Outdoor Writer

-TONY

Not sure about the clarity factor, but if you determine the exit pupil, you'll see why the lower power is brighter. The EP is 4.2 for the 10X and 3.7 for the 15s. -TONY

Larger objective lenses also let in more light because they provide what is known as a larger "exit pupil." The exit pupil is merely the small disc of light that you see in the eyepiece when the binocs or a scope is held at arm's length. The size of the exit pupil is important because it tells you how much light is available. You can determine the size by dividing the objective lens diameter (in millimeters) by the magnification. In normal light, the human eye can only utilize an exit pupil of 2.5mm. When the light is bad, though, the eye can use up to 7mm, with an average of about 5mm. 10X binoculars or a scope with 42mm objective would have an exit pupil of 4.2; it is 5.6 for 56mm. Some companies use the term, relative brightness, rather than exit pupil to rate the brightness of scopes and binocs. In reality, it is meaningless and is nothing more than the square of the exit pupil. In other words, a scope with a 5mm exit pupil will have a relative brightness of 25. A 4mm exit pupil would be 16. For the nontechnical folks, it simply provides a comparison reference. -TONY

Well since it appears the interest has waned, here are the last two answers. 1. Elgin Gates -- He wrote Trophy hunter in Asia, Trophy hunter in Africa and The Gun Digest Book of Metallic Silhouette Shooting. He was alo instrumental in developing several wildcat handgun calibers as a result of his interest in silhouette shooting. The quote was from Trophy Hunter in Asia. 5. James Fenimore Cooper -- author of the Leatherstocking Tales that included in order of publication: The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie, The Pathfinder and The Deerslayer. The quote came from The Pioneers. The main character of the Leatherstocking Tales was Natty Bumpo, usually referred to as Deerslayer or Hawkeye, the latter of which was the Mash clue -- Hawkeye Pierce! In The Last of the Mohicans, which was considered his best work, Cooper used Poe as the name for that character but went back to Bumpo for his subsequent works. -TONY

These are gonna be the last ones, and they're toughies. Me think the only ones who might guess them are the cheaters amongst you that might have already seen them thru a google. Each one is from a different person. Use the #s for your guesses. Have fun. -TONY 1. "The true trophy hunter is a self-disciplined perfectionist seeking a single animal, the ancient patriarch well past his prime that is often an outcast from his own kind... If successful, he will enshrine the trophy in a place of honor. This is a more noble and fitting end than dying on some lost and lonely ledge where the scavengers will pick his bones, and his magnificent horns will weather away and be lost forever." 2. "Whenever I see a photograph of some sportsman grinning over his kill, I am always impressed by the striking moral and esthetic superiority of the dead animal to the live one." 3. "I saw a guide-post surmounted by a pair of moose horns.... They are sometimes used for ornamental hat-trees, together with deer’s horns, in front entries; but ... I trust that I shall have a better excuse for killing a moose than that I may hang my hat on his horns." 4. "The only reason I ever played golf in the first place was so I could afford to hunt and fish." 5. "The flesh is sweeter, where the creature has some chance for its life; for that reason, I always use a single ball, even if it be at a bird or a squirrel; besides, it saves lead, for, when a body knows how to shoot, one piece of lead is enough for all, except hard-lived animals." 6. "There is a passion for hunting something deeply implanted in the human breast."

Those are some very nice mounts, Gino. -TONY

Marshall, See HuntandShoot.org. -TONY

The burros on FEDERAL land and those within the Lake Pleasant county park, are a protected species and are SUPPOSED to be managed under the the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971. In SOME cases, when a population burgeons, the BLM or USFS will round up a bunch and put them up for adoption under the Adopt-a-Horse or-Burro Program, just as they often do with wild horses. BUT...I don't believe they can legally KILL them under the law, and there isn't much demand from the public to adopt burros. So most of them go unmolested. One of the major problems in the past with many of the water catchments in the southwest part of the state where bighorn sheep roam have been burros. They can readily take over and destroy a catchment, thus causing sheep to look elsewhere. As for Lake Pleasant, something will have to be done soon. Whenever I fish there, I can usually count on seeing four or five different groups in a few hours. And with no restrictive fences, they are free to roam out of the park into other areas. I'm surprised they aren't roaming the streets of Sun City yet as they do in Oatman, where they are considered a tourist attraction. -TONY

Nope. But good guess, nonetheless. -TONY So has everyone given up? Keith??? -TONY

MarC has been doing all my mounts for about 12-15 years now. He did the little buck below that came out of 36B, and has mounted every animal shown in the OW's NEW Trophy Room thread. When Chris worked for Bob Peers at Quail Run, he mounted many of my critters including the 'lope upper right above, which are in the OW's Original Trophy Room thread. Before Chris, Fred Campbell, who lived in Avondale and is now deceased, did all my work. That was back in the 1960s and 70s. -TONY

Aaah, that sounds good. I need someplace to let the air out of a critter this fall since I got shut out on AZ permits. -TONY

Oh, Ok. I thought it was a regular exotic hunt operation. But sure, go ahead and ask anyway, provided it isn't a shooting-fish-in-the-barrel scenario. I have no real desire to kill an axis in a 100x100-yard pen while it's nibblin' corn from a solar feeder or lickin' on a salt block. You can send me a PM here. -TONY

Good question, Matt. Obviously, most of what I wrote deals with the average rather than the extremes. Also, consider that Tucson sits at 2584 feet while Phoenix is about 1,100. So any area higher than Tucson is going be 3,000 feet or more. That would take in about every foothill and mountain to the south. But you are indeed correct that more and more Coues are moving into lower elevations. I know two guys who see lots of them near the riparian areas along the San Pedro River and similar places. Of course, if we look at whitetail deer around the country, those types of areas are prime spots. In the western states to the north of us, the river corridors harbor a big chunk of the whitetail populations. Now, this is just a guess, but my thoughts on them moving into mule deer territory go more along that the Coues are merely filling in the niches where mule deer populations have declined dramatically, i.e. the southern part of the state. IOW, they aren't driving the mulies out per se but simply setting up housekeeping in places the mulies no longer live in good numbers. Perhaps someone else will add their thoughts. -TONY

Nope. But good guess, nonetheless. -TONY

This is why their range is constantly growing. -TONY

1. Argueably the most well traveled and greatest sport hunter of the 20th Century. He has 152 African trophies listed in Rowland Ward's Records of Big Game. He also has 54 trophies from Asia listed and 26 from North America, for a total of 232 in the book. He was the Weatherby Award winner in 1960. Also was an avid handgun metallic silhouette shooter. 5. Many of his classics were part of a series that included five works. The movie I mentioned was the 2nd of that series and considered his best work of all. You would probably recognize at least three of them by title. One character, known by various nicknames, was consistent throughout, and one of those nicknames was revived in the movie MASH. He also wrote tales about the sea from in his home in New York state. Now, if you can't get them from those clues, you're hopeless. -TONY

Jim, I know. I saw that and raised heck. Below is the slightly redacted email I had sent with the photo captions. -TONY -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Tony Mandile Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 8:34 AM To: xxxxx, John [mailto:John.xxxx@ xxxxxxx ] Subject: Photo captions John, Captions for elk forecast photos: CraigCormierbull1.jpg -- Craig Cormier killed this 356-inch bull during the Arizona archery season in unit 9. Photo courtesy of Mullins Outfitters TimHeraldbull1.jpg -- Tim Herald killed his 315-inch bull with a Knight muzzleloader on the Jicarilla Indian Reservation in New Mexico. Photo courtesy of Tim Herald

Manny, A few of your past charges. -TONY

Bullet drop is the same regardless of the angle of fire, because gravity works the same over the level distance only. So when you shoot up or downhill, the drop is based on the level-ground HORIZONTAL RANGE the bullet travels and NOT on the slanted distance traveled. As a result, bullets -- and arrows -- will strike high when shooting up or downhill if you sight for the actual distance of the SLANT range. Over short distances or at low angles, it's normally not an issue. Hypothetical exaggerated situation: If you're way up on a steep cliff 300 yards above a deer and shooting nearly straight down at the deer in a wash, your rangefinder will tell you the deer is 300 yards away. BUT...the horizontal distance would likely be less than 10 yards, which is the distance gravity would work on your bullet. So if your gun shoots 4" high at 10 yards on level ground, it will do the same for this shot. Obviously if you think it's 300 yards and adjust your hold to compensate, you will shoot even higher. -TONY

Scott, Well, that begs the question: IF one wasn't a buddy of the owner's son and the owner sells exotic hunts, about how much would one have to pay to kill an axis deer on the owner's ranch? -TONY

None of the above. More clues: #1 -- He also was involved with developing several wildcat calibers. #5 -- When I was a kid, I had a collection of Classic "comic" books. This author had a couple. One of his works was a very well received movie a few years ago. -TONY

Josh, Well, orange or not, the photo printed really well. It's always nice to work with images from guys who know how to take good ones. -TONY

Record number of spring turkey tags approved for 2008 Commission also sets historic second Gould’s turkey hunt PHOENIX – The Arizona Game and Fish Commission on Aug. 11 approved a record 6,983 spring turkeys tags for 2008 and also set an historic second Gould’s turkey hunt. During its meeting in Flagstaff, the commission set the spring 2008 hunts for javelina, turkey, buffalo and bear. As part of the turkey hunt recommendation, the commission approved a second hunt for Gould's turkeys, which will occur in the Chiricahua Mountains in Hunt Unit 29. The first-ever hunt for Gould's turkeys in Arizona was held in the Huachuca Mountains during the spring of 2002. Hunters can start applying for the 2008 spring hunts via manual applications that can be downloaded online once the regulations are posted on the department’s Web site (expected to be available around Aug. 20). However, the online application process will not be available for the spring 2008 draw. All spring hunt-permit applications will have to be mailed or hand-delivered to department offices. The deadline to apply for the spring hunts is Oct. 9 (the day after Columbus Day, a state holiday). The printed version of the spring 2008 regulations will not be available at license dealers in the state until early September. Big Game Program Supervisor Brian Wakeling told the commission that one of the tremendous successes in recent years has been the stratified hunt seasons for spring turkey, which have resulted in the department providing more hunting opportunity during this popular hunt. In addition, a successful Gould's turkey transplant program in Arizona conducted in close cooperation with the National Wild Turkey Federation has also afforded the ability to expand hunting opportunity for this subspecies. For the spring 2008 turkey hunt, the commission set 6,983 permits, which is 737 more than in 2007, and increased junior’s-only permits to 350, which is a 125-permit increase over 2007. Eight of these permits are available for Gould's turkey. For javelina, the commission approved 27,760 permits for the 2008 year, which were split into the following seasons: General season – 11,705 (plus 225 over 2007). Archery season – 9,645 (plus 445). Junior’s only – 970 (plus 105). H.A.M 5,440 – (minus 25). The 2008 buffalo season was approved at the same permit levels as last year – 10 each for the House Rock and Raymond wildlife areas. The season on House Rock, however, has been extended through May. The spring bear season did not remain static. The commission approved 405 general permits, which is an increase of 15, along with 250 archery-only permits, which is an increase of 65. The commission also approved annual female harvest limits for units with spring hunts; the annual female harvest limits for the remainder of the units that only have fall hunts will be set next April.

Scott, Congrats on both the trophy baby and the nice axis buck. Curious: how much for the deer? -TONY

That was part of my clue. "Wrote several well-known fictional novels, including one popular with kids." Far as I know, the gunsmith, who was more famous for his hunting exploits, was never associated with OL, other than to perhaps pen several articles as a freelancer. -TONY