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looking east fro creen queek it looks like an ugly fire. huge smoke cloud thousands of feet in the air. looks like a big thunderhead but it ain't. i hope it isn't as mean as it looks like it is. this poor state is getting hammerd this year. it rain some in the white mt's today tho. that's a good deal. Lark.

gunshow. i know you can get magazines, because i've bought them for mine. mine is a 223, but they take the same magazineas a 222 . if you look around you can probably find a stock at a gunshow too. i'm sure ramline still makes sythetic stocks for them too. they ain't the best there is, but they ain't bad. at the big gunshows, there are folks there with thousands of clips, someone will have one. best get 2 while you're at it. i always carry three when i hunt coyotes. Lark.

i've talked to several guys up there and theyu all say there are a lot of elk north of the old 666/181, west of picnic, between the fields that run out to the 60. one guy said he has cows in his yard every morning. you shouldn't have any trouble finding a nice fat cow. bullwidgeon is kinda wierd and smells funny, but i sorta think he's pretty sharp on them elk. Lark.

that's right outta bambi. that bull is gonna have some wierd horns too. Lark.

h e l l bill, you might end up with enough help that you can take some salt and pepper and a fryin' pan and just build a fire and eat that elk where ya drop it. when i'm in rough country after elk with my boys we usually eat about half for lunch and there ain't so much to pack out. Lark.

you have a lotta your ol' man in ya. how'd his place fare? Lark.

the usfs shoulda hired them then, because it flat stopped at the rez fence for many miles. i don't think the tribes have a tenth of the men or equipment that the usfs had at their disposal. they have some top fire fighters, no doubt. but i don't think any amount or quality of firefighters coulda stopped that fire if there was fuel to support it. in my opinion, the fuel just ain't there on the rez. nothing like the grown up stuff east of the fence at least. i don't see anyway the fire just stops at the fence because of manpower or equipment. if that was the case they could stopped it any time after it got out of the canyons. Lark.

do they make treestands and harnesses that will hoist an ol' guy up in the tree and set him in the stand?

i know it's hot. i invoked the 100 degree rule about a week after i got back from canada. i quit working outside when it gets to 100. i was done before 10 this morning. good thing i start at 5, i'd never get anything done. some rain would sure be good for everything. need to build a pipe from nova scotia down to here. you can't belive how much it rains there. Lark.

what do the big praries look like? from like the 409 road east to the other side of the boneyard? any grass left? thing that worries me is what kind of affect it's going to have on all the little babies that are on the ground now. if there is a significant amount of grass left so the cows and does can make milk, the babies could do ok. i'm sure sick about the baby turkeys and all the small game. there had to be a horrible toll taken on the little critters. Lark.

STEP RIGHT UP FOLKS, COMING SOON TO A FOREST NEAR YOU. THEY WALK, THEY TALK, THEY'RE ALMOST HUMAN. THAT'S RIGHT LADIES AND GENTS, IT'S THE FOREST CIRCUS. GET YOUR TICKETS NOW! YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS THIS. CLOWNS, MENTAL MIDGETS, GEEKS, MORONS OF EVERY DEGREE. SEE THE BEARDED WOMEN, HAVE SOMEONE GUESS YOUR WEIGHT AND THEN TELL YOU WHAT YOU SHOULD BELIEVE. SEE THE MAGICIAN PULL A MANAGEMENT PLAN OUT OF A HAT. WELL, HOPEFULLY A HAT. THEY'VE BEEN PULLING THEM OUT OF SOME OTHER ORIFICE LATELY. SEE THE ENDANGERED WOLVES DO TRICKS FOR ALPO. WATCH THE OTHER ANIMALS RUN FOR THEIR LIVES FROM THE FLAMES. BE THERE, BE THERE, BE THERE. yup, the hits just keep on happenin'. why shut it down for a year? the goal is to shut it down forever. Lark.

that well may be, but i don't think the tribes have that kind of resource to put on it. dang sure nothing like the feds put across the fence. and as far as the way the wind blows, the wallow fire has been burning south steadily, into the wind, since it started. it's within a couple miles of honeymoon campground now. when there is fuel, a forest fire tends to go every which way. faster with the wind for sure, but it will go into it too. whether it's intentional or not, i think the tribes have done a much better job managing their side of the fence. baldy may be sacred, but there are logging roads above timberline on it. they've logged the heck out of it for as long as they've been logging. for the past 20 years at least, the usfs management policy has been no management. just sort of a lets hide and see what happens sort of a deal. whatever the case, this is one sad story that is just getting started. only the first couple chapters of a really long boring novel. Lark.

hey bill, one other thing to do would be to talk to the local warden and see if they can give you some pointers. a kid i know got called on a depredation hunt up there and he said the game warden showed them where to be and where they would be legal. he shot a 370+ bull and the warden helped them load it up. they let out those tags because they want to get rid of some of the elk. i'd give them a call. those field guys are usually decent to work with. with only five tags you'll probably have a warden in your back pocket on that hunt anyway. but be real careful about being far enough away from houses. there used to be a way to drive all the way to the north tip of picnic ridge. there should be a buncha elk along the west side of it between 181 and the 60. go ask dale hall if you can drive through his gravel pit and hunt the back side of those old fields. the gravel pit is north of the old highway where it used to go up picnic. there are always some elk there. don't know who owns the fields now, but it shouldn't be hard to figure it out. most of those folks should be easy to deal with. i think the trammel boys own a lot of that, but they aren't around anymore. i also don't know where the city limits are anymore. they might have annexed even more. i have a pal who lives right in there. i'll axe him if he has some ideas. Lark.

need to look in the country on the north side of flat top, just south of the forest fence. those fields along there probably have a lot of cows in them at night. several city streets will take you to the fence. just have to make sure you're 1/4 mile from a house. take a range finder. i'll try to come up next week and maybe i can figure out a place to go. i know all them outlaws up there. that time of year you need to put one down where you can get it in the truck fast and get it skunt, split and in the locker before it starts to sour. i learned a long time ago that the quicker you skin an elk the better it tastes. Lark.

it was TR, jake. the good roosevelt. Lark.

if you go to this website they'll tell ya if you got drewn or not. i got antlered javelina. Lark. http://freepsychic-readings.com/

what are the boundaries of the hunt? if you can hunt on the sipe ranch, go there. they'll help you pack one out if you shoot it there. used to be a lot of roads that went down into milligan mesa from the milligan valley road, but most of them are not there anymore. there are elk in the hayfields on the north side of flat top all the time. shouldn't be much problem getting permission to get in there and shoot one when it jumps the fence. there are several roads into subdivisions that will get you to the forest fence. Lark.

all i remember about it is it was a green 1911 in .22 lr. he still has it. it says u s gov't on it. looks just like a .45, but it seems like it has a shorter barrel like an officer's model. he said it was for practice, so you don't have to put up with a .45 recoil and noise. like what you're looking for. i don't know if it was a colt or one of the dozen or so other outfits like underwood, singer etc that made 1911's. i think his is newer than ww2 tho, so i imgine it is a colt.

i love .22 auto pistols. i have a ruger and jc higgins that was made by high standard that i shoot a lot. also have a little berlinetta that i leave in my chaps most of the time. gunshow this weekend and i'll resume my search for a colt woodsman. never understood the .22 on a .45 frame tho. the feel a lot alike in your hand, but they don't have much in common when you shoot em. i have several .45's and don't have any desire to shoot one in .22. nothing wrong with the guns, don't misunderstand me. i'd just rather have a .22 auto that is a lot lighter and easier to shoot. ruger makes a .22 auto with a grip like a .45 too. and i will take any ace you want to give me. a friend of mine has a military 1911 that was made in .22. guess they made them for practice. it's all OD green and everything. Lark.

maybe that fire will smooth 27 out a little. Lark.

that's why i drink a bottle o' nestle's quick ever morning before i go huntin'. it has whey before they decheese it and it has chocolate which is a natural big game attractant and it has been proven to be lucky to drink it. and like smokin' used to do, it makes ya look cool. all them proteins and healthy stuff is great, if you ain't old and beat up. it's bad for my generation our bodies ain't used to healthy stuff. mashed taters, gravy, biscuits, lotsa fried meat, bacon, bread and butter, burros, tacos, hershey bars, cokes, vienna sausages, sardines, head cheese, baloney, porky beans, stuff like that is what keeps old guys tickin. that healthy stuff is unhealthy if ya ain't used to it. but i do think ya all oughta buy enough of it that amanda has a hard time keepin' it on the shelf. even is she won't stock it with bacon in it. Lark.

lightning starts most of em by far. but the fact that prescribed burns, smokes, camp fires, arsonists, lightning, spontaneous combustion, etc starts a lotta fires doesn't make up for the fact that fireworks in Az is a real stupid thing. even if it is legal. a house got set on fire in glendale the other day by legal fireworks set off by guys with a permit to do it. i've set offa buncha firecrackers in my day. i love em. but there ain't no way in heck i'd light one right now, not even in my yard. i don't understand how it can be legal to sell em and own em and but not be legal to set em off? and i really don't understand how anybody can think they're a good thing in this state, especially when we're up against what we are in years like this. i know a buncha ranchers in colorado that won't let ya on their place with a gasoline engine pickup because of the fires caused by the cat convertors. lotsa fires are started by other stuff too, but that is one thing that is completely preventable. just like setting off fireworks. if ya don't do it, it takes away one of the variables. i dare anyone to go to greer or alpine and set off some roman candles right now. even if it is legal. or go to luna new mex, where they are completely legal, and do it. i dare ya. Lark.

when i read about it that's what i thought too. there were folks staying in it too, as i recall. no concern for life that's for sure. that whole thing smells pretty bad to me. just torching a landmark like that is pretty sick, but if you look at the possibilities, it could have been a real tragedy. Lark.

do you guys know what whey is? we used to call it pigmilk. when you make cheese, it is an almost clear liquid that is leftover. like little miss muffet eating curds and whey. it ain't like it's some magic deal. i used to know a guy everbody used to call pigmilk. folks would feed whey to the pigs. anyway, thought you'd like to know. Lark.

i was makin' a joke, Bill. i think that whole deal is real ironic. if they'da known the forest was gonna burn they coulda waited till now to torch it and nobody woulda been the wiseer. i read all about it while i was in nova scotia. glad you're home. Lark.