Skillet

Great post, Doc. Well put.

I went to a place in Patten, Maine for 3 years in a row. I was a teenager, & the outfitter would let me come up for the summer & help get stands / trails ready, and start the baiting. In return, he let me hunt the first week of the season for free. He turned out to be a great friend, but died a few years back. Killed 2, missed one. 175lbs & 200lbs. The first one was great to eat, we did it mostly in roasts / stews. The second one had visible 1" - 2" worms crawling out of where the muscles overlapped eachother. I didn't eat that one. Don't listen to the people saying that a 150lb bear is too little. He always told guys that 130lb was an average Maine bear. Bears are tough. We trailed and lost lots of bears that guys hit with fast, flat shooting rifles (300, 30-06, etc). The shots were all under 50yards, & the guys who did best used their 12 gauges or slower rounds throwing heavy lead (I used a 444 on one, and a 458 win on the other) Good luck! I'm jealous.

We hunted with a guy last year who was using a 17. He had two broadside shots at 40 yards, and both dogs reacted as tho they were hit, but we didnt get either. My girlfriend uses .17 on chucks, but even they get away sometimes if the hit isn't perfect. I think the 17 will kill them if you place it perfectly, but it will result in a lot of lost ones too. Blood trails are non-existent with the 17. The 17 will cause less pelt damage, but that doesn't do much good if the coyote is still running around wearing it. I think the hornet would be a good choice, but the 223 would be a better one. It's faster, has longer range, plenty of knockdown for a yote, & the ammo is cheap / easy to find compared to the hornet. As far as noise, the 223 will be louder.

After doing a little research this morning, it seems like $435 is high for just the gun. I'll sell everything for $400 / BO. Includes: Quake claw sling, scope bases, partial box of White Hot pellets, 80 Winchester primers, 80 Hornady XTP .45 cal hollow point bullets, sabots, bag of cleaning patches, 2 spare breech plugs, 2 spare firing pins, 2 spare firing pin springs, spare fore end screw, several other spare parts, & a cleaning jag. That's $100 in extra stuff (at least) and the gun for $400 total. Other than some other cleaning stuff, it's a ready to shoot gun.

Thunderhead 100Gr.

Will do, thanks. It is a great muzzleloader.

Just bought it last winter. Selling it because I want to buy a new slug gun, & I've still got my old muzzleloader to use for the late season. Shoots great. I put exactly 20 rounds through it, all in one session, & cleaned it thoroughly. Asking $435 for the gun, including stainless scope bases I put on it. I'm a guy who likes to have back ups for my back ups, so I've got some extras that I'd like to sell with the gun. I've got 2 extra breech plugs (they sell online for $21 each. I'll throw both in for $25), & a bunch of spare parts for the firing assembly (cost me about $30. $15 takes all). Sabots and bullets available if interested. I know it's a used muzzleloader, but I take good care of my stuff. I'm not looking to screw anyone. I think this is a fair price, but if not, somebody let me know. This is a sweet rifle, I just found a shotgun I want, & I'm hoping to get the $ together before he sells it. I'm in Rochester. Pick up only.

Albany?

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It's not that meat hunters are out looking for a buck, the point is that this new rule takes away the freedom to shoot one if it came along. A lot of hunters really don't care about antlers, but don't tell them they can't fill the freezer because the deer that gave them an opportunity happened to be a buck.

Shoot. Shovel. Shut up.

You're right, but you've got to draw a line somewhere. I don't need to deer hunt to enjoy the season. Squirrel hunting has always been my favorite anyway. Ideally, I'd just buy a small game license. Unfortunately, I will still have to buy a deer license because it's my son's first year of archery hunting, & I don't want to let him down. Kind of a bleak outlook for his hunting career though.

Do these regs apply to junior hunters?

I guess I should reevaluate whether or not it's worth my $ to buy a license this year. Leaning towards not. Nice job nysdec.

Yeah, when I was 12. Hunting them with a pellet gun will result in a lot of lost frogs. Unless you brain them, they will get away. We hunt them now with spears, and nothing else. If you stick them solidly, they aren't getting off the gig. Check out these guys, I bought a couple of great 5 prong gig heads from them. www.frog-gigging.com

Deer & squirrels are even for me.

There's a lot of days I'm out looking specifically for squirrels. If I'm in a new area where I might jump a bunny, I take the model 12. Most of my good squirrel spots don't really have rabbits tho, so I take the 22 most often. I like being able to still hunt the squirrels & take long shots. If carrying the 22 costs me a rabbit, I'm ok with that.

A bison with my bow or sidelock would be my pick. I know drawing a tag from the few wild herds is a real long shot, but there's some huge ranches out west that have them. I know it might not be a tough hunt, but from what I've heard, it's an awesome experience. I don't need a big bull or anything, a cow or young bull would be fine. Any bison hunt is pricey now though, since the meat caught on and got expensive.

I'm good with it. Know why? Because it was in the PAST. A long time ago. I can ACCEPT the flag as part of HISTORY.

Classy, as usual. Who said anything about hate?

Chapters and verses demonstrating the things you are claiming. Please.

AMERICA People fight and die to create such a free country. Then, little by little, the country gets destroyed by it's own government, right under it's people's noses. The people who see it happening are ignored and ridiculed, until it's too late. The end.

The "fanged doe" at #17 is actually a nice size Chinese water deer buck.

It doesn't matter if some judge decides it's protected by the Constitution or not. God says marriage is a union between 1 MAN & 1 WOMAN. Despite how hard the government is trying to run Christianity out of our country, not even SCOTUS supercedes God's word / law.

Very cool. Where did you kill it?