when he'd post pics of his work and people would give him positive feedback. It all looked like sh!t to me so I kept my mouth shut. I don't think rutnhard is even around anymore or I'd pull up some threads.

I'd take an elk tag instead!!

How about the dead head above it? That's gotta be an eastern whitetail?!? If not its a monster!!!

Great observation Brad. Now crawl back in a troll hole.

"Honest" and "attorney" don't fit in the same paragraph.

The welders in ND are still going strong. Lotsa pipeline left to build up here. I imagine pay is going down with oil prices, but I know a few welders that were making $200k+ a year up here so I'm sure if he's good and has his own rig he wouldn't have trouble finding a good job.

What size motor is this? Does it have a heater?

In SD you can shoot spring turkey with a rifle. We sat on a hill above a big flock in a field one year and dumped 3 or 4 big toms with my dads #1 .220 swift before they fisnlly left. They were all head shots, you'd shoot one and the others would go nuts attacking it. Shoot another and so on. They're extremely hard to kill with body shots however.

Listen to Flatlander. ^

Good deal!! I have a model seven in .17 remington. Coolest gun I own. Saved uptodate snow shoveling money in grade school to buy it. It's killed more coyotes, fox, jackrabbits then I can count. Even a couple whitetails! Bump for a sweet set of sevens!

I would recommend to anyone in AZ with a decent amount if points to go to WY and pop your antelope cherry there. If you bail and dump your points on an archery tag you will be able to chase giant goats but will realistically have a chance at a 70" type goat. Those goats are literally everywhere in Wyoming! There is only one state in this country where you have a legitimate chance at a 85"+ goat and you live there! Hold out for a muzzy tag in one if the teen units or a rifle tag in 10 or a single digit unit. Don't burn points on a rifle tag in the teen units, they all die before the season gets there. You are 7-10 years away from the hunt of a lifetime! Take off an extra half day on each end of your hunt, jump in the truck and you'll be in wyoming in 10 hours. Shoot a half dozen 70-77" bucks over the next 7-10 years and you'll be an antelope junky by the time you're ready to draw your az tag!!!

You still have to click the little box that says NR when they ask you. I was concerned they wouldn't sort me back into the resident draw when first applied as a NR so I called them and they told me the computer automatically sorts me into the resident pool because my hunting license starts with " LH" which is a lifetime hunting code. It must work because I drew a tag last year that I would not have drawn as a NR w/o max points!

Good things take time!! Anyone who is getting them done faster then a year is probably self tanning the hides and that is a BAAAAADDDD thing. I don't have a problem waiting 18 months or more as long as it turns out good. There's nothing worse then bad taxidermy! I've only used two taxidermists in AZ, Mogollon and Scottyboy from the site. Both are top notch!!!