Hit The Jackpot!

charleskieffner · 03-27-2008, 10:43 AM

well 5 minutes ago i was just informed by my insane beeeeemer buddy that myself,him and my younger son all were DRAWN BY AZGFD FOR (3) COUNTEM THREE ******* BULL ELK TAGS IN THE HAPPY HUNTING GROUNDS OF UNIT 10 (WILLIAMS,AZ) late november!

know this area from numerous deer and elk hunts there and summer time get the hell out of hell retreats on dirty bikes and quads/beer drinking FIESTAS!

beemer buddy owns land in valle. right by "fred flintstone land".

time to start scouting and shooting insane amounts of ammo again!

what better excuse to go scouting when its 118 ******* BAZZILLION DEGREES OUT!

lots of CHOO CHOOS (double track salad bowl express-L.A.-CHICAGO) whipping by with a 150 cars doing 75-85mph. lots of rail kill on tracks deer elk coons antelopezzzzzz'. lots of mtn lion bobby cats skunks bunny wabbits rocket j. squirrels and NOT A SOUL AROUND!

middle of BFE! god i love it!

some days are truly better than others!

cant wait to find some antler sheds/pottery/more abandoned graves/railroad FOD/jet contrails/clean air/no garbage/ wierd lava bombs from extinct volcanos/climbing up to red mtns abandoned fire tower/eating beenie weenies and MRE's/armed to the teeth!

YAA HOO REDNECK ELK ROUND UP AGAIN!

id10t · 03-27-2008, 10:54 AM

Good excuse to buy a new rifle too...

Local shop I help has a Win 70 in 338 win. mag for under $500...

Joeaksa · 03-27-2008, 11:16 AM

Good luck and bring some meat home!

NICKG · 03-27-2008, 11:17 AM

that is great! not a hunter myself, but i know that this is a big deal...hope you enjoy it! Good luck!

vash · vash's Garage

HOT DAMN! how many years have you been putting in? how many points did you accumulate?

i am waiting my my NM results. going full blown archery this season. no rifle. probably means no game meat in the freezer either, but what the heck.

i am leaving in 20 minutes to head to hollister california for an archery boar hunt! see you guys back in a few days. well, maybe not a boar. i aim to get some 100lbs sow for the tasty pork.

charleskieffner · 03-27-2008, 12:00 PM

first, the last thing i need is another gun. have safes(plural) full of them. its been an addiction forever. hunting and/or shooting goes hand in hand with whatever endeavour we go for in the outback since i was a little grasshopper.

now my plan of attack is once again the mcmillian .338 win mag from hell which shoots az. custom ammo black molys ONLY and groups right at .559. owned this 26" barreled flame breathing louder than hell muzzlebraked monster for quite a few years now. louie-polled(leupold) 4.5 x 14 scope with sniper come-up knobs and come-ups plastered on inside(cheek side) of stock w/waterproof tape.

very effective long range "elk putter downer" but that story was flambayed a few years back for the unethical? 876Yd lasered witnessed documented shot i made one very cold morning in unit 4a wiggins canyon on my poor helpless innocent cow elk.

but anyway my regime will now include daily/hourly survelliance of my property for rats. why? because there is nothing better than pulling either the RWS .177 rifle model 54 or the RWS .177 pistole out and nailing moving targets from a distance.

when we go scouting we will sit and sit drive and drive walk and walk and go for any small game we see to add to the din din table in camp. once again more practice.

my back up will be one of my .308s. on each scout .22's will be employed as well as .177's pellets all around camp. when buzzing around either by quad pick em up walking .308s will be employed for booby kittys. mtn kittys, coyoteros(the trickster), coons,wolverines,porky-pines etc. once again more practice.

with steiner 6x30's, doktor 15 x 80's, bushnell spotting scope we gots the optics game down pat.

snow in late november will have to be up to mr elks chest before they move from three sisters mtn range north above williams or mr. elk to move off of billy willy(bill williams mtn) mtn. south of williams. those elk will cross I-40 to the north and some will be hit by semis cars etc. obviously where this occurs, there wil be leftover meat and crows ravens. obvious spot to set up for shot.

if snow really deep they will go out on to flats north of "salad bowl express" burlington northern santa fe tracks. this is where the juniper "islands" are.

juniper "islands" are kind of like going door to door room to room in bagdad hunting. we prefer to stand off in opposite juniper island separated by bunch grass areas and nail them early when they leave safety of "islands" to feed early or late.

by the way these "islands" of juniper extend for miles in some cases and a very easy place to get lost since it all looks the same.

another trick is to get up on railroad canyon fills and glass. also the el paso natural gas pipeline offers some good vantage spots.

we also patrol the grand canyon railway bed for evidence of rail kill, crossing areas from red mtn or just look for plain old fashioned ELK POOP!

once those bastids move into juniper yer screwed unless they come out to move or feed. the forest areas are a hell of alot easier to hunt/see.

literally you will see them for a brief moment and they will be GONE!

funny.............my TRIGGER FINGER ITCHES TODAY!

charleskieffner · 03-27-2008, 12:14 PM

had accrued 5pts. geeeez its been awhile.

Jeff Higgins · 03-27-2008, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by charleskieffner

...that story was flambayed a few years back for the unethical? 876Yd lasered witnessed documented shot...

I thought it was 867

Anyway, we've come a long ways since that little "introduction". Congratulations on your draw, and good luck on your hunt. Spend some time in the hills this week; that will get you out of the way of the bike week yahoos... And help your sanity.

charleskieffner · 03-27-2008, 08:43 PM

dearest herr higgins............just got off about a 2 1/2hr drum session slamming beer sweating like a pig and did i say slamming cold ones and rejoicing over our unreal luck at the az game and fish lottery game.

its been a hell of a good day and they are rare around here.

already looking at maps, already looking at snowfall accumulations for the dates we will be there. latest elk hunt ever for us in an area that gets nailed by snow HARD!

area is my ultimate happy hunting grounds. have spent over 3/4 of my life hunting in there and camping dirty biking quading etc.

its really special because my younger son was drawn first time ever. he is left handed and i need a left handed win mag. 300 weatherby remington winchester. all we need is crappy stock decent action. will go over to mcmillian and get factory second stock as a drop in. get my buddy to bed it and off we go teaching a 19 yr old the art of marksmanship.

also on this day i received the first communication(letter) from my oldest son(21) in over a year after his severe fall from normalacy, from prison. its a bittersweet day believe me. one of those days you dont talk much and just think of could of's would of's should of's and beat the dog snot out of your drums rejoicing about one son and lamenting about the other and his addiction and praying to god he kicks his demons.

jeff i appreciate your e. thanks it meant alot.

Jeff Higgins · 03-28-2008, 07:35 AM

Hey Charles, that's really cool that you can share this with your younger son. Sorry to hear about the oldest; that has to be pretty damn tough. Maybe some day it will be the three of you. At least he wrote; after all that time, that sounds like a good sign. Hang in there; hope and pray, and stand behind the kid. That's all a dad can do. Oddly enough, I have a couple of boys about that age myself; 17 and 20. A man's best hunting partners are his own sons...

KFC911 · 03-28-2008, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by charleskieffner

also on this day i received the first communication(letter) from my oldest son(21) in over a year after his severe fall from normalacy, from prison. its a bittersweet day believe me. one of those days you dont talk much and just think of could of's would of's should of's and beat the dog snot out of your drums rejoicing about one son and lamenting about the other and his addiction and praying to god he kicks his demons...

First communication is a good sign...hang in there Chuck and good luck!

charleskieffner · 03-28-2008, 08:15 AM

hey thanks alot all of you. means alot. substance abuse is nothing until it comes knocking on your door!

taught my kids correct firearm handling, hunting rifle(.22's) and bow, older one back years ago got drawn juniors only rifle bull. got him on some cows but no bull. both of them have grown up doing the camping hunting fishing quad dirty biking offroad racing boating. hell i think they slept more in a sleeping bag than they did their own beds at home.

you can do everything for your kids, all your time, money, education, and still have them go down a path filled with lifes IED's. i have gone over and over in my mind why my older one took the path he has and have no answers. all of my friends have stated(read that pounded into my head) that i did nothing wrong and made el supremo efforts to thwart them from getting into trouble after the divorce. if i had continued as a regional mgr selling aerospace machine tools and traveling making the big bucks, im pretty sure my older son would be dead by now. i knew 9 years ago what a divorce can and will do to young kids. thats why i took the job i have now. always home, 2 stoplights 2 stop signs away from work(about 8.5 minutes) to attend to their school needs, general needs etc.. i have lesser pay but in retrospect i did manage to keep the older one alive. and btwn rehab(he went once), prison(3.6 years) and death..............i will gladly take the prison angle any day of the ******* week. the state has done for me what i could not. they have isolated him from his POS friends, they are rehabing him. he is taking auto classes, also took a thinking straight class(emphasis on STRAIGHT as in clean and sober) and those are the cards i was dealt. ashamed...........you bet your ass. hurt........beyond belief. embarrassed.......if you only knew. happy that hes still alive..............something only you can appreciate if you have to go through the dark side along with him. substance abuse doesnt just effect the one using, IT EFFECTS EVERYONE AROUND!

im going to sleep on this another night. hunting buddy and g/friend want me to write short sweet letter back without nailing him to the cross. no mention of how he screwed up at all. they want me to mention just what we have been doing his brother and myself. rebuilding out building, der porschen updatum's going to calif mtr speedway racing next week, getting drawn for 3 bull tags, his dog throttle doing good and basically tell him no matter what he has done i will always love him.

tough pill to take and as mentioned bittersweet day yesterday.

advice: at the first hint of drug abuse or unsavory friends hanging around yer kids.............get off yer ass , reel in the choker chain HARD, and do everything humanly possible to deter or change their behavior. i did all the above, was home everynight, and still ended up with this end result.

but on the good side............calif motor speedway this thursday, this weekend wood butcher/hideout from bike week rebuild out building fiesta, BIG HEAD TODD AND DA MONSTERS BASH this tuesday and the rest of the year focused on unit 10 11/28/08 elk hunt.

i cant ask for more. life aint a bowl of chocolates!

KFC911 · 03-28-2008, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by charleskieffner

... the state has done for me what i could not. they have isolated him from his POS friends, they are rehabing him. he is taking auto classes, also took a thinking straight class(emphasis on STRAIGHT as in clean and sober) and those are the cards i was dealt. ashamed...........you bet your ass. hurt........beyond belief. embarrassed.......if you only knew. happy that hes still alive

im going to sleep on this another night. hunting buddy and g/friend want me to write short sweet letter back without nailing him to the cross....

and basically tell him no matter what he has done i will always love him....

His letter may be an attempt to get his dad back (and maybe the rest of his life). He fuched up royally, but he isn't dead, and he's young so he still has a "life" in front of him if he so chooses. Good luck...tough love is just that...LOVE! IMO, you have nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about. I'm not a parent, but you're certainly not the first to see one go astray in spite of "everything"....