Hoss50

His knee was in bad enough shape that he is probably going to need to at least have it scoped and cleaned up if not more. He is sometimes a little to tough for his own good.

It was day 6, and we had not seen anything bigger since opening morning during shooting hours. His twisted his knee the day prior and was in rough shape for hiking. He gutted it out all day on day 6 and this little guy presented himself so he took it knowing it might be the last opportunity he would get. He was about ready to call off the hunt in general so it was great that he got this one. He is a tough dude so I know he was hurting bad to think about calling it.

The rifle and berger bullets performed well on my first Kaibab hunt. My buddy and I both took our deer with it. The 4x4 was mine at about 250 yards. Mine didn't exit. The fork horn was his at about 40 yards. He hit it quartering toward him through the chest and out behind the opposite shoulder. It made a nasty exit wound.

That's pretty cool, but dang I wouldn't even consider shooting that without a muzzle brake.

Axisworks has done 2 for me, and did a great job.

Nice work. What the heck are you shooting 400gr bullets at 2700fps with?

let #2 in line have the H4350. I don't NEED it so I am going to save the money.

If it is cold and has been cold start in the middle and work low. Look for water and sign. When you find both hunt there. A set of 15s or a spotter on a tripod will be helpful.

I will take the 2 pounds of h4350

I have a general 20a tag.

Crispi boots get my vote. I invested in a pair before my kaibab hunt this year, and am VERY happy I did. They are VERY comfortable and give great support. I am 6'4" and weigh 320lb. With my pack, gear, and rifle I am probably pushing 365lb+ loaded down. I bought mine through Ross and they were great. I bought a few pair of Darn Tough socks to go with them and they are good too. The boot I chose was the insulated Nevada.

Or a sawzall

Husqvarna

On a second focal plane scope the crosshair zero doesn't change at different power. If you have a bdc or hold over reticle, the hash marks below the crosshair do change value at different powers. Most of the BDC reticles are designed to be used on the highest power of the scope. That isn't 100% true though. My leupold vx6 with Boone and Crockett reticle has 2 different power settings, and you use the one that more closely matches your cartridges drop characteristics. On a first focal plane scope, the mildot or hash marks mean the same thing at all powers.

Mine wasn't .1 grains. It was 1 full grain. I have seen a lot of pressure signs over the years, but this one load was the weird one. It went from looking good to blowing primers quick. I was shocked that 1 grain went from zero to primer pocket issues that quickly.

Has anyone hunted 20a since the burn? Have the javo gotten back into the burned areas? My typical hunting spots burned 2 years ago behind Mayer, and I didn't get to hunt last year. Any updates?

Typically max loads are not your most accurate loads anyway. Work up slow and learn about pressure signs. The difference between an hot load and overcharge can be very small. I recently had a load in was working up. 1 grain of powder was the difference between being ok, and blowing out primers.

You CAN save money depending on your caliber choices and your shooting habits, and depending on how you consider your reloading time. I don't factory in my "labor" costs, because I enjoy doing it so it is a hobby to me. I know I have saved money shooting my 257 Weatherby vs. factory ammo. I have at least 700 rounds through the gun. The cheapest ammo for that gun is $40/box. The good stuff is $80-100/box. My loaded ammo for that rifle costs less then $1/round for the components with a Berger bullet, and it will shoot .5-.75 MOA. That doesn't include the many other calibers I load for. If you shoot your rifle 2-3 times a year to sight in before season, you will never see a payback or get even close with reloading. If you have an interest try and get into the hobby at a reasonable cost, and learn. Then invest in products that make your finished product better. You don't have to have $200 die sets, chrono's, and other expensive items to product good repeatable ammo. They make life easier to achieve consistency, but you can do it without them. A press, case trimmer, primer pocket cleaner, funnel, powder dipper, a decent scale, a tumbler, a decent die set, a digital caliper, and the attachment to measure case length to Ogive will get you a long way.

Very nice.

Hi, I just got back from Kaibab and during the hunt my hunting buddy and I realized we need to figure out a way to communicate in the field without cell service, and GPS mapping would be a huge bonus. What is the best option for texting, walkie talkie, or etc for field comms? This whole area is very new to me. Learn me please. I am open to different options, I just dont know really what my options are.

My buddies fork went down quick too. It went maybe 20 yards. He shot it from a quartering toward him. Hit right in front of the right leg and made a nasty exit on the left side. This was Berger 135gr classic hunter bullets from my 6.5x55. Mine didn't exit.

Hi All, My hunting buddy and I just returned from our first ever trip to Kaibab. We drew the 12A East early hunt. We were extremely excited at the prospect of a good hunt. We geared up, got great tips from friends, and scouted. The area is beautiful and diverse. Lots of deer are in this area, and we thought this hunt would provide lots of opportunities. Maybe we were looking in the wrong places, but this hunt was way more difficult then we had anticipated. Kaibab does not have big bucks behind every tree as some seem to imply. Day 1 we woke up at 4am and started getting ready. We were almost out the door and 2 trucks flew by. We were not camped near our opening day hunt area, but I had a bad feeling in my gut we just lost our spot. We jumped in the truck and started our drive. We turned of on the road we needed to be on, and my gut was right. 2 sets of taillights ahead of us. We called an audible and went on a road 1 canyon over from our intended destination. We split up and I hiked a nasty cut in the dark to get closer to where I wanted to be. My buddy hit the opposite side of the road. I got setup and glassed some canyons that are known to hold deer. 30-45 minutes into my glassing session 3 hunters work across the hillside I am on. I spoke with them briefly and they continued down the hillside. About 20 minutes later I hear a shot. They jumped a good 4 point. They gut shot it with the first hit, but quickly followed up and put down a nice buck. I watched to see what the shot jumped, but nothing but does jumped. They had mentioned they had parked near where I wanted to hunt originally so I moved back towards that area. I got to the hillside i wanted to be at originally and started working into a good glassing position. As i got to the edge of the canyons to see into the bottom i saw movement. Two 4 point bucks, but they spotted me. They start working up the hillside in front of me but way from me at the same time. I hit a range at 216. I tried to use a tree as a rest to stabilize for a shot, but the tree was dead and was about to fall over. I dropped down to use a down log as a rest and my pack tried to smother me. I got it off and setup. I could see the deer with my eye but couldn't find them in the scope. I had the scope set on 12x from the range. I backed it down to 6x. I found them and saw the first buck was bigger. They were still moving, but stopped for a second after I disappeared behind the down tree. I didn't know the exact range but knew the rifle was sighted for about 225 yrd. I guessed they were about 250-275 so I held a little high and squeezed. Boom. The 6.5x55 barked and the buck bucked. He started trotting and about 40 yards later started doing the newborn colt stanky leg dance and dropped. His buddy freaked out and bolted. I started my hike across the canyon to find him. I knew he was a decent 4 point, but I was very happy when I arrived. I cut him up and hiked him out. We took him to Lacorti's in Fredonia to get processed. Then we started hunting for my buddy. After this experience we were of the idea it should not take to long to get him an opportunity. We were very wrong. The deer went nocturnal with the mostly full moon. We hunted high, low, in the burn, in the scrubs, and no opportunity showed up until the end of day 6. We jumped a small fork horn off a main road. My buddy jumped out and worked in on him and the 6.5x55 barked once more. He is meat buck, but both of these bucks are first deer for my friend and I so we were excited. It was a great hunt, but not nearly as filled with opportunities like we expected. Some days we saw 50 doe. Some days we saw zero deer. They are not dumb, and when the shooting started they proved why they are hide and seek champions. In 6 days after opening morning we saw a total of 3 bucks during shooting light. All were spikes or forks. We are not the best hunters, but we hunted as hard as we could and enjoyed it. We both downed our first bucks, which was amazing. In conclusion though, dont think Kaibab is easy, that opportunity is behind every tree, or that it will be a matter of what buck you choose to shoot. Maybe it is that way for some, but for me the experience is quite the opposite.

I would recommend the rock chucker press. I taught myself to do basic Reloading from reading reloading manuals when I was about 12 years old. My dad bought a used reloading set, and I talked myself with learning how to use it. Get a digital caliper and reasonable quality components to start. I am not a master reloaded, and learn new stuff alot. Lance's post above and many other older posts will get you headed in the right direction.