Pygmy

For elk, New Mexico has the best combo of fairly easy terrain, big bulls and a fair chance of drawing a tag... Any place in Arizona you can draw a tag is great for big bulls, but even residents can only realistically count on drawing a tag every 6 or 7 years... Colorado is good for numbers of elk, but big ones are hard to come by in OTC units... Limited draw units have big bulls, but you have to wait years to draw a tag..Also, the terrain in CO is pretty extreme in many places...Good state to hunt if you are not trophy hunting and simply want to kill an elk... There is good mule deer hunting in most all of the western states, albeit most if not all areas are draw units...The two mulie bucks I shot were both very nice and were taken in Colorado, one on an early high country hunt near Eagle, and the other in an early November hunt down around Nucla.. Both my pronghorns hunts were done in Wyoming, near Casper...Pronghorns are fun to hunt....Lots of action... There are more antelope in Wyoming than people..

Enjoy the wonderful COUNTRY....Take the hunting as it comes....I was 39 before I did my first out of state big game hunt ( other than deer in PA)….That was a two week DIY float hunt in Alaska for moose and caribou... Over the next 25 years I hunted Colorado , New Mexico, Wyoming, Alaska, NWT in Canada, ( AWESOME), New Brunswick, Northern Quebec and Newfoundland.... Killed 2 moose, two elk, two mule deer, two pronghorns and 13 caribou....All of my hunts were DIY except the Canadian ones that required by law that I hire a guide or outfitter..... I consider myself a very lucky man to have experienced all of those hunts in all of those wonderful places....

When I hunt squirrels the first week of September, usually about half the bucks I see are clean..By mid-month, nearly all of them are clean...Sept 1 is only a few days away....

Let me know if any of you are going to be in the area...The park is only about a half hour from my house...

Nice sporter, Rattler ... I have a type 99 in 7.7 in the original condition... I bought it from a co-worker for $35 back in the 1970s...Most of them have chrome lined bores so bore corrosion is not an issue as it is with many milsurps... Actually the Japs admired the .303 British due to its superior performance over the then standard 6.5 , so the 7.7 was basically a copy of the .303 in a rimless case... I think it was P.O. Ackley that ran a strength test on various bolt action military rifles...He would keep firing increased loads until the rifle blew up... The Arisakas were the very strongest actions..They were still intact and operating when all of the Enfields, Springfields, Mausers, etc. were lying in pieces on the gun room floor..

You can have the antlers shipped back USPS cheap, as long as you cover the points with cardboard or whatever... Shipping for the meat might sound expensive, but if you figure what it costs you to process local deer, they are not that bad... My last trip to Alaska, I had a couple hundred pounds of halibut and salmon shipped back, and the price was less than it would have been to buy it locally..I have heard horror stories about having meat shipped, but my personal experiences have all been good. back in the days when when I was doing a lot of out of state hunts ( mostly pre 9-11) it was fairly easy and cheap tp bring back meat as extra baggage on the airplane.. In any case, I envy you....I have done a fair number of trips to the Western states and also to Alaska and northern Canada... I am no longer financially or physically able to do these hunts, but I still have the pictures and the memories, which give me pleasure each and every day... My advice to anyone who wants to do such a hunt is to DO it, now, while you can...You will never be sorry....

Scalloped taters and ham, made the way my MOM used to make it.... I use a 9 x 13 aluminum pan... A layer of sliced taters, a layer of chopped onions, a layer of diced ham....Sprinkle with flour, salt& pepper, and slices of butter... Repeat until pan is full....Add milk until it fills the pan to about 1/2 the level... Bake at 375 covered for about 2 hours...Remove cover and continue baking until brown and crusty on top... COMFORT food...Tastes even better when re heated the next day....

I saw a small group on the property today...They were just going into the woods so I am not sure of a count, but there appeared to be about 8-10 birds, about half of which were poults about half the size of the adult hens..

I am so sorry for your loss....I had dogs all my life and losing one was never easy.... Just remember that your life was so much richer for having Trico share his life with you...

I wonder if Fidel knows they are there.....Oh....Wait a minute.. Fidel is dead....

Sounds like about as much fun as a guy can have with his clothes on !!….

Happy Boithday, youse guys...!!!!….

I had a dog years ago that was missing one hind leg...I named him TRIPOD....Every time he lifted his leg to pee, he fell over....

North Carolina has a hunting season for bears...They take some huge ( 500 lb +) black bears down there...

KIng size...That's why I date Italian girls...

Elk is excellent and has a distinctive flavor from the other deer species, including whitetails, mule deer, caribou and moose.. Of all of those, fat caribou taken before the rut is my favorite...But if I had to choose ONE meat....BEEF !!…..

If I were stop hunting and fishing I would devote most of my time to increasing my pubic hair and belly button lint collection... My goal is to get enough to stuff a mattress..

Congrats on coming in the money, Andrew....SMOKIN' Steelie !!!

I also suffer from Afib, Rob, and I have noticed that my shaking has become worse in adrenaline charged situations the last couple of years... I just thought it was the whiskey, but perhaps the Afib has something to do with it too...

Happy Birthday, Big Fella....

It is a Cooper's or a sharp shin....They are very similar in appearance, the main difference being the size..A sharpie is about 1/2 to 2/3 the size of a Cooper's... To further add to the confusion, the females are noticeably bigger than the males..A female sharpie can be nearly as large as a male Cooper's...

I assure you that a bull elk bugling a dozen times within 50 yards in close cover ( coming to your call) will get the adrenaline flowing...If it doesn't, you're dead... My one and only bull elk did exactly that..I shot him at about 15 yards with my muzzleloader...

Cool dude..Reminds me of myself, only taller.....And less teeth...

They come off with the skin, Jay....I'll save mine for you if you want them.....

Shouldn't be too hard to confirm it is a goose..They shit everywhere they go... My Old Fat Father used to say " A goose eats everything in front of it and kills everything behind it..".....