1uglydude

If he is in the Phoenix area I will text to inquire about a mini-fridge.

My 5 year old daughter wants to start shooting a bow. So, I'm on the lookout for a Genesis Mini to start her off. I figured I'd start here to see if anyone has one laying around that they'd consider parting with. I would prefer the kit so she could use the Genesis arrows as well, but I could always try to track those down separately.

I will take the 22-250 brass

It's one of the better units for big bulls. But, like any unit, you will have to work hard and be patient to find the big bruisers. Some guy on one of the forums, it may have been this one, drew the early rifle tag in there last year. It was his first elk hunt and he went it alone. He obviously didn't know what he had because he shot a 250-260ish six by six on opening day. He was thrilled to death, and any bull is a trophy, but the unit has a lot more potential than that.

Throw a dart at a map of the unit, make sure you can access it, and you're good to go.

My kids won't be putting in for youth elk hunts when the time comes. There are too many quality regular cow tags that are easier to draw. Nevertheless, I would never support limiting the number or years of youth tags a kid can put in for. Those tags are set aside for a special purpose. We only have a few years to get kids intersted, but if their parents aren't willing to take the time to figure out the draw odds and realize that those tags can be tough to draw, then that's really their own fault. It takes four bonus points to guaranty a junior elk tag. A waiting period isn't going to solve that because there are already too many unsuccessful applicants each year. All you will do is take away the chance to draw a tag from a few hundred kids each year and draw success will only increase marginally...especially if the kid is still able to build points by putting in for other elk tags in the interim. By the time he's eligible to apply again, he's more than half way to a guaranteed tag again. As for the elk/deer tags in the same year, most of the junior deer and elk hunts run concurrently, but some don't. If someone wants to take their kid deer hunting, they can do it every year with a leftover whitetail tag.

Sent you a PM on the Blackhorn 209

I have NEVER received a survey for my OTC archery tag. The ability to close down one species or the other during OTC archery is coming, but they have to revise the guidelines first, which they are doing right now...and the comment period is still open. BTW...the mandatory reporting for archery harvests is going away this year too...figure that one out.

That went fast. If the sale falls thru please let me know.

Pretty sure all of the junior cow tags are guaranteed draws with four points as long as you list them as a first or second choice. I know that's true for 6a, 3c, and 1. The only exception might be 22 or 23, but I'm fairly certain hey are guaranteed too.

It depends on the rifle cow tag. If it's a limited op hunt, then its very likely. If it is a regular cow hunt, then almost no chance whatsoever unless someone made a big mistake.

At the last Commission meeting there was talk of going to only online with no paper whatsoever by the 2014 elk draw. That would be next year. The Department is also committing itself to investing in a better online system.

For last year's elk draw I had a charge hit at 8:45pm. I know it was a fresh charge because of the notifications I have set up. Of course, they didn't start hitting cards until afternoon on the first day of hits last year either.

I think most happen the first day and a lot of people just have no idea how to identify pending or temporary charges on their cards....they end up announcing "new" hits days after the fact without knowing that the pending charge had been there all along.

The order in which your card is hit has no connection to which tag or choice you drew...or at least so says the Department. It proved true for us last year though. The last charge to come through (at the tail end of the day) was for the application that drew tag numbers 15 and 16 on an early rifle bull tag. I stay on top of the charges and get a text notification as soon as the temporary charge is run. When I get fast food, I usually get the text between the time they run my card and when they hand me my at the drive thru.

I will take the 257 wby

Does anyone happen to have any used children's hiking boots they aren't using? I'm having a hard time finding sturdy footware for my 5 year old daughter. She's a size 10-11, and apparently they don't start making economically priced hiking boots until you hit size 13 or 1. My kid doesn't need name brand REI-style boots yet. I really only need them for a couple of weeks and then I could give them back....thought it might be worth asking on here...

The status report on the draw at the commission meeting on Friday said that applications for elk and antelope went up by 7% over last year. But, on deadline day there were 297% more applications submitted than on deadline day last year...and that's only the applications that were able to make it through on the bogged down system.

It's canine distempter, and it has always made runs through pig populations. Usually, it only a problem for herds near populated areas. In 21, it's an issue for herds south of Camp Verde. In 37B, it's an issue north of Oracle. Usually distemper doesn't leave smaller herds, it just wipes out whole herds entirely. 18B is pretty big and remote, it's more likely a predator issue.

Seriously!?! Maybe you should change your handle to SenFeinstein?

I heard they were vaccinating some pigs in that area to control canine distemper. Did they say anything about whether that might be why they wanted you to call? By the way..."G/F Tag Pig Down" made me think I was going to read a post about someone's girlfriend tagging a pig. When I opened and saw the photo, my first thought was "which one is the girlfriend, and why is the other one with her?" :-)

I replied to your post over on Terry's board. Sounds like you found one in .223. I debated going with .223 when I bought it, but went with the .22-250 for the extra speed. My friend uses a contender in .223 and I feel like the short barrel doesn't give enough velocity for all copper bullets like the TTSX to properly expand. The scope on that Striker is a Bushnell 3-9 handgun scope, which provides a lot of extra eye relief. There's no way I would want it any closer to my face when it snaps back. :-)

My wife has never had a big game tag, but we have been buying her points for some time. This year we decided that she would try hunting pigs with us. We put her on the application with my father in law and her points gave us tag numbers 1, 2, and 3. My brother in law put in on his own and drew a tag as well. My father in law and brother in law just started hunting with me last year. They both have a coues deer under their belts, and my brother in law took a cow elk last October. We had big plans for a wilderness backpacking trip, but my work and my brother in law’s traveling schedule caused us to make changes. First, I had a huge deadline fall on opening day, meaning that I had to be in the office. Then, our babysitter plans fell through, meaning that my wife would only be able to hunt Saturday. Next, my brother in law found out that he would have to fly out of town for two weeks on Sunday morning. So, it was Saturday or never for them. I put out a camera with a little something to bring the pigs in to up my wife and brother in law's chances of a harvest. The pigs hit the camera hard on opening day. About mid-day, so did two hunters who stumbled on the herd camped out in front of the camera. They must have pushed them pretty good, because there weren’t any other pictures after that. Saturday we were snowed out, but we decided to stick through it just in case the sun peeked out for a bit. Late in the morning the same hunters that were on my camera from the day before showed up. I guess they figured that because they didn’t have glassing equipment that their best bet was to bushwhack the hill we were glassing. They knew we were there, but I guess if you can’t glass, it’s okay to ruin the glassing for everyone else. Since Saturday was a bust, my wife and brother in law were done for the season. My father in law was able to take today off of work, so I snuck away too so we could give it another try. It was cold this morning, and the herd didn’t show up on their usual hill until 9am. My father in law glassed them up first, which was a first for him. But, the wind was wrong, so we decided to wait them out. After half an hour, they had worked their way across the entire face of the hill, so we had to move…it was now or never. We closed from 400 yards to 200 yards and the pigs started to file out. I thought for sure that they had winded us, so we picked up the pace. As it turns out, they were just moving into a new clearing to feed. They settled down just as we got to 115 yards. There was a good sized draw between us, so there wasn’t getting any closer without making a lot of noise. We got the muzzleloader primed for my father in law, and I mounted my Savage Striker in the TriClawps. It took forever for my father in law to settle in on a pig. Every time he would get ready to fire, the pig he was aiming at would move or another would step in front of it. Finally, he squeezed the trigger and we heard POP…..BOOM! It was a friggin hang fire, and it was all my fault. I had neglected to blast a cap through the barrel before I loaded it. Some of the moisture from the past week had settled in the breech. The hang fire caused him to miss a little left and low, and dirt flew at the pigs front feet. At his shot, the pigs spread like cockroaches fleeing the kitchen light. I blew the javelina call and a handful of them stopped long enough to listen. I settled in on a big pig and squeezed the trigger, only to be greeted with a “click.” I had forgotten to load a round in the chamber! I quickly racked one in as the group moved up into the trees. A lone pig bolted from the cover below and I picked it up in the scope. It paused just for a moment at 120 yards and I squeezed the trigger again. There is no hope of keeping the Striker on the sight picture after you pull the trigger, so as it jumped from the shot, I saw the pig go down like a sack of potatoes. At that point, I realized that my father in law was sitting there with an empty muzzleloader. No more than 7 or 8 second has passed from his shot, and there was a pig down, but it wasn’t his. I had him move in behind the Striker as two more pigs moved into the clearing. They paused for a moment, but he couldn’t find them in the scope. They moved on, and he finally found the last pig as it checked its backtrail at 150 yards, but just as he was ready to shoot the pig moved into the safety of the trees. I felt horrible, first that my negligence had resulted in a hang fire, and second, that I went into killer mode after his shot instead of thinking to put him behind my own gun. I apologized profusely as we moved to see if we could catch up with the herd, but his only response was “Are you kidding?!? We got one down! This is fun!” We never found the herd again. We had a good time cutting up the pig together and spent some extra time checking out its anatomy. When we got back to the car we decided to see if we could find another herd in an area I have wanted to glass for some time. We hiked 4 miles round trip to a sweet glassing point, but no other pigs were found . My father in law can’t get out again before the hunt ends, so now I have to live with thinking about his unfilled tag for the next year. But, we had a great day together and made some good memories, and as he is fond of saying “no one can ever take that away from us!” I love his attitude. The Striker is chambered in 22-250. I shoot a 50 grain TTSX out of it, and it has now taken three pigs with three shots. On a dead rest it easily gives one inch groups. It's pretty sweet. Please excuse the excessive blood...

I glassed this blonde pig up in the herd I took my pig out of yesterday. It's still pretty small (it's standing next to two babies), so I was planning to let it walk unless it provided the only shot. I'd rather harvest it a year or two from now when it would make an even cooler rug. In the end, it wasn't even in the firing lane when the copper started flying, so it's safe for now.