trapper T

I guess on your 2 questions I can tell you, it's almost impossible to tell age from track, although the larger the track usually means an older animal. Deer I don't think you can acurately tell sex from the tracks but on Elk I've been able to determine you can.

A Bull Elk, will usually have a more rounded track whereas a Cow will have an elongated or heart shaped, the second is BUll Elk will show his dew claws( to smaller toe like apendages on the lower ankle) where a cow w's are higher up. SOme say that shows the weight of an animal but I've seen a large heart shaped track w/out dew claws right next to a rounded shape calf track with dew calws showing. I'have also tracked a known Bull through his major route, shown by all the rubbings he made, and his track also had the dews and rounded shape. Also it is been said that a Bull Elk will actually have red urine, and I've seen that too(in snow)

Gutting an animal is pretty easy and basically the smae, just everyone has their own way, but slit him from the Privates to the breast bone, and yank everything out, save the heart and liver (if you eat those) if not leave'em with the rest. But the major thing here is DO NOT puncture the bladder or colon, it'll taint the meat and makes a mess. The best way I've found is to find the bladder pinch it off with a thumb and figner and then twist it up into a ballon.When you've secured that cut it below your pinch point and toss it away.That works pretty slick, prop open the cavity with astcik or something to let it cool. Cooling off is the single most important thing to do once you've field dressed.

Well there's lesson 1 and 2 and I'm gettin typer's cramp

Take care.

88N

I know exactly where black daimond is. there's a old loggin road off 18 that's barricaded off me and my buddies used to hoof it up to that lack way back yonder and go fishin...
well thems the old days now..

I really appriciate your typing cramp cause you've helped me a lot.
I know i'll learn better when i see it done my first time. I also agree with you about always gettin something but i got a little digital camera that would be great to get em with if they aren't takers

as for the rifle i wanted to get a bolt action 30-06 but it's looking a little spendy so i was looking at winchester 3030s they also have 30-06 but i'm not sure about a lever action rifle. i know that bolt action gets the best power. can you tell me a little bit about your experiance with the 2 or some knowledge you have about them. that way i know what i want to get before the local gun dealer trys to take me for a fool.

thanks again for all your help

slee

Welcome aboard 88N. I work in the Physical Therapy Dept at Madigan Army Medical Center, so I've been working with a lot of the OIF soldiers that have come back. Sorry to hear about the stop-loss. You guys do your job and expect to come home when they tell you, but we appreciate what your doing. My wife is AD as a doctor here at Madigan, so I know how the Army does things.

As far as a gun goes, stick with the 30-06. It has the most bullet choices of any caliber ever made. And like was said, you can always find ammo. I'd look at a Remington 700 or Winchester Model 70 in synthetic stock. They are the most reasonably priced without all the bells and whistles. A 30-30 would work fine for deer inside 150 yards, but I'd want more punch and range if I were buying a gun for all animals, especially elk. Another thing to think about if you haven't done it yet is the Hunter's Education course. You'll have to take that before you can get a license, and classes fill up pretty fast. May be something to contact WDFW about since you aren't stateside to do that right now. Keep us posted on your plans to return home. I know somebody on here would offer their services for you as soon as you get everything ready to go.

trapper T

Slee did a good job of describing the rifles, I'd go with a bolt action and look to pawn shops or ask around there should be no problem getting a 30-06 bolt action for around $200, they are common and if your not afraid of having a used gun I'd go that route. The lever gun like he said is good for under 150 yds. I still use a 30-30 lever on occasion for both Elk and deer when I'm hunting the extremely brushy west coast areas, they're nice and short and quick to bring up especially when not using a scope. But if you plan to hunt more toward Cle Elum, I'd go with a distance gun, that '06 will do nicely and you won't have a problem dropping an Elk out to 400+ yards with it. LEt me know when you get home, I'd be happy to run around and help you find a gun too. Also if you do plan to deer hutn say in Cle Elum let me know we usually have a big hunt party up that way the opening week.

Another thing to consider is keeping in mind if the gun you like doesn't have a scope, you'll need to budget that too if your inclined to using one. You can get a decent scope for around $200 also, brand new, I just bought a Weaver a couple years ago for $190 and I love it as much as a Leopould myself....FYI

88N

i apriciate all the great help ya'll have been. it's great having a place to go with great people like yourselves willing to give your time and energy to help people like me with little knowledge and experiance in this.

thank you very much slee. I appriciate what you're doing here and at madigan. My son was born Dec 2nd 2003 1 month prior to my deployment. i'll keep you posted on when i start to get stuff put together it probably won't be until well into hunting season so i'll have a year to get ready for the next one.
you know trapper i was just thinking about pawn shops yesterday morning before i went to bed. i don't mind buying a used rifle but i do have a few things i would be worried about with a rifle purchased at a pawn shop.
1. was it stolen
2. how much has it been used/abused/misused
3. does it have any alterations (ie. new barrel something filed)
for the third one i don't really know what to look for. i know basic knowledge of firearms you know, exactly the things you need to know when disassembeling, cleaning, reassembeling, functions check, loading, firing, fixing jams, clearing, disassembeling and cleaning again. M16A2, M249, M9, Mark 19, M2HB,and M203, I only know these because i took a unit armorers course and that didn't teach me much except how to do it and hands on assembly, disassasembly, and functions checks.
So I wouldn't really know what to look for when dealing with the last 2 concerns on my list above.

oh yeah. now that my brain has started to warm up, what do you do for ranges? as in firing ranges. I was told we can't use the ranges on post for POWs (Privately Owned Weapons) i'll ask my squad leader when i see him again what he knows about it and try to find some other hunters here in Iraq that might know that kinda stuff. but how do you go about it? I went to a private range with my friends dad before but he never explained to me about that. he just said something about joining the NRA and you can use it but i can not be sure the truth of what i'm conveying. it was a long time ago.

thanks again for your help friends.

trapper T

Well, at the pawn shops I don't know how they determine whether it's "hot" or not, but I don't think that if it is you'd be in any trouble if it was determined that it was stolen. And I'm pretty sure these days the way people look at gun ownership, that those who do sell them professionally will mind their P's & Q's.

With regards what to look for, it can be a crap shoot, but all in all with your knowledge of military weapons, that would transition over to civilian models too. You may find a guy who'll just like a car, let you take it to a gunsmith and let him check it out? But' I've bought used guns before, in fact I have one pistol, a shotgun, and a .17 cal rifle that I got new, evrything else I have or had had was used and killed a decent amount of game with those. My best shooting gun was a Howa 30-06 that was roughly worth about $150 on the market but at 100 yards I could group 3-5 shots within a quarter.

Rnages, there are afew close to your home, Renton has one, Black diamond, and another one or two out towards Ravensdale. Or like me I most of the time just find an old gravel pit out in the woods somewhere. I know the B.D. gun club can shoot out to 300yards. There's also Paul Buyan out in Tacoma.

Agent Zero M

There is an outdoor rifle range on 202 between the falls and Fall City. It is usually members only (must be an NRA member to join) but they usually open it up to the public a few weeks before deer season opens so people can sight in their rifles.

88N

You're talkin about the one right at the bottom of falls hill right zero? That's the one I refered to in a previous post. I did a net search and found there's one on McCord AFB so I'll probably look into that one and if it's free, I'll ask about bringing guests and some of us might be able to get together and I can bring you there. That is if it's not inconvenient for ya.

88N

Oh, I've come up with another question. How do I find where these GMU's are? How do I get maps of these GMU's? The GMU's I'm refering to are located near or in peirce country beins how that's where I live. The following are the GMU's 627 Kitsap, Maso, Pierce,. 652 Pierce and King, 653 White river, King and Pierce.

Also Trapper, I would very much like to get together with your hunting group that goes over to Cle elem area. I'm sure we can exchange phone numbers and stuff after I get back to the states to sort things out.

trapper T

Sounds good, on the hunt and the gun range McChord only a half hour for me.

As far as the GMU's, if you got access to a printer, the game dept has a download of the regs,all the info your asking about is in the regs.If you don't maybe you can PM me your address and I could snail mail you a copy? There's also a few map companies who specialize in GMU maps, LC Sportsmaps is one.They're out of Maple Valley. Ya I'd be happy to run you out on a deer trip or something.Plus If I don't fair well in Cle Elum I usually hunt down around Yelm(grew up there).Vail tree farm should be if nothing else a good way to get you on some deer anyway.But we usually find a lot over in Cle Elum too.

ANother note on the GMUs is out in Kitsap, I don't know if the whole thing is but there are a lot of firearms restrictions(NO Rifles) due to heavy populations,you can bow hunt and maybe shotgun or muzzleloader? Same with some parts of King and Pierce.