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Coach

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Posts posted by Coach

  3. Posted · Report reply

    I have 2 bogen tripods - the "Bogen Jr." which is very similar to the one you are looking at, and the 3205G "Tracker". The Jr. fell apart after a couple of years of hard use and the Tracker is just too big and bulky to carry around all the time, IMO. I bought a Slik Sprint Pro after seeing a buddy's and I have to tell you, it's a fantastic tripod. Best of all, it weighs a whopping 1.95 pounds. I use it for my Swaro 15x56 and have no problems with stability whatsoever. You just have to get used to not having a pan head - it's a built-in ball head.

  4. Posted · Report reply

    My buddy and I have bought several of the Moultrie cameras from Walmart and had the same results folks posted here. About 1 out of 3 or 4 works really well. Our problem has not been so much with the lapse before it takes a picture but with the sensitivity of the PIR. If you set them to take 3 pictures the first won't trigger unless you are VERY close. Then the others work just fine. There is a thread on the bowsite that talks about a fix, but I tried it and found it didn't help much.

     

    We've gone to the stealth-o-cam wild view cameras for this year (around $60). They are only .3 megapixels and don't print the date/time on the pictures. The low resolution is OK with me because it's good enough to see what's coming in. It would be nice to know when though so you can get an idea of the pattern.

     

    If you are willing to do a little work and spend a little more, I recommend building your own. I built one using a kit from pixcontroller.com and it works really well. The PIR is adjustable, you can take the camera out and use it separately if you want, etc. It's not very difficult to build either if you use the RS-232 model - you don't have to open the camera and solder wires into it or anything like that. If you are patient and good a good deal on a camera off of ebay, you can build them for around $120 each.

  9. Posted · Report reply

    I understand the motivation behind this idea, but I really think the chances of drawing back to back are slim. Sure, we all hear of it, but I still think it's rare. Most of us wait years in between. I was lucky enough to draw an archery bull tag last year but it took 10 years of applying. I know my chances are slim now, but I'm happy to have that slim chance of drawing again. It will likely be several years before I draw another archery bull tag, but that's just part of the game.

     

    I fully support any efforts G&F would make that increase the odds noticeably for those applicants that have high numbers of bonus points. Personally, I would like to see an even higher percentage than 20% go to max bonus point holders. It's only fair that your odds get much better each year, IMO.

     

    With regards to Antelope... where do I start? If you look at this state compared with some of our neighbors to the North (and NM) in terms of antelope carrying capacity, I just can't understand why our herd is so weak. I think it has a lot to do with predation, but if I were "King of G&F" for a day, one of my top priorities would be to rebuild the goat heard. It doesn't seem like it would be that hard to "import" a bunch of antelope from the NW states and get our herds to the point that coyote predation would not prevent them from flourishing here. When you have almost 0% recruitment rate from year-to-year, there's just not much future for the herds. That said, I think we could get over that hump by bringing in as many antelope as possible so that predation impact would be reduced and the herd strength could grow from year to year.

     

    Just some ramblings,

    Jason

  12. Posted · Report reply

    Maybe someone can clear this up for me, but I'm confused. New Mexico clearly spells out its laws WRT picking up any horns attached to a skull. I've NEVER seen any mention of this in the AZ regs. Is it or is it not against the law to pick up and keep a skull with horns attached in AZ?

  16. Posted · Report reply

    I can't speak from personal experience with a .223 on coues deer but I did some research a while back regarding 25-06 on long range shots. Many people tend to agree that for "deer sized game" you should stick to a round that will have anywhere from 700 to 1000 foot pounds of energy at the range you intend to shoot. According to Remington's online ballistics chart, a .223 50 grain Premier Accutip has only 380 foot pounds at 400 yards and an amazingly low 273 foot pounds at 500 yards. Of course, you can always get more energy by shooting a heavier bullet, but you'll lose a lot of the flat shooting ability of the .223 by doing so.

     

    Of course, shot placement is huge - a perfect shot with a .223 will drop just about any deer, but if it is off just a bit, which is highly likely at the ranges you mention, I think you stand a good chance of a non-lethal hit, or a very difficult tracking job to say the least.

     

    That said, I think a .223 makes a heck of a javelina gun, especially for junior hunters, and I've seen the awesome damage they can do personally, but both times I took javelina with a .223 it was well under 100 yards.

     

    Just some food for thought - good luck with your research.

     

    Jason

  20. Posted · Report reply

    Excellent job! I'm in the process of putting together a similar letter. There's no doubt that "increasing opportunity" can only be achieved by sound management practices that over time increase overall herd strength, not moving permit allocations around.

     

    The only permit allocation change that I can seem making a difference (in my humble opinion :lol: ) is reducing permits for mule deer and javalina in areas that are most affected by the drought. I really think that if they got mule deer, javalina and pronghorn herds to rebound anywhere near the carrying capacity of the land, there would be ample opportunites for just about everyone to get some sort of tag pretty much every year.

  22. Posted · Report reply

    Thank you all for your responses. A couple of you have asked about the location of the hunt. Out of respect for Mark, I decline on giving more details about the hunt or where it took place. To be honest, we have been hunting this area since neither of us could legally drive. A combination of decades of experience plus good map work put us right on top of him. I?ve attached another picture of our friend Doug, who was also instrumental in this hunt.

     

    On a very serious note, if we want to see more hunts of this caliber we have to stand strong between now and the time that the 2006-07 regulations are devised. If the current proposals are passed, 90% of the prime coues rut hunts will be eliminated in exchange for ?non-rut? hunts in the name of ?increased opportunity?. Please, if you ever want to have the opportunity to hunt great coues deer during the rut, attend your local G&F meeting to state your opposition to the proposed changes. This is the time to get involved! Do it!!! And enjoy our special resource, the elusive coues deer.

     

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    Jason

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