azmetalman

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Doug thanks for sharing the trip, story and photos. Nicely done.

QC Coues Hunter I have 2 rifles stocked with the Bell & Carlson product, a .270 and .300 win mag. I have been very happy with them. You can order through Cabelas. I have called the B & C operation and found them to be very helpful. I would use this stock again if the need arises I bedded mine for a better fit. There are many articles on bedding that will be helpful.

Gavin I salute you. Great shot. This is the beginning. It just gets better!!! Yes... your stomach will always feel like a herd of kangeroo rats is trying to get out.

I agree. Practice, practice, practice your shooting technique. Then hunt, glass, spot, stalk and shoot carefully. Stalking takes skill, practice and good shooting to get the job done. Save your 800 yard shots for the the 1,000 meter range and paper where you won't have any chance of wounding anything but your ego. Tony you are a credible scribe I wish you didn't subscribe to the "if it's legal it's ethical" philosophy.

Here are a couple of pictures of my 2010 Mule Deer. This is my first muzzleloader kill. I used a T/C Triumph with a 300 Grain Harvester Muzzleloading Scorpion PT Gold with one of their E-Z Loading Crush Rib Sabots on top of a 120 Grain equivalent load of Blackhorn 209 and a Federal #209 primer. This load produces a chorongraphed average velocity of 2050 fps in my gun. The buck was shot at 103 yards and traveled 30 yards and then dropped like a sack of cement. The exit wound was 3.75 inches wide. His heart and lungs were unidentifiable except for tissue color.

Thank you. I will follow ua and see if I can get any actio on this. Good catch!

Very nice!! I killed my first Coues buck with a .250 Savage, lever action original which I still own. He was not even close to your great buck. Great Deer!!!

Bill and Amanda I acquired an entire lifetime of experience in just 2 years while working for the USDA in the 1970s. Belive me when I say it never stops. As to Amanda's question and Bills comments...both of you have good points. My experience working for the Federal Government taught me 2 things. One is that I needed to find gainful employment as soon as possble. Second they are the FEDERAL Government and they honestly believe they can/will make any rule or law apply to any situation. This is largely due the silent majority living up to their name. Just think about President Bill Clinton's statement "it depends on the meaning of IS" or whatever it was that he said. I agree with Bill Quimby. We don't have any semi primitive areas in Arizona. But who is writing the definitions?? Not you or I. We really need to write letters and make phone calls. A legislator at any level pays attention to a flood of comments on a particular subject. I had the opportunity to serve as the Legislative Chairman for a major trade organization for a number of years. One enlightning discovery was that a few letters, phone calls etc. do get noticed but that is about all. 100 calls and letters is a flood. 200 is almost a Tsunami on many issues. 300, 400, 500 short personal letters or personal phone calls will have the administratvie staff calling information to get Mr. Noah's telephone number and address so they can obtain engineering drawings for that big boat. Personal letters and personal telephone calls. Please take the time.

Thanks. Not to be redundant but what a magnificent animal. Walk proudly.

Only in my dreams. What a magnificent animal!! Great job of pre hunt preparation and day of hunt execution. What unit??

My brother Frank's 2010 AZ elk hunt. Cold? No VERY Cold. Frank radioed "dead elk down" at 1:30 PM on the 2nd day of the hunt after a well made and executed plan. Once again, Frank did his part with 2 well placed shots from his .308 Norma Magnum and ruined no meat. After skinning and quartering the animal and hanging all of the meat we hiked 2 hours back to the truck just barely beating darkness. John Bylina, Frank's son in law, was a huge help and skilled hunting companion on this expedition. Day 3 dawned snowing and 21 degrees. It took 6 hours of low range 4 wheel, drive in the snow and ice, with chains on all 4 wheels for the 11.4 mile roundtrip, of almost nightmare proportions, to retrieve the quarters and other meat which we had hung in a tree the evening before. With John B's good off road driving skills we averaged 1.7 mph according to my GPS. This was a lot better than our typical bone it and pack it out routine. Day 4 dawned 8 degress and made it to 22 degrees so at 11:00 AM we began the cut and wrap routine. Freeze the packages....no problem. It isn't the largest elk, over the years for this Senior Hunter , so why am I sharing the story?? Well.....Frank turned 78 years young on December 5th. It is a great event in the life of this Cowboy/Professor whose terrible horse accident 5 1/2 years ago left me (and him) wondering if we would ever be able to hunt elk together again. Yes I am proud of this guy. He is tough as heck. He's my Brother.

I have been shooting a .270 Ruger M77 for over 30 years. Never had any casehead separations. The advise given in the previous replies is excellent and I suggest you check each and every item mentioned. Any of them or a combination of them may be the problem. I neck size all brass except my designated hunting rounds. Hunting rounds are those that have been fired and full length sized no more than 2 times. Once when new and once after the first firing. After that I retire them to target round duty. New brass is relatively cheap when you consider how many new cases you actually use over time. I make it a practice to examine every case, regardless of the "duty" category, at the time of firing and after sizing. Overkill??? Maybe but it makes me feel better. You can make a cheap and effective tool to check for potential head separation. Take a paper clip and straighten it out. Grind or hone one end to a VERY sharp point. Next use a pair of needle nose pliers to bend the wire 90 degrees just behind the point. This bend must end up short enough to fit into the mouth of the case. Now insert the bent end all the way to the bottom (case head) of a previously fired case. You can slowly scratch up and down in the area of potential separation and feel the sharp tip follow a shallow depression in the case wall. This is evidence of a thinning of the case wall caused by stretching and it is where a head separation will occur if the case is fired a few more times. If the point catches in a small groove...throw it away now. This is crude but effective method. I don't keep neck sized cases for more than 5 additional loads once they enter the target category. I recommend you keep your cases in batches. That way you know the history of each group and won't need to worry about their future performance. I hope this helps.

A few of the fish I caught on my trip to Northeast Colorado. These are from a private 3 1/2 acre lake on a ranch owned my best friend from boyhood. I spend a few weeks up there every fall. There was way too much wind for flyfishing so I used a 5 piece Daiwa Ultra Lite Mini Spin rod and a Shimano ultra light reel with 4 lb. Trilene line. This rig is easy to stow in a suitcase or travel pack. I take it everywhere I go "just in case". 1/8 ounce spinners were good baits as long as I could position the wind at my back. The fish are Rainbow, Cuttbow hybrid and Donaldson Rainbow sterile hybrid. They grow fast and large eating crawfish and fairy shrimp. I killed the largest fish , 24 inches, 6 lbs. We ate 1/2 grilled 1 day and the other 1/2 in a great trout chowder for a couple more days. I would move up there in a New York minute if it didn't get so extremely cold and windy in the winter.

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This is a BRAND NEW pack. Never used. $89.00 + shipping if needed. Compare at $119.00 + tax at BassPro Sorry no picture here but it can be viewed on line. Water resistant Bow/rifle harness system Hydration-compatible (two liter, not included) Scope/tripod pockets Adjustable padded belt Fleece-lined sunglass pocket Seven Tech-Lok attachment loops Padded waist belt Dimensions: 22"H x 14.5"W x 9"D The RedHead Spot and Stalk Seat Pack features a unique retractable seat lets you pause for spotting without taking off the pack. Other feastures include a large main compartment with interior mesh divider and a front ''work station'' compartment. A boot-changing mat doubles as a Blaze Orange safety flag. Yoke-style padded shoulder straps include a lens cloth and retractable Night Sight LED light. Volume: 3,500 cubic inches. Weight: 6.01 lbs. Dimensions: 22"H x 14.5"W x 9"D. Imported.

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I killed this buck in Wagon Box Draw, Unit 5B North, a few years ago at 282 yards with my Ruger M77 using a 130 Grain Sierra BT at 3100 FPS and a dead Juniper monopod He measured 80 5/8" dry.

I appreciate the scat information and intend to give it a try. After reading about collecting lion scat to use for "bait" on trails where trail cams are set up I did a little research and came to the conclusion that we need to be careful when examining or collecting any carnivore scat. There are numerous studies about the pathogens and viruses found in carnivore scat. In the case of cougar feces numerous bad pathogens and some viruses exist. Things like e.coli bacteria, staph, salmonella, and listeria not to mention feline distemper are ALWAYS present.My reason for passing on this information is just make everyone aware that these pathogens can infect humans and could also be transported home to your cats, dogs or worse your families. Use latex gloves and at the very least.....plastic bags on your hands if you collect poop. Be careful with storage. I'm sure this is more information than you ever wanted but let's be safe out there.

Contact me anytime. I am happy to help if I can. I made a lot (actually a whole bunch) of mistakes getting started and don't mind sharing them. Cabela's has a good sale on the B209. It is marked down $10.00 at the moment. this seems to be the best price advertised now. You also might check Sportsman's Warehouse if you live close to one. They have had the best day to day price which is identical to Cabela's sales price. You won't belive how clean B209 burns I clean my breach plug every 20 shots or when I head home from the range whichever, comes first. Same with the barrel although I can't tell much difference in the clean barrel shots and the fouled barrel shots. Your foam cleaner will work with both. CHEERS!!!

I have never shot on a range where the range officers were as rude and seemingly indifferent as Usery. I thought about an annual membership but decided not to buy after thinking about it. I had 1 trip out of 7 to Usery since August that was pleasant. Although it is a very long way to Ben Avery from Fountain Hills I am going to give it a try. I shot there for many years when I lived elsewhere. I hope it hasn't changed much. Does anyone have any thoughts on this matter?

I suggest Blackhorn 209 powder. I have burned others and nothing is as clean as this powder. I have weighed grain to volume equivalent information if you need it. I use either Federal 250 or Remington 250 primers for ignition of this powder. Also I use the excellent Havester Bullets and their exceptional sabots. Their 300 Grain Scorpion on top of a 150 grain equivalent load of BH 209 is a 250 yard sledge hammer with accuracy capabilities that are greater than mine as the shooter. I killed a 180 lb. (field dressed) muledeer at 103 yards that had an exit hole in his chest that measured 3 3/4 inches and the heart and lungs were not identifiable. Google Blackhorn 209 to read about the powder. I won't use anything else. I swab occasionally with Hoppes or Shooters Choice and your bore shines! Another benefit... it is exceptioally consistent over the chronograph when shot out of my T/C Triumph Bonecollector. Send me a PM if you want to benefit my all of my stubbed toes learning to use this weapon. CHEERS!!!

Very very nice buck. Could you share your weapon and load information. Thanks azmetalman

Amanda I just returned from my brother's successful Arizona elk hunt and read your email about donating to PCH, which I will do at your request. I wanted to tell you that my grandson who is now in high school here in the valley has had more than a 15 surgeries at Phoenix Children's Hospital since he was a baby. Although Noah still requires surgeries on the average of once a year for an extremely rare syndrome, he plays football and is able to wrestle at times. I am sharing this because our family is grateful beyond words to the quality and type of care Noah has received at PCH. This is one of the finest medical facilities I ever encountered. The deep caring and highly skilled care runs from the admissions personnel and volunteers to the highest level medical staff. We praise God for Noah's well being and medical care at this institution. I am proud of you and coueswhitetail.com for associating with Phoenix Children's Hospital. Thank you for caring. Bill Whiting aka azmetalman.