Flatlander

Awesome. I can't wait to go 'someday'

I can see that. Seems like the poll results pretty much line up with the draw data. I thought 8 Archery might get a little more love. It feels good to think about hunting elk next fall.

217 this AM, that is approaching an all time high for me. I did four runs last week (2 miles each) and cut soda intake in half. I still have a long ways to go but I feel very motivated to change. Thanks for starting this and all the encouraging posts.

All shooters in my book

Guys thanks for all the help and suggestions. I have tore the gun apart and it now sits in my vise ready to be re-assembled tomorrow. I cleaned it thoroughly and will loctite every screw or bolt on the gun tomorrow. I found a loose front base, a severely fouled breech plug and a fouled barrel. I think the issue could have been coming from any of the three but was probably the result of all combined. Hopefully on Saturday I have better results to post. I have procured a backup gun in case I can't get mine back in order, which was a huge relief. Thanks again to everyone for the offers of help, pm's and encouragement. In the department of the exciting stuff, Antelope. I received a text from a member who has a nearby hunt telling me he knew of a potential Booner in my unit. He sent pics and the buck is one I have never seen before, he goes straight up and has huge cutters. Its a totally different look than any of the bucks I have scouted. It was very exciting to see, hopefully he can dodge arrows for a couple of weeks until I get my crack. I would say right now that buck is probably my number 3 buck on the hit list. Thanks again for all the support, this site is amazing and has been a good substitute for actual hunting buddies, of which I have been running a bit low in recent years.

TJ thanks for the offer of help. I will text you tomorrow. Thanks to everybody for their suggestions and offers of help. I have procured a backup gun so that took a lot of the pressure off. At least I know if I can't get mine back together I will still be able to hunt. Currently my muzzleloader which was shooting 2 inch groups a month ago is sitting in the gun vise, I have it completely disassembled other than removing the trigger assembly. I think I have identified the problems and hope to get everything back together tomorrow and then be back out at Rio Salado on Saturday. It will be a long week waiting to see the results, but I am confident the problem is resolved, whatever it was. On Saturday I will go back to a load I knew shot well out of the gun previously and start there. I have pulled the breech plug out and cleaned everything with a fine tooth comb. During the dis-assembly I identified a few things I thought might be the problem: 1. A loose front scope base. I suspect this was the issue, but I was never able to generate any movement when the scope was mounted so it may not have been the problem. 2. A severely plugged breech. I filled the barrel with hot soapy water to soak the breech plug and it actually held water. Clearly this was the cause of the hang-fires I was experiencing. 3. Fouling of the barrel. I have run over a hundred swatches through it in the last two days and have only recently started getting a clean pass on even dry swatches.

I didn't realize Idaho had a unit with only 75 tags a mere 2 hour drive from the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas. ID has lots of controlled hunts that you can apply for for a mere $15 application fee after license. If you don't draw you can hunt general season and see far fewer folks than you would on a public land antelope hunt in AZ that has just 15 tags. Grab a $200 round trip from Allegiant and you are in business. Its actually pretty do able. The point is people figure stuff out, no big deal.

Ooh, I would definitely take bear meat off the bone.

I use the green chile recipe out of the recipes portion of this site. Excellent results. I have fed it to many a city dweller without ever telling them a thing. They always ask for seconds

That tag is usually a good indication of a bear with some bad behavior in it's history. But maybe in this case it looks like someone shot it up with HGH. Looks like you got a good one. Congrats on a beast!

Hey Chino Hunter do you have a report on 19b?

Shhhh Idaho has OTC elk and deer tags available every year. Don't tell anyone, they might run out.

You have nothing to feel bad about. Good luck in the draw if you decide to give it a go. Be sure to post up your stories and some pics.

I know Big Browns is headed out there as well.

Yeah, who knew having an antelope tag could be such a curse. You will do just fine and have a great hunt. I had an archery tag in 01 and have dreamed about going back ever since. This year a I have a ML tag in a neighboring unit. When my card got hit I was hoping it was 19A, as that was my first choice. I have since gotten pretty excited about my hunt and been able to locate several bucks. Good luck and enjoy every minute.

There is always a chance to find an unknown buck, but 75% of the antelope are standing right out in the open within 1/2 mile of a road.

Those come with the gun silly . . . You could always try these as well http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ruger-M77-Scope-Ring-Set-1-Inch-Riflescope-Rings-Stainless-Steel-/231304565495?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35dad392f7 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Leupold-49944-Ringmount-Ruger-M77-1-Super-High-Rings-Matte-Black-/351141749598?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51c1ade35e http://www.ebay.com/itm/Leupold-49952-Ruger-M77-Scope-Ringmount-1-Inch-High-Matte-Finish-/141376202706?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20eaada7d2

Getting in a blind increases the success rate significantly. Its tough to sit in one when its 100+ for hours at a time but goats have to go to water eventually.

Man, that is a major bummer. I would be over there testing out the Jay Scott method of ivory removal and making a set of earrings for grandma or a necklace for the grandkids.

Ok guys back to the topic at hand . . . can anyone post anymore lope pics?

Well I apologize for not updating this for awhile. I have been encountering some struggles with the muzzleloader and wanted to keep the jive on this thread positive. The good news is that the archery hunts are underway and it seem that only one real big buck has hit the dirt that I am aware of. I am hoping to spend all of labor day weekend there to watch it wrap up and make a plan for my first few days. I will post a separate thread about the muzzleloader but the crux of it is that I have not been able to shoot a group in my last two outings. At 25 yards today I had a hard time keeping it on paper. I am beginning to panic with just three weeks before the hunt I don't know if I have time to diagnose and fix the problem. I think it has to be a scope/ring/base problem, as I just don't think that there is anything that could be THAT wrong with my load. Thoughts are welcomed if you have any . . .

Wish this beauty was half ton towable.

This is not a 19a buck

I haven't seen many pics of the archery bucks. Where did the 89" buck come out of?

Twin Peaks on camelback, it's a family joint.