Red Rabbit

Eric, That had to have been discouraging and maddening to be around those Hail Mary shots. Congrats to your Mom on a real nice buck. Doug~RR

Congrats to ya Jed on a nice buck to end a day after almost two weeks of hunting. RR

September 6 & 7 was the last weekend before my rifle antelope hunt starting on the 12th. It was a combination scouting trip and being a spotter for Shawn, a muzzleloader hunter, and mutual friend Jim. A prime goal was to locate a heart shaped buck that has been seen a couple of times near a treeline. I did locate a heart shaped buck that looked similar to what Jim and Shawn had on video, but it did seem as large as the one they had seen on a previous trip. It was with the rearward swept buck I had photographed last week, and was also with a large number of does and the squiggly buck from my first trip. Shawn and Jim put a stalk on the rearward swept buck and got within 250 yards, but did not think they wanted to shoot him. That afternoon they went to another part of the unit and I went to a basin I had not been to before. I saw a small buck which some other hunters had seen lose a fight to a larger buck. Since they had a muzzy hunter hunting the larger buck, I talked with them for 30 minutes and then drove back out. This will be a place to check the morning before my season to see if one of the big buck remain. Shawn and Jim in the other part of the unit found a massive buck, but came back to camp empty handed after the sun set on Aubrey Cliffs above Pica Camp, as viewed from our camp. Sunday morning broke with a few clouds in the eastern sky. With the morning sun low behind the back, antelope on the flat below stood out well in the binoculars. After another unsuccessful stalk where Shawn and Jim trailed a herd for a couple of miles with the use of a cow decoy, We returned to camp to regroup and head to where another buck had been seen earlier. The flat had a small sample of what should be good BBQ. Shawn and Jim were able to close within 150 yards of this nice buck and his does. Shawn's TC muzzleloader roared once this afternoon. And of course, Arizona sun closes out another fine weekend. Doug~RR

Seek100+ Any favorable results to report? RR

I have not recovered a Nosler Ballistic Tip from a coues or Texas whitetail yet. Used 130s and 140s from a 270, and 150s from a 280 and 7 Rem Mag. Regarding the Berger VLD, here is the article on page 40 in Rifle magazine by John Barsness testing them on a hunt and in test media. http://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/PDF/hl248partial.pdf Doug~RR

Appears the first bull has a forked brow tine, good third, and no fifth on the right side. Good looking bull and neat action photo. Have a great weekend. Doug~RR

Pups are still available. Prices reduced: females $500, males $450.

HUH? So they put $5 on your CC, and collect interest on any unpaid balance, or in other words, extra interest on the extra 80 cents charged if the balance is not paid in full. What a deal for BofA. Not on the CC, debit only. They round up the purchase price, then transfer the difference into your savings account. So if you spend $3.50 they take $4.00 out of your checking, pay the store $3.50 and put the other .50 into your savings account. Everytime you use your debit, you end up throwing some change into your savings. Coming from the debit card, that sounds a little more fiscally responsible. If they did it from a CC, i could imagine some thinking it would still be a great deal.

HUH? So they put $5 on your CC, and collect interest on any unpaid balance, or in other words, extra interest on the extra 80 cents charged if the balance is not paid in full. What a deal for BofA.

Have a garage sale. Donate plasma twice weekly.

Cabelas has the Bushnell 1500 with ARC on sale for $299 http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/template...&hasJS=true

Beneath the Swaros and Leicas, I think the next best is the Minox 15x58. The Minox do have the squarish edges on the eyepiece that can be discomforting, and the non-locking diopter adjustment that can get moved while focusing if your finger turns the wrong dial. Canot say I am impressed with the Conquest 15 or Vortex 15 for resolution, which one needs when looking long. A review on another board: http://www.24hourcampfire.com/big_eyes.html

Ghostluvr, Only OTC archery deer hunters are mandated to report their harvest. Those archery deer hunters who drew a permit in draw units like 1, 7, 12, 13 are not required to report their harvest, but instead they will receive the survey card in the mail that general firearm hunters receive. RR

TAM, That's a load/group you could use to poke a eye out with Be careful. Enjoy your antelope hunt in NM. RR

Casey, I wish Jester had better prongs and more mass. He is a somewhat different character. I will see what is seen and transpires this weekend during the muzzy hunt. There are a couple more bucks I would like to see that have been seen by others. RR

Jim, He did mention about recently getting a badger thaat was checking on PD holes, but nothing about having to grapple him out of a hole like a catfish. RR

Scott, Sounds and looks like another great trip. That springbok looks cool and nice pic too. When are you breaking ground on that 8000 square foot trophy room? Doug

Was the flash going off and spooking the elk? What was the wind direction when you were there? Perhaps they were scenting you. Someone else may have desires on hunting the tank, so remember first come and politeness. Perhaps sit the trail before the gate? Perhaps leave a note on the camera with a way for the owner to contact you to discuss the situation.

Chris, How have you and Blackdog been hunting the antelope? Spot and stalk? Decoys? Fence crossing? Sitting water? Looks like a Eurasian collared lizard- no limit I'm disappointed that there were no pics of flowers Doug~RR

From the Labor Day Weekend near Seligman Doug~RR

Keith, I saw a few cow elk in the headlights while I was winding through the PJ on the drive from the highway to the open flats. I did not hear any bugling that night. RR

In spite of the weather forecast that predicted a weekend of heavy rains, I ventured out to 18A to scout for antelope again. Perhaps a big buck had come out of hiding to steal the harem away from a delusional youngster. Saturday morning greeted to antelope plains with a lightning show at sunrise. Of course the rain upon the camper shell meant a few extra winks of sleep. Fortunately, the rain was light and did not turn the roads to a mucky mess. CWT member "Butters" and his daughter were out archery hunting antelope. He had located a nice buck, but it was just the viewable kind as it was behind a posted fence. He had moved his Jeep further down the road, and that is where I met him glassing. We drove and checked two other bucks a mile away. I left Butters at 10:15 AM to put a stalk on one of them, as I had to meet a friend and we were going to check a well used fence crossing in another part of the unit. After checking the fence crossing, I stayed to scout that part of the unit. Shortly after the friend and I separated ways, the clouds unleashed their pent up moisture for and hour of heavy rain. National Weather Service had issued a flash flood warning for the area. After the rain stopped, I tried to venture out, but a flowing wash had left only part of the clay road, so I let discretion stop my crossing of the slick clay roadbed, as I did not want to slide off into the 2' hole. Thus I went back to where I had met Butters earlier that morning. I did see one nice buck across a wide draw. Another solitary buck was tucked up in the head of that draw, whose horn configuration reminded me of a court jester. I stood in front of a tree, and Rica moved around within 30 yards of me. The buck closed the distance from his bed at 200 yards and slowly walked towards us until about 100 yards out. After I got enough pictures, we gathered the tripod, camera and spotting scope, and headed back to the truck. The buck slowly trotted away. Court Jester That evening, another sunset pulled down a colorful curtain on the day. Sunday morning brought a line of low clouds and a light sprinkle, but they passed overhead to the north . The first nice buck seen yesterday was now chasing his harem around the middle of the flat. A second group of antelope with an undetermined buck was watched heading into the cedars, presumable to escape the warm sun. Headed back down the two-track and found this buck with about a dozen does. (I will get the hang of digiscoping through the 15X binos yet. Seems better to use a large lens aperture for higher shutter speed, and zoom in to reduce vignetting and get a larger field of view.) This is the rearward hooking buck and his herd. I had not seen this buck on the two previous scouting trips. Sunday afternoon, the truck headed west to check out the western edge of the unit along Hackberry Wash. Rather a brushy desert more suitable to Gambels quail. As I drove north towards Valentine, more grass appeared and looked more antelope-ish, but so did the no trespassing/no hunting signs of the local ranch. Valentine is set in a scenic area along old Route 66, with granite boulder mountains and buttes along Truxton Wash. With that venture crossing Hackberry Wash off the list of places to hunt, I ventured back towards Seligman to go back into wher the prvious rains had stopped my progress. The gully was no longer flowing and the clay no longer slick after a day. Wide expanses of held grazing bovines, and 4 buckless antelope does fed in a shallow basin. My route out was stopped by a wide mud flat left behind by yesterday's flowing water. Before turning around, a coyote replete with summer hide was dispatched at the edge of the mud flat. Stopping on the retrace of the drive in for the evening allowed the view of another sunset. Labor Day Monday morning awoke with the 20MPH winds that plagued yesterday. Sunflowers danced along the roadside (sorry Chris, no pics) as I headed to a spot where a buck rumored to be 18" tall has been seen. He must be playing Houdini still, as I only saw these three lesser bucks. One of two bucks that kept tabs on a dozen does. This was the last buck seen during the weekend. A young buck hiding in the cedars until he grows old and large enough to have a harem of his own. Less than two weeks before the rifle season opens on the 12th. Let's hope the big boy remains unseen and out of range during the upcoming muzzleloader season that opens this Friday. Doug~RR

What Ol' Betsy will you be carrying this fall on your coues hunt? For the coues hunt in 36C this fall, hopefully this 6.5 WSM built on a Winchester Super Grade will bark once. Scope is a Leupold VXIII 4.5-14x40 w/ B&C reticle. Bullet will be a 130 grain Scirocco at about 3260 fps. Doug~RR

Heating it should not work well since the copper bullet will expand faster than the steel barrel.

You might check out Doug at CameraLands demo page http://www.cameralandny.com/demos.html He also has some great prices on these Vortex in coyote brown http://forums.coueswhitetail.com/forums/in...x+super+special