airedale

Exactly, and guess who they vote for! Al

True true true! Al

Well it won't be long before the new paper tags make their debut, I get the lifetime license in the mail and have to sign up online for the bow and muzzleloader tags. I t will be interesting to see how smooth the rollout is. Al

Hit the range this morning to make sure two of my air rifles are shooting to the point of aim, also my Remington 597 22 mag was checked for zero. A couple of new gadgets being tested this summer and so far I have been impressed with both. First is the Garmin Xero chronograph, this this is as advertised and a game changer, no more screwing around shooting through sky screens or hooking up any wires. You just set beside you gun and concentrate on your shooting and the Garmin does the rest. I also acquired a 12 volt air gun pump and the same can be said for it, fills your PCP guns easily, you can take it on the go with a battery or use it with a house plug adapter, either way it works like a charm and beats the hell out of a hand pump. These modern air rifles are serious and shoot great, the left target is the Gamo swarm break barrel, the right was the Benjamin p rod at 30 yards. the woodchuck was at 100 for the 22 mag. Both the Swarm and P rod clocked at slightly over 600 fps with heavy lead pellets, the maggie was right where she was supposed to be at about 1950 fps. Let the good times roll!

I have no cameras, but I do quite a bit of early scouting for both Deer and small game and it is usually combined with other activities like stump shooting with one of my recurves or plinking with one of my air guns. Also a good time to get my dogs in the woods and do some training. I go along observing mast crops and game trails along with finding other game sign, I just like being in the woods taking a walk and see what is out there, it is good for the soul. Al

I have rotated firearms on the bench for over fifty years so barrels can cool and if it works for you no problem, continue on. With the amount of shooting and handload development I do this barrel cooler speeds things up much better for my sessions on the bench, a game changer for me. Al

From what I have read Black Mouth Curs have a great reputation and I think one from good hunting bloodlines, with proper training could make a good decoy dog. Al

So sorry for your loss, I know the feeling well as it has happened to me more times than I care to remember, and there is nothing that can be said to make me feel better when they pass as they were my best friends. I found out long ago it is a part of life and something I was going to have to deal with if I wanted to be involved with hunting dogs. Dixie can never be replaced but jumping back in with a new pup goes a long way in easing the hurt. Al

Hunting Coyotes with decoy dogs is all based on stirring up their strong territorial behavior, they will try to drive out any other canines in their perceived home ground and especially so during denning. I have had them several times when Coon hunting come in and try to harass my Hounds, I always had an Airedale in the pack that would put an end to that nonsense. Al

Coyote Hunting with one of the best decoy dogs I have ever seen, he knows his business. Al

Shooting from the bench on these hot days gets your rifle barrel hot quickly, especially the light thin sporter barrels and they stay hot forever. Anyone knows hot sporter barrels start causing shots to wander some and open groups, I started looking for a solution to cool the barrels down relatively quick as I like knowing where my hunting rifles shoot with a cool barrel especially the first couple of shots. I found several barrel cooling devices and decided to go with a "Chuckwalla" universal barrel cooler from competition shooting school. I chose this model over the others because it uses the much more common AA batteries. You just place the device in your rifle's chamber and turn it on and it will get the barrel cooled back down much quicker than just waiting around to cool on it's own. I think it works pretty good and keeps thing moving along on the bench. Al