Red Rabbit

Garth, an archery hunt was mentioned in 13B. However, a possible permit number of 120 was given. Initial thoughts are this may be excessive if archers camp on water and have a high success rate. One would suppose these kill numbers would have to be reflected by a reduction in rifle permits. Another was the proposal of a Jan archery hunt in units 8 and 9 since these units have less than 10% overall harvest. Figures of 2042 archery Kaibab hunters were given. 1850 pernits were proposed. Majin this would allow for the 20% harvest, but not do much for the crowding. I have a hunch there will be lot of leftover archery deer permits. 53% of bowhunters also put in for the rifle draw, so I would think many would shift to a general rifle tag rather than archery permit hunt, and hunt another unit that is still OTC Doug~RR

tkknc, Stan has been there a couple of times with his kids and has been involved with the ADA junior camp. Pretty sure he will chime in. RR

see the post in the politcal discussions http://forums.coueswhitetail.com/forums/in...amp;#entry71885

Commission voted to accept the 2008 spring hunts as proposed, except to extend the House Rock buffalo hunt to May 31. With the 2008-2010 guidelines, the vote for deer was to accept as proposed. That means units 1, 3ABC, 7 12A, 13A will be going to a draw for archery deer. (coming soon to a neighborhood near you?)

Midway shows it available http://www.midwayusa.com/ebrowse.exe/brows...ng=653***690***

I know a guy that had his camera locked to a tree. They cut down the tree and took the camera.

Lark, The advantage the 100 grainers have over the 140's is less drop, as you know. They lose out to the heavier bullets in ballistic coefficient, energy, wind drift, and retained velocity. The longer bullets won't have any more pressure at max book load ( your 100 @ 3800 is likely be above max). The 1 in 9 twist of the Remington Sendero should stabilze the 140's. Have you had a keyholing problem with 140's and a 1-9"? Comparing a 100 grain partition at 3600fps and 140 at 3100 fps, both with 250 yard zeroes, and looking at 600 yard data: The 100 Partition drops 43", has 1057 ftlbs E, vel of 2182 fps, and drifts 25" in a 10mph wind. BC = .326 The 140 Partition drops 50", has 1511 ftlbs E, vel of 2205 fps, and drifts 19" in a 10mph wind. BC = .490 Doug~RR

I would use load data for other 110 grain bullets published by other bullet or powder manufacturers. Start 10% low and work up, watching the velocities with the chrongraph till you reach the desired or max vel. With variations between barrels, throat lead, powder lots, primers used and case capacity differences between brass manufacturers, data from Barnes may be as worth as much as Hodgdon or Sierra data. Using the same charge of Ramshot hunter in my 300WSM, the 150 TSX and 150 Accubond gave similar velocities. Seat the TSXs 0.03" to 0.07" off the lands. 0.050" is a good place to start.

I was in a the local dealer and he noted that the wholesale prices will go up 15% on Sept 1, and another 15% at the beginning of the year. Just a heads up to those planning on purchasing factory ammo. I would suspect component prices will be increasing also, but have not heard how much and when.

Burris makes two piece bases that are reversible front. I did not see a listing for Leupold reversible bases that fit the Savage 110. The Leupold mount selector shows a 1 piece base to fit. http://www2.leupold.com/resources/MountFitChart/default.asp

I believe the cost of the new building will be offset by the sale of the current land and buildings on Greenway.

Real nice first catch. Bet he enjoyed the fight. Also bet that the grin was just as big when he got to eat "his" fish for dinner.

With only two months working time before the huunt, you may have a hard time finding someone to do it. Rather than putting on a take-off factory barrel, a quality custom barrel may be the better route if you're looking to improve accuracy. Dan Pedersen at cutrifle in Prescott does good work. For now, you could give the barrel a good cleaning with a strong copper remover like Sweets or 50BMG, and have the barrel recrowned for about $35. Doug~RR

bmf, The public meetings for the 2008-2010 guidelines have already been held. There is an open house meeting in Tucson tonight at 5-7pm to discuss the spring hunts and waterfowl. http://www.azgfd.gov/h_f/hunt_guidelines.shtml

Scott, You will have a beautiful view out of the living room window. It sure has greened up nice. I think that rainbow leads to a pot -o-coues. How deep did the well need to be drilled? Doug~RR

In addition to Kevin's good, informative response, here is a link to bare shaft tuning your bow to get the arrow to the right length to give the correct spine. http://brackenburybows.com/Tuning%20Tips.htm You can also do a search on the Leatherwall forum of http://stickbow.com/ Basically, start with a bare shaft (no fletch) and shoot into a foam target at 25 yards. If the nock is pointed to the right, the arrow is too stiff. You will need a longer arrow, or a weaker shaft, or a heavier point. If the nock is pointed to the left, the arrow is too weak. Cut off 1/2" at a time until it flies tru and enters the foam straight. Or try a stiffer shaft, or a lighter point. It does appear you will be buying a new dozen arrows. Doug~RR

Quest for a Booner (the story of the hunt) After hunting in Unit 29 several years and having taken bucks of 97, 96, 95, 82 and 68 inches, my good friend and hunting buddy and I decide we would set a goal of getting a Boone and Crockett Coues. I look in the record books, count the number of 110+” bucks taken out of each unit, and decide unit 36 held the greatest possibility, based on the number of record class Coues in relation to the number of tags in the unit. I also noted that to reach 110” most bucks were 4 pointers. So that was our goal- a four point out of unit 36. We applied for and drew December tags in our chosen unit. But December draw odds were more forgiving in 1991 than they are today. Topo maps for the unit are purchased. A letter is written to the unit game manager asking for his opinion which area held the best trophy potential. My friend’s dad was a private pilot, so one day over Thanksgiving we fly down from Scottsdale, fly over the unit, and circle over the canyons which look the best. On another weekend we drive down and look at several of the areas from ground level. Finally, on the 26th of December, after spending Christmas with the families, we drive down to set up camp before the next day’s hunt. In the dark of the morning, we plod across the flat and detour around some mesquite thickets after determining that they were impenetrable. Up a canyon we hike and arrive at the base of the chosen hill at the first hint of light. Huffing upward, we crest over a ridge and glass the newly seen draw. A couple of does. We trudge upward, occasionally stopping to glass, and see that the does have made their way over the top. We follow. Carefully, we crest over to look into the small area below, but are treated with a deerless view. We continue along a ridge, and glass three other hunters on a different knoll half a mile away. We circle to a different point and glass across the main canyon. Nothing but some does in the ocotillo a long distance down the canyon. After lunch, we hike on the backside of a sharp ridge to a point of rocks. There we can glass a large bowl to the east, and slopes to the south and west. We decide to remain here till dark and settle in for the afternoon. About an hour before sunset, my friend says he sees deer in the basin to the east. They have come out of the trees to begin feeding. I ask if there are any bucks, but he cannot tell through his Pentax binoculars. I cannot tell either through my 10x25 Leitz. So I set up the Cabela’s spotting scope and tripod for a better look. The excitement level heightens when I see that the one buck with the small group of does has four points on a side. Yes. A Booner is my thought. Since he spotted the deer, I ask him if he wants to go. To my surprise, he says “you go.” I was not about to argue. As the deer were 600-800 yards away and too far to shoot from where we were, I quickly stuff the spotter and tripod in the pack, shoulder the pack and pick up the rifle. I would need to go back around on the backside of the ridge we are on to remain unseen, go a little to the east and down a finger closer to the buck. My friend would stay and look from our present position. Looking back on the ridge the buck was glassed from. After about 15 minutes, I am in position. Pulling up the binos, I scan the area. I don’t see the buck. Where did he go? I look and look, and emotions start to sink as I think he may have moved off. Finally, 45 minutes later, the buck stands up. He had bedded in some tall brush and grass during my stalk. The moment has finally come. I lay the pack down and rest the rifle across the daypack. I look through the scope but cannot find him on 10 power. I crank it down to 3.5. Still cannot find the deer. I look through the binos, and he is still standing there. Quickly I look through the scope again. Again I cannot locate the buck at high or low power. Again, I look through the binos. He’s still standing there. I look through the rifle scope again with high and low to no avail. Frustrated and getting frantic, I look through the binos again to see the buck still standing there. For a fourth time I look through the rifle scope. Finally, I have him centered in the scope. He’s quartering away. I slip off the safety, take few breaths, exhale, relax, and squeeze the trigger. I see the buck hunch up, but still stand there, quartering away. A gut shot reaction by the deer, but the hold felt good. I chamber another round into the 7 Mag, and with a second 140 grain Partition, he collapses and tumbles a short ways down the slope. Relieved to have finally made the shot, I gather my stuff, holler to my friend and make my way over to the trophy. I thought he was a four point, but he is not. He has several initially unseen points and kickers to give him a total of 13 points. A cool nontypical. My friend makes his way around, and he asks what took me so long to shoot. I explain the story. After pictures and then field dressing, I tie the head and cape to the pack and we climb down the mountain. I will return tomorrow with a pack frame to pack out the meat while my hunts another mountainside. Doug~RR Footnotes: Still surprised by having my friend let me shoot the deer he spotted, I later asked him why. He was just returning the favor when on a Colorado archery elk hunt I had offered to call in a bull I spotted while he shot. That was another great hunt. Two years later we are hunting Coues again in the same canyon in unit 36. We spot a buck that has very similar antler point characteristics as the one from two years previous. However it is a little smaller and my friend decides to let him grow another year. He has not drawn a December tag there since.

http://www.wmicentral.com/site/news.cfm?ne...05965&rfi=6 Save y'all some looking time.

When Turkey hunting in 17 a few years ago, I saw elk west of the Yollo and north of the 7up ranches. RR

Lance, Tilt certainly did not finish weak. Do you have a client that will be hunting for Tilt this archery season? Doug~RR

On the drive to the "shooting range" this morning, I came across a nice group of bulls on the border of 11M and 6AN. I did not recognize any as being a Kachina Elk.

Since 11M is an archery unit, the 1/4 mile reg may be moot for the discharge of a firearm. Finders Fee?

Was getting dark and had a slow shutter speed, but this is the biggest of five which were behind the neighbor's house this evening.

Tony, What's holding that antelopes head up besides rigor mortis? I like the pic; quite different from the ride-em Muley. RR

Funny story, Tony. Coulda said "Here's your sign" but that would have been before the times. Did the hikers have the draw dropping, ya gotta be chittin me face?