airedale

No appeal at all for me, growing up watching Disney's Davey Crockett, TVs Daniel Boone and movies like Jeremiah Johnson I got the bug to hunt with traditional muzzleloaders because I like the challenge of those old sidelock type rifles, seems like everything has to be easier these days or it ain't worth the time messing with. I do allow for the luxury of percussion caps for more positive ignition over a flintlock. Al

Any well bred hunting dog is going to born with drive to hunt game, under supervision they can be trained pretty well in obedience and can be controlled but left on their own they will follow their nose and take off for the hunt. Beagles are one of the oldest hunting breeds and one of the most driven, unless they are under supervision they need to be kept in a fenced in yard or run because they are hunters. That being said they are one of the best for pet temperament and love people, with some training in obedience they can serve both as a wonderful companion and a hunting dog that are great not only on Rabbits and Hare but work well for Pheasants. While most Beagles will run both Hare and Cottontails many are bred specifically for one or the other. Beagles for Hare usually 15 inch and larger are up on legs because of the snow, they generally have a colder nose and are speedy. They can gear down to hunt Cottontails but many still push them so hard the Cottontails will go in their holes before you can get a shot at them. Don't have that problem with Hare as they just keep on running and circling. Bred for Cottontails many are of the smaller size, they work a track more deliberately and slowly and you can get nice steady runs and importantly not drive the Rabbit to ground. My Beagles were Hare bred hounds, Josie the black and tan color was the best Beagle I ever had, the two Blueticks are Branko bred and were very good in their day also. Al

The lighter weight compact case is about all I can see this cartridge has going for it and while there may be some kind of an advantage for this cartridge's use in a short barreled belt fed machine gun I do not see anything special for it down the road in the general public shooting-sporting world. The 270 Winchester can easily hit the same 3000fps with a 140 gr bullet and the 270 Win short mag and the 270 Weatherby mag can up that by a couple of hundred fps. Al

And the Gals.

Uncle Nicky said it pretty well in his post above, all dogs need some training and how much work you invest into your dog will go a long way in how it behaves and handles. With any hunting breed you need to pay attention to how they are bred and make sure they are being hunted and tested by the breeder. As for Airedales they are probably not for everyone, they are high energy and require a firm hand, but when trained properly they are a wonderful dog. I have a blog that covers much about Airedales and hunting and will answer a lot of questions about the breed, if you are interested, the link is posted below. http://huntingwithairedales.blogspot.com/2010/07/hunting-with-airedales.html Al

My favorite method of hunting is teaming up with a good Dog, Hounds and Setters when specializing but for all around hunting small game I will take my Airedales, have taken tons of game and had a lot of fun over the last 50 plus years. Al

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