Flatlander

Well . . .

I've got a 3BN tag. Wish I had the whole thing! Which hunt do you have? I think T7 may have convinced me to do 3B. I hunted it years ago, and would love to do it on an early hunt.

If you really want to kill any bull then I would make this recommendation; Donate that tag to HOAL and next year I will accompany you on a five day November bull hunt where you should have opportunity at "a" bull. You will change a kids life and get a hunt for yourself.

This is a joke right . . .

Does anybody have the 3b tag this year?

Awesome

Well for post #1500 I am happy to report good news. I have my ML put back together, thanks to the help of nearly an entire tube of loctite, and ready to shoot again on Saturday. I am going to stay with the loads I had been shooting prior to my issues; (2) 50 gn T7 pellets behind a Hornady SST 250 gr red sabot. This load initially shot well for me and I am hoping to get it there again. While out at the range on Saturday I will get dialed in with the backup rifle as well. Hopefully after that I can get back up to the mountain and spend Labor Day weekend figuring out how many bucks off my hit list got arrowed. Below is a picture of the rig all cleaned up and ready to run again. I will say that this week is the first time that I have had a hard time concentrating at work. All I can think about is getting ready for this hunt. It is starting to feel real. There is still a ton of country that I have not looked at, so I am chomping at the bit to get back up there put glass on the hills. If anybody is going to be in the Prescott area labor day weekend or during the hunt (9/5-9/11) feel free to PM me. I would love to meet up. Several other members have tags in neighboring units and I hope to be able to stop in and see them during the hunt.

I have seen several of your posts and you guys kill some great animals,with so many awesome antelope units, with 21 points why did you burn them all with 21 points on 19a?just wondering my friends have always cleaned up on archery 19a, I don't really think this year was any different we just now have the internet for everyone to post there success.Did someone influence you to put in here?I know most units that say the success rate it usually way off. 19a has always been one of the easiest units to kill a goat. I have seen the stats of some units where we have killed 5 or 6 animals and it only showed 20 percent success don't go by the g and f book it isn't very accurate sorry you burned so many points. god luck on your hunt I hope you find a giant. Quality! 19a has produced more big bucks than any other unit. Why wouldn't you want to hunt it!? It's not usual that almost every BIG buck gets arrowed the 1st archery hunt! This year is going to screw things up for awhile. WAIT AND SEE;) Its true. The Muzzy hunt in 19A is typically almost a sure thing for killing a quality buck. This year has been rough. I disagree with it screwing things up for a long time, this unit recovers pretty quickly, but I am far from an expert. Good luck on your hunt guys!

The idea of not reporting out of spite is backwards thinking. If the thought is that reporting harvests will cause AZGFD to reduce tags, then hypothetically that practice could lead to an over issuance of tags, this leading to over harvest which will eventually lead to reduced survey counts and a greater reduction in tag numbers than would have initially occurred. If the thought is that by not reporting, harvest rates will be published lower than actual this discouraging potential applicants, the opposite is likely happening. In actuality the dept develops a ratio of harvested animals based on surveys returned. Because successful hunters are more likely to report than unsuccessful surveys the fewer surveys that are returned the higher the published success rates. On all instances it is my opinion that reporting is better than non-reporting.

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.