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Happy New Year everyone.....................Hope it well be a great year and healthy year for all..............

I think the intent of this post was the shooting and leaving eatable game to rot in the woods and not be consumed. Not the philosophy of hunting . But what we think of this terrible waste of natures resources. It seems that at times we get off the topic and rant about everything but the topic. Maybe the rats and wood chucks can be another post. My take is if I shoot it I eat it, just to kill something and leave it in the wood is sick twisted person.

The kind folks from CRCS Outdoors (Cuba Rushford) took me out on a waterfowl hunt yesterday. It's always been my dream to find someone to help me learn how to waterfowl hunt, as I find it very different than any deer, turkey, or squirrel hunting I've done all my life. It's also something I was afraid I could never do, since I can't have a dog and our car is not good for carrying a boat. After I won the Duck Stamp, CRCS did an interview with me and asked me along on a waterfowl hunt locally with Southern Tier Outfitters, we thought it would be neat for me to hunt waterfowl for the first time while using the stamp I painted! I felt very honored. We were finally able to get out yesterday during the second season in Allegany. The outfitters said that this area has been tough due to the unseasonably warm weather we've had and they've been able to get very few ducks to come in at all. We were in a large blind (these guys even have a mini kitchen) and were well concealed. We had a few mallards scope us out and circle out of range, and one pair of common mergansers fly high without even giving the wetland a second look. Around 11, I believe, we saw some geese far off along the Allegany River, and the guides called them in to us. I took one as they came in, but my 870 wouldn't cycle the rounds and jammed as I ejected the first shell. Stupid of me not to check beforehand, but lesson learned. Turns out the bird I shot was banded, and the group lit up with excitement. We were being filmed for the CRCS show and they urged me to call the band in on camera. I did, and as soon as I got through on the band reporting hotline and got to giving them my info, a pair of mallards came in, of course! I got low and tried to finish the call quietly and quickly. By the time I got off the call the mallards were still around but had moved out of range. I was embarrassed that they waited for me instead of taking them, but I appreciated the gesture, it was really kind. Anyhow, it was amazing and I feel super honored to have been invited and enjoyed it very much. I'm very thankful to CRCS, Scott Jordan, and thank you very much to Craig Southard and Patrick Stayer of Southern Tier Outfitters! I can only claim the top goose, but am so thankful for even one! They have more photos on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/391324224291983/photos/pcb.956512284439838/956512234439843/?type=3&theater

You do realize the "e" is hidden in the girls shirt, right?

Woa, hang on there a minute Mick.......(oh, Happy Birthday) since when are we supposed to stay on track with a thread?

My sil is in the same boat so every year for the last 5 years I have gotten my daughter and father a gun for Christmas and make sure that I give them to them at our family Christmas get together. I get as much enjoyment out of her looks as I do watching my daughter and the old man opening them:)

Well today I'm a year older and snowing or not I'm taking Schatz out hunting. I've gone hunting on my birthday almost every year since I was old enough to get a license. It's the one of the few traditions I really try to hold onto. Now to find those hunkered down grouse!!! Jaeger and Schatzie

My guess would be juveniles shooting at anything and not knowing how or wanting to eat the prey. Shooting a pheasant and leaving it to be eaten by another animal doesn't make sense unless the shooter is out just to see if they can hit a moving target. Whomever is responsible should try sporting clays instead.

Tried to post a vid of a red fox...only thing I seen all day

Probably fawns that have hit the necessary weight to breed/come into estrous. A small % of does are bred in late Dec/Jan. All it takes is one, however, to make things a little crazy, in the immediate area. Bucks are will to breed whenever. Sort of like normal guys, I guess.

Damn Biz, I never thought of it like that! I'm going out on a limb and say this: Considering I've been with the same gal (and true to her) for 26 years, see my doctor twice a year for all the blood work & necessary shots and drink just enough bourbon to kill any badass germs I might contract in day to day contact I wouldn't worry a bit. You will also (at no extra charge) get my own personal guarantee. That guarantee is kind of long winded mumbo jumbo but in really boils down to three minutes/three miles coverage. (provided through AARP of course) Just send me the money ya cheap bastid............

Saw few turkey this year and the "lonely hen" and her single poult...So this makes me very happy...and I do not believe I've seen them up on the hill this late in the season ever...By now they have settled down in the valley and return in late March.

In all honestly, I love to hunt, but I don't enjoy the actual act of taking another thing's life. I shoot things mainly because I eat meat, & I accept that eating meat means I'm responsible for death. I'm pleased about making a good shot & I love following a heavy blood trail, but I don't lose sight of the fact that all of the excitement & bounty, comes at the ultimate price for another living being. It's respect. There's lots of opportunities I let pass, because I honestly felt like I didn't want to disturb the animals, or rob them of something they were enjoying. Call me a PETA member, but I swear, I think they do enjoy stuff. Play, favorite foods, maybe even a beautiful sunset (ok, maybe that's reaching). That may be just trying to place human emotion on a creature incapable of it, but I don't care. I know that when I pull the trigger, I want to have a good enough reason for doing it, to rob that animal of it's next sunrise.

I have a big problem with people killing & wasting game, that's traditionally used as food. Where that line is tho, is a personal choice. I mean, technically, we could eat coyotes if we for some deranged reason chose to. I kill lots of red squirrels, because I know they harass the greys, & I've been told they'll go into a grey nest & kill the young. I cut the tails off the reds, & leave the rest. Grey squirrel is my favorite game to eat, so I guess it's just a selfish thing I do, to ensure more greys being around. I have a tough time shooting woodchucks, because I don't eat them. I know they cause a lot of damage, but I don't like to kill them. I do shoot them sometimes, but it makes me uncomfortable. A little sad even. Predators I kill at every chance. Except, there was this coon that I trapped who I let go. She kept getting into the bird feeder, so I trapped her in a havahart. A lot of them hiss and snarl, trying to bite you if you get close. Not this one. When I grabbed the trap to pick it up, I accidentally put my hand where she could get to it. All she did was reach through the cage & grasp me by the thumb. She just held on firmly, & stared into my eyes. We had a moment, I guess . My heart melted, so I opened the door, & she slowly walked out, looked up at me & waddled back into the forest. I'll never shoot another crow. I have a lot of respect for how smart they are & they're pretty cool to watch. In general, I try to not kill if it I won't eat it, or if it's not causing trouble.

Actually, the intent of the thread was obvious and even directly stated in bold print: "My question is: What do you think of people that go out and hunt for no other reason than to kill something?" My reply addressed exactly what was being asked. I realize that a lot of people feel uncomfortable about addressing that point, but in spite of the fact that we don't like to talk about that, that is a very common practice and here was a thread that dared to directly ask the question. Woodchucks, rats, crows, carp, etc., are simply killed as living targets with almost nobody even trying to eat them. So instead of shame-facedly running from the question, I chose to address it directly and without apology.

Happy new year everyone ,the wife and i are headed to the hospital at 7:30 to get induced , what a big change from our plans last year.

Many forums have a give away area where members can have contests for unwanted items as a way to give back to the forum. Here's mine it's a ksf pocket sheath , it holds a SMALL fixed blade and a light ( mini mag or smaller )or folder or match safe on the other side . It's simply a way to carry a couple items into the woods by slipping this in your pocket as opposed to hanging them off a belt. It's unused . If you,have a small fb like say a small Bark River or similar , write your screen name on a piece of paper along with a number from 1 to 50 place your knife on paper and snap a pic. Post pic. On Jan. 7th I'll pick a number 1-50 closet wins.ill post winner here and PM them for address. Here's a link to the site of maker.http://www.ksfleather.com/pocketsheaths.html

Ok, ya got me. I have to confess to killing rats at the dump and not eating them. I also have shot woodchucks and left them. We used to bowfish for carp and not eat them. I know there are those that hunt crows with no intention of eating them. Out west there are those that actually shoot prairie dogs, and I doubt they are particularly prized for their good table fare. I have trapped all kinds of animals, selling the fur and throwing away the carcasses or in some cases using them for bait. I did kill a coyote with no intentions of eating him. I have called and shot foxes .... again, no intention of eating it. I guess I further have to confess that I did all of that in a cold-blooded way without a shred of remorse. But then, we humans are not the only ones that do that. Back when I was a kid, we lost 22 head of sheep to some local dogs that simply went from one sheep to the next killing them for sport and never eating a one of them. I have seen the same thing with dog-killed deer. Our cat does the same thing with mice only she tortures them to death. Apparently the world is an evil place. Look, hunting is a nasty business anyway you look at it. We have justified it as claiming it is done strictly for meat, as if any of us are reduced to hunting for survival. We talk about hunting to balance animal populations, but I can't remember the last time I heard somebody say, "Well, I'm going to go out and control the deer herd now". There is something in all of us that enjoys the hunt and the kill. We are predators. And by the way, I'm not justifying illegal action as in the case of the pheasants. And I have always eaten every squirrel that I have ever shot if that serves as brownie points for forgiving my other wanton acts of killing. But I am not going to sanitize the act of killing wildlife by conjuring up excuses, and I am not going to try to come up with any kind of justification of shooting those rats at the dump. It I something that my primal ancestry coded into my DNA, and it is what it is.

There is a gun culture and there is a hunting culture. They are not the same and are as different as day and night. The trouble makers want to conflate the two. The hunting culture is much closer to the food culture than the gun culture.....

I stopped at a buddies cabin one time to pick him up to go to a pig-roast at another buddies cabin a few miles away. While I was there, we went back to his range, him with his cooler and me with my ML. After a few successful shots and several beers, a patched ball got rammed down the "powderless" barrel. After removing the nipple and pushing a little pyrodex in from the back side, re-installing the nipple and another cap, 3 or 4 times, we were able to get he ball to exit the bore. Lesson learned - save the beer until after the shooting. Fortunately, nobody got hurt and nothing was damaged. Another time I was sighting in my 30/06 on the range at the back of our farm, from the 100 yard bench. I walked over to the target, leaving the rifle on the sandbags, pointed down range. There was no one else around, so I assumed the it was pointed in a safe direction. When I looked back up-range, I saw a buck walk out of the brush, and right over to the bench. For a short time, he had his nose next to the muzzle. I hoped the gun was not loaded but you never know for sure, which is why you treat any gun like it is loaded. A picture flashed through my mind of him knocking the gun off the bags and it going off, hitting me. What a story that would have been. The anti-hunters would have a field day with that one "DEER SHOOTS MAN".

"Glass" hasn't been made in this country for years. The Germans/Austrians & Japanese are the masters of optical glass & have been for some time. I would bet that Leupold uses Japanese glass. Japan is in Asia too. I have a moderately priced Kales "American" series scope made in Austria. Ghe low light performance is superb. I also like the high end Nikons too. Kales is the oldest continually operating optics manufacturer in the world, since 1898. Karl Kales was killed during an air raid in WW II when the plant, that was manufacturing optics for the German war effort, was bombed.

Eerily quiet as I suspected. Lots of big talkers with great advice here..... You want to kill coyotes; get a bunch of dogs. Train them well, get GPS collars, secure permission to VAST tracs of land, wait for snow then gather a bunch of friends to seal off escape routes. You might get more than ONE a year then. Or trap; secure permission to VAST tracts of land, buy a pile of traps, gather the necessary bait, scout the farms for sign, set the traps, check the traps every 24 hours. You MIGHT get one a year until you figure out how it's done. There's a reason most guys have only killed a couple, cause they (like me) shoot them as a target of opportunity while deer hunting and even then it's darn tough. The only reason I've even killed the ones I've got is because there was snow on the ground, I doubt I'd have ever got them with bare ground. OK, I'm done. Happy New Year.

I bought the Kahr .380... which has high reviews among all the 380's... I put all of the 380's in my hands before deciding on the Kahr... I have no regrets... I added a Crossbreed inside the pants concealed carry holster and think I found the right formula for invisibility, accessibility, and comfort.

If you haven't gotten too established in NY yet, get out while you still can! If its too late, then my condolences, & welcome.

Not to add fuel to the fire, but deer dead on the ground don't prove gun accuracy. Pics of your 3-5 shot groups at 100 yards, that's more definitive. There are slug guns out there that are accurate as hell, I've seen them and own one. But I would never say it could compete with a rifle when it comes to overall accuracy. Ok, since now we've turned the OP's simple question into a six of one half dozen of the other debate, Let's be honest, everyone has their own preference for short range and thick brush weaponry. Not everyone is capable of shooting as good or poorly as the next person. Not everyone knows their guns like they should. I don't think the OP is pursuing a new gun. I think he wanted to know if he should put a scope on it, use open sights, slug recommendations, and if his barrels would work. I hope he figures out his barrel situation and can get some range time in with his gun to decipher which slug is best. And hopefully he got some good advice in here amidst all of the disagreements.

Are you offering to do their work, of which there is a lot, for free? The association would be happy to get qualified leadership that will work pro bono. None of those elected to the board by members are paid, but high level executive positions are. Can you name one major national rights organization that has unpaid leadership? Can you point to one that spends the same percentage of it's donations on it's mission? If your not NRA, you helping the anti-gun cause by refusing to support the NRA.

Common practice for who exactly. Definitely not me and not the guys I hunt wit for the past 35 years. Who is Shame facedly running from the question. Where was that mentioned? I have taught my 4 sons to respect life not to shoot something living for target practice. You want target practice Doc go to the range. Do you really think its an ethical thing to do? Just what the anti hunters and gun activist want to hear !! Doc, that may be your opinion or spin but not everyone would agree. Every living thing is put on this earth for a reason and I am sure it wasn't for target practice. And that's MHO

Sorry, didn't mean to sound condescending. When I see a 3-9 scope with a 50mm objective lens & the proud owner claims that it "gathers more light" than a standard 40mm or 42mm OL it just raises my hackles. In reality, if the optics are of equal quality, the 42mm is very near the optimum size for 9X magnification. The difference in low light capability of the optimal 45mm O L won't be enough for the average hunter to tell. The 50mm O L is just added size & weight that has no benefit whatsoever @ 9 x power. Big O Ls won't compensate for poor quality optics. And yes, European optics usually have excellent "low light capabilities". A friend of mine bought a used M760 with a cheap 3-9 Bushnell on top. We were leaving the woods perhaps 30 minutes after sundown. there was a good bit of snow cover. As we walked out along a horse trail, my friend asked to see my Mauser that had the 3-9 x 42 Kales mounted. After looking through my scope, then his he remarked. "My scope is just as good as yours, I can see that stump just as well with mine as yours." I had a look at the same stump through his scope, then mine. I had him look at the stump through my Kales again & asked, "Do you see all of those small twigs around the base of that stump?" "Yes" He replied. "Now look at it through yours, can you still see those twigs now?"

I put a sling on mine the day I bought it. So It's carried like a gun...I must remember to side step between some trees and brush though.

I also will admit to shooting and trapping animals without desire to eat it...I use some for trapping bait including squirrels bc I don't eat them. I hunt deer for meat and the rest is for woodsmanship practice and bait for trapping or to teach my son how to hunt. We chipmunk and red squirrel hunt all year as well as wood chuck. In my eyes small game such as squirrel woodchuck ect are not hunted for the meat by most but more for the sport and the environment will bennifit from it as the predators and scavengers will eat them and if not they will decompose into the earth and feed the ground. Just my .02 Pheasant on the other hand is not ok to me I have never shot one but love to see them and take alot of pics of them yearly Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Happy Healthy! Best of luck to all of my brothers and sisters on HuntingNY.com! I hope this next year is your safest and best year EVER!!!

Thats, um, disturbing.

I shoot the red squirrels imediadetly around my camp. I dont do anything with them. I would not really call it hunting though. I shoot them for the damage they do. And Chipmunks. Keep them thined out around my place. Otherwise I would have a lot of ruined equipment. Grey squirrels, if I had any, I would eat of course.

We were shooting over the summer , kevin was shooting his 30-06 and dave was shooting his .308 (some of you already know where this story is going) Kevin takes a shot and i immediately notice the difference in sound , right then and there i told him to stop and sure enough he had loaded a .308 round in his 30-06. Rifle and shooter were not harmed,luckily . No more shooting off the same table anymore at the same time.

Personally I'm not sure how you can bottle a "feeling" or "emotion?" Sales gimmick in my opinion but if you think it helps go for it! Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

Fiberglas ramrods are death of rifling. Far too abrasive! I use a 48" dedicated hickory "range rod" for every caliber I shoot & a rod made from a 1/2" dowel with a 28ga brass hull head on one end with a 2 1/2" wooden drawer knob handle on the other end when shooting skeet with my 12 ga dbl barrel muzzle laoder. I've had a few brain farts at the range, but nothing stands out. I did see the results of a horrendous case of brain constipation once though. We were at a "public" rage at a fish & wildlife area. While shooting at the 100 yd range this Yahoo shows up with a break top .22 rf Stevens pistol for which he had made a custom grip & fore-end. He had a short eye relief rifle scope mounted on it. He was leaning against the roof supports holding the short weapon like a rifle & crowding up on it trying to get a full field of view in the scope. This guy was "an accident waiting to happen"! Well, my brother in law & myself decided to get the hell out of there so we escaped to the 50 yd range which was separated by a high earthen berm from the 100 yds range. After some time a guy came up to the 50yd range & said. "You won't believe what just happened." It seems Mt Yahoo wasn't paying attention to where his finger was & fired a round with his finger over the muzzle a he was cradling the fore-end with his left hand! We went down to the now deserted 100 yd range & there was blood sprayed everywhere on the benches, roof supports & the lower section of the roof! It made my bunghole pucker thinking of how much that must have HURT!

WJ: I'll be willing to bet you were using a "substitute" powder & not real Black Powder. Yep, Pyrodex. I am using 777 pellets now in my in-line, and when that runs out, I will switch to that easy-cleanup 209 stuff. For the squirrels with the .22, I also prefer the subsonic target stuff. Increased accuracy and less noise is a tough combination to beat. I shot on the rifle team in high school and the coach would always let me sweep up after practice and matches. I am hoping I can talk my daughters joining the team and doing that in a few years to "refresh" ammo supply. Back in the day, the girls were always the best shots on the team and it seems they still are by the write-ups in the paper. That last squirrel was one of very few that I did not recover after a hit and almost all were shot behind the shoulder. For many years, I used a Remington 510P single shot with a peep sight, then a 3x Bushnell banner scope. About 10 years ago, the accuracy went on it for some reason and now I use a Ruger 10/22 carbine. That is a real tack-driver inside of 50 yards. It shoots better than the old Remington bolt-action ever did.

Venison taco night. Only ate 4. I'm losing my touch

I just got this exact smoker from Santa plan to use over the weekend.Not sure how they work however think an electric smoker will heat better then gas with gas or wood fired smokers you have to regulate add more wood or turn gas valve up or down.The electric ones do not need to be watched as closely my opinion.

So they are selling a single shot M700 with a ramrod for $1000? There's a sucker born every minute. Just buy a used M700 in 458 WIN Mag, cut off some 458 Win Mag cases & then load it from the muzzle. With the brass sized properly, there's no reason you couldn't use smokeless powder either. Why mess with pellets?

I picked up one of the Ruger 77s in 17 HMR when it first came out and absolutely love it. It has taken Fox, Coyote and yes Squirrels. At closer ranges it can cause some pretty severe damage on body shot Squirrels especially with the VMAX, the heavier hollow point is quite a bit tougher and does not explode so violently. When I take Squirrels I shoot for the head so not to damage to much meat. My Ruger has gilt edged accuracy and with a good rest head shots can be made consistently. Also at this time of the year when there is a little snow on the ground and the trees naked of leaves you can times spot Squirrels a quite a long distance even in denser woods and that is where the 17 HMR can really shine. With that flat trajectory and the accuracy I have taken squirrels at some pretty long distances. When they are out there a good long poke a body shot does not cause anywhere near the damage as one taken at close range does. So while it does cause a bit more damage I will make that trade for a lot more distance and accuracy and Squirrels in my game bag. And last but not least I almost always have a varmint call in my hunting coat pocket and there have been several times when the Squirrel hunting was slow that have brought in both Fox and Coyote in with the call especially late in the season. I prefer to have that Ruger 17 HMR than a 22 LR when things work out. Al The Ruger 17 HMR, one of my dogs and a Fox we took while out hunting Squirrels back a dozen yrs or so.

could've said "it's ok it's the kind that goes... pew.... pew....pew... and not p-p-p-p-p-pew." even better you could've said "what's crazy, is to think I'd carry around a cop all day. I mean when you need help you need it quick!"

thats my one beer to have if I'm having twelve beers

They closed their doors about ten years ago after a nice family-owned run of about 40 years. Ken-Bailey area, and the neighborhood 'diversity' got to be too much. I lived around the corner and left at about the same time, but I still keep in touch with the Anacone family. Nice people. Hand-carved roast beef sandwich with the 'weck lightly dipped in au-jus, for about 3 bucks. I ate a lot of them in the 20 years that I was there.

I find that chasing it down with a couple shots of good bourbon helps.

Really, this is the only picture of deer that really matters to me. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

the horror!!!! here ya go, two of mine, both have taken deer, and both are carried regularly during deer season OH MY!!!!!

It is your qualifiers you toss in at the end of each of your comments that are driving this. "I am just curious" BUT the American is meant for hunting (Like the AR isn't) the bolt gun comments and followed but the old who need 30 rounds of 5.56...lol. There is a reason that the AR platform is hands down the most purchased weapon in the county. Mmay not be what you are intending but you are really sound like your believe it has no place in the deer woods.

You really should get one of these in your hands before you form an opinion

wow, can they suck any more life out of what is supposed to be a primitive sport?