airedale

If "Andre The Giant" had me by the neck and forced me to make a choice of one style bullet to hunt big game with it would be no question the "Nosler Partition"! From the lowest velocity to the highest they work perfectly every time and a track record of many years to prove it. Andre being dead saves me from that fate so I will continue to use good quality bullets from all the makers that shoot well in my firearms and bet I still will not have any problems killing and recovering a Deer. Al

For the dyed in the wool Coyote hunter below is a book that I can recommend, written by a fellow that was originally from NY named Gary Strader, I met him when came to my place many years ago to talk about my Airedales after multiple conversations with him on the phone. This guy was a Coyote hunting fanatic and ended up being one of the best Coyote hunters in existence. Shortly after I met him he pursued his passion and moved out west and became a government animal control person. Gary's book is available from the site below he also has his own site. AllPredatorCalls.com http://www.wildlifetech.com/pages/gary.htm

I am not a big time varmint hunter so this is not an expert's advice but over the years I have dabbled with the Varmints and have had some moderate success. I keep my calling relatively simple, I do no calling at night, all my calling is done during daylight hours mostly with mouth blown calls, where in addition to Varmints I have had Hawks, Owls Crows and even have had Deer come in to the calls out of curiosity I would guess. I would say 15 minutes is about the average time I call at a set. I basically use three calling sounds 99% of the time, for long range various dying Rabbit sounds, the more agonizing sounding the better, a Squeaker or Squirrel whistle for short range and a dying Woodpecker which is mostly for Coons but it has brought in Foxes on occasion and even a Skunk once. Also I do things a bit different by many times using one of my Airedales on hunts, they are trained to sit close to me when I am calling and will many times alert me to something coming to the call far in advance to my actually seeing it due to their superior senses. They will stand steady until the shot is taken a lot like a Retriever in a bird hunting blind. Many times they will be spotted by the Fox or Coyote but it is actually to my advantage as much like one of those electronic decoys that flutter around, a dog does not spook them off immediately especially so with a Coyote, it will hold the focus of the varmint while I carefully take the shot. Below is a sequence of a Coon I had come in on the run and could not get a good shot off, me and my Airedale TJ were busted and he took off in high gear but no problem as I released TJ to chase and he promptly ran the coon up a tree after a short run. Al

I believe as long as it stays frozen the meat is "safe" to eat, taste is another matter and it is said it tends to lessen with age. I remember reading somewhere about some animal discovered in Siberia that was frozen from the Ice Age days, some of the meat from that animal was cooked and eaten with no ill effects and some of that gang raved on how good it was.

The better gun shows are just a great place to see and look at stuff you will see no where else especially on the really high end. The big three, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany shows are my favorites but these days Syracuse is the only one I attend regularly. The shows are a good place to find those hard to locate items especially the discontinued ammo, brass, knives and classic firearms and those items are what I am usually interested in most. Last spring I finally found a Savage 99A in 250 Savage in mint condition after looking for and seeking one out for many years. Very hard to find 284 Winchester brass or ammo, found some custom loaded ammo for another score. Scored on a new Camillus bird hook pocket knife also. Most common firearms or equipment I just buy at the local shops or online. Al

Remington 597 22 Mag, 2X7 Nikon, Extreme Dimension Mini Phantom, Black Creek Combo Squirrel Varmint mouth call. Learn how to set up and use your call Hunt early mornings and a couple of hours before dark, no light needed I have killed a bunch with the setup up below and other similar rifles, the whole works was not a lot of money. Al

I do not think anyone has said he is a Jerk.

Keith and O'Connor are two of my favorites, while those two had almost polar opposite views on some things, I think in the end they were both right. Just got done reading Keith's old book "Sixguns" which was full of some tales to be sure especially the gun fighting chapter. I got a kick out of how Keith tested and developed bullets and loads for then new 44 mag. No ballistic gelatin blocks were used, he went out a shot a bunch of range bulls from different angles then performed post mortem autopsies to assess bullet penetration and killing performance. Al

And that is the problem in a nutshell, Hares will sit so tight that they literally have to be kicked to make them move. That white fur makes them very hard to see when they are on snow unless they are moving, most times you will walk by them and if it were not for their tracks you would think there were none there. They are like ghosts, they just appear and disappear. Hares do not live in holes or dens like Cottontails but they will get under anything they can to conceal themselves, a good dog will learn through experience what places to check and root and flush them out. There was one year at mid season there was almost zero snow, myself and a couple of other guys went to one of our favorite spots that was loaded with Hare, we thought there was going to be easy pickings with those white coats sticking out like sore thumbs on the bare ground. We and our Beagles beat the cover for a couple of hours with no starts and no Hare seen, I was flabbergasted as the Beagle I was hunting at that time was an exceptional hound. So I am standing around in this big open bog with clumps of Alder trees here and there, the ground was covered with tall cattail grass that had been flattened from snow. Off in the distance there was a loud rumbling sonic boom from a plane, at that moment about a half dozen Hare popped their white heads up from underneath that tall swamp grass to take a look around and then immediately ducked back down. One was very close to me and I marked the spot and called my Beagle in, I showed her where the Hare was hiding and she literally ran over the top of him a couple of times but he did not move nor could she scent him. I had to kick him out from under the grass and as soon as he raised up and took off running the Beagle caught his scent and the race was on with her in full cry. So apparently their fur not only keeps them warm, as long as they sit tight it holds their scent. They have their tricks and defenses and that is what makes them a challenge and blast to hunt if you have a good dog. Al

I love a good quality scope but I stay with open sights when it comes to handguns, I view hunting with them as a challenge. More of a shorter range proposition and hunt with them having range-distance restrictions much the same as I did with a bow or my old shotgun slug guns. I try to keep my handguns simple, light weight, compact, handy and loaded with quality ammo that is as accurate as possible. A scoped handgun starts becoming cumbersome-clunky and loses it's handgun appeal-allure for me, so as long as I can see to shoot accurately enough to take game with open sights there will be no scopes. I have no problem with those folks that use a scope or optical sight, go with whatever suits you best. Al

"Slick" one of my Redline Airedales when he was a young buck, a good all around hunting dog, gone now but not forgotten.

I am looking forward to checking one out. Al

$1499 is not chump change by any stretch but considering that the old Pythons are bringing $3000 and above this new version if made anything close to what the old model was like it would be a good buy. The high end S&W revolvers are pretty much in the same ballpark price wise. I purchased a new nickel plated Python with a 6 inch barrel back in the late seventies, it was in a class of it's own in both quality and accuracy. It was not only the best handgun I ever owned but may well be the best firearm I have ever owned. I killed a couple of Deer with it and a whole bunch of Woodchucks. When one handles and shoots a Python they will come away impressed, they reek of quality. I have committed a few boners when wheel and dealing firearms and trading that Python was probably the biggest, I may just remedy that mistake if these new ones are close to as nice as the originals. Al

He sounds like a nice one, for you the name would not be anything else but the "HOLY 9". Any pics? Below is my Holy 8 with a deep hole on the right beam which is quite deep.

Nice job fellas! Al

He is a nice one and looks great, I see he has a hole on the end of one of his beams, I took a Buck with a similar hole and have seen a couple of others with that abnormality, anyone got a idea on how those holes would come about? Al

I have watched over time the scope manufacturer's landscape having changed dramatically especially in recent years they are in constant upheaval with companies dropping out or getting bought up by big conglomerates, sometimes as in Redfield's case for the good but many times for the bad. Weaver, Bushnell, Simmons, Burris, Tasco, Redfield, Bausch & Lomb, Unertl, Thompson Center, Weatherby and recently Nikon to name a few have called it quits or the original company was bought out and their lines were replaced many times by a lot of cheap Chinese junk. All those companies put very good warranties on their products many "lifetime" but as the OP reports years down the road if problems arise it may be tough to obtain satisfaction. I have quite a few of the old model scopes and will probably be holding my hand on my butt if one craps out. What I would do if I was you Sbuff is to take the very best scope you can obtain even if it is not exactly what you are wanting. You may be able to use it down the road or make a good trade with someone that can, at least you will not be taking a screwing monetarily. One of the main reasons I always try to go with a Leupold for most of my get serious firearms, there is something to be said for a long proven track record. Al

When it comes to firearms it is tough to beat the workmanship and beauty of a fine double, I especially like sidelocks. Al

Having Lyme Disease, you feel terrible with no energy or desire to hunt.

I am not familiar with that particular brand of bullet so I had to look up the manufacturers lowdown on it, what is very apparent because of it's construction it is an explosive bullet and I can see it could be deadly. There are varmint bullets like Barnes "Varmint Grenades" made in a similar way, I have the 35 gr 22 cal bullets, they are light for their length and I can load them to go well over 4000 fps easily. I think they are best used on varmints like Chucks, Crows because on impact they literally explode and so does the target hence the term "Red Mist". Animals like Fox and Coyotes will sustain a lot of hide damage rendering their pelts useless. The construction concept is not new, 40 or so years ago an outfit called Safety Glaser marketed a jacketed bullet that used compressed shot for it's core. It was mainly for law enforcement, especially for Air Marshalls that may have to use their weapon on a plane as there is no pass throughs. I and a friend of mine experimented and made up our own Glaser type 44 mag bullets by using a propane torch to melt the lead out of factory bullets and packing number 9 shot the best we could into the empty jacket capped by some silicone on the tip. Ours turned out to be very inaccurate but the milk jugs and cans we did hit were devastated and I do not think anyone would survive a torso hit from one of those things. Back to the Smackdowns shot from sabots, the 170 gr weight is no problem if the bullet is accurate and performs, like I said I think they could be very deadly but wonder how well that compressed core holds up and about their ability to get penetration, a hit on a deer's shoulder might be a problem. As time goes on and they get used by hunters the results of their performance will start coming in. Personally I would stick with something with a long proven track record. Al

Way to go , congratulations. Al

He is a beauty, congratulations. Al

Have a safe and Merry Christmas everyone. Al

Actually I like young ladies better but you all are acting like old biddies, but to make you happy.