Coach

Forgot to mention this earlier. My top 2 shooting rifles have Cabela's Alaskan Guide scopes on them. One in 4-14 and the other in 6-20. The guns (both Savage) with these scopes will outshoot me any day. I'd love to see how these "economic" setups would perform against the pricier alternatives. My guess, is not 3 hunters out of 10 would shoot tighter groups out of a custom rifle. Only because I've seen super tight groups when I do my job and match the right load to the rifle. My Savage 10 American Classic in .300 WSM, shoots lazers with store-bought ammo. I'd love to see that rifle in the hands of a skilled long range shooter.

Mt Cat - met you last Fall chasing bear. What tags do you have this year?

The bulls are talking in the high country, but so far it's looking like more pre-rut activity.

If I got word from my doctor tomorrow that I had 6 months to live, I'd start planning my WMAT coues hunt - lol - tounge in cheek of course. Funny thing is, the guys on the rez that know where these guys are generally aren't that exited by them. They're more into the big muleys and huge bull elk, it seems. The WMAT reservation encompasses all of the open slopes leading into the black and salt rivers. Across the rivers, you have the San Carlos, which is available to non members, but it is MUCH thicker and much harder to hunt. Bucks like this live on both sides of the river, but most of them will live their entire lives without being hunted. Hey, it gives us all something to dream about!

Nice buck! Congrats! That's really cool - nice write up and pix to boot!

Nice "drive-by", newbie - congrats, you probably won for the most idiotic post of all time. Bragging about stealing and trashing other people's property. Here's some friendly advice - take up golf, and keep your sorry can out of the woods. We don't need more dumb-a$$es out there messing things up.

Wowzer!!! That is one heck of a buck!!! Gettin' close to him?

Very nice - my new favorite poem (as if I had one before now - lol). I've always thought there is something magical about a camp fire, the way it brings everyone together and provides a warm place to recoup and reflect. Nice to see it celebrated in such a thoughtful way. Thanks for sharing.

I thought it was a wax job??? OUCH!

Accuracy-wise, most of my guns like the CT (Winchester/Nosler) ballistic tips. Great for deer - especially coues, but too explosive for elk and maybe even big muleys. Nosler accubonds are probably a better choice for heavier game, and seem to fly really well. As others have mentioned, it really depends on the gun. Some just seem to like certain bullets. Haven't shot the Hornady interbond, but Hornady always makes great bullets, so it's definately one to try. That's why I love reloading so much. You can try out lots of bullet/powder combos until you find the one your gun likes - without breaking the bank.

Duh, a brazillion is someone who live in Brazil

Great goat! Congrats to Art. Man, 30 years to draw a tag - I bet the wait didn't seem that long when he walked up on that brute!

Vortex also offers several scopes in your price range that you might look at. Maybe a Viper 4-12 x 40, Vtex runs around $250 and the BDC reticle around $399. Doug's got 'em and he's great to work with. Plus it comes with the Vortex VIP warranty - which is a real plus. http://www.cameralandny.com/optics/vortex....texviper4-12x40

I just got a picture of a really big bull (msg says 470) that was supposedly taken near camp verde with an OTC tag. I wasn't aware of any seasons or OTC bull tags, so the whole thing sounds a little strange - anyone have the story?

Thanks Amanda. It just didn't seem legit.

arizonaelk, Finding the "hot cow" is pretty much just watching the herd. Some cows and calves will be indifferent to the bulls. They feed, they bed, they just go along. From what I've observed, there are usually one or two cows that come into estrus at any given time and bulls focus on them. They give off the right smells, certain body language - to let the bulls know they are ready to breed. The cows have their own pecking order, and family groups that hang together. A nursing cow might not come into estrus early in the Fall, whereas one of her younger siblings or other cows she dominates will. When the cows separate, it seems that they do so on "family lines" or "packs" for lack of a better term. A bull will come in with intentions of pulling a single cow that is sending breeding signals. If he suceeds at pulling this cow away, others that are part of her group or "clique" will join her. Again, I'm not an elk expert by any means, but I've seen this sort of splintering of cows many times. The cow in heat gets the attention of a certain bull, he does what he can to separate her from the herd, and based on hierarchy, the cows she controls follow her. Identifying the hot cow is pretty simple - even the young spikes will be approaching her with their tounges out (maybe even other cows) sniffing her back side. When a cow goes in heat, she gives off strong pheromones. This is what triggers rutting activity in the bulls, and fights over a cow ready to breed. Each cow, if they aren't nursing, will usually hit that point and during the Fall and become the object of the bulls' attention. As far as I know, nobody has yet figured out what triggers the release of pheromones. Some say it's temperatures, some hours of daylight, others say the moon. Personally, I'm in the "moon" camp - wtih caveats. I think a combination of shorter days, cooler night-time temperatures, and a new moon kick the cows into breeding time. That's assuming there is good feed and plentiful water - which this year, they definately have. I've watched several herds with lots of cows over the past couple of weeks. There are bulls trying to manage them, but the cows seem mostly disinterested in the bulls. They are still getting their cues from the dominant cows. We are currently at 39% full moon, waning. The next new moon will be Wed or Thurs next week. For the lucky archers out there, this corresponds with opening of the archery hunt. Now, I could be wrong, and this will be a good test, but in my thinking, many of the cows will start their estrus cycle in the middle of next week - corresponding to the new moon. Those that don't will probably go into estrus 4 weeks later, at the next new moon. I would LOVE to hear from those of you hunting opening weekend to see how the rut has progressed. Obviously, I'm not interested in honing in on your "secret spot", i just want to hear how the upcoming new moon affects the bulls and cows in the areas you are hunting. My guess is, Friday, the 10th to Monday the 13th of Sept. are going to be super hot for rut activity. I would really like to hear what you guys and gals see in the field, to test this hypothesis.

Great story - man those Slick Tricks mean business when they connect, don't they? Been tethering my rangefinder to me for years since I spent a couple hours backtracking to find it. I like the Nikon retractable tether - kind of a spring-loaded doohickey but I'll never drop my rangefinder again.

As usual, great advice from Jim. I watched a herd early this morning of 60+ elk, mostly cows and fawns with a couple scrubby bulls and 4-5 spikes and other yearling bulls. The herdbull, as it now stands, is a maybe 330ish 6x6. It was encouraging to see the primary bull bugling and chasing off smaller bulls, but these are the kinds of herds that can produce really well later on. The current "herd bull" is way too over-zealous and has more cows than he can possibly contain. In the next couple of weeks, that huge heard will be broken up into several smaller herds, each with its own "herd bull". Now, I'm no elk expert, but I do get out there and watch them when I can, maybe grab some video, or learn something about their behavior. From what I've seen in the past, a herd like this will get broken into groups based on which cows go into heat - and which cows *she* controls. Some will splinter off without a fight, others will be "won" and then splintered off. The bulls that take off groups will not necessarily be big. The herd-bull of one group is usually fighting for a single hot cow, maybe two. Where the really big bulls come into play is kind of away from the main herds. You might see them one day pushing a big herd, and the next day, the same herd is being controlled by a much smaller bull. I think of the bigger bulls as nomads. They don't really stick to any one herd, so much as bounce from group-to-group. It's kind of like they are too old to deal with wrangling cows - they know they can drop in when they want and breed, pretty much unchallenged - so they don't tie themselves to any one group of cows. This is where mid-day hunting comes into focus. The bigger "mid-sized" bulls spend the night and early mornings defending their herd and trying to force them into a pocket that they can control. The really big bulls stick tighter to cover, usually solo, probing the smaller herds for a chance to come in and breed, then move on. As the "herd bulls" go off to wallow or scrape, the nomads slip in and breed, usually without much vocalization, and continue on to the next bedding area. Point being, don't focus as much on "herd bulls" as on hot cows. Don't try to call the biggest in, because they're too smart to key in on a single cow. They are really smart, and will use your calls against you, just to keep tabs on where you are. They're more likely to get duped by their nose than by their ears. They've heard every call and can tell a human from the real thing. If in doubt, they stay away - that's how they get big. Find and play the hot cows. Let them do the talking, and be a ghost to get in between them and the big boys. Just some opintions from a non-expert. I hope something in here will help you on your hunt. Jason

I'd like to see the 'cats do well, but I have to admit, about the only football I care about is played by kids from 6 to 18 years old. Our local Blue Ridge Yellow Jackets are poised for another great year after taking the state championship last year against our arch-rivals, the Show Low Cougars (played in the Dome in Flagstaff). Had a blow-out last weekend against Casa Grande. Friday night football at it's best! My oldest son is playing on our 8th grade team this year, and I got to watch and video his 2nd game so far this year. They played against St. John's this afternoon and won 30-something to 8, with several starters out with injuries. My middle son, Nick, is on our local 5th/6th grade city league, and I am lucky to be one of his coaches. He's looking awesome this year. Our first actual game is this Saturday against Show Low's top team. Should be interesting to say the least! We've got the kids and the talent, so we'll see if we've done our job as coaches. This will probably be our toughest game of the season, and at least 5 of our "stud" players are out with injuries. My youngest son, Joshua, is on the 3rd/4th grade city team also looking forward to his first game on Saturday. I've got a once-in-lifetime elk hunt coming up this fall (unit 1 muzzle-loader), and I can barely even get out to scout - lol. Too involved in the little football players right now I guess! Truth be told, I went out this morning around 3:45 and watched a herd of 40+ cows with 5-6 bulls, but the biggest was a smallish 6x6, maybe in the 130's. Good news is, the bigger boy was bugling and pushing some of the bigger satellites out. The elk will be there when I get around to them. They always are -

A couple years ago, I was getting pretty serious about video for hunting. I did a ton of research on "prosumer" cam corders. The Canon GL2, Panasonic AG-DVC series and Sony HDR models were all the rage. I plopped down around $1800 for the Panasonic AG-DVC30. It's a great CCD camera with a Carl Zeiss lense, all the bells and whistles... I hardly ever take it with me. It's just too big - like packing a spotting scope around everywhere. I consider it an expensive learning experience. It's similar to the high priced Canon DSLR camera I bought for my wife as an anniversary gift. Truth is, the big cameras, big lenses, big prosumer cam-corders have their place. But for most of us, in real-life practical applications they are way overkill. They're too big and too complicated to mess with in field conditions. I'm downsizing my video camera to a Sony DCR-SR68. It fits in the palm of your hand, and can easily fit in a cargo pants pocket. It has an amazing lense ( Zeiss, 60x optical zoom) 80GB internal hard drive, and runs around $350. In addition, I'm buying a tiny Panasonic Lumix camera to take the place of the huge, DSLR we are accostomed to lugging around. What I'm getting at is, keep it small and simple. That $2K "prosumer" camera is worthless if it's too big and bulky to carry around with you when you're on the move. Get a good palm-sized camera that you will actually be inclined to carry around - and a good "shirt pocket" camera for still shots.

Great job, Brian! The cell phone pix sure didn't do him justice. Congrats on an amazing archery coues!

Wow - super nice buck! Congrats!

I haven't worn those boots, but have a pair of the Meindl Perfekt hunters, and they one of the best pairs of boots I've ever owned. Based on these boots, I would recommend anything built by Meindl. BTW, the Perfekt hunters aren't "hot" boots, if you choose good wool socks. Look at SmartWool or Cabela's Ultimate wool socks. Merino wool and nylon blend will make any boot feel better, IMO.

I've been up here for many years, and this year things are greener than I've ever seen them. We had lots of snowfall late in the Spring, followed by Monsoons that are keeping everything wet. The deer and elk are fat and happy. The wildflowers are amazing, and will only get better.

Kind of a one-sided answer. I've never looked through the Leupolds you mentioned, but I have a couple pairs of the Vortex Diamondbacks in 10x42 and, and I think they are great glass for the price. As my boys mature and I have been buying optics for them, I'm all about the Vortex. Good binocs, good rifle-scopes, great warranty. And if they tumble down a hill with them I'm not worrying more about the glass than their bodies.