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Also, thanks for the comments everyone! Glad you enjoy the photos, and thanks for looking. Sure, I've posted some of the details of my setup in other threads so it's already out there for someone to Google anyway. The short answer, that full setup runs into the low five figures. The exact number depends on if you are buying new or used, and on what camera body you choose to use. Breaking it down by the components, the lens is the biggest chunk of it. At retail the Canon 600mm f4 IS II runs $11,500, on the used market it's $8,500 to $9,500 depending on condition. The nice thing about good glass is that it retains it's resale value very well. I've bought used lenses and then sold them for nearly the same price five years later. The only thing that really drives down the used market on a lens is when a replacement model is released, but the product cycle for high end lenses is usually at least ten years and can run easily run out to fifteen or twenty years in some cases. The initial buy in with photography is high, but then as you upgrade equipment that typically means you have equipment to sell as well which helps defray the cost. The full tripod setup is close to $2,000 retail ($1,050 for the tripod, $300 leveling base, $600 for the gimbal head). I was able to piece it together used for closer to $1,300, partly because I was able to buy the gimbal as a package with another tripod which I then sold. Camera bodies are another story. My current main body is a 1DsIII, which was Canon's flagship pro body when it was released in 2007 for $8,000. The life cycle on pro bodies is 4-5 years and I stay a generation behind as a general rule, when I bought this body around 2012 it was for less than 30% of its launch price. Now you can pick one up for around $1,200. Canon just recently announced their newest flagship, the 1DX Mark II, which nowadays come at the "bargain" price of $6,000. I'm looking forward to picking up the original 1DX in the near future for a fraction of the price. Bodies depreciate so quickly that I just can't stomach that kind of loss, which is why I buy used. The other thing I should mention is that although I do have quite a bit of money invested in my camera gear I'm certainly not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. My two biggest passions (after family of course) are photography and turkey hunting, and other than travel and tags for out of state hunts I don't spend that much on turkey hunting so most of my play money goes to photography. I don't own an ATV, or a UTV, or a snowmobile, or a motorcycle, etc., I own a big lens instead!

I remember our driveway looking lie a parking lot when all the family got together for deer hunting. The air was full of stories (some of them true) and the strategy sessions, the joking and some of those meals that the ladies of the family would put on. I think that whole atmosphere is what really kept me in an anxious condition while waiting to get old enough to hunt. Hanging on every word, enjoying all the enthusiasm, it all made me want to be a part of it all. None of that happens when a kid's introduction to hunting happens in the absence of all that and at a time when all those characters are excluded.

Well I have a few fish getting up in age they will eat out of your hand, and I've been working on teaching them tricks.. they know one well teasing my nephews and avoiding their hooks..

We were just talking about this subject at work , out of the 4 of us ,no one could remember the last time they had a snowball thrown at their car while driving in the winter . Where have all the youth gone

Potato guns and combat Jarts!

The youth hunt is quickly approaching and hopefully everyone that is participating is ready to go. Last year for the contest a few of you contacted me and offered donations for the contest. If anyone wants to donate something/anything as a prize for the contest it will be greatly appreciated. Good luck to everyone that will be participating and be safe!!

Sure building forts in the woods, damning a creek and stocking it with trout we breed in our own spring feed hatchery we made. Sucker spearing !!! Lots of baseball , football and bb. Here'show it worked , say baseball we picked our own teams and weren't shy about saying who was good or who sucked . When there was only 4 or 5 per team we figured it out , right field was out of bounds, batters supplied there own catcher and had an all time pitcher . I feel this made us stronger people than the , everyone gets a trophy and don't keep score method of today. No Dads or coaches involved , just a bunch of kids who made it work Oh and a couple of the older ones who were really good had to bat lefty .... How could I forget? Apple wars in the orchard , basically a snowball fight with apples.... We also had " destrucko wheel" a large heavy steel wheel thing, that we rolled down hills in the woods to see what it would destroy in its path. Getting it back up the hill was the orignal crossfit work out 45 years ago!

Here is the European mount that we did of a gator we got our first year. This one was 6'3"

We had a creek, called Butternut Creek, that ran thru our town. A friend and I did the same thing, we built a raft and started to float down the creek. The only thing we did not realize is how we were going to get home. With no cell phones back then, we had to walk 15 miles back home.

one summer growing up in Red Hook Brooklyn my friends and i had just read Huckleberry Finn in school and that summer we started building a raft out of pallets and drums and whatever we could find along the docks. Then one day in late July we got it in the water and tried paddling it across the buttermilk channel to Governors iland but got barely half way there when we were stopped by a coast guard launch. They had a good laugh dropped un on shore and towed away our beautiful raft we had spent over a month building. Thus ended our adventure on New York's Mississippi.

Huge gator but I seriously cannot stand people taking pictures when they are standing 20 feet behind the damn animal. Because once you see the second picture the gator in the first looks like it could eat the other. It's just completely absurd and really irritates me. Enough with trying to make every kill look like Godzilla. Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

So my wifes old droid something or other stopped working correctly so we went to Verizon to get her a new phone. We always have just gotten the "free phone" when you sign a contract and like clockwork the phone would die when the contract was up. So now there are no contracts, they put the price of your phone in your payment or you can buy it outright. So the lady starts showing us a $600 phone. I immediately say we don't need a phone like that, what else you got so she shows us a $550 dollar phone etc. So the lady is explaining that some new phone is coming out next week so the price on the $550 phone will drop. So I talk my wife into waiting a week. So a week later I look at Verizon online and to see if there are any deals and they have the new Samsung Galaxy S7 buy one get one free. Now this is a $700 phone. So I go there and ask for the deal thinking I am sure my phone is going to die any day since our contract is up so I might as well take this deal and we will have two new phones at $350 a piece is what I am thinking. Well they tell me that deal is only for new customers. So I show on their website that is says nothing about that and they don't care so they start showing other options. So I tell them my option is to go across the street to AT&T and see if they will give me this deal...So I do, and not only do I get the buy one get one free, they waive the activation fee, we keep our numbers, gave us two wireless chargers and they are paying our last Verizon bill. So I got this phone and at first I am like, I don't really see what is so great about this thing. Well now that I have had it a couple of days, this thing is pretty awesome....Superfast, it takes better pictures than my actual camera (not that I am photographer) slow motion video is really cool. I might actually use this for more than just making phone calls. I love the fact that it is water resistant to 15 meters. I was a little nervous about the service switching to AT&T but so far it has been fine. We sure have come a long way from the Walkman sport that I used to think I was so cool for having. I better be careful, I don't want to find myself waiting inline for the S8 to come out....

We ran around local parks in playing cops and robbers, army, etc. We had toy guns that look like real guns and didn't get shot by the police because of it. We even ran into construction sites and get yelled at by the security guard. I would lay pennies on the train tracks and come back later to find thin copper plates. We would turn over rocks and catch what we can find. Worms, snakes, snails, slugs. We burned ants with magnifying glass and blew up slugs with firecrackers because, yes, it was legal for an 10 year old boy to buy firecrackers back then. Tons of stickball and baseball. Ride our bikes over to other counties. We gathered PVC pipes and attached a balloon to the end of it and shoot beans at each other with it.

We used to play "army" or "Cowboys and Indians" all the time. I was always a German or an Indian, as my Grandmother was full blood Native American. Playing those games was the start of learning to "sneak" through the woods.

We use to make forts in the woods. Any piece of scrap wood we could find, no saws, just nail it together. Building it was half the fun.

I do not agree with this. Nor do I agree the NRA-ILA doesn't inform it's members about anti-gun and anti-hunting lobbying efforts long before they become bills in the legislature. If supporting these groups that are fighting the anti's isn't right, what is?

Come on now, first crossbows in archery, now youths in the woods with guns, during regular season. What's next? It's bad enough that kids get first crack during the youth seasons. I mean, do we really want all these idiot kids out there slinging lead around at the deer we've been watching all season? We need to keep kids relegated to archery for the first few years. But only compounds & traditional, no crossbows. I mean, we don't want these kids killing deer, they need to struggle along for awhile. Give the marginal ones a chance to call it quits, before they get hooked by actually killing something, & crowd the woods even more. Opportunity? For kids? I think not. ????

Well, maybe that's a stretch. But if you look close, these guys are showing those bumps on the pedicles as the new velvet antlers begin.

Mike, Since I already sent in $100 for this years ad, how about if I send in an additional $50 just to piss off these two hubcaps? I'll go write the check now and it'll go into tomorrows mail. Hopefully we can get a bigger ad or a second one paid for.

Expresso, does any of this threatening behavior have you at all concerned? http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/04/06/black-lives-matter-co-founder-tweets-killing-men-white-folks/

I'd like to pitch in a little something for the prize pile this year Lou. You're one of the few guys that actually gets involved with promoting the youth hunts and doesn't just talk about it. Your motivation and generosity are appreciated especially considering you do this for total strangers kids on this site. Good luck to all the kiddos, and good for you Lou putting this contest together again!

The neighborhood kids a few houses down used to shoot arrows straight up in the air and the other kid would try and catch it with a pizza box. Wish i was making this up. I never played but i wont lie it was entertaining to watch. They didnt have very good parents... DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME

One Summer some friends and I got word of a body near the train tracks by the Back Harlow Rd. So we packed up some supplies and headed out down the tracks to try and find it and be heroes. Little did we know some local hoods were also coming to find it but it wasnt fair, THEY CAME IN A CAR! Anyway, yada yada yada, neither of us got credit for finding the kid and I got a leech on my package for my trouble.

If that is the same as we used to do, we called it "skitching". Sneak out, grab the bumper and off to the races with feet sliding on snowy roads. Bare/melted spots added an entirely new dimension and level of difficulty . lol. but it beat walking everywhere.

Right wing, left wing, extremists who would kill innocent people exist and they are as big pieces of filth at Islamic extremists. But I think that in recent years? right now, Islamic extremists are a far bigger threat to the U.S. and the world, then any other group. Buzz…Im sorry for the friends you lost on 911, but how many friends have you lost to right wing nut jobs??

You spelled "knuckle" wrong

"Tree parachuting". Climb a tall skinny tree on a steep hillside, rock it back and forth until you could get it headed downhill, and enjoy the ride. "Canoeing". Find a dead log along the Canandaigua Outlet and ride it downstream until someone points out that we have to walk back to our bicycles.. "Hide-n-seek". Done in standing cornfields. No crying allowed. Pay attention to your surroundings or you will surely suffer. "Get a peek at Jenny's panties". No comment.

oh youngin!!! stand in line to put you hard earned quarters in...lol. Those were video games.

My dad had a Case lawn tractor, and a small wagon that was towed behind. Pretty beefy for a lawn tractor. NYS canal was a few miles away. I had a flat bottom Jon Boat, a 7.5hp outboard and the tractor. The jon boat fit just about perfect turned upside down and laid on the wagon. Outboard, cushions, poles, cooler all fit great in that wagon. One day I was at a red light all loaded up on the way to the canal. This pickup pulls up and I see the guys pointing and kind of laughing. I cracked a big grin and was like yup... im going fishin..

OMG you just reminded me of how much us kids looked forward to the few weeks before the Fourth Of July when small bottle rockets became available and i'd look for the perfect piece of pipe. Then we would have bazooka wars one side of the street against the other. Man were we stupid! But oh what fun!

We basically did anything except sit still , always on the move and could switch objectives in no time flat.

When we weren't shooting bb guns or catching frogs and crawfish out of the creek, we were playing Army. We would run around the woods from sun up to sundown setting up ambushes on each other etc. I had the coolest M16....I wish I still had it....It took a 9v battery and had a selector switch for single shot, burst and full auto and it would make the noise for you what ever you had it on. That was probably my favorite toy growing up. It didn't have an orange barrel either....It was a scary looking black rifle.

My childhood was typical, summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets.

Same here, grew up close to Newtown Creek between Brooklyn and Queens. We got a HUGE block of foam the size of a car from a factory near by. We hollowed it out like a dugout canoe and it floated very well with 5 of us in it when we put it in a large construction pond so we decided to launch it in the East River between Manhattan and Queens across from the U N building. This river is notorious for its wicked currents. Well as we were putting in a Police boat pulled up at top speed and asked us what we were doing. Someone saw us and must have called. We said "oh nothing just hanging out". Then they asked if that boat was ours and course we said no. So they said then I guess you guys won't mind if we take it with us right? We all looked at each other and sheepishly said guess not and away it went. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep I've seen them up 8 inches by may 1st many times.

I don't know the last time a saw kids playing tag, cops and robbers, or build club houses. Geechee born and Geechee bred

Nope, no preference points required. I'll post a thread in "Out of New York Hunting" to talk about gator tags so we don't clutter up this thread.

As a youngster, I would have the opportunity in the summer to stay at my uncles dairy farm and help out. We would always hunt woodchucks after the evening milking. That got me started.

I am always amazed at how some people continue to enjoy their firearms while at the same time bad-mouthing the very organizations that are out there trying to save their right to do so.

The bird watchers can by the stamp now.. they arent...like many others that use areas bought and paid for by hunters , they love it... but don't want to pay for it or acknowledge that hunters dollars paid for it. I see the same with hikers that use snowmobile trails and bridges in county and state owned property ,that are paid for and maintained by clubs, one group was talking loud enough so we could hear them,I don't know why they allow snowmobiles on the hiking trails anyway.. boy they got an earful of education from us on who built and maintains the trails they use, a sheepish oh we didn't know was the final response from them.....

I don't quite understand the big deal. Why would it suck to have a sand hill crane on it one year instead of a duck? Is a sand hill crane not as cool to look at? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

BK, I have points for Elk (10) and Mule Deer (11), however, my brother in-law and I will be doing an OTC hunt this year. We already took care of receiving our tags and points. All of our hunts are DIY style. While we're bow hunting, my father in-law and a friend of his will be rifle bear hunting in a neighboring (Target) unit. This hunt is actually a combined hunt/scout trip for future quality Elk and Mule deer hunts. This will "only" be my third trip. Absolutely love it our there and was very fortunate to kill a bull on my second trip. During both of my trips, we hunted near Craig for the second rifle season in a zero point zone. My in-laws go on average every other year. We have following approach to hunting Colorado: #1. Most important, get points every year!! to build toward future hunts in higher quality zones. #2. Scout, do your research on quality zones for animal you want to pursue to gauge how many years it may take. Then, if you want to hunt while accumulating points find those which allow you to get points and a tag (second choice or OTC). This way you continue building points and hunt. We prefer to hunt a zone next to or in the zone of the future quality Elk/Mule deer hunts. Then, we scout with boots on the ground in the future targeted zone. I say we, but it's my father in-law and brother in-law up to this point who have done most of the homework. #3. Have fun but be prepared. One hunt was "hot", 70's in October while the next trip was "cold", single digits at night along with 22" of snow. You never know what to expect!! I don't expect snow in Sep. for the bow hunt but in the Colorado mountains, anything is possible.

WHOA! Wait a minute. Isn't this the General Chit Chat forum? How is it a thread on the "Fracking Ban" was moved out of here for being political, but this obviously political thread has not been? Where are those two guys who were so "offended" by politics about fracking? Are they not upset about the politics in this thread? Perhaps it is the issue they find offensive rather than the politics in general. I smell a certain level of discrimination on this site regarding politics. Hmmmm.

How about we just worry about the one's who are a threat today? Who cares about the one's that are all dead and gone? Yes, some militia people are crazy and a threat, but at least they can be monitored, infiltrated and arrested with impunity. The Muslim community is protected by every form of political correctness, making it very hard to infiltrate or monitor them. That is a big problem for law enforcement. Worry about the white supremacists if you want, and don't forget about the other races that have supremacy groups too. But, do not use any of them to misdirect the biggest threat facing us today, unless your intention is to protect them even more.

Toes or no toes, those pics are winners.

Chinese tonight. Haven't had it in a few weeks and it was good.

I had my 6 month CT scan of my lungs 2 weeks ago to check on any return of lung cancer, and went for follow up visit yesterday with my Oncologist for results summary. Great news again from Dr. D was that there isn't any sign of return of the cancer and that a spot on my lower right lung that they were monitoring has resolved itself and is no longer visible!! And I won't need another scan for a year now! It's been just over three years now since my lobectomy and remission, and I am feeling pretty good. So I am a happy camper...and hunter lol!!! Thanks for good news Dr. D!!

A long process but worth it. Pork shoulder smoked , oven and crockpot BBQ pulled pork ( sweet baby rays ) and some slaw I whipped up.

Very sad day for music for sure.Merle Haggard was my favorite singer ever. Weather driving down the road sitting by a river/lake/pond/campfire or just hanging out his music was about life as it should be wrote/sang about.He will be Greatly missed.RIP Merle Haggard I wear my own kinda hat.

i made this venison roast in the crockpot. It wasn't great, sort of dry and crumbly