couesobsession

I agree with most of whats been said. Sell the stuff you value least for now. If you do have items of sentimental value, find a way to keep them. You may rationalize that you can do without, but you'll regret it forever.

HOLY SMOKES ! I've never seen an exit like that! What caliber? 30-06?. Anyway, congrats on the spike to your son. Nice bullet placement .

I LOVE rockhounding! My family is always telling me "you woulda got a nice buck if you hadnt a been eying the ground so much" or "no wonder you're tired, you were carrying so much extra wegiht from those pocketfuls(and sometimes backpack fulls) of rocks!" Oh well, the jokes on them when I find purty rocks AND get my animal. HAHA. BTW, +1 on the rock shop in globe. I love that pkace and try to stop by when I can. They have a nice revolving display of all sorts of precious gems for sale- fire opals that will make youre eyes water, gold nuggets that make you want to go out and dig....

What he said! Harvesting is for vegetables! Killing is for animals!

IMO just post it.

Garlic powerbait is my best kept secret. It seems so strange and yet the fish LOVE it. I've had days of mediocre fishing when I switched to garlic powerbait and cast out and BOOM, I get a hard bit before I can reel in the slack completely. I guess its alright to share these little secrets to help others out, though

To go along w/what gearsnagger said, there is a saying in Wyoming among ranchers and hunters around the Yellowstone wolf reintroduction area called the three S's. Shoot. Shovel. Shut up.

First off, congratulations to you for an awesome elk down and to your brother and father for also tagging VERY respectable elk. This thread opens a can of waorms mainly becasue everybody has their own sense of wrong and right, and being adults, I hope we can share them peacably. I agree that a mortally wounded bull can live for long after the shot. A buddy of mine once, on a RIFLE hunt with a 300 win. mag hit a bull in the liver. We watched it from a vantage point, assuming it was dead, and went after it. When we got close to the bull, whose head was down and apperaed expired, he jumped up and ran fster than I could. He ran a quarter of a mile down from the ridge he was shot on down into a valley. We could see him the whole time and decided to let him sit for a couple hours, sure he would die. Being young and eager, we went after him after three hours wait. We assumed this was plenty for a bull we were certain was hit square in the liver. Being that the bull was on its side and eyes closed, we went after it without shooting again because he needed the meat. What do you know as we got within fifty yards the bull stood up, this time less energetically, and ran UP the other side of the valley. It was odd since wounded animals should take the past of least resistance, and odder still since we hadnt seen him breathing. Thankfully the bull stopped about one huindred yards away, giving him a shot. He ran another fifty yards and went down for good, hit in the arteries of the neck. Upon cleaning of the animal, there was a good sized whole in the elk's liver, almost center in it. And yet he had survived four hours and over a quarter mile. The moral: ELk are tough. I fully believe one could survive for eight hours and then expirwe overnight. Also, as to killing a wounded animal and tagging it, imo it depends. I once shot a beatiful 6x6 360" class bull that had been wounded, shot in the chest. The bull was clearly hurting, but the wound was at least a couple days old judging from the coagulated blood, flys swarming around the wound, and the smell of, yes its gruesome, rotting flesh in the wound. I knew as soon as I saw it that my hunt was over. I put one into his chest. Did I even consider looking for the hunter who had shot him the first time. leaving the bull there? No. When an animal is wounded and suffering, and clearly isnt about to keel over dead, it is our duty as hunters to end its misery. It wouldnt have mattered if it was a spike, the fact that a majestic animal is suffering like that just pains me to see. So really, its the persons decision. I didn;t seek out the hunter who had made the first shot. He/she was probably gone already, and even if they weren't it didnt matter. If the first shot isnt good enough to take it down, then the person who does has every right to take that animal home. IMO, its a case-by-case basis. If you finish a wounded elk, why give it to the huntert who made the first shot, not good enough to bring it down? YOu ended the animals suffering. Again, I believ that an elk who is clearly moretally hit should be left for the hunter, or finsihed off and then given to the hhunter if it was going to die soon. Sometimes its hard to tell, but we can only hope to use good judgement. stealing a game animal that is clearly about to die or is already dead is wrong. If the bull metioned in the write-up hadnt died overnight, I agree that any wound that would kill should have left more blood.

Somebody needs to amke an offer, this is a nice setup at a VERY reasonable price. If I wasnt so poor from the last gun buying spree I went on(sometimes the wood just calls out to ya, you know?) I would snatch this up in an instant.

This story is allegedly true, not as funny as some but the possibility of it happening is pretty funny From the Brownells Gunsmiths Newsletter who credits Larry Ahlman, Ahlman's, Rt. 1, Box 20, Morristown, MN 55052. (supposedly true) A carload of hunters, looking for a place to hunt, pulled into a farmer's yard. The driver went up to the farmhouse to ask permission to hunt. The old farmer said, "Sure you can hunt, but would you do me a favor? That old mule standing over there is 20 years old and sick with cancer, but I don't have the heart to kill her. Would you do it for me?" The hunter said, "Sure," and headed for the car. While walking back, however, he decided to pull a trick on his hunting buddies. He got into the car and when they asked if the farmer had said okay, he said, "No, we can't hunt here, but I'm going to teach that old cuss a lesson." With that, he rolled down his window, stuck his gun out and blasted the mule. As he exclaimed, "There, that will teach him!" a second shot rang out from the passenger side. And, one of his hunting buddies shouted, "I got the cow!"

Hey, did you end up getting that deer that you shot its leg? I have one story not about me, but about a hunting partner. WE were out hunting coues down south a few years ago when a big buck jumps up from its bed. Well the sight of those antlers musta been too much for that poor newbies heart becasue he emptied his bolt action in seconds, not hitting once. He goes to reload and by now I've taken two shots, anchoring the deer. But as I look over, he is stuffing not shells, but cigarettes into his gun! Wasnt paying attention and all he felt was a long tubular object. He later told me he was wondering why he was having trouble chambering that one last shell that was "bound" to be a heart shot. Texas heart shot, maybe On a side note, I am not a smoker and yes, this sounds like something out of a CJ Box book but I promise it actually happened. I LaughedMAO at him after that,

How about this one? Two guys go hunting. Jerry has never gone hunting while Joe has hunted all his life. When they get to the northern Wisconsin woods, Joe tells Jerry to sit by a tree and not make a sound while Joe checks out a deer stand. After he gets about a quarter of a mile away, Joe hears a blood-curdling scream. He rushes back to Jerry and yells, "I thought I told you to be quiet!" Jerry says, "Hey, I tried. I really did. When those snakes crawled over me, I didn't make a sound. When that bear was breathing down my neck, I didn't make a peep. But when those two chipmunks crawled up my pants leg and said, 'Should we take them with us or eat them here?' I couldn't keep quiet any more!"

Is it the aspens turning that you can see? Wabout how far have they turned (gold, yellowish, greenish-yellow, barely changed) Thanks! It may seem sill but I REALLY enjoy those gold aspens!

Thinking about heading up to Mount Graham to do a bit of fishing and aspen photography and wondering if anyone has heard any recent info or has first hand knowledge about them. I was wondering if I should go up there this weekend or hold off until friday. So does anyone know if the fish are bighting? AZGFD fish report had no info. on this. How is the fishing, what depth are they located at, and what techniques are working? Also how are the aspens coming along, are they golden yet? If anyone has any info. please post or PM me, it would be very helpful. Thanks

Three guys are out hunting and sitting around the evening campfire exchanging their worst experiences. The first guy says the worst thing that ever happened to him was, he was up on scaffold 7 stories high washing windows when the scaffold collapsed and he fell, breaking every bone in his body and he was hospitalized for six months. The second guy says the worst thing that ever happened to him was, he was hitch-hiking and a Greyhound bus ran over him, breaking his back and he wound up in the hospital for nearly a year. The 3rd guy was not saying anything, so one of the others asked him about his worst experience. He said, "Well, I'll tell you about the second worst thing that ever happened to me, I was out hunting one time and I had to take a $h!t, so I stepped behind a tree, dropped my trousers, and crouched down into *the* position." "Yeah? What happened next?" Asks his friend. "I got a little too close to the ground and -- WHAM -- a bear trap snapped shut on my testicles." One of the other guys said, "God! If that was the second worst, what in the world was the worst?" He calmly replied, "Oh, that would be when I reached the end of the chain. . ."

Sorry, just have to share this one "Two hunters went moose hunting every winter without success. Finally, they came up with a foolproof plan. They got a very authentic female moose costume and learned the mating call of a female moose. The plan was to hide in the costume, lure the bull, then come out of the costume and shoot the bull. They set themselves up on the edge of a clearing, donned their costume and began to give the moose love call. Before long, their call was answered as a bull came crashing out of the forest and into the clearing. When the bull was close enough, the guy in front said, "Okay, let's get out and get him." After a moment that seemed like an eternity, the guy in the back shouted, "The zipper is stuck! What are we going to do?" The guy in the front says, "Well, I'm going to start nibbling grass, but you'd better brace yourself."

So its getting to the time of year that I like to go dig out my camera and take some nice aspen shots in the high country. My go-to spot was Escudilla Mountain due to the variety of landscape in that area to photograph. Of course, it was burned badly in the Wallow Fire. So my second favorite spot is the majestic Inner Basin of the SAn Francisco Peaks. And get this, the closure that has been in effect since 2010 has recently been extended, until SEPTEMBER 2013! Let me just say this, I recently hiked Humphreys peak form the Snowbowl Approach and when I looked in at the area shut off for "Public Safety" I found an appalling lack of burn area. All the Schultz fire did to the Inner Basin was burn a small hillside at the edge of the Basin, nothing more. For petes's sake, if a certain area is unscathed, open it up! I'm not saying open the whole daggum burn area, but at least open up Lockett Meadow and the rest of the are which is UNSCATHED in every since of the word. I know I could just hike up to the saddle again, but its not the same as being IN the inner basin. I also want to say I unsderstand the need to protect idiots from themselves. I know they are concerned about someone wandering off over a ridge and having a tree crush them, or a flood wash them away, but just make it clear that your entering the area at your own risk, and the actual burn is not open to ANYBODY. Patroll the area, buat for the love of god dont deny those who live to see the Aspens light up in their gold grandeur the ability to do so just to cover you @$$. Portions of the Wallow Fire burn area that are MUCH,MUCH worse are already open, a mere few months after the fire. Sorry for the rant and all the grousing, I just needed to vent. But honestly, am I looking at this the wrong way or does anybody else feel this way? I dont mean to anoy anyone, but shouldnt we be allowed in the Inner Basin? I can post pics if anyone doesnt realize how well preserved that area is. The fire ddint burn almost anything along that area. Here is the new order, dated Sept. 24 2011 http://www.redrockcountry.org/about-us/orders/04-11-13-r.pdf

Just looks like a dog-coyote crossbreed, some breeds of dogs plus coyote will look something like that. Just my opinion.

I could definately be wrong, and if the road is washed out, then that makes sense. But still, that timeframe is unacceptable. It shouldnt take that long to get a few earth movwers in there and make the road passable again. And barring the availability of money for said machinery, put a couple of them desk jockeys to work with a couple of shovels. A group of men should be able to fix that road by now. But look at this, I'm not so sure the wording implys anyone can go into the inner basin, seems to basically say "KEEP THE HEYLL OUT" PROHIBITIONS: 1. Possessing or using any type of motorized vehicle off National Forest System Roads; 36 CFR § 261.56 2. Going into or being upon any area which is posted closed; 36 CFR § 261.53(e) 3. Being on any road posted closed; 36 CFR § 261.54(e) 4. Being on any trail posted closed; 36 CFR § 261.55(a) EXEMPTIONS: Pursuant to 36 CFR 261.50 (e) the following persons are exempt from this order: 1. Person(s) with a Forest Service permit specifically authorizing the prohibited act or omission. 2. Any Federal, State or Local officer or member of an organized firefighting force in the performance of an official duty. 3. Over the snow vehicles.

ROFL!!! Kinda silly law since you go to all that work to catch them specifically to kill and eat! Cant really kill+then store crawfish, its bad policy. I understand the law though is to stop them from bein' introduced to new environments, though theyre pretty much every where. Not a real enforcable law. And yes, to the other post, stream crawdads to me taste a bit cleaner, lest bottom-feederish (hard to explain) then most lakes. Probably cuz there is moving water that is cleaner than those lakes which so many people muck up. Yhe differnece is kind of similar to farm raised versus wild-caught catfish, as long as they havent been eating anything too nasty, both are good, but the one is just a bit sweeter, cleaner tasting.

Nice caribou! Love the double shovels, length and width of beams are good (tops arent as palmated as some, but I like it that way), and man there are long points a-plenty!

Selling for a friend. "I have a NIB Sightmark 4-16x44 Triple Duty (hunting, tactical,combat) 30mm riflescope for sale. Boguht it then decided to go in a different direction. Very clear scope with Mil-Dot reticle. Included is a set of flip up scope covers and rings. Never mounted. Precision Accuracy Adjustment Lock Mil-dot Reticle Wide Field of View Precision Fully Multicoated Optics Internal Lit Reticle 1/8" Locking MOA Easy Focusing Knob Front Diopter Adjustment Lightweight Waterproof Shockproof The Sightmark Triple Duty Riflescope is equipped with an illuminated red/green Mil-Dot reticle, which aids in range estimation and shooting in low light conditions. The Sightmark 4-16x44 Triple Duty Riflescope uses cutting edge glass with fully multi-coated optics, increasing clarity and making it one of the best riflescopes on the market. The fully multi-coated optics transmit a bright and crisp picture that makes tracking and shooting targets quick and easy. The 4-16x44 features a one-piece 30mm tube that increases light transmission and field of view. O-ring sealed and nitrogen purged, the 4-16x44 is both fog proof and water resistant. This precision scope features a parallax adjustment knob and oversized, locking windage and elevation turrets with 1/8” MOA clicks, providing an additional level of accuracy and ensures that the scope stays zeroed. The Triple Duty series of riflescopes are complimentary to any shooter’s arsenal. Asking $165, firm, lowest internet price is that plus shipping and this is for it shipped. REally nice, lcear scope with red and green illuminated reticle (can be turned off) and solidly built with nice locking turrerts and side paralax adjustment. Will accept USPS money order or do FTF and knock 10 bucks off price. (you drive to Coolidge, Arizona)

Great price for a hunting gun. Something you really dont have to worry about beating up a bit. I bet that rifle could shoot .5 inch or maybe less with a really good handload. Someone should snatch it up beforre you change your mind . If I had the money...

If it was burning completely on the ground, then let it burn. From my vantage point the smoke looked black the first couple of days that it burned, but it couldve just been that. Where I live I have literally gotten MAYBE three good rains this year, and the Pinals are wetter, but I didnt know that they were THAT much wetter this year. I havent seen that many storms over the Pinals before this fire was burning. If its on the ground, and there is no chance of a crown fire, then let it burn. But there needs to be a good number of manpower there ready to pounce if it gets out of hand. I'm just sayin....

Let me start of by saying that I am not a firefighter, I have some friends who are, however. I dont know that much about firefighting. But I do know these things: #1 When I camp i'm usually backpacking in, as in all I have is whats on my back. I make my camps wherever I please. By "in the general area" I mean I was on the lip of the canyon looking down. Again I said I didnt have aview of the roads. But there was no Helos making drops, no one that I could see with my binos (15x swarovski) no large equipment. I understand if it takes longer to get helos in there than when I was there. #2There must be more than one forest ranger because he definately was in those iconic green trucks. Not saying that it was that ranger specifically (white ford explorer) but I dont know what the heck he was doing up there if only one ranger is supposed to be in a given area at a given time. I talked to him when I went back up to my parked truck. #3 THIS WAS NEVER AIMED AT THE FIREFIGHTERS! I KNOW YOU GUYS HAVE A TOUGH JOB AND THAT ITS NOT YOUR FAULT IF ONE GETS OUT OF YOUR HANDS! I ALWAYS DIRECTED IT AT THE POLITICIANS WHO MAKE IT SO HARD FOR YOU TO DO YOUR JOB! That all I have to say, say what you like back, I don't have anything to prove. So I'll keep my fat mouth shut from now on.