fly

info Tim, armslist and gunsamerica has that gun listed at 550 and 600 - bare gun. Good luck

Rock Climbing Crazy weather! The snow started about 10 this morning. Over a 20 degree drop in about 16 hours.

Commute to work? I live between my 2 jobs. One is about 10 miles north west and the other 12 miles south east. Takes me about 15 minutes to get either.

Saturday we had mid-50's beautiful weather to rock climb. Today (sunday) we are supposed to get 8 inches of snow!

I assume black bear? Muzzy 4 blade will work fine.

Nice color - light chocolate? Looks like it went close to 200lb? I got one in the living room - where it belongs! LOL

So sorry Steve.

I hear the oscillated turkey roosts near Cancun! Glad you had a good time Steve!

I only shoot 3 at a time which I'm sure is a big factor in why it took so long.

That's a pretty significant increase and if the state can't afford to lose an additional 7500 deer I'd move to lower the number of available permits. In IL the 2011 archery season saw 63,570 deer harvested (crossbows were not legal unless handicap). In 2012 when crossbows were allowed only 61,974 deer were harvested in the archery season. One might say it was because total numbers were much lower, but that isn't the case either. in 2011 a total of 182,270 deer were taken while in 2012 181,451 deer were taken. I think the numbers have to be managed closely and other considerations have to be looked at too - such as deer/vehicle collisions and disease. All these things contribute to the health of the herd and can be intervened upon. Restrictions on hunting is just one way to keep a healthy herd. The thing that worries me the most is when dollar signs influence management decisions. The more permits the DNR sells the more money they receive. If that money went to the DNR to improve state parks and whatever - fine. However, my state has a history of "borrowing" DNR money and using it for other stuff.

I need a favor I agree with you 100% Hoosier. Currently in IL there is a bill to allow youth 14 and under to use crossbows for the entire archery season. The opposition comes from the IL archery organizations. They claim crossbows will desalinate the deer population. What they will do is get more youth into the sport which is exactly what we need.

I've been shooting Bear bows since 1986. Killed a lot of deer, but never had a robin-hood. Bought me a Mathews z7 magnum in January (for 500.00 with everything you see in the picture). Finally took it to the bow shop to shoot and get the peep set last week. I shot about 10 arrows and got it close to sighted in. Went out today and had it fine tuned after about a dozen shots at 20 yards. On the 15th shot I got my first robin-hood. I know, I know, my that's cool card had been played so now I'll be using different dots for each shot. Let's see your robin hoods!

I'm all about good management, but don't like seeing crossbows in the archery season included as the cause of deer decline. IL included crossbows in the second 1/2 of the deer archery season for the first time last year and I couldn't be happier. I'd rather see deer tag numbers cut or shorter seasons instead of outlawing crossbows. There hasn't been any impact on deer harvest numbers from crossbows in IL. Other things IL does do includes: Banning rifles to hunt deer, we have a 7 day post-rut firearm season, a 3 day ML season, and about a week long late firearm season for does only. We have limitless archery doe tags while limiting buck harvests to 2 per season and still end up harvesting more bucks than does. Finally a non-resident buck permit costs 410.00. Anyway, I think managing the herd is great, but keeping crossbows out isn't the answer (in my opinion).

She's going to be a heartbreaker!

Mach 1 has the best overall picture. Ruth had a great buck and picture... but only half of her head was showing.

Great pics Strut! I love fly fishing for those little brookies! Unfortunately there is no where within 3 hours of my house to fish for wild trout.

Luke is right - whatever you want! Happy Birthday!

I really like the DIY hunts better too. I have spoke with Steve about it when he first posted his gracious offer. I'm more than interested and applying together sounds good to me. I'm not sure how many guests Steve can accommodate at once, but 4 sounds right. I am most interested in a spring hunt as I'm a teacher and school starts up in mid/late August. Not sure when the fall season starts. When were you guys wanting to go? It would be a lot of fun scheduling the trip to Steve's with some RT forum members. I'll PM you my contact information so you can keep me in the loop. I have a son (almost 11) that would love to go as well. I actually called the Craig DNR office a while back and the applications are available in November/December as I recall. It may be that if bear tags are still available after the spring drawing one can get them, but I'm not sure. All of the deer are from IL. The one above the Wii and the one above the lamp in the corner are public ground deer - the rest came from farm ground I have or used to have permission to hunt on. All were taken since 2006 with a variety of weapons including a compound, crossbow, shotgun, and ML.

Thanks everyone! I still need to get a more outdoorsy rug and rustic looking recliner, but it's getting closer to having that lodge feel to it.

Here are some better pictures of the rug and my living room. Still got my 10 point 135 inch xbow buck from January at the taxi. Where to put it?????

I hear ya CB! I just finished reading Bear Hunting in Alaska by Tony Russ. I had also contacted a guide and was planning a spring grizzly hunt for 2014. Unfortunately after 15 years the guide went into a different line of work. Non-residents have to hire a guide and the average going rate is 10K for a week. Add the airfare, taxidermy, license, tag, etc... and it will be closer to 20K. I don't know, maybe I'll catch a break when a client cancels and I'm on the standby list. Steve B. had posted on a black hunt (I believe it was POW) but the new regs are crazy! Non-residents have to apply for a permit very early. For spring 2014 one needed to apply in fall 2012. Anyway, I'll have some living room pics up later today.

Thanks William, whitetailfreak55, and deer slayer. The pics are from my iPhone which usually takes okay pictures if the lighting is right. My living room is lamp light and so the pictures are not very good. It is a small bear (only 4 feet long, I'm thinking a 2.5 year old) but fits nicely on my wall. My living room has 5 shoulder mounts, a full size black bear and now the rug. It's so nice drinking coffee in my recliner surrounded by the WILD! Gotta appreciate a good taxidermist!

Went with a dark green and cream border - I like the transition on the cinnamon coat.

Ha - Shaun, I initially thought of making it 12 month but figured it might be too many pictures and opted to scale it down some. Make it 3, 6, or 12 months! I love those camo crocs.

welcome