IA Born

I just got the 12x12 and have only used it once, but man oh man! My son and I set it up in fading light and it was slow the first time, but im confident we'll get better. I absolutely LOVE our Kodiak 12x12.

Fairly typical southeast AZ looking blacktail! Great find!

Here's a mostly black phase (some red speckling visible) Masticophis flagellum (coachwhip) from outside Tucson years ago.

I've heard all about it. I kinda want to go, but only about a foot on shore!

Cold root beer and you got yourself a deal! I quit drinking in 2013, but will never turn down cold craft root beer!

Yep. Brown vine snake. Locally common around the Pena Blanca Lake area and frequently found on trees!

Red pahse coachwhip. Same as what Tim (Edge) posted. Great find!

I'd love to hang out at your place!

I'm not Tim (he's way cooler than I), but I can tell you Its a red variation coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum). I've seen them in red, tan, and dark black. I'll see if I can find the pic of the black one I came across in Saguaro NP up in a mesquite tree. Coachwhips are frequently called racers out west. One of my least-favorite non-venomous snake species to get bitten by.

No worries at all and you're welcome! The first massasauga I found down there was a DOR. It didn't look like a diamondback or a prairie (other potential option in that area). I collected it, thinking it was an abberent prairie rattlesnake. I got stopped later by AGFD. I showed him the live mohaves I'd collected and my collecting permit. He mentioned massasaugas being high on the poaching list. It hit me what I had. I poured through my permit to make sure I was legal. I also collected a DOR Gila monster that night, also legal since it was DOR. My graduate school professor just about lost his $h!t completely, even though it was perfectly legal. He just didn't want to deal with the stress and perceived grey area.

100% diamondback. Juvenile, too, based on the single button. In Arizona, desert massasaugas only live in one small part of southeastern Arizona, in the tobossa grasslands along Hwy 80 north of Douglas. I found one DOR way back in the day during grad school while looking for mohaves along Hwy 80.

Yep. Have donated a few tags to Eddy

My son shot a javelina on a youth hunt a few years ago. He used my M1 Garand with 150 gr Barnes Vortx ammo. The shot was 75 yards and left a softball size exit wound. No problem with expansion at all. I made the switch to Barnes back in 2008 and have never looked back. I used to be the California condor recovery program lead biologist. Feel free to reach out to me anytime. I encourage everyone to look for and read the Minnesota DNR's test results for lead vs non-lead bullets. They did it right. The lined up euthanized sheep and shot them with various kinds of bullets: non-lead, high-end and low-ed rapid expansion lead core, high-end and low-end slow-expansion lead core, muzzleloader, and shotgun slugs. They x-rayed every carcass and were finding lead fragments up to 24" away from the entry point. IMHO, MN DNR did the best test out there when the non-lead bullet craze really started taking off and there was all kinds of skepticism. I also have research articles regarding lead fragments in the grind when meat comes back from processors. Take all of this for what it is or isn't worth to you. I just like to pass on the data I have access to and can share those reports/articles with anyone interested.

Will be at Phx airport tomorrow morning. Can meet with this near and to/from Flagstaff.

Will be at Phx airport tomorrow morning. Can meet with these near and to/from Flagstaff.