Red Rabbit

Amanda, I see that a summary of the deer proposal is on the ADA site. Good. I stuck to my previous answers to "Do you support...?" NO! RR

I place the gun in the cleaning rest, rest a section of an old cleaning rod or ruler across the flat of the mount base, then rotate the scope until the crosshair is parallel to the rod. Afterward, you can also follow the vertical hair downward and see if it aligns with the center of the bolt/cocking pin. Be sure to tighten the rings evenly so the scope is not torqued and rotated. Weaver rings are nasty about this. Just throwing the rifle to the shoulder and seeing if they look level doesn't work if you cant the rifle. If the vertical hair is not truly vertical to the bore, this can cause long shots to impact to the side. RR

Went down to 23 for a weekend of camping and a little pig hunting. Was a successful hunt, even didn't have a stinky pig to clean. Had several coveys of Gambels constantly callling around camp, but had to keep Rica on a tether due to the numerous cholla. Here's a couple of pics from where I was hunting. From camp looking east. From atop a glassing hill looking southwest towards Four Peaks and the Tonto arm. Took a drive along the east side of Roosevelt Lake then up to Young, to see what 23 had in store for coues country. Took this going up the hill looking west down a slot of the basalt cliffs. (last pic before the camera battery died)

This is a pic of both kitties.

I'd like to respectfully make a correction to a prior post: Desertbull said that almost everyone who puts in for the early hunts gets drawn, when in fact only about 20% of the early hunts had draw odds better than 80% for 1st & 2nd choice applicants in 2004. In looking over the draw odds from 2004, there were 26 October and November whitetail hunts in the southern units 29-36. All of the October hunts and 8 of the 13 November hunts had draw odds above 80%, or at total of 81% of the early October and November hunts had 80%+ draw odds. 10 of those hunts had 100% draw odds! Statewide in 2005, there were a total of 16,580 WT permits to be issued according to the regs. 6875 (41%) in October, 6900 (42%) in November, and 2805 (17%) in December. For the Southern units 29-36, a total of 14,030 permits were to be given. 6400 (46%) in October, 6900 (49%) in November, and 730 (5%) in December. "at the ADA board meeting last month Leonard Ordway basically said that for every hunter that feels the way we do, that there are several more that are just as happy to just have a tag in their pocket." I wonder where Leonard Ordway got that number? I hope this survey puts the kabosh on the WT deer changes like the elk survey did to the propsed archery changes. Doug~ RR

Looks like a big body and nice spread on the antlers. Congrats to your dad, Bret. Is the crab claw on the left beam something genetic in the Kofas? RR

I was along on Scottyboy and his friend Kevin's October hunt. Kevin was shhooting a 223 WSSM with a 53 gr Barnes TSX. Kevins buck was ranged at 390 yards, we figured the drop knowing his zero, and Kevin put the bullet through the ceter of the lungs on the first shot from a padded rest atop a rock. The buck stood for maybe 10 seconds, then keeled over. The bullet exited the off side with a small hole. Since we did the no-gut dressing method, we did not examine the internal damage. I would say that 400 yards is close to its max range based on this observation. Scott took his buck at 250 yards with the same 223 WSSM rifle. THe 223 WSSM gets velocities approaching that of the 220 Swift. RR

243? 308? or___?

Dotshot, I usta go through Christine on the way back and forth from Mathis to Phoenix via Del Rio. I liked the backroad routes a lot better than the Interstate. Usually did not want to drive at night as the deer were thick on the roadsides. RR

Tommy, Happy Birthday! Doug~RR

Dotshot, congrats to your son on his peccaryand a fine start to hunting. Where bouts in south Texas? I lived on a ranch near Mathis from 80-91. Still try to go back every few years to see the friends and hunt some (mostly alot). Doug~RR

Kevin, Perhaps the Nosler Partition expanded inside the coues, the front end peeled back to a give a narrow expansion, and a small exit hole was due to the hide stretching as the bullet exited. A small exit may lead you to believe that the bullet did not expand. What kind of internal damage did you observe when field dressing? Usually, a bang-flop results from shock/damage to the CNS. RR

Amanda, The drive along Hwy 288 towards Young didn't offer too many vistas. Dense brush and pine, but I did have 2 coues does run across the road The area to the east along and on the other side of Cherry Creek looked like more open country. Maybe make another trip to look some more needs to be made in the next month. RR

A 6B turkey tag awaits. Other off-season hunts include shed hunting and fish hunting. Not enough weekends to do it all. Appears as Scottyboy will have the best off season and come home from Texas with a lifelong trophy wife. Bonnie must be quite a gal. Congrats on the upcoming wedding and honeymoon! RR

Appears like everyone 'cept the pigs had a great weekend. Those boys look like they were eatin it up and having a ball on the hunt. RR

Congrats on baptizing the new bow . Glad you like it a lot. Today's new bows sure are a sweet shooting lot. Really not much difference between Hoyts, Mathews, AR, and Bowtech among their top lines. Now you got me having a heavy pack this weekend on my javi hunt in 23, between a new Kimber 22-250, S&W 357, and Mathews LX. Won't be nuttin left of that pig after I shoot him multiple times with all weapons. Hope you're rewarded with a nice velvet coues in August. RR

These are the entries I have received, and gleaned from going through the posts seeing the pics posted. There were 102 people signed up. If you entered, were succesful and posted, and your name is not listed, let me know ASAP. Doug~RR Tony Villegas, 107 3/8 Shane Church, 120 6/8 & 78 1/8 S. Sorensen, B_F_E, 97 3/8 Phil Brailsford, Desert Diesel, 75 Ken, Blaserman, 94 3/8 Rich Thompson, Coues Addict, * Ilene Hailey, Lucky2hunt, 72 James Fisher, * Chris Beck, Sun Devil, 113 2/8 Jeff Hough, Arizona Hunter, 106 Jake Lindsey, 90 4/8 Taylor Amos, 41 Michael Butler, Coozfever, 102 Jim Mullins, coosefan, 97 Casey Charter, firstcoues, 11 Ernesto Cibrian, ErnestoC, 90 5/8 & 47 Mike Ornoski, Bowhunter for life, 70 Carl Guilliams, bowhuntcoues, 100 0/8 Scott Adams, sniper, * K. McClendon, AZNativeJr, 87 6/8 Brian Fish, Standman, 62 Amanda Moors, Coues Whitetail, 110 7/8 Bret Mattush, bullwidgeon, 94 Seth Howell, couesnutjr, 85 1/8 Danny Howard, coueselk, 97 Alex Howard, 62 4/8 Terry, 25-06, * Corey Pugliese, cpugsie, 1x2 Scott Kendrix, scottyboy, 83 3/8 Jeff Fell, huntswnm, 85 Andrew Stevens, steelermadman2002, 100 Darren Choate, dds, 90 Houston Davis, white mtn man, 95 * score not submitted

Scott, all you have to do is buy us both tags and I'll tell the boss I need more time off for increased hunting opportunity. RR

Lots of good photos this year . No tongues hanging out of a bloody mouth with the gut slit open, deer hanging off the tailgate, with 3 cases of empty Keystone cans in the background.

Made for a real nicely patterned rug. The dark belly made for a nice border around the cinnamon back. He was rubbed a lot, but not down to the hide. A little over 5 1/2' nose to tail. RR

I had a B tag several springs ago. Great country and lotsa gobblers. While checking for tracks along a creek the last dayof my hunt, this bear ambled up on the opposite side of the creek at 25 yards. The 300 Winnie was back in the truck, and I was unsure of my security, but fortunately he paid me no notice. We all saw several bear. One guy even shot one while standing in his undies in front of the wall tent at sunrise one morning, He didn't believe me when I said there was a bear 30 yards out front. Musta been the one who got our peach pies. Doug~RR

Good chambering. My first rifle was in Remington 7mm Express, aka .280 Remington. Be sure to feed your new girl a steady diet and take her on plenty of walks. You might like her 2.5-8x eyes for elk hunting in the timber. RR

I'd be interested in hearing about the negative results on coues with the Barnes TSX. I toted the 300WSM loaded with TSX's this past coues season, but didn't let one fly. I just received a box of the 180 Scirocco IIs to try in the 300WSM. Have had real good results with the Nosler Accubond on elk, mulies, whitetail and feral hogs. Accubonds have been more accurate than other game bullets in my three 300's. I had difficulty getting the SST, Interbonds and original Sciroccos to group well. The Scirocco IIs are supposed to be more accurate-we'lll see. I'd be leary of the SST at close range. The 180 Ballistic Tips have a heavier jacket than other BT's (the 120gr 7mm BT's are also stouter) RR

I'll make a post with the winners this weekend. RR

There is a smallest buck class in the youth division. Casey has all them youngsters beat out. Too bad he's old enough to have a drivers license, or we'd have a winner...ka-ching