Red Rabbit

And?????? Did Patrick get to air mail Mr. Muy a gift? Again, neat series of photos though the spotter. RR

Pred, It sounds like your hunt will be memorable in many ways good and bad. Sorry to hear about the lost buck and your hand, but glad you had an otherwise good experience in Arizona. Merry Christmas to ya. Doug/RedRabbit

Jason, Congratulations on a fine looking buck. Looks like the browtines have some character. Good luck after Christmas. Doug/RedRabbit

Congratulations, Rugerman! Venison and quail breasts over the Holidays sounds like some good eating in the works. Merry Christmas. Doug/RedRabbit

Some real nice bucks-great mass, droppers, long tines. That country in the background looks thick with brush. Thanks for sharing and getting my blood circulating this morning. Doug/RedRabbit

Interesting comment by Ray Aktinson in this thread about the coues being introduced to the Big Bend region of Texas. Does this infer that the Carmen Mountain Whitetail may actually be coues, or the Carmens may have had their gene pool polluted? I am unsure about the date that the Carmens were first recognized. How does B&C or geneticists recognize the the Carmen sub-species? http://www.huntamerica.com/wwwthreads/show...0&page=0#559159 Doug / Red Rabbit

Tell your son congratulations! Did he enjoy driving the truck as much as shooting the buck? Hope you both get drawn next year also so you can hunt together again. Doug/RedRabbit

Corner of eye to nose tip is about 6", and the ear spread tip to tip about 14" These are averages from 3 of my mounts. Another thing to do is to see the distance covered on a measured target or yardstick at 100 yards by the thickness of the crosshairs, distance between thick parts on a duplex type reticle, and distance between crosshair and thicker post end. Of course, these may change with different magnifications, depending upon what focal plane your scope uses. Doug/RR

What level of activity and times have you noticed at the water holes during the Dec/Jan archery season? I was wondering if it would be worth the waiting, or do the spot/stalk/call method. Combo of both? I came across a good tank during my November hunt and was curious about its opportunity after Christmas. Maybe some of you guys with trail cameras set out year round can shed some light. Thanks. Doug/RedRabbit

What I have done is to equip my scopes with target turrets and adjust the elevation to be zeroed at the lasered distance. Then hold the crosshairs where you want to hit. A ballistic program and range verification will tell you how much to come up with the elevation. I have a chart taped to the stock. Stoney Point makes turrets for the older Leupold Vari-X scopes for about $25 bucks apiece, or Leupold can retrofit the scope with turrets. This system has worked well for me. I have not tried Leupold's B&C plex or Burris' Ballistic Plex. What is the back to brisket on a coues- 14"? Big deer, small buck, uphill, downhill, quartering away, broadside? Lotsa variables for a WAG. Doug/RedRabbit

Handloaded, the 115 BT out of the 257 WBY and the 130 BT out of the 270 WSM should both give 3200-3300 fps. Both bullets have about the same BC and SD, thus will drop and drift about the same, with the edge going to the 257/115 . Using the same weight rifle, the WSM will have about 16% more recoil with these loads. If you're limited to factory ammo, the wider selaction is with the WSM. If you handload, you've eliminated the higher cost and limited selection of WBY ammo. The new 25 WSSM is equivalent to the 25-06 (300-400 fps behind the factory WBY loads). Scott, That Kimber Montana in 270 WSM and Kevlar stock would make a nice, light coues rifle.

I think you will find that just about anywhere you go in the unit, you will find lotsa deer and a good supply of bucks. I would suggest finding a canyon that you can hike in at least 2 miles and leave the majority of hunters behind and have a more enjoyable hunt. Start hiking at 5 am and be in position before first crack o' light. Stay out all day till dark. Wear out that Petzl. Good luck. Doug/RedRabbit

You're killin' me Lark. Too many laughs to start out the morning. Got any gift certificates left over from USO for stocking stuffers? Doug Redrabbit

Using my factory original 1x Bushnell eyeballs and no tripod, I could only see the deer in the first thumbnail. Had to break out the Leicas (I mean click on the pic to enlarge it and put on the reading glasses). Good job Amanda. In the field, I keep looking for that buck standing broadside in the sunlit, wide open right in the center of the field of view. Go figure I never see any deer . This is also good training for "Where's Waldo?" Doug/RedRabbit

Hidden agendas? Is this the same wilderness proposal that incorporates power companies, transmission lines and $$$$ ?

I concur with what Ben said. Remingtons published muzzle velocity and ballistic coefficient may be optimistic. Using their data, to be zeroed at 250, you'd need to be about 2.3" high at 100 and about 22" low at 450 for 7000' elevation and 50* Were you able to shoot out to longer ranges, like even 250 to check the zero, or does the rifle range only have 100 yards? If the local range doesn't have longer distances, try to find a safe spot with backstop in the desert. Two other possibilities. 1)The rifle may impact differently with the bipod than from a bench, and 2) your scope may have unknowingly been knocked out of kilter. What kind of bpod? If yours is portable, and not an attached model likr the Harris, resting the barrel on the bipod, (rather than the stock forearm on the bipod or other surface), will often cause the bullet to fly high. Get back to the range and check it out so you're not haunted at night by missing that great bull. I assume you went across the canyon and looked for blood and hair, or bullets in the dirt. Sometimes those big bulls don't even flinch or appear to be hit. Bret may be right about shooting over him. If he was downhill at a 30* angle, the effective horzontal distance is only 390 yards and your bullet would have dropped only 12-13". So by holding high what appeared to be 8", yes you may have hit the dirt above him. For about the price of three boxes of shells, you can buy an inexpensive chrongraph like the Shooting Chony Alpha $79. Hope you get drawn next year so you can put your tag on him. Doug/ RedRabbit

I started using a yucca staff about two years ago and really liked the extra stability coming downhill or walking sidehill. I wrapped the staff's handle area with some soft, sticky, sweat-absorbing grip tape for tennis racquets. I will try the rubber tip. Yucca has a great strength/weight ratio; I can't believe how sturdy it is for being so light. This past November on the coues hunt, I tried a regular hiking pole (contoured cork grip, wrist strap, shock absorbing, adjustable length, carbide tip, $29) from Popular. It saved me from one slip/fall for sure when a rock rolled underfoot. I missed the extra length of the yucca staff, though. My friend's knees were getting sore, so I offered him my pole, but he declined saying that it would just be one more thing to carry. I never noticed it as a burden, but rather as an aid to stabilility. In fact, I think they save energy rather than consume extra E. Doug/RR

Josh, Looks like that coues' momma was bred by a certain bull in unit 8 . Speaking of elk, how did your hunt turn out? Ours was tough in 9, with a couple bulls passed and none taken. Fortunately, I never got stuck in the mud, but my friend did and went out to find him at 10 pm when we realized his tardiness could not be due getting an elk. Doug/RR

Have a good one! If ya can blow out all those candles before the fire department arrives, you'll be fine hoofing (not huffing) up those mountains in 23. RR

Scott, If hunting were baseball, you'd be earning millions batting .333 That speedgoat is a dandy. I'm in your batting shoes also. Got a hit with mule deer in Utah, but walked back to the dugout with archery cow elk and Nov. coues. I'll be ready for those mearns between Christmas and New Years. Doug/RedRabbit

Brian, Glad you got a buck of character. That big one will be waiting for ya in January. Doug/RedRabbit

While glassing for that elusive bruiser last weekend, I had the opportunity to observe 15 other hunters walking around the mountains. What amazed me was their equipment, or lack thereof. Out of the 15, only 2 had a daypack and 2 had a fanny pack. A couple were carrying water bottles in their hands. Only 4 had binoculars around their necks. Only two wore camouflage. Two had white cowboy hats, two others had white caps, one wore whitish grey pants and jacket, one a white t-shirt, another a faded/almost white jacket, and a few white tennis shoes. None wore any blaze orange. Three groups talked loudly enough to be heard half a mile away. None glassed with a tripod. Two had knives bordering on machetes on their hips. One had a bipod attached to the rifle. Did many of you observe the same? Opinions? Explanations?

Hillbilly, Sounds like your hunt had the full spectrum of events, culminating in the right decision. Well told. RR

Another scope that you should consider is the Zeiss Conquest. Many feel that it is brighter and sharper than the Leupold VXIII for comparable $$$. I put a conquest on my new Kimber after four Leupolds on my other rifles.

I was down in 36c. My friend Russ spotted a buck chewing a branch above and then paw the ground. Sounds like he was making a scrape. You may be right about the pre-rut activity. We thought it a little different in that most of the bucks we spotted seemed to be with does, and not by themselves.