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I'll start this off by saying I know absolutely nothing about reloading. But I will start this thread for others to follow along with my progress and results. In the hope it will help someone else get started too. There is already a wealth of good information right here on this site. I will be taking advantage of that! And also asking advice from some members here, who have years of experience to pull from. I picked up the reloading kit from Billdogge tonight. Thanks again Bill! So the first thing I need to do, is get started here.....

With things being a bit slow here and with some of the squabbling I am seeing down in the politics I thought I would post this small game hunting piece to lighten things up a bit Some years back a fellow Airedale breeder (Pete Bassani) and good friend of mine who was writing the Airedale column for "Full Cry Magazine" a hunting dog publication bugged me to write something up for the column. I had been working a young at the time Airedale male named TJ and had had a pretty good day afield hunting so I wrote up how the hunt went and sent in to Pete. I called it TJ's big adventure. TJ's Big Adventure I have been pretty busy the past few months and have not had a lot of time for writing. Most of my older dogs have passed on and I am left with a bunch of half trained youngsters. So this past fall has been one of the busiest years ever, too many dogs and not enough time. I've been working the dogs mostly on squirrels, coon, and some grouse and there comes a time when you have to put some game in their mouths. I started looking at some new areas as close to home as possible where I could do some hunting and put something down for the dogs. I decided to check out a state land pheasant release area and give it a try. I usually stay away from such places to avoid crowds, but I wanted to at least check it out as I knew there were pheasants there. So I signed up and got my permit and maps and took my young male Airedale, TJ with me to scout this area and see if it was worth messing with. TJ is a 70 pound male that is one of my yard dogs, and far from any kind of finished dog, I have messed with him some on squirrels, coon, and some retrieving work. I would say TJ's biggest turn on is birds. He is crazy about them. This turned out to be one of my best days hunting with a dog ever and I call it "TJ's Big Adventure". I opened the gate to this area and pulled down the dirt road and went about half a mile. We came to a parking area and mine was the only vehicle there. I let TJ out to stretch while I signed the 'sign in' board. I got my gear out of the truck and my .20 gauge double along with the maps and sat down at a picnic table to plot some strategy on where to hunt. I was not sitting there but for a couple of minutes when I heard TJ bark once and I saw him tearing through the woods. I grabbed my gun and went over to see him run a gray squirrel up an oak. As I approached the tree I saw the squirrel timber over to a big evergreen and disappear into the top. I wanted to put the squirrel down to reward TJ and bring home, as he was treeing pretty good, but I could not find the squirrel to get a shot. I was not too happy about missing an opportunity right off the bat, but I petted TJ up well and decided to move out on a trail that cut through a huge swamp and see what we could find. I had not walked too far when I could see TJ was again working scent. I got up close to him and all of a sudden two woodcock flushed. I shot twice and never touched a feather. I reloaded quickly and walked into T J and he flushed another woodcock and I shot and missed again. To say I was not happy was an understatement. I do not claim to be an expert shot, but I was not this pathetic either. TJ was doing his part but I am zero for four on game in the first half hour of hunting. So on we go. I was in an area of some old growth trees that one doesn't see much around here as we come up to a ridge. I saw TJ getting gamey and as I got close up to him I heard a grouse flush but I had no shot. About the time I am thinking what else could go wrong, another grouse flushed straight up and landed on a branch looking down on TJ. Not being proud, I immediately dumped him, as they say a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, and we were finally on the scorecard. About a mile up the trail I heard TJ bark and I could see that he was working around a big pile of brush, looking to get in it. I got over there and looked around and saw nothing, so I climbed up on the pile and jumped up and down a couple of times and out shoots a cottontail rabbit which I bagged. Now I am feeling a little better, as things are now starting to go our way. On we go heading for an old railroad bed that cuts through a huge swamp. I hear TJ bark and whine a couple of times working scent along the edge of the swamp. He was having a hard time moving it out so I figured it must be some kind of feed track. I just followed behind him and let him work and after a bit I moved out some. I had no clue what he was doing but I was ready. He started checking trees for scent and I started looking around myself. The one big oak that he was especially interested in I looked over well and there sat a good sized layup coon. He kept getting up on the tree and whining so he knew the coon was there but lacked the confidence to tree hard. I encouraged him and he started to bark treed well. Now this was the situation I wanted for TJ. My problem was I had the shotgun and didn't want to ruin the hide so I took careful aim at the head and touched one off. It looked like I shot just a tad low and just splattered the coon with bark and maybe a couple of BBs, but out he came. He was full of fight but was no match for TJ as things were settled in short order. I was real happy with his job on this coon and it looked like we were now on a roll. We found this railroad bed and started through the swamp to an open area where the pheasants were supposed to be. I got my map out and took a trail towards some open fields. We then went about a half a mile and came up over a small knoll and there stood two cock pheasants on the trail about 30 yards away. I could have probably gotten both with one shot, but I put TJ on them. One flushed and went to my left and I shot. I could see him go into the woods with T J in hot pursuit a long way and I assumed I missed clean. The other bird ducked into a field of goldenrod to the right. I called TJ back to me and was just about to see if we could flush the other bird when a couple of other hunters appeared and said they saw the whole thing and were positive I had hit the other bird good and said they saw it go down I should be able to find it. So I took a good look at my map and saw that where the pheasant had gone was a several hundred acre patch of woods, and was surrounded by a trail, oval in nature and kind of looked on the map like a giant oval race track. I got TJ in there as close to where I thought the pheasant flew and he started quartering back and forth. I could see that TJ had scent and was working it so I started following him, staying as close to him as possible. After several hundred yards, I started to think we were not on no pheasant, but definitely on something. Finally, we came out on the other side of the woods to the trail surrounding these woods and there was that huge swamp full of water facing us, I began mumbling about those two guys being full of it about me dinging that pheasant. I was just about to call TJ in as he was heading towards the big swamp when up flushes the pheasant and he lands in a tree looking down at TJ just like the grouse had done earlier. Needless to say the way I had been shooting, I flattened him right where he sat. I must say that TJ put on quite an exhibition of tracking on this pheasant. I forgot to say this was getting to be a fairly hot day. It was now 3 PM and we had been going since 8AM and I was beat. I found a resting place and sat down to eat one of those power bars. While sitting there I got out my new varmint call, I always carry one in my pocket when hunting. It is produced by a local outfit called a Black Creek and it is a three in one call: squirrel, rabbit squeal, and coyote howler. I cut loose on the squealer a few times and was just quietly sitting there when I saw TJ coming to attention. Looking in the direction he was staring I see a red Fox coming in on the run. We were busted immediately and the Fox spun off in the opposite direction but I got off two quick shots with three inch number fours. TJ got on the trail and went only about 50 or 60 yards and he found the Fox dead. Well by this time my old bones had enough for the day and it was a long way back to the truck and I make it a point if I shoot anything while hunting it has to be taken out. So with Fox and Coon slung over my shoulder and the small stuff in my game bag I haul my tired butt back to the parking area. I can't remember when my feet hurt more but I also can't remember having a better day afield. A beautiful Fall day with your Airedale in woods that contains a good population of game animals, man life don't get much better than that. TJ was still pretty green and could stand a lot of improvement in order to be a number one hunting dog, more experience and some polish would take care of and bring that out. That being said for the actual amount of hunting he has had, he sure made me proud. The thing I was most interested in seeing and looking for was that real natural ability and drive-versatility geared toward hunting multiple types of game animals. If I would have done my part, we would have bagged seven different species of game this day which in my opinion is a pretty good feat in any hunter's book! In traditional Airedale hunting fashion, he showed he is a versatile meat dog and game for anything that walks, crawls or flies, I am sure the breed founders would have been happy with him.....a pretty good hunting Airedale. TJ and our catch and another photo of me and the boy out after Squirrels, old TJ is gone now but is certainly not forgotten, he was a good one!

Venison Chili Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I quit my 25 year union job and moved to my cabin in NY. I quit the last day of March. I loaded the Ram up and pulled in the driveway this afternoon. Off grid and ready for the challenge. I will be making a journal in another thread starting tomorrow. Am I crazy, I don't think so. Am I a little scared...you can bet on that. But I have been a woodsman all of my life and I will give this all I got. Sent from my HTCD160LVW using Tapatalk

Having one and remembering one of the few hunters I knew that had the same interests of hunting far off lands.... To all that have lost family and friends.

true love Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Mental instability has no boundaries. Doesn't matter if you are 'off your rocker' and, left, right, male, female, treehugger or hunter. If they want to create mayhem, they will figure out something to use. No matter how many gun laws are passed. Perhaps some day mental illness will be the focus of these senseless acts. Not whatever they use to carry them out.

I think every hunter should be required to kill a doe with an atlatl before they can hunt for a buck and then they can use any implement they want. It will ensure survival of the species and probably no injuries from hunting accidents at all. This idea is soooooooo good, I should nominate myself for DEC commissioner.

Here's an excellent instructional video to get you started

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One of those 11,758 is mine! If it wasn't for the abbreviated x-bow season, I would have killed a big fat ZERO deer last year! The only part that scares me is seeing the season after season fly by without full inclusion opportunities. Some of us aren't getting any younger and got nothing left to prove any more with vertical archery equipment....... Been there, done that.., time to move on.

Our power at work went out at 11:30am. I left at 1:30......no juice means no lights, computers or phones. Adios......amigos.

weekend doesnt look very good either. Need to get some stuff done outside for chores so I can play in May! Need to flop a gobbler and yank some fish lips!

Tip to yours and to my mentor, pops! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Did you notice that the decline is almost entirely anterless deer?

My idea of the ultimate comfort food. Home smoked sausage, potatoes, string beans, onions. Butter, salt, pepper.

blasphemy!

Everything there is to know about the 2nd Amendment and your rights regarding self defense in one article. https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/the-second-amendment-as-an-expression-of-first-principles/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=second-amendment-first-principles Some of the text inside: Expressing a widely held view, Elbridge Gerry remarked in the debate over the first militia bill in 1789 that “whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia.” The Second Amendment is unique among the amendments in the Bill of Rights, in that it contains a preface explaining the reason for the right protected: Militias are necessary for the security of a free state. We cannot read the words “free State” here as a reference to the several states that make up the Union. The frequent use of the phrase “free State” in the founding era makes it abundantly clear that it means a non-tyrannical or non-despotic state. Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), rightly remarked that the term and its “close variations” were “terms of art in 18th-century political discourse, meaning a free country or free polity.” The principal constitutional debate leading up to the Heller decision was about whether the right to “keep and bear arms” was an individual right or a collective right conditioned upon service in the militia. As a general matter, of course, the idea of collective rights was unknown to the Framers of the Constitution—and this consideration alone should have been decisive. We have James Madison’s own testimony that the provisions of the Bill of Rights “relate [first] . . . to private rights.” The notion of collective rights is wholly the invention of the Progressive founders of the administrative state, who were engaged in a self-conscious effort to supplant the principles of limited government embodied in the Constitution. For these Progressives, what Madison and other Founders called the “rights of human nature” were merely a delusion characteristic of the 18th century. Science, they held, has proven that there is no permanent human nature—that there are only evolving social conditions. As a result, they regarded what the Founders called the “rights of human nature” as an enemy of collective welfare, which should always take precedence over the rights of individuals. For Progressives then and now, the welfare of the people—not liberty—is the primary object of government, and government should always be in the hands of experts. This is the real origin of today’s gun control hysteria—the idea that professional police forces and the military have rendered the armed citizen superfluous; that no individual should be responsible for the defense of himself and his family, but should leave it to the experts. The idea of individual responsibilities, along with that of individual rights, is in fact incompatible with the Progressive vision of the common welfare. This way of thinking was wholly alien to America’s founding generation, for whom government existed for the purpose of securing individual rights. And it was always understood that a necessary component of every such right was a correspondent responsibility. Madison frequently stated that all “just and free government” is derived from social compact—the idea embodied in the Declaration of Independence, which notes that the “just powers” of government are derived “from the consent of the governed.” Social compact, wrote Madison, “contemplates a certain number of individuals as meeting and agreeing to form one political society, in order that the rights, the safety, and the interests of each may be under the safeguard of the whole.” The rights to be protected by the political society are not created by government—they exist by nature—although governments are necessary to secure them. Thus political society exists to secure the equal protection of the equal rights of all who consent to be governed. This is the original understanding of what we know today as “equal protection of the laws”—the equal protection of equal rights. Each person who consents to become a member of civil society thus enjoys the equal protection of his own rights, while at the same time incurring the obligation to protect the rights of his fellow citizens. In the first instance, then, the people are a militia, formed for the mutual protection of equal rights. This makes it impossible to mistake both the meaning and the vital importance of the Second Amendment: The whole people are the militia, and disarming the people dissolves their moral and political existence.

If you read the written documents from the founders that detailed their intentions when the Constitution was written, they mention weapons that are in common use by the people. The weapons at that time were equal to those possessed by the British. They wanted the people to be a force to be reckoned with, in order to defend liberty against tyranny. It would be illogical to assume they didn't mean for the people to remain a force to be reckoned with in the future. Would we be willing to say all technological advancements since the signing of the Constitution and Bill of Rights are not subject to protection under those documents? I believe that type of thinking attempts to confuse the Rule of Law over time. Those founding documents are legal documents. Legal documents say what they say, and do not say what they don't say. They are not subject to interpretation and application as time passes. To do so is judicial activism, which means the courts start making law, rather than ruling on law, which violates the powers granted to the three branches of government, which are meant to be checks on the powers of each of them. Nothing in the Constitution authorizes the federal government to ban anything. Doing so is government abuse of power. The founders wanted rule of law to cover criminal activity, not criminalize people for possession of anything that could be used to commit a crime. It's obvious to me, people with an agenda that is stifled by the Rule of Law will try to bastardize what the law means in order to achieve their goals. It's up to the people to put a stop to that.

I can tell by that comment you have never dated a redhead. They are all freaking, boil your bunny, kind of nuts. lol

What they should be asking is.....why was there no help for the weird kid? How did the police get called 42 times on this kid and yet he was still able to walk into our school...what happened to three strikes? How was the FBI told about this kid twice yet nothing was done? These kids have been rounded up an taken advantage of by anti gun groups....yell and scream...gun gun gun.....

I'm a huge advocate for full inclusion of crossbow. But killed my deer with a compound bow, during the two week crossbow season. The deer is no less dead, no matter what tool I used to get the job done.

Personally I think the does numbers going down reflects hunters holding off initially to get a crack at a "big" buck. When you give the does a couple days during firearm season to wise up, they can be a much harder animal to get a crack at during legal shooting hours on huntable land

This is just the hunting portion of take. When they incorporate deer car collisions, farm issues, carrying capacity/biologists, etc.....what DEC terms stakeholders......they use that total input to set tag numbers to reflect that info. Since they basically only have general hunting, DDP, DMAP permits to control population and general hunting is the biggest factor for take off.

If you're bouncing them, you're doing it right. These are really tough fishing conditions I don't think it's you

I have hunted them paying a trespass fee....GREAT fun, but it would be tough to do it spot and stalk with a bow or even a handgun...We were rifle hunting... We paid somewhere around $700 apiece for 3 days of hunting....LOTS of critters and we shot some really nice 14-15 inch bucks....We booked the hunt through Butch Mannasse Hunting Adventures...I can get the exact hunt # from John Tschantre, or you could email/call Butch and tell him what you'd like to do and he could suggest a hunt hat would work for you... If you want I could probably dig out some pictures and meet you at the Legion to shoot the breeze...

Last 2 years of bow season weather was terrible for hunting ,at least on the weekends it was.

Wait, what? How about all of the kneeling, the t-shirts they wear in warmups, the little sayings and messages on their face blackening stickers, etc etc?

Just picked up my folks cremains. Most difficult thing I’ve ever done. Drove them to where they met 80 years ago. I miss you so much mom n pop. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Grouper with caviar and smoked lamb and goat cheese along with some other stuff

Turkey Rueben’s Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We think alike. High winds, I bring in garbage tote, park away from trees, charge up everything . Im at work now, lots of wires , trees, transformers , down. Then my favorite, we go for one of those, block off the area with yellow caution tape, notify RGE, talk to caller. Then a neighbor comes home sees the yellow tape and calls the same thing in . Last one wanted to know if she could let her dog out in the back yard, I said “ sure, you can , he ,might get electrocuted though .”

The good news is that with our lower center of gravity, we are more wind resistant Law.

There was a picture of this lady on TV, and I have to say that if ever there were telltale physical features that indicate the insanity of a bat$hit-crazy person, she's got it all.....lol. But then if it were generally known she was an animal rights nut-case, I guess that wild crazed look has to be expected and probably wasn't a real tip-off that she was a potential mass murderer.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

I have no idea how many tickets they issue but have been told by a processor to be sure to not forget to report for that reason. I think the tags are scannable? Anyway, I imagine that what they do is estimate the reporting rate for different units and combine these, taking the size of the units into account, to get an overall reporting rate. Almost everyone has access to a computer or smart phone these days, seems like it would be easy to set up a low cost mandatory reporting system, successful or not.

So what they're saying is that out of 14,000 deer checked, only 7,000 were reported? Did they issue 7,000 tickets for not reporting a harvest? I wonder...

Having a cold one with the Smoky Mtns. in the back drop. 75deg. and sunny.

A few more things i built, small cabinets for keys.

Got out for a hike today and flushed 6 woodcock and two grouse. I must have been close to this birds nest because it kept coming back to me trying to lure me away after I almost stepped on it. There was another one a few feet away from this one so maybe I just interrupted these two "bumpin' uglies" ,lol Anyhow, these things have always been a challenge for me to photograph so I was happy to come away with a few shots! They've gotta have one of THE most effective camouflage patterns in the woods no doubt. Don't take your eye off these suckers once you spot one on the ground!

Venison taco pizza. I secretly hope the kids hate it so I can eat it all myself. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, the language now (as I understand it) allows confiscation of handguns AND long guns now based solely on an accusation. I know of one friend who came home one day years ago to being served and having his pistols taken away. He had no clue his lawyer wife had been cheating and decided to file for divorce and a restraining order. Totally blindsided. He ultimately got everything back, but it took a while. Another concern could be for a live in gf. For example, if your new bae stays at your place for 2 weeks, she has established residence. Want to break up for any reason? You'll need to go through the eviction process if she doesn't want to leave. If she knows you own any firearms, then you're pretty much screwed with this new law as she could claim anything against you. DV is a horrible situation for the victims and I truly empathize, but we shouldn't throw away the presumption of innocence and start revoking constitutional rights over an accusation, IMO.

Yeah like every hunter has the perfect marriage and how many bitches out there know that all they have to do is mention the word and she hits the guy where it hurts the most. Sad you could even think that shit wont happen.

Which Sammy Sosa? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thats the same as giving their Ok. Just wondering if the Lawsuit that Pa has going on for doing the same stupid thing will spill over into Ny. Nothing like saying they are trying to stop/beat the spread of a disease better than giving people untested deer to be ate by Vermin and Birds to be shit the Prions all over the countryside. I mean its only been tested proven vector of spread of the CWD Prions. I would bet Ny will be brought into the same lawsuits being a common border. As it should be.

Made garlic-ginger beef stirfry last night ( no pic sorry ). Thawed a couple pork chops for tonight and baked them. Fiancee ate the leftover stirfry, so I just made a couple cold pork sammies with blazing Doritos, spicy brown mustard, and horseradish. Sent from my SM-S327VL using Tapatalk

Did I mention there is also about 10 acres, maybe more, that is an apple orchard as well? Yes I am turkey hunting their this spring, I was gunna head up this weekend and set trail cams