otis2

Benelli Super Black Eagle II 12 gauge 2 ¾ - 3 inch shells Fully riffled barrel Full camo Camo sling Hard case and documentation Lightly hunted and in excellent condition Asking $1300 OBO

I know that there are many thousands of Remington firearms out there that have performed flawlessly for their owners. I'm not trying to take anything away from other manufacturers. But everyone that I know personally has had one issue or another with their Remington firearms (mostly shotguns) at one time or another.

Is anyone heading out this weekend for the Adirondack early season?

Trapping is an awesome sport, I really miss it. When I was a kid I used to run lines with my father for muskrats and coon. Once I got into my teens I started running my own lines. Lots of good memories with pops!

You'll never go wrong with a Browning. The vast majority of firearms that I own are Brownings and I have NEVER had an issue with any of them. The A-Bolt is an awesome gun and at $500 it’s an awesome value. I have a stainless stalker in 7mm Rem and it’s been flawless for 20+ years. It’s topped off with a Leopold 3-9x40. I’d put that gun up against any gun form any other manufacturer. Having the privilege of hunting with many individuals over the years, Browning firearms have proved themselves over and over when other manufacturers’ products have failed. I’m going to be picking up a Browning X-Bolt for my son this year in 25-06. I can’t wait! As far as shotguns go, I’m a Browning A-5 fan. They have a little more kick than the new gas operated models, but again they perform flawlessly in any conditions. We just recently purchased a Remington 1100 20 gauge 3” for my son and after shooting it 20 times, the gas operated mechanism broke. I want to be a Remington fan, (heck there made just down the road from me) but I’ve never had nor seen anyone have good luck with them.

We had a little creek that ran by our house when I was a child and we always caught salamanders, crayfish, and minnows. As for chipmunks, they don’t bother me and I don’t bother them, the dogs have a field day with them, and the wife feeds them.

I still shoot my High Country Royal Hunter that's over 20 years old. It's a great bow and looks and shoots like new.

That's what the ECO told us at my son’s hunter safety curse. On the other side of the ditch/mowed area shooting away from the road.

We've seen one at camp in Brookfield, and one at the fatm on Rt 46 just south of Stockbridge.

I've hunted in state land in the Camden to Osceola area for many years.

Our graduating class was very close to 50 students. No there was no splitting that class in two or anything so the teachers could handle things, or so we would get some sort of a "better education". But we did turn out a few doctors, lawyers, engineers, and teachers, and were never deprived of anything of any real educational value. Interestingly enough, classes today (at the same school) are graduating only a slightly higher class size, but we have more than twice as many teachers. Further we now support a whole other school (an elementary school) that wasn't there when I went there. And of course there is more than twice the administrative personel, and more buses, and more bus runs (an early bus and a late bus). And of course they have other absolutely necessary items like a swimming pool, tennis courts and nothing but the best sports fields. And of course our gymnasium/auditorium has given way to separate facilities. Ah, but it was all worth it with the superior education they are now providing ..... right? WRONG!!!! Graduating percentages have gone down. Percentages of students going on to college have declined (even with today's improved financial resources). We have students who can't spell, have difficulty reading and can't handle fundamental math. And, according to some of the state studies, our school has been evaluated as being in the upper third in terms of quality of education in the area. Things have gone terribly wrong and we don't seem to know how to fix it. Meanwhile, some foriegn countries that used to be considered "third world" are now taking over the engineering and manufacturing activities of U.S. corporations. We had better figure out how to "fix it" pretty soon or we will be becoming the third world country. Is there ignorance in America? You bet ..... the best ignorance that money can buy. To reiterate what has already been said, you can spend all the money you want on schools, teachers, administrators, etc. but unless the parents get involved the school system will not churn out more educated individuals. In today’s society, very few parents take the time to work with their children at home. In addition to this the “politically correct” movement of the 1990’s has KILLED any chance of disciplining disruptive students. My wife has had children throw their desk and chairs at her, brought them to the office, and the child threw a table at the principal! This was a 7th grader! The child got expelled for 5 days! He learned that he could do whatever he wanted and in addition got a week off of school! In my day the principal would have given me the paddle and I would have went home to IRATE parents that would have beat my butt! But we were also raised to respect people. In today‘s society, no one has respect for anyone any more. It’s a shame; this once great country has gone to the dogs. While I’m up on the soap box, I’d like to ask everyone to get involved with your local schools. I take several vacation days from work and volunteer at my wife’s school mostly for field trips. GET INVOLVED! It really does make a difference!

I’m happy with one mature deer in the freezer. I like to give a quarter or so to my grandfather who doesn’t hunt any more. He got me into hunting and provided us with a camp to hunt from for many years.

I’ll definitely retire the muzzle loader if (when) this happens. It isn’t worth the extra cash to me just to be able to hunt with a different firearm.

You can use this interactive DEC map to find state land in the area. http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/45415.html

We’ve had one running around the farm I hunt in 7J for the past two years. No one has seen it this summer so it must have moved on this spring. There isn’t a season in the area, but it’s nice to see them around.

I'm 42 years old and while in school I couldn't read until 7th grade. Same with a friend of mine that was my age. His father taught us to read over the summer. It's easy to fake it; the teacher's have their hands full. I'm glad to say that I went on to graduate, and have since accumulated several college degrees. I'll be graduating again this spring. Education should never end.

Being married to a teacher in an inner city school in one of the larger cities in Upstate New York, the number one problem is lack of parental involvement. School is treated like daycare, and school employees are given no respect. I regularly volunteer at school functions for her, and at their annual outing to a local state park I bring several fishing poled, tackle, and worms and help the kids’ fish. For many it’s their first time and they all seem to enjoy it. I usually help out 20-30 kids within a four hour period. They catch anything from sunfish and perch to small mouth bass and rainbow trout. Spend a little time with these kids and they’ll surprise you. Unfortunately they don’t have this kind of role model at home or in their neighborhood.

We had one plant growing in our front landscaping this spring behind a shrub. We found it in our spring cleanup, and it was already 18-24 inches tall. I covered myself from head to toe, covered it with a large garbage bag, pulled it out by the roots, wrapped up the garbage bag, and disposed of it in the trash. We don’t have any clear definitions of how to deal with this in Madison County.

I used to have a huge orange coat that went down to my knees. They called me the Great Pumpkin at camp. I wore that coat for trapping, small game, and big game. It eventually gave out on me.

The same luck they sang about on Hee Haw! ...doom, despair, and agony on me! You're right, at least I lived to laugh about it now.

It's just the kind of luck I have. :

Back when I was 13 I was trapping along a creek for muskrats, coon and mink. The property in Vernon Center it was private and I had permission to trap it. I was wearing my blaze orange hunting coat. This was in February, big game season was long over with. While walking through the creek I heard shooting and could watch the limbs breaking and the bark flying all around me. I could see the individual 100 yards or so away and instantly started yelling. The SOB reloaded and shot again. I call that being shot at.

Ya, getting shot at really gets the old blood pumping! I was young and invincible at that time too. :

I've been shot at on several occasions while hunting and trapping throughout NYS. The worst one was while I was in my tree stand on opening day in the southern zone. I was had to relieve myself, and while in the process a doe walked directly under my stand. I had no intention of harvesting her, and continued on with my business trying to finish up as quickly as possible. To my surprise a hunter from the state land had wondered about 50 yards onto our property and opened up on her while she was standing underneath me. He was probably 40 yards from us and he didn’t even come close. Luckily I wasn’t hit. That’s the first time I let loose on another hunter. Then I sent him down the road so that he would cross paths with my grandfather and get another ear full for trespassing.

Ya, My wife and I both work in Syracuse. A good friend of mine lived in your town for many years. Nice gene pool y'all got there!