.270

the better the weather, the better a guy feels about being out in it. the worse the weather is, the less a guy wants to be out in it. while weather will affect deer for awhile, like a day, it affects the guy hunting more. they still have to eat. they are still there. just makes it harder to find em. whitetail are bad about bushing up anyway, bad weather makes em even hold tighter. but i still think bad weather affects the hunter more than the deer. but i also feel that the first nice day after some rough days can be a good day. and any day with a tag in your pocket is a great day. hunt hard. Lark.

i dont' think this bull will net real well, but it will gross high. the right side looks more like a 350+ antler. not counting the nontypical points. not a real long beam, but i'd say 50", maybe an inch or so more. it's fairly heavy. it has some extremely long points. the left antler looks like it couldn't decide if it wanted to have 2-3rd or 2-4th points. the nontypical deal on the left side looks like it'd add well over 20", maybe even 24 or 25. the 2 devil points will add 7" or so, maybe a little more. i'd say he'd gross between 390 and 400. no guess on a net. be hard to decide with the wierd way some of the points grow. but i think he's a lot bigger than a 350 bull. there is a lot of difference in point length from side to side that will kill it as far as a net score. but there are a lot of inches there for sure. Lark.

if you wanna know more about me, visit the local post office. i'm sure there is a poster or 3 with me on it. ever since they made bein' a hillbilly a crime a guy can't do nothin' fun. besides, i dint even know there wuz a ID card deal. to me ID means, "Hey fellers, i gotta ID. le's us go a fishin'". then all my buddies'd say, "Hey that is a good ID. ya always has the good ID's". aw man, now i'm thinkin' like josh was an' hopin' nobody reads this. Lark.

i've spent a 'ho lotta years hunting in good lion country. and outside of catching them in a trap or treeing them with hounds, i've seen 4 or 5. and that's about 4 or 5X what most folks see. and one of those was on a kill and was so full he couldn't run off and had layed up in some brush to sleep it off. it's very rare you see a lion. if you've hunted much in the southwest, you've probably been closer than you like to think, to one, but never saw it. they can really hide. if you want to shoot a lion and don't want to use dogs, i'd suggest calling. get in what you know to be lion country. country that you know either by tracks, scratches, kills, etc. and blow a jack rabbit call until your lips are numb and blow it some more. other than that, you're just gonna hafta be lucky. they usually see you first and flatten out until you've passed. i have a friend who has hunted lions his whole life. he's caught hundreds with his hounds and rides in lion country probably 200 days per year. he's never seen one that wasn't being pursued with hounds. if you ever find a fresh kill, look around. there is probably one hiding close by. if you can't find it, leave and sneak back to where you can see the kill from and wait for it to return. or maybe sneak back the next morning to where you can see the kill. a lion will eat until it literally can not walk. their gut will drag the ground. they have to lay up awhile until they can even move. if there is a fresh kill, the cat is gonna be close. maybe like within a few yards. i guess guys glass em up on occasion, like bullwidgeon did. (personally, i think the lion thought he was a javelina and was stalking him for lunch). but they are one sneaky sucker. good luck. shoot all ya see, the deer will thank ya. Lark.

maybe napalitano will leave office to go back into private practice so's she can represent the dolphins and whales. she sorta looks like shamu anyway. probly has real similar breath. (you hafta think about that one). one thing, did they say whether is was the dolphin mammal or the dolphin fish? Lark.

jaguars are monsters. probably weigh about twice what a lion does. big males go voer 300 lbs. females are bigger than big lions. very seldom does a lion actually get over 150. you see a lot of photos of 180's and 200 lbers, but if you look real good, they don't weigh near that. jags are not that much longer or taller. just real thick with massive legs, paws, heads, necks, chest. real wide along the back. anyone know if ol' curtis prock is still alive? if he is, there probably isn't anyone in the southwest with more jag experience than him. somebody oughta get with that ol' outlaw and write down his story.

not much offends me, 'specially the truth. i know i'm real opinionated, especially about stupidity. but like i say, opinions are like armpits, everybody has at least 2 and all of em but mine stink. Lark.

6 toes? are they webbed? if so, the might be trackin' around my buddys cousin freddy. we been wonderin' where he wuz.

to me, it looks like a long legged lion. could be some sort of subspecies. it said the feet were different. i've been in on enough lion kills to know that they come in all sizes and configurations. some are long and lean and some are chunky with real heavy limbs and chest like a jag. there is even a real rare black phase of mt lion, similar to the black phase jag. mexico and south america have probably a dozen different kinds of wild cats. margays, ocelots, jagurundis, tigrillos, jags, lions, bobcats, and a buncha others that i can't remember. we have some of those species here too, most in real limited numbers. there are some margays and ocelots in se Az. and i guess there are still a few jaguarundis in texas, but they're so secretive that nobody knows much about em or how many there are. they are all real interesting animals, for sure. further south ya get, the wierder the wildlife, sloths, monkeys, tapirs. like my buddy alden said, once you get past nogales, it's like a whole 'nother country. Lark.

found this on the internet about the onza. http://www.lioncrusher.com/animal.asp?animal=121 Lark

in dale lee's book there was a story about the "onza". looked like a skinny lookin' mt lion to me, but you can't tell much from those old pictures. it said that the smithsonian took it and has it listed as the only known specimen of the onza, so maybe there really is such a thing. i don't know much about the size differences of the jags, some weigh over 300 lbs, but from everything i've heard, they're meaner than heck and you usually always lose a few dogs on everyone you catch. hunter wells said he stopped at every dog pound between prescott and where he crossed the border in texas and adopted every dog that looked like it might trail a cat. when he got there he had dozens of dogs. i know one thing, i wish i'da got to hunt em a couple times. sounds like fun to me. choppin' your way through the jungle, fightin' snakes and headhunters and stuff. oh wait, that was indiana jones, but i think it's about like that. Lark.

jag's thrive in the hot humid jungles of southern mexico and nothern south America. their numbers dwindle each way from their. when the Lee brothers were big into jag hunting years ago, they hunted in belize and on and island off of belize, mostly. they did catch a bunch of em in mexico too, but the place where they are really home is in tropical, swampy jungles. they're just as at home in the water as in the trees. they catch fish and big snakes and all kindsa stuff, as much as deer, javelina and other land animals. i think the most exciting stories i ever heard were clel lee talking about hunting jags and reading about it in dale lee's and hunter wells' books. if you ever get a chance to read either book, do it. dale's book is i think "the life of the greatest guide". the title says a lot about how he felt about himself, but he was a heck of a hunter. just had a personality like a cold turd. "they call me hunter" is hunter wells' book. it is great. he was a guy from prescott that ended up down there with curtis prock, an ol' lion hunter from young who got a little crossways with the laws here and moved off down there to hunt. i think he's still kickin'. last time i was in young there was a pretty fresh sign in front of his place saying he was still guiding. he must be 100 years old. if you ever read those 2 books, you'll want to sell the farm, leave the ol' lady and kids and head south to hunt jags too. if you have a soft spot for hounds anyway. Lark.

hey az4life, why doncha just go ahead and say my name. i know it. i think the next time i show up at a meeting that they'll probly meet me at the door and say the mtg is full. 'specially after the last smoker i sent em. what i wonder is, why don't the azgfd listen to their own bioligists and field people, instead of taking the pulse of the citizens? wonder how many anti's are included in there foc-us group? (little play on words there) Lark.

i know they must do it sometime, or they wouldn't make the calls. but you'd think as much as them eastern cornflinger hunters use em, that they'd get one to grunt back on occasion on film. i've heard muleys blow and sorta whistle, and i've heard does and fawns bleat, but never heard a grunt. i just think that the way they use the grunt calls on the shows is about a phoney as heck. a buck starts coming to the corn, they blow their grunt call, the buck pays no attention and keeps going to the corn, but they got their grunt call commercial in. just a peeve with me. one o' many. Lark.

i'll be using my same 55+ year old .270, with a 25 year old scope on it. actually, i think the rifle is like about 58 years old. whatever. it's old. but just like me, it's still good lookin' and shoots straight. Lark.

there are still a few around. one of the klumps from over around bowie got busted with a couple mounted ones a few years back. the game and fish have been catching a few on trail cameras. one of the ol' lion hunters, seems like maybe by the name of glen, caught one with his hounds and videod it some years back. they worry me. they're a great animal and it's a shame there aren't more of em, but we're on the very northern edge of their range and it's shrinking. i'm just afraid that the epa or some other hugger organization will use them, or the lack of them, as a tool to further restrict hunting. they've been hinting about it for some time. shutting down about everything is SE Az. to make a sort of jaguar sanctuary. my grandad's brother was a gov't trapper from the '20's until the 60's. he saw everything there ever was too see. he said there were never very many jags. he caught a couple in over 40 years, but said their were just not many at all, even years ago. we're just a little too far north. sorta like the problems they're having getting the masked bobwhite to take on the buenos aires. just too far north.

the best unit is the one you have a permit for. all of em have game. you just have to find it. Lark.

ok, this is related to coues deer because there is a deer rack hangin' on the fence close to where this happened. while cleaning up around a trailer behind the cement pond saturday, we found a hive o' killer bees. we ran off. let em settle down a little. then i put on my varmint callin' face net, a real tight zip up camo sweat shirt with a hood, welding gloves and duct taped up all the openings and went back with a can o' gas. my nieghbors, who are okies, stopped their bbq because in their words "there's Lark with a can o' gas and dressed up like halloween, this oughta be good". they actually set up chairs, got out some beer and watched. it was a hoot too. finally killed all the bees, and didn't set too much on fire. too much important anyway. nobody got stung either. so i figgerd here is a new one for foxworthy, "if your neighbors, who are okies, stop their bbq to watch you kill bees with a can o' gas and your goofy kids, you might be a redneck". Lark.

mom is from new mexico, now dat's funny.

is this all there is to the bill? any specifics? heard that nevada was going to outlaw guiding all together. that's a kick in the gonads to a bunch o' guys. one thing that has kinda got me wondering is the deafening silence from other guide and outfitter services on this whole subject, especially those based in Az. i kinda suspect that maybe their might be some silent support for uso's side, because they know it could increase their revenue (the other outfitters), too. something tells me that if nevada succeeds, and outlaws guiding, that there might be an increase in vocalization. anyway, at least nevada ain't sittin' on their hands like Az. did. the best defense is a good offense. Lark.

rembrant, just 2 yards spooked ya? ain't ya ever went elk tippin'? when i used to bowhunt a lot, i was such a bad shot that i had to get within 2 yards to hit em. and what's this "Lark story" stuff? i only tell the truth, as i remember it. once i shot an elk with my bow that was so close when he whistled, snot was landing on my glasses. true story. poked a hole in him and as he ran off he stepped on my buddy, willie, who was laying on the ground a few yards away, cow calling. hunt elk in the rut enough, and you will have some scary stuff happen. i have a buncha stories about that. Lark.

2 years ago i found a dead bull in u1. hadn't been too long. couple weeks. the way things looked, i sorta thought it was shot during a cow hunt or maybe by a depressed deer hunter. definitely was fresher than the archery or early rifle bull season. i'd heard that the g&f made some new rules about picking up heads. had a cell phone and it would work from where i was so i called. they told me the rule was that if it still had hair on it, you couldn't pick it up. ran into the only game warden that will still talk to me, later that day and told him about it. he told me to go cut the horns off and don't worry about it, so i did. just a mediocre 6x6, but i like horns. if what they said is the rule, then this bull looks like it would be ok to pick up. unless you call the leftover velvet hair. Lark.

hey rembrant, they don't know you're funnin'. Lark.

we got taulmaned, now dat's funny. i sent an email to the DBSS and a guy named mcasland answered. which sorta suprised me. most "societies" that i've been around don't seem to have time for stuff. anyway, he went to great lengths to explain what happened. said the azgfd's sollution was to eliminate all limits on bighorn permits and open it up like they did elk and deer north of the colorado. he felt that if they were allowed to do this that maybe as many as 50% of the sheep permits would go to nonresidents. i assume because of the hunter pools saturating the applications. there aren't a lot of folks that apply for sheep period. for whatever reason, not a whole bunch of residents even apply. so it wouldn't be hard for the nonresident to get the biggest piece o' the sheep pie. so all you guys need to apply for sheep every year. really. you get the money back. i've been doing it for about 30 years. it's easy. even if you don't have a clue what to do when you get a permit. i'm sure you can figger it out. they're sheep, for cryin' out loud. he didn't come right out and say it, but i derived from the email, that the DBSS had a lot to do with the 15% limit. he didn't explain why they set aside 15% just for nonresidents, instead of just a limit up to 15% and letting the luck of the draw decide on what the final number is each year. nobody seems to want to touch that. but the whole thing boiled down to the azgfd being afraid of uso. he didn't do anything like blame shroufe or the commissioners, like i like to. but it seemed pretty plain that's what he meant. anyway, i was impressed that he even answered my rant, and was more impressed that i ain't the only guy that feels that way. guess if a guy really gives a dern, he ought join the DBSS. think i will. looks like maybe they did do us some good. even if i didn't get an answer on guaranteeing nonresidents 15% of the permits. maybe he forgot to address it. that's the part that really gets my hump up. guaranteeing these guys 15% of the permits. and you know that uso clients will get the majority of those hunters. and then they will contract out to Az. resident guides. etc. i know that 15% of the permits is only a handfull of tags, but it sure gripes me to know that nonresidents are guaranteed a piece o' the pie every year. it's a sorry state of affairs. just remember this, vote for whoever runs against napalitano. she hasn't got to appoint any commission members yet, i don't think. but if she gets another term, they will all be her appointees by the time her 2nd term is up and they will all do her bidding. hunt hard dudes, and vote. Lark.

i can't believe these stupid dang idiots did what they did. check this out. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/s...iggame1014.html they actually went through with it. bighorns were not even part of the uso &^%$ lawsuit but our jackass commission just took at least 5% more of our bighorn permits away. now there are going to be 15% of the bighorn permits guaranteed to go to nonresidents. i bet taulman and his lawyers are laughing there asses off. as it was, no more than 10% could go to non residents. it was very seldom that 10% of them did go to nonresidents. it was the luck of the draw. now they're guaranteed 15%!!!! i feel groin kicked. i can think of a place i'd like to see the chechenian terrorists hit. this is pure BS brought on by a buncha chickenlivered, spineless creeps, i.e. shroufe and his puppet commission. this makes me sick. Lark.