recurveman

I own one of these guns. Bought it back in 2001 and have beat that poor thing to death and it has done nothing but work perfect. These guns go a great job. At that price it is impossible to beat

FOC is one variable. Honestly, after shooting a bow for the past 40+ years I would first shoot the broadhead that you are hoping to shoot and see how they group. I'm a big fixed blade fan and I'm typically more worried about how my broadheads fly than field points. Speed is also great but I think the focus of speed is way over blown. I shot my first deer with a 32# bow shooting an easton aluminium 1516. There is know way my arrows were doing 150FPS. Personally, I want a very quiet and accurate bow. Have you ever listened to Randy Ulmer? Typically the speed of his arrows is in the 265 FPS range when hunting. I haven't shot my bow through a chronograph but I would guess I'm also in that range. I'm shooting an easton full metal jacket about 29" long with 4 vanes and a 100 grain slick trick broadhead. I'm shooting 62# (though my bow can go to 70 and I could easily pull that) and my arrows are also on the very, very stiff side. I always like an arrow to be on the stiff side. A weak setup will be a bit faster but isn't as accurate typically. Don't get caught up in all the measurements that are out there. If you can shoot a 5" group at 70 yards then you are doing fine. If you can shoot a 5" group with broadheads at that distance then perfect. Now just figure out how to shoot accurately with an animal standing there. It's all about the moment of truth.........not the speed or FOC. Heck my wife killed a bull elk two years ago with a bow shooting an full metal jacket arrow at 209FPS. That elk never asked her about speed or FOC. Though she is really accurate with her bow!!!!!!!

I have the 90 gallon RDS tank and it is the bomb. My range while pulling a trailer is about 1000 miles and basically twice that without pulling a trailer. They make a kit for a super easy install too. Took me less than an hour to install my tank.

Depending on the competition you can shoot a variety of calibers and cartridges. If you want to shoot in F-open you can shoot just about anything that is 38 caliber and smaller but you can't have a brake. I've seen them shoot 6.5 X 284, 284's, 30-06, 300 WSM, a pile of 6BRX variations, 7SAUM, 6.5 SAUM, the list goes on and on. Lots of guys are shooting wildcats. Most are some sort of variation of a 7mm. Typcially a shehane or SAUM variation. If you want to shoot FTR then you are limited to a .308 or .223. Personally I just like to shoot critters.

Did this hunt last year and it was 17 degrees opening morning. Great country and a great time. FYI - I always pack for snow every time I leave the valley. No need to be cold.

Both of those cartridges will comfortably shoot 500+ yards. They frequently shoot 1000 yard matches with a .308 and shoot really, really good with them. Keep this in mind. The most feared guy on earth is a man that only has one rifle and learns to shoot it well. Most guys have entirely to many rifles (because they like to talk about guns) and spend entirely to little time shooting their guns. I think a guy should really have two rifles. One to hunt with and the other needs to be an AR for a different purpose.

So if you are just getting into shooting.......I would think .308,.243 or maybe a 25-06, .270, 30-06. I'm going cow elk hunting with my kids this weekend and we are bringing the super magnum .243. Very little recoil and it will kill stuff dead. We have shot deer, elk, lion, pigs, yotes, ect......If it walks we have killed it with a .243. Most guys will buy WAY to much gun. Get a smaller caliber and shoot it more often and you will be much better off. My other go to gun is a 6.5X284. Think of it as basically a 30-06. I would hunt everything there is to hunt with that gun unless the animal can eat me. So basically the gun isn't going to Alaska to shoot brown bears. Muzzle breaks......Not a fan at all. Had a buddy put one on his 300 because it was to much gun. I told him if he ever shoots the gun without telling me first in the woods I was going to hit him as hard as I can. Last year he took a quick shot right next to me. I guarantee the recoil of a 300 win mag with no brake hurt less than when I punched him for shooting and me not wearing hearing protection. He might have been a bit shocked too. If you can't handle the recoil then get a smaller caliber. FYI - most guys don't like to shoot a 300 win mag without a brake. Typically most guys enjoy shooting a .308 and will tolerate a 30-06. Choose wisely. Lighter is never your friend when it comes to shooting a gun well. It's nice to carry a light gun but they are much tougher to shoot. I personally will probably never own another gun that is under 7# with a scope. I think 9# is really about as light as you can go if you want to shoot out past 300 yards. If you don't want to shoot further than 300 yards why would you even own a 300 win mag. Light guns aren't nearly as steady, you can see your heart beat when you bring it up to your shoulder when it is time to kill a critter, recoil is more. The only upside to light is carrying the rifle. Everything else is a downside.

Saw a shoulder mount cape go at one of the auctions for $3500.00. There aren't many around. maybe a died dall sheep cape?

You will love them. They shoot great out of my gun and their terminal performance has been spot on for a bunch of critters for me.

I love my BTX. It took a bunch of time......I mean a bunch of time to get used to them being angled. If they came out with strait I would probably buy them. With that said the BTX is an incredible piece of specialty glass. Well it probably took 15-20 days total to get comfortable. Now I love them and the angle doesn't bother me anymore. If you need them don't hesitate to get them. I used them on a hunt last year looking for CWT at around 800-1000 yards away on the other side of a canyon. The extra magnification was absolutely amazing in the shadows. I would see critters with the BTX that were almost impossible to see with 15's. Just amazing. Though I think the sweet spot for BTX is really out past a mile or so. Then they can stretch their legs and really shine. So I got the 65mm and it is good. If weight isn't an issue then I would get the 85. I don't think I would want more magnification so I don't think I would get the 95. I also bought the hockey puck and honestly it isn't worth the effort or money in my book. Maybe it would be different with the 85 or 95mm but I loose way to much light and the clarity is not super awesome.

So regardless of manufacturer there are trade offs for magnification. Typically you will loose brightness and field of view as you go up in power. I've tried higher magnification binos and they are OK. Typically the higher magnification needs to be the best quality because you are going to need to look further away for them to be effective. For me in most western hunting situations I've found the 15 power to be about idea. Not always great in a tighter canyon but I think it is the best all around magnification. FYI - I own Swaro 10# EL's, 15# SLC's, and the BTX. None are perfect and all are great for certain applications. Personally I wouldn't own a pair of 18 power binos unless I had many other sets to choose from in my arsenal.

Well I use the toro tamer hollow core line at Charkbait. I purchased the needles with it too for all sizes. The basic concept is the lighter the line the longer the fluoro topshot I will use. Like the 20# reels I'll use maybe 75-100 yard topshot and then on the 80# reels I might only use 10-15 yards of topshot. I like the concept of putting the topshot into the braid line. Eliminates the knot and works really, really well. I use the same system on every reel. It also goes in and out really nice unlike some of the knots. One exception is my spinning reel. I will typically run a shorter topshot because the braid casts better than a 40-60# mono/fluoro.

I have a kuiu 7000 ultra that I use for bigger trips. It does great at carrying weight and a bunch of stuff. It packs down to nothing and for the most part it is the only pack I use if I need to carry any amount of gear or animals. No need for a smaller bag. The only exception is chasing elk in September. I have a really, really small pack that has a water bladder. I can carry a tag, ID, spare release. Nothing else matters because you are going to go back to camp to get help if you tip one over and then you can get all your kill bag stuff at that time. The goal is to stay very, very light so you can move as fast as possible. I tried on a Stone Glacier at the sheep show in January. I am considering that pack too. It fit me like a glove with about 40#'s of weight in it and it felt great.

I would heavily research the hunt before putting in for it. They live in the park and come out from time to time. It has some very large challenges and you will need to have a rather large commitment of time to do the hunt correctly. If you don't have 2 weeks that you can go do this hunt (with zeor or crappy cell coverage) then this probable isn't the right time to put in for the hunt.

They don't ride awesome but they don't go flat either. I don't do quite as much rough road driving with a truck as I used to anyways. Got a buggy for that stuff.

I've got the Tikka T3X in a superlite. It has the fluted stainless barrel. It shoots 1/2 MOA (with reloads) all day long out to 500+ yards. Tikka could be argued to be the best bang for you buck.....pun intended.

Head down to the outdoorsmans in Fountain Hills. They have all the glass to look at. Personally I found the Swaro EL's to be the clearest. You can look through everything and decide what you want to buy. I was out sheep hunting last fall and had the opportunity to look through 10EL's, 12EL's and 15's. Very interesting hour of my life. I was switching glass like crazy for the better part of an hour. The one thing I can say is the 10's and 12's EL's are clearer but it is so very close. The biggest difference to me was the field of view. The 12's gave me almost the same field of view as the 10's with a 20% bump in magnification. After looking through the 12's I was wondering how I don't go buy a pair. The 15's field of view was much, much tighter. The difference was massive. I like the extra magnification of the 15's but it comes at a price. I hear the new 12's are even better. Haven't looked through them yet but there is a very high probability of me owning a pair in the next 6 months.

They don't make the EL's in 15's. I have 10 power EL's and they blow SLC's out of the water for clarity. I also have the Swaro 15's and they are just incredible.

Go get a rock chucker. That last thing you need is a progressive. Do it slowly and learn. It is hard to beat a RC and they aren't that expensive.

Find a buddy that reloads and go help them reload. You will learn a ton from someone that has done it for years. It isn't hard but can be a bit intimidating to learn it the first time. Reloading isn't cheaper either. It costs more money to reload than to buy ammo. The more you go down the rabbit hole the more expensive it is to shoot. To me spending the money for the better performance is worth it but not everyone feels the same way. A quick "other option" is to buy a quality brass ( I buy Nosler) and just prime the case, add powder and a bullet. Then go shoot. Depending on how much you are going to shoot it might be a good option too. Then at some point you will have a ton of brass to either work your brass or sell it and get more new brass. The work is really in the brass prep. Once I find "a load" that works out of my gun I will typically buy all the needed components for the expected life of the barrel. Let's say that I found a bullet and powder that work great out of a gun and the barrel will last 1000 rounds. I will go buy enough powder to fill the cases 1000 times and get 1000 bullets and 1000 primers. Then I have the components to reload for the gun for the life of the barrel. Components can change and then your load will change. Sometimes you can't buy the components.........So buy a ton once you find your load.

Don't try to do to much with one rifle. If you want a classic wood stock sportter barrel gun then do it. If you are going to put some money into a gun that you want to shoot REALLY accurate then do it. I'm not against either but trying to accomplish to much with one rifle will drive you crazy. No reason not to have many rifles. Also not a fan of "magnum" rounds. They cost more to shoot, they beat you to death or you put a muzzle break on the gun and beat your ears to death. In today's world you can do great if you know the velocity of the round and do some practicing. A 30-06 will kill anything and then some in the lower 48. More gun than a guy needs but.....if they came out with another 300 super magnum a bunch of guys would buy it and say you can't kill a deer without the new super magnum. I shoot a 6.5X284 (basically a .270) and I would point that at anything that won't eat me. It's also a pleasure to shoot.

I run load range E on every vehicle that goes on dirt. You will get less flats for sure. Load range C and D don't hold up like load range E. Learned the hard way over many years.

FYI - The Kiabab has a youth only doe deer hunt

Why not in AZ?

For the most part barrel break in is done after about 50-75 shots. The biggest issue I've found with barrel break in is that the speed of the barrel changes until about 50-75 rounds. What this means in layman terms is if you are doing load development nothing really matters until about 50 shots because your bullets are going different speeds until it settles down. If you aren't using a chronograph and doing load development then I don't know if it matters much to be honest.