Traveler

I have the Leaf River 2.1 Digital. I have had it for 18 months and it is great. The only negative is the trigger time. It takes a few seconds to fire so it is best over water or where it covers a long section of trail.

Very Sweet pics. Dan

The new 20 grain bullets are alot tougher and will hold together. One of my guides in Texas has killed a number of Wild Hogs with his .17 HMR. all head shots. So it would work fine in Texas, but I would buy a 22mag or a small centerfire for AZ. I have a .17 Hummer and it is an awesome gun. Very accurate and cheap to shoot. Dan

I have the Savage .17HMR. it is one awesome little gun. Regardless of the gun you will want to tweak the trigger. The Marlin you can do yourself with a pen spring. I put the rifle basix sear in mine and it made all the difference. You will want a high power scope. at least 10x. The best source of info is Rimfirecentral.com lots of pros and cons for .17 v .22mag are discussed. Good Luck Dan

Thanks! This is a much better site than the one I was using Dan

My experience with Mule Deer is the older the buck the sooner they rub. I have noticed a few examples of this with coues, but not enough to confirm it. Dan

I went Tuesday and Wednesday evening while I was there. All the celebs were gone and it was not crowded at all. It is an awesome store. I hope they have that much taxidermy in the store here. I could spend a day just dreaming, looking at all the monster mulies they had. Since I have already spend thousands in mail order this year I did not "need" much. I did buy some of the lightweight camo rainwear. Dan

I am going to Dallas Monday. Plan on sneaking over to Cabelas Tuesday. I am excited!!! Scott did you attend any of the seminars? Thanks for sharing. Dan

Coues7 What packages are you referring to? Thanks Dan

Nice Chart Thanks for posting Another interesting , though less comprehensive, "Blind" comparison is at bowsite.com http://www.bowsite.com/BOWSITE/features/ar.../2005head2head/ Dan

I noticed Unit 22 is closed all the way up to Rye. There were a number of ATVers pull over wonder what to do yesterday. One guy had set up camp behind where they had it taped off and got kicked out last night. This screws up several of my archery bear hunting spots!!! I do not know how to hunt them above Payson. I may have to bug the biologist for some options. I was planning on sweating through June bear hunting. Any ideas for a displaced bear hunter? Thanks Dan

Great Post This is the time. If you wait until after the draw you will not get very good service at your local archery shop. (They will be busy selling new bows to the guys who drew your archery elk tag who have not shot a bow in 5 years ;^) There are some great 3D shoots this summer. Usery Mountain is having a night shoot every Wednesday under the lights. This is some of the best practice there is for hunting. Dan

I have writers cramp and tendonitis from filling out all the forms and checks. Between my family and hunting groups it was quite a pile of envelopes Dan

This is a great topic, I have patterned a few groups of bucks but only for part of the year. It is fun learning the different patterns, I have a lot more to learn Dan

I compromised and went with ACCs 4 years ago. No regrets. Just did a big spreadsheet comparing aluminums, ACCs, and Carbons. After many hours of research I think I am sticking w ACCs. I think if you shoot 35 yards and under almost any properly sized arrow works great. After 45 yards is when quality and weight really pays off. Aluminums don't provide a light enough shaft, most carbons do not have consistent spines, hence my decision to go with ACCs. The big negative is cost.

They look like a great head, I started using the Montecs last winter,so I want play with them a little more. The new cut on contact heads are a great trend. Please keep us posted on your testing Dan

The kaibab elk probably wandered in from Utah. What is elk traditional range? Remember when Lewis and Clark came west they were all over the plains. The Rocky Mt elk are not native to AZ. The local species (name?) was killed off. Javelina are new to AZ in the last 150 years or so, should we kick them out of AZ as well? my .02 Dan

Anybody seeing any bears. I was wondering if anybody was hitting it hard yet? Dan

I also have the Archery 22 tag. I did scout prior to the season, but have been booked solid since the season started. Hoping to get out this weekend. Dan

Sweeet! Congrats and thanks for sharing. Dan

Awesome! Thanks for sharing. Dan

Monday evening I had a guy walk out the ridge near my stand he rattled his antler bag alot! Nothing moved. He left and five minutes later some does came by. I know there has been 3 smaller bucks in the immediate area he was rattling in the 3 days prior. But I can usually tell the difference between bags and real antlers. So I assume the deer can too. Good luck Dan

I scouted several Bachelor bucks that were hanging in the same spot until Mid December. I was hoping these boys would come back to the same are before Jan 31 Anybody tracked any bucks pre and post rut? Will they wait until the last yearling is bred in Feb? Thanks Dan

Thanks for your experiences guys. I figured they would still be on the prowl for a while longer. My experience in the higher elevations of 22/23 is the rut peaks hard around the week after christmas up until 2nd week in January then slows way down. This is up in the pine covered mountains areas. Anyone else seen similiar patterns or contradictions? Thanks Dan

Nice Buck and pic Thanks for sharing Dan