• Hey All! Lately there has been more and more scammers on the forum board. They register and replies to members requests for guns and/or parts or other things. The reply contains a gmail or hotmail address or similar ”anonymous” email addresses which they want you to reply to. DO NOT ANSWER ANY STRANGE MESSAGES! They often state something like this: ”Hello! Saw your post about purchasing a stock for a Safari. KnuckleheadBob has one. Email him at: [email protected]” If you receive any strange messages: Check the status of whoever message you. If they have no posts and signed up the same day or very recently, stay away. Same goes for other members they might refer to. Check them too and if they are long standing members, PM them and ask if the message is legit. Most likely it’s not. Then use the report function in each message or post so I can kick them out! Beware of anything that might seem fishy! And again, for all of you who registered your personal name as username, please contact me so I can change it to a more anonymous username. You’d be surprised of how much one can find out about a person from just a username on a forum such ad our! All the best! And be safe! Jim

Sakos & Game Fall 2022

Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum

BigCountry, Actually you just need a regular hunting license, resident or non-resident, and no tag as you call in the date and sex and you get mailed a post-harvest tag for the taxidermist or for any gator part. No separate fee.
Our gators have a very good sense of smell and obviously the water transmits vibrations from people walking or voices as well as vehicles. I was taught that you can call them up by sneaking in and hiding behind a bush near the waters edge and tapping the water with a long stick every 5 seconds or so in a repetitive fashion which gets their curiosity and very often makes them pop up. Usually a long wait once you locate one. Some people snare them with a chicken and shark hook but I've not seen a big one fall for it and am not a fisherman as well as not a hunt, kind of like snares on coyotes is not predator hunting.
Better yet get a raccoon, coyote or rabbit and split it up the abdomen and the rumen smell will help by throwing the carcass near the waters edge and they will get there quick, obviously using the wind to carry the scent. A shot behind the head at the base of the skull as their brain does extend backward is a kill shot but if in the water the animal will sink and I have no plans to feel for it with my feet. We have cut rebar and made a treble hook with a strong rope to rake the bottom but of course it will snag just about everything as well so good if you can tie off to a ATV or machine. I like a lung shot for starters so they cannot sit on the bottom as they are drowning with a hole through their lung and finish them outside on the waters edge.
 
I appreciate the awesome information. I always thought alligators in Texas were harvested on a very limited basis, then after just reading a related article didn’t realize east Texas has a 400k-500k alligator population.
 
I like a lung shot for starters so they cannot sit on the bottom as they are drowning with a hole through their lung and finish them outside on the waters edge.
After all of those videos from Africa of shooting crocs in the head, I would never have thought of the lung angle. But you're right -- they are air-breathing animals (although they can be a long time between breaths), so they'll have to surface if they've got a hole in the pneumatics.

Alligator bait: Maybe the highest and best use of a javelina.
 
“Amos Moses’ daddy used HIM for alligator bait!
(Tie a rope around his waist, throw him in the swamp!)”….Jerry Reed 1970
 
It gives me pause.......recalling all of my bass fishing trips over the years......almost exclusively using my fishing TUBE!!
Four foot alligator gar and a few snakes.........I could handle.
Up here, in the Cross Timbers area, no one ever thought about gaters.......but now days???!!!:(
 
A couple of years ago someone found a 4’ gator in a local stream of the Charleston area of WV. Authorities removed it to a “More suitable location”.
Folks on vacation sometimes buy these cute little gators and play with them until they’re no longer fun, keeping them in fish tanks and backyard ponds. Once the gator gets free or is set free, having no natural predator to fear once it has gained in size , can grow and live for decades.
In rural areas of the many river passes of WV a gator could go unnoticed easily…but, eventually someone will run across it and know it will taste good if they can catch it!
 
Well, weather pushed the gators out into one of our ponds or sloughs & waiting for a rain to track where they went. 3 1/2 hours of sitting yielded only plenty of gnats & an Indian bird point pictured with Fiberclass carbine in 338 win mag. It shouldn’t be too easy, but in haste ice chest with beer for the observers left behind. It’s still a hunt. Very weird to track a gator’s tracks & tail drag going under barb wire fences & thru cactus, almost crazy. Been a few times in really dry weather when you get a 5, 6 or 7-foot lizard run across a dirt sendero or road & the chase is on. IMG_7258.jpeg
 
This carbine has little field experience but using Rem corelokt 225 gr that I had. The full size barrel Fiberclass .338 I’ve used before in Alaska used the .225 gr Accubond now available in Nosler Trophy Grade.
I’ve got quite a bit of older Remington ammo but have no plans to buy any new Rem ammo being made after their bankruptcy as I’ve seen complaints on quality issues.
I’ve used the Nosler Trophy Grade Accubond ammo in my .300 H&H Magnum & they group well with great field results. Stonecreek is a big fan of the Accubond bullets, which I also use in my 7X57’s.
 
One thing I like about Accubonds is that, at least in the "pairs" I've tried, the corresponding caliber and weight in a less-expensive Ballistic Tip shoots with the same velocity and point of impact as the more expensive Accubond. This allows you to do most of your load work-up with a bit more economical bullet and save your Accubonds for final verification of the load and hunting.

Unlike some "controlled expansion" bullets, the Accubond doesn't lack for expansion on lighter big game like whitetails, while holding together for excellent penetration on larger game like elk. Accubonds typically exhibit very good accuracy and have a high ballistic coefficient (particularly the more recent Accubond "long range" version.)

So what's not to like? Well, when I started reloading most .30 caliber jacketed bullets were about a nickel apiece. So I have a hard time paying upwards of a dollar-a-pop for a bullet. But that's just one more problem brought on by old age.:(

I'll hasten to add that there are only rare occasions on larger game when a run-of-the-mill cup and core bullet (like I used to buy for 5 cents) won't do anything that today's $1 super bullets can do.
 
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Bucktote, last January, 2023 my intention was to hunt a 6x6 10.5 yo buck with an A-73, but the old boy broke off his right G-2 thus delaying the rifle’s debut. We discussed the expected potential age decline impacting a post-mature buck with good reason.
We now have a preliminary and partial answer. At 11.5 yo & guessing his having shed in mid to late April he still has 4-6 more weeks of growth and if it cools some there should still be significant growth yet. He went from a typical 6x6 to a non-typical with common base points and should be quite bigger than last year. I enjoy learning new "stuff" all the time and nature is never boring.
Cameras being moved as we just started & hope to see what he does by October.
Shoot straight… P1020958.jpeg IMG_8627.png IMG_5728.jpeg
(*velvet 2023, non-velvet Jan 2022 1 6x6 & 2nd with broken tine during 2nd rut)
 
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Great Pics. Mr. Spaher,
I only wish my nephews & nieces would realize that if you shoot the little deer they will never see a big one! and I don't have a lot of time left to start over again with fawns. Cannot understand why they need to kill so many deer per season? It's like a numbers contest with them! At last one of them told me he will not shoot any more young deer.. In 20 + years I have taken 5 deer on our property, all on my side of the farm. Maturity comes slowly to some folks. & we will never see a 9-1/2 YO deer around here! Best wishes & good luck this fall, B/T
Pic. of # 5
 

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Spaher…you have shown us some outstanding bucks ranging from 6.5 to 10.5 yrs , all with obvious superior genetics.
Do you , by chance, have any photos of these bucks or perhaps other bucks with similar characteristics at younger ages? Will these bucks show 8 or 10 point mainframe character in the first or second year?
 
On it, going try find few young prospects & before & older of same deer. Take a bit as need sift seasons. Happy to provide info.
BTW: one learns patience when multi-year “projects” that sometimes pan out & some that don’t, but fun during off-season to watch & crunch data.
 
Bloo, as requested, here you go: 2 groupings as trying to make sense of what posting. A pair of bucks before and after, one are 3 photos in velvet & out of velvet 5X5 with splits at age 2.5, then at age 5.5; (young at 2.5, then at 5.5)
the second a 2.5 yo (total 3 photos) then when he blew up at 3.5 big frame and double splits, have not found him yet at 4.5, as on a different pasture of the ranch we won't get to for a few weeks but fingers crossed but he'd still need 3 more years of growing but a strong big frame at 3.5, unusual. (photos at 2.5 then 3.5)
Separately I'll follow up with some 2.5-3.5 yo's that we wait to see what they do. Set 1: IMG_8657.jpeg IMG_8656.jpeg IMG_8655.jpeg IMG_8659.jpeg IMG_8658.jpeg IMG_8660.jpeg
 
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Absolutely amazing..I’ve seen many small racked 8’s and assumed they were young 2.5 year or maybe 1.5 but wow..thanks for looking these up!
 
Bloo, here are some 1 & 2 yo’s that show potential. 8, 9 & 10 pts. IMG_8672.jpeg Merely a guide & guesstimate or opinion. The reason we don't want any spikes as over the years of selective removal spikes become fairly rare and we have plenty of 1-2 year olds that are very small 8'-10's that we would rather keep or hold as we have to harvest the same number of fawns we recruit every year to maintain a good carrying capacity and never exceed it, a numbers "game". We give these 8, 9 &10 pointers at age 1-3 to age 4 to see what potential they show and then some go to removal criteria and hoping most do well. Hope not to do a deep dive. Cheers. IMG_8673.jpeg IMG_8671.jpeg IMG_8670.jpeg IMG_8663.jpeg IMG_7555.jpeg
 
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