Red Rabbit

Mike, Note the use of the wink at the end. I was just throwing some good-spirited kindling on the fire to follow Lark's post. Doug~RR

Like you said Amanda, the shed would look nice on a cedar or mesquite wooden base as a business card and pen holder. Jason, that looks nice. RR

Gino, Have you looked at the Kifaru with the load shelf/seat? http://kifaru.net/BACKPAKS.HTM Or the Mystery Ranch ? I have the NICE 5000 with load sling. The Nice with load sling and a crew cab pack would make for a great day hunting pack or overnight setup. http://www.mysteryranch.com/backpack-hunting.php Camelback is manufacturing MR licensed packs offshore for a little discount. http://www.lapolicegear.com/camyralatapa.html RR

Jim, In looking at the bar graphs: I note the inverse relationship shown since 2004 between an increasing number of permits and the decreasing hunter success. This, I recall, was one factor enabling the department to issue more permits without increasing total harvest. During this time period, the number of hunter days has also increased slightly, which would be expected with a decreased success %. Since the fires, the increase success rate has been attributed to more deer. One thing not mentioned was that the widespread fires also eliminated some cover, making the deer more visible, thus also contributing to the post-fire increase in success and the decrease in hunter days required. How much of a factor would the increased visibility make on the deer population survey results? Since the number of hunter days/harvest is about 9, I would expect the success to drop due to the shortening of the longer November season to 7 days. Is there any data year by year showing the age structure of bucks taken (as opposed to the 2002-2007 conglomerate)? Is there information that distinguishes the different age classes of bucks taken btween the Oct/Nov/Dec seasons? (like a pie chart you gave, but one for each season) Is this information that you presented available for other individual units? Doug~RR

The way I see it , it is conservation of energy. Since all that thermal energy is being transfered to Al Gore's little world, and the heat must come from somewhere, it is being sucked right out of Flagstaff, hence the reason for our cold and snow today.

Lark, Hunting with a 7-08 will definitely be a challenge. I say grab one and see if you can sneak close enough to put the end of the barrrel right behind the ear- ie point blank range. I don't know about even a 270. It was widely reported on another Internet hunting forum that bullets from a 270 bounced off a deer. But these were really tough Texas deer, so you might be OK on the regular bigger deer called wapiti. RR

Are you thinking for just an overnight backpacking trip, or overnight hunting with the need to carry out a deer and more gear?

No real effective difference between the 270WSM & 270WBY, and the 300WSM & 300WM. The regular magnums will have a slightly greater powder capacity, and get you 50-100 fps more than the short mag, if you handload. The factory ammo between the 300s is a tie. Some short mag rifles, especially the first ones manufactured, had issues with smoothly feeding the cartridge, but this issue is mostly rectified now. The WSMs come in a short action, which might save you a whopping 6 oz in rifle weight. Unlike Remington's SAUM, the Winchester Short Mag is likely here to stay, especially the 300 and 270 WSMs. Both offer a wide selection of factory ammo. The 300WM and 270WBY are not going away either, although factory ammo selection is more limited for the 270WBY. You can compare Federal factoy ammo here: http://federalammo.com/ballistics/Ammo_Sea...earm=1&s1=1

No, the second buck is almost five months older and lives at a higher elevation where there is "snow" on the ground

Forecast is for a pleasant 75 degrees this weekend for Flagstaff. We will have some good door prizes, and will be raffling a Bowtech 101st Airborne bow, Bushnell Scout rangefinder with ARC inclinometer, and a bow case. Novelty shoots will be a long shot and a smoker course. RR

As a youth about 16 and beginning to fish, I read an article about backpack fishing the Black River in a magazine I believe was called Arizona Wildlife Sportsman. That article led my friends and I to some fun trips catching smallmouth and stepping on rattlesnakes. I presume there are other young outdoorsmen 35 years later looking for places of adventure and expand their horizons in places they have not been. Good luck with the magazine, Terry and Neal. Doug~RR

If they outlaw baiting, can you still fish for them???

since this is a family site, I just mentioned the tea as an alternative to the ethanol-laced barley pops traditionallly consumed by parched BBQers.

Skewers could be made from metal paper clips (without the plastic coating). Prepping a can of grillin beans in this manner is undoubtedly a thirst building activity worthy of a few glasses of iced tea. Simply pouring the can out over a piece of metal window screen on the grill would not be as entertaining or worthy of a donning a BBQ apron

Have you tried doing a bean-K-bob with a small skewer?

According to the G&F fishing report, the road from Crescent to Sunrise is still closed, so one need to get to Big L from Eager. Access to Reservation lake is through Big Lake. http://wmatoutdoors.org/fishingreport1.shtml

It appears the deer preferred the soil with the salt dissolved into it, as opposed to the blocks themselves.

Craig, Have you been able to test the 10x50 against the 10x42 in the very early dim light to see if the extra weight and size of the 50mm objective is worth it? On an early elk hunt about 5 years ago, I put my Leica 10x50 against a newer pair of Zeiss 10x42 well before sunrise, and found that the 50mm had no added brightness. However, the Leica was maybe a mid 90's model and did not have the newer coatings that the friend's new Zeiss had, so mine was not an apple to apples comparison. It did show the improvements in lens coatings though. I suppose a pair of 8x56 would be a great low light bino. Doug

Some of you well-read of O'Connor, please correct me if I'm wrong. I believe that Jack's wife mainly used a 7x57 to take a wide variety of worldly game, and Jack's true preference was a 30-06, but that cartridge would not have the allure in his writings provided by the 270.

While it might be nice to have fewer hunters in the field and less roadies, that means one has not been hunting far enough away from the roads, or on an Oct/Nov deer hunt, or doesn't like so many other road hunters competing on the roads and spooking the deer ahead of him. What I really feel is that this is a cog in the gear of "opportunity". If an archer puts in and draws for an archery hunt, that means that one more permit is available for a rifle hunter. Those that apply for the archery permits will likely be the die-hard archers who do not hunt with a rifle, or the convicted felon who cannot possess a firearm (these days, people want to classify spitting on the sidewalk as a felony) or the person who thinks the archery Kaibab permit id better than a 21 mule deer rifle tag, but still hunted the Kaibab in Sept before the rifle season. The permitting of the archery permits is not about limiting the archery harvest to their "fair share" of 20%, but about increasing opportunity and having more hunters have permits. The same number of deer will be killed. Smoke n mirrors. If G&F really wanted to increase opportunity (ie permit numbers), they would decrease the number of rifle permits and increase number of the muzzleloader and archery permits.

Welcome! The matching spurs on the brow tines are cool. Nice find. Doug~RR

This was at Cookie's contest north of Williams several years ago when he still had the place at Howard Mesa.

I have shot a lot of does in Texas using a 22-250 on a bipod, under 100 yards, and in the neck. Would not be my cartidge choice for open country coues, even though I was there when a 223 WSSM and a 53 grain TSX killed a coues which was broadside at 390 yards. I also saw a 55 gr HP penetrate just 1" into a shoulder of a TX WT. If you are looking for less recoil than your 300, consider a 270, 25-06, 308, 7-08. If you want a separate varmint/predator rifle, a 22-250 or 223 would do you well. If you want a dual purpose deer/varmint cartridge, consider a 243 with two different loads.

No votes here since the proper choices are not on the ballot, imo. I do like 10x for use under 400 yards. 10x42 on a tripod when not around the neck. I had a pair of 10x50 Leicas and they were too heavy for the little return of just a few minutes at dusk. In addition to 10x, 15s are very useful. I would want both. The objective size on your 15x is too small. Minox 15x58 on a budget, or the Swaro 15x56. For the high magnification, you need good glass to get their usefullness and resolution. That said, my glass is the Leica Duovid 10+15x50. Compared themem side by side with Swaros and any difference is miniscule and subject to personal preference regarding ergonomics. I like the Duovids as I can still wear them around the neck with teh bino Manager harness, and the cut 3 pounds and another set of binos out of the pack. http://forums.coueswhitetail.com/forums/in...amp;#entry63049 Doug~RR