mklong40

TTT Im in Tucson but will be in Mesa today from 130pm-6pm. Questions about just the rifle, without scope cost. Although the T10 is an awesome scope, most of the value is in the rife. I will go $1,200 for rifle only. Thanks. Matt

Sorry. No trades. Trying to fund a down payment on a house. Wish this wasn't leaving me to begin with!!!!! Killing me.

In the first photo you can see a pin size mark on the stock. There is one more about the same size on the forearm. Only 2 marks on the entire rifle.

Wellers is awesome. Do yourself a favor and go walk their show room.

This is a big hit for the likes of varminters. I have a friend who has varmint hunted on this ranch for 40 years. In that time he has known all the ranchers, helped when he could with issues, and became friends with the cattlehands. When I shared this news with him yesterday, he was devastated. He called G&F and they confirmed the report. This person is responsible for getting me into varminting, reloading, understanding everything about my rifles, loads, etc. I feel bad about this has happened due to, mainly, other hunters. He introduced me to the boquillos 5 years ago and since then we have taken 2 trips yearly....all before August. I would have no issue with a small fee for entering the ranch, especially if it went back to the ranch. i have no issues with the blinds water holes, etc. but to close the ranch the entire year outside of the fall hunts hurts. It removes varmint hunting and other camping trips ect through the entire spring and summer. I am no biologists and wont pretend to act like I know how this will affect things but I have to think, without some kind of population control with the coyotes and lions in this area, it will affect the Lope, Deer, and Elk populations on some level. I know, personally, there are tons of yotes in this area.....to the affect the lope groups put on yote shoots yearly.......Hopefully this will be reviewed more closely and maybe with some stricter guidelines, which I support, we will have annual access again the near future. Hope so. Matt

ball was clearly still on the fingernail of the index finger and I am not biased at ALL! Signed, UofA Alumn

As my mentor L Cazador above states, RL 17 is too hot for 180gr'er. In the following posts, most of you say you have had great experience with RL17 with smaller bullets. Id say 140's is tops. I have a 7mag I shoot 175gr partitions out of. I use RL22. All rifles are different but with 63.3gr of RL22 I am getting 2950 fps with a 175gr round.......not shabby. If you want to stay with Alliant, bump it up to RL22 and give it a shot. I bet you see better groups right away with a 180gr ' er.

congrats. I hope I can have a similiar experience with my boys (and gal) in about 5 years! Great job!

Awesome buck. I also know the way you did it and how you got it out was something you wanted to be able to say you did when your an old man. Good thing you got it out of the way now at 34 yrs old and not 64! Looking forward to getting back to 100" slope on a left over in 2013!

Great job Jimmy. Happy for you. Great looking buck.

Hunted 33 all weekend. Heading back out Wed. Saw close to 40-45 deer in all the weather. Very few bucks, nothing worth shooting and we saw zero rutting activity.

Congrats Joey....you are already one up on your dad and unlce J to start off December! Great first buck. I am real happy for you. I know your dad, mom, Donna, and pop are proud. Great job

I have a 33 dec tag. I am praying for some cold weather and pre rut movement at this point. Dont think you will see the rut till January at best with this weather.

After years of putting up with my hunting vice I talked my wife into her first whitetail tag this year. I think she will have a slight misconception of this hunting game after yesterday.Short version; sat through some real nasty weather yesterday morning waiting for a break in the rain. As soon as it stopped we immediately starting seeing deer. I glassed up 2 small bucks. Sitting in this weather I told my wife to shoot. First hunt, no shame in a small buck. After 20 min of arguing I gave up. She would, under no circumstances, shoot a small buck.....her words. We relocated and at 930 my hunting partner Chris glasses up this toad. He had just stood up and was on the opposite ridge walking up and dead away from us. We determined it was a shooter....she finally agreed. I got her set up on the tri clawps and she located the buck at 350 yards in the scope. She followed the buck up the hill and Chris and I were nervous he was going over the top. We informed Holly if she was going to shoot, she needed to shoot. She replied, " I will not shoot until I have a perfect broadside shot, period." So we watched, reluctantly as this buck gets to the top and disappears behind trees. After waiting about 5 min, this buck steps out broadside on the other side. I range it at 455, crank the 7mag to 7.5MOA and let her know she is ready to shoot. About 15 seconds goes by and she squeezes. We watch the buck do the butt to face manuver but immediately gets back up and hobbles behind the tree he stepped out behind. Chris and I determine its a hard hit but slightly back. After 2 hours we hike down and up to get to him. At 15 yards he stands up and with a full pass through turns and runs. To say we were devastated would be an understatement. We decided to back out. On the way out we run into other hunters and they volunteer to help track the deer. It was a team effort and we found him piled up under a tree about 70 yards where we spooked him. Such an unbelievable group of hunters to help out. They, in that 2 hours, confirmed what the human spirit is all about. My wife was a trooper. We put on about 4 miles into the back of this canyon, she never complained, not once about the hike, the terrain, rain, nothing. Incredible. We quickly scored the buck (we are not professionals) and he taped out at 106"-107". He has a 19" inside spread...........now she has all year to try to figure out was she will do for her second ever hunt next year. Good luck babe, Matt Long

Thanks for all the great comments. Much appreciated. Wife is still very much excited about the whole experience. AZcoues - scope was a leupold vx 3 4x12

been out two consecutive weekends and watched very small bucks birddog the doe's. I think they are acting tuff while they can. Watched two bucks with a little mass on them and they had no interest in doe's.....cold weather last weekend confused the little guys. They gotta get it while they can!!

awesome buck and killer story. Cant wait till my little ones are out there too.

Tyson, its Matt Long......awesome buck man congrats! Good Story.

Good time yesterday. Now I have to follow these guys around for 3 months and hope they dont get killed!!

saw this buck last week when I picked mine up....awesome awesome buck!!

totally awesome!

2011 buck came in yesteday from Wellers. I appreciate the hard work Bud, Gavin, and team!

No bear expert here but that looks huge. Good job.

+1 on the Vias.....best I have ever used.

Hunted 30b several years back. We went out of Tombstone but then put the miles on the boots. Saw some decent deer towards the southwestern part of the range. Just have to really hike back in there. Oddly enough, we saw some coues low too, where the Muleys where hanging out.