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Laguna Atascosa 2021

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    Originally posted by RibcageX View Post
    Our first trip and hunt to LANWR turned out to be no hunt. Was supposed to be three of us. First my brother ended up unable to go. Me and my buddy went down on Wednesday. Scouted a little on Thursday, and he started to feel bad. He had a really bad night Thursday night. Friday morning decided it best to get him home. Nine hour drive to home, stopped only one time. Today he says he is doing better. Been putting in for years, planning and excited for 4 months, but better safe than sorry. Gotta take care of each other. We really appreciate the information from this thread and PM's offering advice, experiences, and such. May be able to draw one more time in the next few years before getting unable to do these things anymore.
    Sorry to hear that. Glad you guys made it home safely.

    Comment


      That place is definitely one of those situations, where you have to experience it to get somewhat of an understanding of the place. I kept seeing there were very few kills on the rifle hunts, now I know why. Yes, there are a lot less hunters, which is good and bad. The bad may be, fewer hunters out and about, getting nilgai and or deer moving. At the same time, it may cause them to bed down and stay down. The biggest reason there are very few animals killed, is the fact there is only one road running north and south, on the easter edge of the place, with maybe six to seven roads or senderos cutting off of that road.
      On the rifle hunt that I went on, most every one of those roads had a hunter set up on the road or sendero, about 50 100 yards from the main road. So no other hunters could really make use of that road to go farther west to hunt. So those few hunters really limited what the rest of the hunters had to hunt. That was the case the first day, by day two, some guys had either left or decided to do something different. By mid day Saturday, I figured out some of those roads cutting off of the main road, were not being hunted, at least at that time. I was able to walk down one of the roads, to a huge opening, that looked like it had been farmed at one point, many years ago.

      For the most part, I walked on the north end of the place, I did not take a bike, because of the number of people claiming they got flat tires, very often. That turned out to be a big mistake for me. My feet were hurting before I got there, because my work boots have been dead for some time, they need to be replaced. I was hoping my hunting boots would make my feet feel better, but it felt like I was walking around in my worn out work boots. I showed up Thursday to do some scouting, by the end of the day, my feet were hurting. I stayed out there till last light. I got out there early Friday morning, but was so tired when I got there, I was dozing off, driving in. Of the three nights I was down there, I got maybe 1 1/2 hours sleep Friday night, the other two nights I did not sleep at all. During the middle of the day, I would go back to the truck and try to get some rest, but did not sleep any. By Saturday, I was worn down pretty bad. I did not take a folding stool like I planned to do, I just flat forgot. That turned out to be a big mistake for me. I made this hunt extremely difficult for myself. No bike, worn out boots, then I can not sleep for crap in a sleeping bag, I can never get to sleep in a sleeping bag. Then nothing to sit on, once I did find a place that looked like a good place to hunt.

      Friday, every spot I decided to hunt, I either had to kneel down, or stand next to something like a mesquite tree or yucca. I usually tried to find a mesquite tree, so I would have a rest. If I did sit on the ground, I could not see very far in any direction, which would mess up my reasonings, why I chose to hunt each spot I hunted. One spot, I wound up standing on fire ants, got covered, I had them all in my jacket, pants. It took me close to an hour to finally get rid of them. Then twice I found ticks on myself. The ticks were not nearly as bad as I thought they might be, but they were definitely there. From past experience, I know to stay out of many types of grasses. That's usually where you will find ticks.

      What I found the most of, by far, were rattle snakes. There is some grass out there, that I have been on place that had that stuff in the past. Where we hunted years ago, that grass always had large rattlers in it, Laguna Atascosa was no different. The grass that the rattlers like, grows in clumps, has long round stalks, with hard pointed tips. The tips seem like small thorns. I don't know what the correct name for that grass is, but we used to call it salt grass. The way that grass grows in clumps, then the blades or stalks grow up and droop over. It creates tunnels under the grass, between the clumps or bases, perfect places for rattlers and rats, mice. Probably eight times while out walking Friday, I heard a rattler while walking through some salt grass. Finally Friday afternoon, I found a small bluff or berm to get up on top of, that runs along side a large open area, with a canal running along one side of the berm. That gave me an elevated area to hunt from, not having a chair or stool. While walking the top of that berm, I heard two more rattlers, in some salt grass I was walking through. The last one, I stopped and looked to see, if I could find the snake, because there were two large holes, in the grass, allowing me to see under the grass. Sure enough there was a huge rattler, under the grass looking around, then turned to slither off away from me. Then I started looking for the rest of the snake, turns out most of the snake's body, was right next to my left foot, under the grass. The head was about 2 ft. from me, below the opening, when I saw it.
      Every time I heard, a rattler down in the salt grass, I got up on top of the clumps or bases of the grass, and walked on top of the clumps. Because you can not see up under the grass most of the time, unless you move the grass, or lift it up. I really did not want to bend over and start moving grass to find the source of the noise, I knew what the noise was. I don't know if it's the area, or time of year, but none of the snakes rattled, a typical rattle. They make a shhhhhhhhhhhhhh noise. It almost sounds like they are rubbing their scales against something. They may be making the noise with their rattles. All I know, is every time I have heard that noise over the years, I can look around and I will find a large rattler, never small ones. I would bet I heard, around nine rattlers on Friday alone. I made it a point to stay out of the salt grass on Saturday. I kept hearing that noise, then would get up on top of the salt grass and get out of the area. While telling myself, it probably was not a rattler, but I knew it was. While walking in that grass, you can't see your boots, or what is next to your boots. I don't think any of the snakes I walked past struck at me. I don't think they really had much room under that grass to strike, I don't want to find out. Just the idea, that you know there are a lot of them under that grass and you can not see them, but then hear them regularly. Bottom line, I would bet there are as many rattlers out there, as there are yucca, at least in some areas.

      Friday night, I went into town, bought a 5 gallon bucket to use as a seat, then tried a new spot Saturday morning. I found a berm near a pond covered with ducks. Saturday morning a norther blew in, it got dark and the wind blew hard, for the rest of the day. I used that berm as a wind break, till about noon, then went back to the truck to rest, then drove around and found some of the roads off of the main road, were not being hunted, at least at that time. It seemed some hunters had already left. I got to walk some new areas, saw a doe, then went back to the north end of the road.

      I eventually took the road that goes east I think to hunt area 5. I just went down the fence line, past a pond, then found a mesquite to sit under. I was only there for about 10 minutes maybe. When I realized there was a nilgai cow out in front of me. I knew she was a ways out there but not sure on the range. So I put the range finder on her, it kept saying 235 yards. I was sure that was wrong. The cow was in some tall grass, I am betting the edge of that tall grass was 235 yards away, then she was about another 100 yard into that tall grass. I am sure she was over 300 yards, but the range finder kept saying 235 yards, consistently. All I could see of her, was about the top 10" of her back, then her neck and head. I don't think that was enough for the range finder to pick up on, at that range. I tried to use the mesquite I was next to as a rest, but it was blowing around a lot in the wind. So the crosshairs were moving up and down about 5 ft. at the range where the cow was. I tried to come up with a quick plan, to get off a shot, but the cow saw me and started moving. Even at a fast walk, she was covering some ground quickly. She eventually walked through an area, where her whole body came up out of the grass, I had a great shot, for about 20 seconds. But at the time, I was going around trying to find some way of getting off a shot. Then after that, she was back off in some deep grass, all I could see after that was her head and neck. Looked like the Lockness Monster swimming across a sea of grass. I watched her till she got out about 700 to 800 yards, then lost sight of her.

      I called it done after that, I was so tired and my feet hurt so bad, I really feared I might kill something Sunday. That would have been pure hell on me, as bad of shape as I was in late Saturday. I knew I was not going to get any sleep Saturday night either. For a long ways along the road, leaving the valley, I saw a lot of deer and exotics out moving. Sunday would definitely have been the best hunting day, of the three days, but I was in too bad of condition to have carried something out of there Sunday. I say that, but when I saw that cow Saturday, I got hit with a good dose of adrenaline and felt fired up and full of energy for about 30 minutes.

      Of all of the areas, I walked, that I could have ridden a bike, there was very few, to no thorns, where I would have been riding. I did not really see a problem riding a bike, on most of the roads. But once off of a road, most everywhere I went, would have been impossible to ride a bike. A bike would have been a huge plus, for me, with my sore feet. If I ever go back, I will definitely have to find a room with a bed, take a bike and a small folding stool. Those three things would have made a huge difference for me. The brush is either way too thick to get through, or not really a big deal. The catclaw and white brush down there are extremely thick. A lot of the mesquite is not that bad, actually all of the mesquite I sat next to or looked closely at, had very few thorns and very small thorns, compared to most of the mesquite I have hunted in, in other areas of south Texas. But there are three to four different types of brush down three, when I found those types of brush, they were usually too thick to get through.

      Then trying to walk anywhere near marshy areas or ponds, is a bad idea, if you are trying to be stealthy. All of the water I saw down there was covered with ducks, it's a duck hunter's dream. Every time I got within 70 yards of water, I had a bunch of ducks come flying up off of the water. So, there was no sneaking along or near any water.

      The only fresh nilgai droppings I found were in tracks in marshy areas. I did not find any of the dung piles guys were talking about, with any fresh droppings. I found a few piles, but they were all old stuff. The only fresh droppings I found were just random on trails, usually in marshy areas. I found a lot of what looked like fresh deer and nilgai tracks, but those tracks were all in muddy areas, that obviously have been muddy for a long time. So it is hard to say how old the tracks were or really how often that trail was getting used. The few times, I got to walk areas where the ground was dry, it was typical, hard black clay. The only tracks I found in those areas, were old tracks from the last time it rained.

      Comment


        Dang RifleBow, sounds like Laguna whooped your butt!!

        It is definitely a place that will eat you up if you don’t come prepared to work.

        I ran into the road hunters when I went to Aransas a few weeks back with a rifle. Guys had their setups 50 yards in from main road and because of that, they thought they owned the rest of the way. We ran into this one old man that was a real dumb arse and tried to make us leave the entire area because he had the road taped. We just walked right on past him (even tried to be decent and walk-in well more than an hour before they were going into their blinds and he still threw a hissy fit about it). If your plan is to hunt a road, be prepared to have people walking right past you at any point of the day. Same goes for the bow hunts.
        Last edited by BigRed323; 01-17-2022, 10:59 AM.

        Comment


          When I was there last year with rifle, I saw 3 pop ups in the middle of named roads, not just senderos.

          Office said...not against the rules even though they agreed it was dangerous. I stayed clear of those yahoos.

          Comment


            Originally posted by BigRed323 View Post
            Dang RifleBow, sounds like Laguna whooped your butt!!

            It is definitely a place that will eat you up if you don’t come prepared to work.

            I ran into the road hunters when I went to Aransas a few weeks back with a rifle. Guys had their setups 50 yards in from main road and because of that, they thought they owned the rest of the way. We ran into this one old man that was a real dumb arse and tried to make us leave the entire area because he had the road taped. We just walked right on past him (even tried to be decent and walk-in well more than an hour before they were going into their blinds and he still threw a hissy fit about it). If your plan is to hunt a road, be prepared to have people walking right past you at any point of the day. Same goes for the bow hunts.
            I was hoping that my feet were not going to be a big problem, but they were. I have a bike I could have taken, but I was trying to travel with as little crap as possible, and from some of what I read, you are constantly fixing flats. So I did not take my bike, it but me pretty bad. I weigh 250 lbs, then easily 50 lbs. of gear, I had to be pushing 300 lbs., my feet did not like that at all. Then if I don’t get enough sleep, I completely run out of energy at some point. I was dozing off, driving into Laguna Friday morning, after not sleeping at all that night. The brush is not really a big deal, either it’s way to thick to get through, and it’s very obvious, or no big deal to get through.

            I was frustrating to only get to see areas north of the end of the road, until Saturday afternoon, after some guys had cleared out. I did not get to see much of the place, except the north end of the place. I would like to see some of the rest of the place. I definitely have to make better plans next time. If I have a semi comfortable bed, I sleep like a dead person, but I can’t sleep in a sleeping bag, much less the straight jacket/mummy bag I have. I hate that thing.

            If somebody could release a bunch of blue indigos out there, the indigos would be fat and happy, hopefully there won’t be so dang many rattlers out there in the future.

            Comment


              Originally posted by BigRed323 View Post
              Dang RifleBow, sounds like Laguna whooped your butt!!

              It is definitely a place that will eat you up if you don’t come prepared to work.

              I ran into the road hunters when I went to Aransas a few weeks back with a rifle. Guys had their setups 50 yards in from main road and because of that, they thought they owned the rest of the way. We ran into this one old man that was a real dumb arse and tried to make us leave the entire area because he had the road taped. We just walked right on past him (even tried to be decent and walk-in well more than an hour before they were going into their blinds and he still threw a hissy fit about it). If your plan is to hunt a road, be prepared to have people walking right past you at any point of the day. Same goes for the bow hunts.
              I think I remember some guys set up in the middle of a couple roads, on some of the rifle hunts we did at Aransas. We just laughed and drove on past them. You can drive most of the roads down there, so you usually don’t get many people pulling that crap down there. At Laguna there is only one road you can drive, so every road or senders going west off of that road had a guy set up on it. So I and some other guys I talked to while down there, stayed off of those roads. If they would do that, I would not put it past them to shoot at something that walks out in the road, while I am walking down the road. I have had plenty of bullets whiz past me years ago, I don’t miss that crap any at all.

              Comment


                Thanks for sharing your experiences. I didn’t come across any rattlesnakes that I know of and that’s what makes me still want to try it again.
                If I’d have experienced what you did I would not try it again. I’d consider myself blessed.
                Great hunts


                TxDad Outdoors-YouTube

                Comment


                  Originally posted by CentralTXHunter View Post
                  That’s excellent advise about shooting before/after hunts. You work incredibly hard on these hunts to be successful. You don’t want a bumped piece of equipment to cause you to miss completely or make a bad shot on an animal. The animals deserve more and you do too for putting in the time and effort.

                  How many outfitters make customers shoot before they hit the field? A lot and there’s multiple reasons for it. Throw a bag target in the truck and fling one before and after each hunt. (Hopefully it’s only one because everything is still dialed in) May save some heartbreak in the future.


                  Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
                  I was the one with the peep issue. Unfortunately the place I was staying at didnt have a place where I could practice without having to be sneaky haha.

                  After having hunted this place I can say without a doubt that its the most fun I've ever had hunting Texas. Its the closest thing to a backcountry style hunt without camping out.

                  I added it up the other day and I did around 50 miles on the E-bike in total. One thing I did try, and HIGHLY recommend was that I spent the money on Tannus Armor inserts. I had 0 flats in all of that stuff.



                  As to the screw ups on animals, with my peep moving and causing me to shoot low, it would explain why I didn't find either animal. I'm still fairly certain they're both dead, but I won't likely be taking a quartering away shot again unless I come prepared for it. I'm currently shooting Victory VAP 250s weighing 500gr going 290fps. I got talked into shooting Grim Reaper Fatal Steels by a friend who has shot moose before, and after having seen those nilgai up close I would say that shooting a mechanical at them is not ideal. Can you kill one with a mechanical head? Absolutely. Is it ideal? I would say no. I will say that the spike I shot with them I shot through lengthwise. But Nilgai are hard to overestimate.

                  If and when I get drawn again I'm likely going to run something in the 600gr+ realm with a single bevel head. Its a pain in the *** to redo your whole setup for these animals, but it's worth it. I'll likely just throw on a fixed 5 pin sight I have laying around and run with that, because in that country, shooting over 50 yds just isn't likely.

                  I will also be looking hard at titanium hardware, because every piece of metal on my bow that isn't stainless has really taken it hard. I know Firenock used to sell a kit where you could replace a lot of your hardware with titanium but I don't know if they still do. Wd40'ing my stuff helped but I don't exactly like spraying down my bow with it regularly! Makes ya wonder how the bearings will hold up over time in salty stuff!
                  Last edited by Kirby86; 01-17-2022, 04:28 PM.

                  Comment


                    RiflePistolBow-thanks for the write up! I enjoyed the read. I felt your pain, that place is sneaky hard. I know the grass you are talking about but I didn’t know what it was called. I hate trying to walk thru it, but I’ve never run into a rattler in it. In fact, in four hunts now I’ve yet to run into a single one! That’s one streak that I really hope that I can alive!

                    The bike helps if you have it set up for thorns, if not it’s just a **** boat anchor. I know you say you didn’t see any thorns in the roads, but trust me they are there-and it only takes one to ruin your day. I know b/c I thought the same thing…. But that idea only lasted a few hours.

                    I personally don’t let hunters who are set up along roads determine my hunt. I’m not going to set up next to them or do anything intentional to undermine their hunt, but the roads are there for travel and anyone who hunts over a road needs to be prepared to see a lot of hunters coming and going. I just do my best to get past them quickly and quietly.


                    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

                    Comment


                      Originally posted by TXOUTLAW View Post
                      Thanks for sharing your experiences. I didn’t come across any rattlesnakes that I know of and that’s what makes me still want to try it again.
                      If I’d have experienced what you did I would not try it again. I’d consider myself blessed.
                      Great hunts


                      TxDad Outdoors-YouTube
                      If you get out into the open areas, that area all over the north end of the place. There are a lot of rattlers in that grass we call salt grass, but I really don't know the correct name for that grass. I have seen enough pictures and videos from the place, to know there are plenty of them around the whole place, but they are highly concentrated in that salt grass.

                      I don't think I really ever came close to getting struck, had I been wearing shoes or some type of soft, thin foot wear, there is a decent chance of getting popped on the foot. It's just gets your heart rate up, when you are standing or walking in that knee deep grass, can't see your feet, but can hear a dang rattler very close to you, but you can't see it.

                      I figure letting people know there are truly a lot of rattlers out there and they don't always rattle. Then they are still out moving some, in our warmer Texas winters. On the colder days, they will look for warmer places, under ground or under, buildings, houses, ECT. They are definitely still active at this point in time, down there.
                      I would suspect a lot of animals and at times people walk through that grass and step next to those snakes often. I would guess they are not prone to striking at everything that steps next to them. That last snake, that I saw, I was standing no more than 5 or 6 inches from it, it did not strike at me. When I looked and actually saw it, my heart rate went way up for a while there. Even though I had heard it and knew it was there 30 seconds before I finally saw it.

                      Comment


                        Originally posted by FlyGuyy View Post
                        RiflePistolBow-thanks for the write up! I enjoyed the read. I felt your pain, that place is sneaky hard. I know the grass you are talking about but I didn’t know what it was called. I hate trying to walk thru it, but I’ve never run into a rattler in it. In fact, in four hunts now I’ve yet to run into a single one! That’s one streak that I really hope that I can alive!

                        The bike helps if you have it set up for thorns, if not it’s just a **** boat anchor. I know you say you didn’t see any thorns in the roads, but trust me they are there-and it only takes one to ruin your day. I know b/c I thought the same thing…. But that idea only lasted a few hours.

                        I personally don’t let hunters who are set up along roads determine my hunt. I’m not going to set up next to them or do anything intentional to undermine their hunt, but the roads are there for travel and anyone who hunts over a road needs to be prepared to see a lot of hunters coming and going. I just do my best to get past them quickly and quietly.


                        Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
                        I need to be more prepared, I should have bought new work boots much sooner than I did. My work boots are only good for a year, then my feet will start hurting, that's where my whole mess started. My work boots are 1 1/2 years old, have been causing my feet to hurt for months. Since my Danner Pronghorns have been great boots in the past, I was hoping, switching to wearing them was going to help my feet. But it did not go that way. The last couple time I have worn them, my feet ached mildly, I did not wear them long. So I seemed to have broken those down. They are only five years old, and only used for hunting. I will admit the first three years I had them, I walked a lot in them. I guess I killed them in those first three years, they did not do my feet any good this past weekend.

                        If I ever get to go back to Laguna Atascosa, I will take a bike, never ridden a bike with big clumsy boots, but it has to be better than walking all those miles. I have walked 8 plus miles a day, for three to four days in a row, four to five years ago, and did not have any problems on other hunts. I know I have to have good boots, in good condition or I have problems with my feet. I neglected my feet and paid for it this past weekend.

                        Comment


                          Originally posted by RifleBowPistol View Post
                          I need to be more prepared, I should have bought new work boots much sooner than I did. My work boots are only good for a year, then my feet will start hurting, that's where my whole mess started. My work boots are 1 1/2 years old, have been causing my feet to hurt for months. Since my Danner Pronghorns have been great boots in the past, I was hoping, switching to wearing them was going to help my feet. But it did not go that way. The last couple time I have worn them, my feet ached mildly, I did not wear them long. So I seemed to have broken those down. They are only five years old, and only used for hunting. I will admit the first three years I had them, I walked a lot in them. I guess I killed them in those first three years, they did not do my feet any good this past weekend.

                          If I ever get to go back to Laguna Atascosa, I will take a bike, never ridden a bike with big clumsy boots, but it has to be better than walking all those miles. I have walked 8 plus miles a day, for three to four days in a row, four to five years ago, and did not have any problems on other hunts. I know I have to have good boots, in good condition or I have problems with my feet. I neglected my feet and paid for it this past weekend.

                          I have some under armour Bozeman 2.0 that did okay the first day with snake gaiters but after the rain hit on day 2, once they get wet, I had a hard time keeping my feet dry.

                          I got through day 2 by carrying a second pair of socks and swapping them out when I sat down long enough to and dried out the other by hanging em on my bike.

                          By day 3 I just gave up and wore rubber boots I bought, which surprised me. They’re rubber snake boots from academy and didn’t kill my feet but I have a trick to making sure I don’t get blisters. I duct tape my heels, the ball of my feet, and really any spot where I’m prone to getting hotspots and it’s made it where just about any boot is bearable. The only downside is it’s impossible to wear rubber boots without your feet sweating so I had to remove em a few times.

                          I will say I had a few seed ticks on me from the warmer days but permethrin seems to work but it was also cold enough bugs weren’t really active.

                          This sounds totally weird, but one of my buddy’s tricks to avoiding seed ticks is to totally shave his legs/body because then they can’t hang on. I’ve yet to confirm it works but if they’re as bad as it sounds when it’s warmer it might be worth trying [emoji23]

                          Comment


                            Originally posted by RifleBowPistol View Post
                            I need to be more prepared, I should have bought new work boots much sooner than I did. My work boots are only good for a year, then my feet will start hurting, that's where my whole mess started. My work boots are 1 1/2 years old, have been causing my feet to hurt for months. Since my Danner Pronghorns have been great boots in the past, I was hoping, switching to wearing them was going to help my feet. But it did not go that way. The last couple time I have worn them, my feet ached mildly, I did not wear them long. So I seemed to have broken those down. They are only five years old, and only used for hunting. I will admit the first three years I had them, I walked a lot in them. I guess I killed them in those first three years, they did not do my feet any good this past weekend.

                            If I ever get to go back to Laguna Atascosa, I will take a bike, never ridden a bike with big clumsy boots, but it has to be better than walking all those miles. I have walked 8 plus miles a day, for three to four days in a row, four to five years ago, and did not have any problems on other hunts. I know I have to have good boots, in good condition or I have problems with my feet. I neglected my feet and paid for it this past weekend.

                            Check out two boot reviews I wrote for a new website Realhunters.com. Just go to the site and look at reviews section. Two boots that have worked well for me are the 18” Irishsetter Vaprtreks and the UnderArmour Dawn WP boots (need snake gaiters with these). I’ve put a ton of miles on both boots in TX, CO, and AZ and they have performed really well!


                            Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

                            Comment


                              Originally posted by Kirby86 View Post
                              I was the one with the peep issue. Unfortunately the place I was staying at didnt have a place where I could practice without having to be sneaky haha.

                              After having hunted this place I can say without a doubt that its the most fun I've ever had hunting Texas. Its the closest thing to a backcountry style hunt without camping out.

                              I added it up the other day and I did around 50 miles on the E-bike in total. One thing I did try, and HIGHLY recommend was that I spent the money on Tannus Armor inserts. I had 0 flats in all of that stuff.



                              As to the screw ups on animals, with my peep moving and causing me to shoot low, it would explain why I didn't find either animal. I'm still fairly certain they're both dead, but I won't likely be taking a quartering away shot again unless I come prepared for it. I'm currently shooting Victory VAP 250s weighing 500gr going 290fps. I got talked into shooting Grim Reaper Fatal Steels by a friend who has shot moose before, and after having seen those nilgai up close I would say that shooting a mechanical at them is not ideal. Can you kill one with a mechanical head? Absolutely. Is it ideal? I would say no. I will say that the spike I shot with them I shot through lengthwise. But Nilgai are hard to overestimate.

                              If and when I get drawn again I'm likely going to run something in the 600gr+ realm with a single bevel head. Its a pain in the *** to redo your whole setup for these animals, but it's worth it. I'll likely just throw on a fixed 5 pin sight I have laying around and run with that, because in that country, shooting over 50 yds just isn't likely.

                              I will also be looking hard at titanium hardware, because every piece of metal on my bow that isn't stainless has really taken it hard. I know Firenock used to sell a kit where you could replace a lot of your hardware with titanium but I don't know if they still do. Wd40'ing my stuff helped but I don't exactly like spraying down my bow with it regularly! Makes ya wonder how the bearings will hold up over time in salty stuff!
                              One thing I will tell you from growing up on the coast, stop using WD-40 and thinking it's going to do anything for rust. If anything it will increase the chances of rust. WD-40 evaporates off of whatever you spray it on, it leaves no oil to protect long term, unless there is a place, where can accumulate. Such as a low area, that would act as a bowl.

                              I have tried to educate people on this for years. We used to use it on saltwater tackle and everything else for years and would replace all of that tackle yearly or sometimes a lot sooner that that. I had problems with all types of rubber and plastic rotting quickly, we thought that was a result of the sun. But when plastic and rubber pieces rotted that hardly ever saw any sun, that's when we started wondering what was causing this problem. Turns out it was the WD-40. Quit using the stuff, our monofilament quit rotting, or breaking down in two or three months. We used to have to restring reels all the time. Numerous other things that used to rot quickly, stopped.

                              When we quit using WD-40 a lot of the plastic and rubber rot we had dealt with for years, basically stopped. When we switched to LPS 3, we quit having rust issues with metal parts. LPS 3 is more expensive than WD-40, but it works, as where WD-40 really does not do anything for preventing rust.

                              One of the things we found WD-40 is good for, is evaporating water out of distributor caps. If you get water inside the distributor cap of your truck, while driving through deep water. You can pop the cap, spray down the inside of the distributor and the cap, put the cap back on and the truck will fire right up. WD-40 evaporates and leaves the surface dry.

                              Now days, there are many products that work very well for rust, WD-40 is still not one of them, nor is Liquid Wrench or PB Blaster. I have used them all a lot, just makes you feel like they are doing something, because the can says it does. But none of those three really do crap, that they are intended to do. Liquid Wrench will do a better job of preventing rust, since it does leave an oily residue.

                              The stuff I have found works, is LPS 3, Break Free. I bought some Kroil, I am going to give that stuff a try. I have heard it works great. LPS 3 I can tell you will do a lot to help prevent rust, and will break rusted pieces loose. Break Free, I am not sure how it does long term for preventing rust, I can tell you it is great for freeing up extremely rusted up pieces. I want to say it leaves a oily residue, if so, it will do good a preventing rust.



                              On the broadheads, the idea of a good solid fixed blade is the way to go. Taking a chance of a mechanical working like it is supposed to, is really not worth the risk. I would rather have a fixed blade and get more reliable penetration any day over the possibility of a very large wound channel and potentially no penetration.


                              On the sights, for many years, we used brass pin sights, they were very durable. Till someone came up with plastic pieces that the brass pins threaded into. Those plastic pieces would sometimes break, but not usually a big deal. Then they came out with fiber optic pins. I got a bad education on those numerous times. I hunted the Aransas Wildlife refuge a lot, years ago. When I stared hunting with fiber optic sights, multiple times, I would get to my stand and find half of my pins were gone. Snapped off cleanly. I had the same problem when I used to hunt out at Amistad. I would push my way through thick brush getting to where I had a spot I would sit. I would hike about 3/4 of a mile in, get there, sit down. Then as the sun was coming up, I would often notice multiple, if not all of my pins were broken off. That really screws your whole trip.

                              The sights that exist now, are definitely more durable than the early fiber optic pin sights, but they are not near as durable as the old all metal brass pin sights. I don't spend any time now days looking at what all is available for bow pieces. So I really don't know what all is out there. I have a bow, it shoots great, I don't worry about anything beyond that. I used to be hard core into knowing what was out there. I used to spend a lot of money on the latest, coolest stuff. A whole lot of that really cool stuff, was a huge let down, when I actually got out and hunted with it.

                              I had a no peep on my last bow, while practicing it worked great. Get out to the tree I was hunting out of, get up in the tree. Then like clockwork, there was a nice buck that would come out as it got fairly dark under those big oak trees. Every dang time, I would go to take a shot, I could not see the ring and dot in the no peep, at all. Most of the time I would just sit there looking at the buck. I swear he knew I was there, and knew my bow sights were not worth a crap in that low light. He had no care in the world, he would come out and eat acorns, all around the tree I was in. I tried multiple different peep sights and then the no peep. None of them would work at the point, that buck would come out. What was bad, is outside those oaks, it was much brighter, the sun would be on the horizon. But under those oaks it was a lot darker. I finally let an arrow fly at the buck, after seeing him many times. I tried to guess where to aim, he was only 15 yards. The arrow went under his belly, hit some rocks, made a bunch of sparks, then ricocheted back up over a bunch of trees, to who knows where. I did not try that again. The buck came back in a couple of days. I never was able to get a shot at him, only because I could never see both of my sights. Had I just grabbed a rifle, that buck would have been a easy kill. I spent months trying to get him, he came out almost every time I was in that oak tree. I never did get him, all because of the sights did not work in that low light that he liked. I could have easily have gotten him with my 10mm pistol. But I was determined to get him with my bow. He was a pretty nice 10 point at the time, probably 4 years old, maybe 5. I am sure he lived to be a lot older.

                              I have fought with bow problems and the many generations of archery gear pieces, for a long time. Never have found the perfect set up. Traditional stuff, is definitely the most reliable, and simple, someday maybe I will go back to that stuff.

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                                I’m hunting Bahia Grande next month and have zero experience with rattlers. I have some Turtleskinz gaiters I’ll be wearing with my crispi nevadas. Still considering what my option for rubber boots will be if it’s raining. My question is what do you do when you hear rattling?

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