airedale

I have always felt that it is a bad idea to have publicly promoted contests pertaining to hunting because of the way it would be viewed by the animal rights groups and portrayed by them at every turn to the non hunting public who outnumber us by a huge margin. The non hunting public does not have the same mindset or knowledge as hunters and get fed info that such events are nothing more than wanton killing of innocent animals, even though by law it is perfectly legal just to win a some prize or trophy at the expense of animal's life . Not good public relations for hunters. Fishing has had somewhat of a pass because it is catch, keep alive and release back into the water after weigh in, but there are still those that would shut it down if they could. Al

Back around 1970 my Dad and myself did an 10 day old fashioned Mule and Horse pack train Elk hunt in Colorado, no motorized equipment of any kind. We hunted from Horseback out of wall tent base camps in some wild country and I still consider it to have been the trip and experience of my lifetime. We had about a twenty mile ride into the mountains to get to our camp and I learned what the term "saddle sore" means, after a few days I was broke in lol. We both got an elk by the way. Al

Congrats, "Case one of the last quality American knife brands hanging on, I have a few Case pocket knives myself and they are darned good ones that will last a lifetime. Al

They love cedar, I have a cedar in my yard that does not have a branch on it's trunk below 7 feet from Deer hitting it. Al

I just watched that movie a short time ago, Sherriff Rosco P Coltrane (James Best) was the hero! Festus was a jerk and got killed.

One of my favorite B Monster movies. Al

So the wife comes in the gun room and spots the new Ka-Bar on my desk and she and I have a conversation about it's history. She is actually interested in this stuff and in fact one of her favorite shows to watch is Forged In Fire where Blade Smiths make all sorts of edged weapons from scratch and have them tested by the expert panel on how well they perform. So she has the Ka-Bar in her hand looking it over and gives me the show's weapon expert Doug Marcaida's line after he disembowels a ballistic gelatin dummy, "This Blade Will Kill"!

Still acquiring components for the Squirrel Rifle, found some 32 cal Maxi Balls that come in at 110 grs, because of the medium twist in this rifle's barrel I think there is a good chance these will shoot half way decent and add quite a bit more power and range for varmints like Fox and Chucks. Use these Maxi Balls in my 45 cal guns and have always lubed with TC "Bore Butter" which works as it should. Going to do a little experiment tumble lubing this batch of bullets with liquid Alox. This stuff is not as messy, it is very similar to the lube used on 22 rimfire bullets. I did up 250 32s and 20 45s to try, takes about 24 hrs to dry. If they do lead it will be simple enough to relube them with Bore Butter. Al

Well that did not take very long, the Ka-Bar was in the mailbox this morning, I am impressed, "fearsome" is what comes to mind and I am so happy to have a genuine NY made Ka-Bar USMC in my collection. The reviews on these Ka-Bar knives from over two thousand verified Amazon buyers speaks for itself. While the Ka-Bar will be for looking at and admiring I do have a hard use bush type knife that I have used quite a bit in the past in camp and on outdoor outings. It is an old Schrade Uncle Henry survival type that I have owned for around fifty years. These also were made in NY back then and are of very good quality, she still looks pretty good after all that time and I just put some Obenauf's on the sheath. Al

I have been collecting US made knives for some time and from this thread it has dawned on me that I do not have the Ka-Bar USMC probably one of the most famous fixed blade knives in existence. What the Hell, I just went over to Amazon and hit the buy it now button and problem solved. Al

The knife you are leaning toward sounds like it will fit your bill, I have one "Cold Steel" knife and can attest that mine is of very good quality. One of the best hard use knives ever made is the USMC Ka-Bar military, they have been around forever and are still being produced, their track record for handling tough conditions and chores is hard to beat. They are semi expensive but deals can be had with some shopping, as always you will get what you pay for and they are still made in the USA down in Olean NY. Al

When it comes to just about anything there always seem to be "know it all's" that want to pass go and start at the head of the class with their I know more than you attitude and laying down a cheap shot. Life is a never ending learning process and at 70 years old I pick up new bits of useful wisdom just about every day many times from members on this board and enjoy doing so. Al

Your memory is right on Dan, the old regulations stated at least a 35 cal and a 4 inch barrel minimum length and 16 inches. Current handgun regulations are you just have to use a centerfire cartridge and the barrel length has to be 16 inches or less.

If the blades have bad rust one of the best things to get rid of it is Evaporust, you submerge anything rusty in this stuff and it will eat it away not harming anything else. If the blades are just tarnished one of those lead removal cloths will take care of that, Birchwood Casey or the generics work equally well. To put a shine on the blade it is tough to beat Flitz which is a polish I have had good results with on most metals. For any leather cleaning Lexol works great for both cleaning and treating. Obenauf's is another leather conditioner that I use on belts and holsters. With a little elbow grease these products you will have those knives back into decent condition Dan. Al

The bike has several gears along with degrees of pedal assist to match whatever the terrain, hills are no problem for me and I am 70 years old. Al

I am not sure on exactly what your meaning is when you say used for hunting. So I will make a guess that you are using an ebike for transportation getting to your spot-stand or checking game cameras, scouting etc. I was looking into ebikes myself and after some investigation into was what available I purchased a Rad Mini folding fat tire bike from Rad power Bikes. Rad is probably the leader when it comes to ebikes sales, they sell direct to the customer at decent prices and have a big nationwide following. I bought the bike to have some fun on, I ride an Air Assault exercise bike every day to try and keep my old body in reasonably good condition. With the Rad Mini I can get outdoors and get some exercise and go just about anywhere and hopefully have some fun doing so. I also like the mini's folding capability as it gets into a small package that I can pick up and put into the back of my compact station wagon. The Rads have two modes for riding, one is with the throttle only which by just a twist the bike powers itself and the other is with pedal assist. With pedal assist you ride as you would with a regular bike but the motor will apply different degree of assist depending on terrain making it easy enough for anyone in decent condition to go just about anywhere. With pedal assist your range can be increased dramatically with a 25 to 30 mile range easily attained. I use just the pedal assist mode and my understanding is as long as one is using muscle to propel the bike in pedal assist it can be ridden just about anywhere a regular bike can be used. I got my bike late in the fall so I did not get a chance to ride it as much as I would have liked but so far so good. I rode mostly off road on my own property up hills, around my pastures and through the woods on trails will no problem. Riding on a road I can easily maintain a brisk cruising speed. Can't wait for spring. Rad Power Bikes has a comprehensive website along with a very active facebook page that will provide any info and help-support anyone may need. Al

I just read an article where a woman and her 10 month old baby were killed by a Grizz outside their cabin. Cubs or not a person has to be able to protect themselves, family, their Dogs or livestock in their yard. In my opinion the dog was probably doing what it was supposed to be doing, trying to protect it's area and family. The problem is Grizzlies are aggressive and will try and kill the dog. Could have been a much worse situation had there been kids out playing in the yard and no one armed. Hopefully a lesson learned from that homeowner, have a weapon loaded for bear and shoot to kill. When one lives in wild places these types of incidents happen more than one would like. On my Airedale message board I had two photos recently posted of two different Canadians having their dogs run off Bears. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/mother-10-month-old-daughter-killed-grizzly-bear-outside-cabin-n941156 Al

They are smart and they can live quite a few years, I have had what I believe to be the same three Crows living in my area for many years. I plow out my barnyard where my chicken coups are and put out grain for the chickens, those three crows will watch for me to do this and come in and feed with the chickens. If it is real blustery out and I have a hood over my head they will stay up in the trees until I leave the area before they come down. If I have just a hat on they can recognize me and will come down when I am out tossing grain. I have hunted and killed a lot of crows in my days but these three have a free pass as I have seen them many times mobbing and driving off Hawks hanging around looking for a chicken dinner. Al

For long range varmint hunting I will sometimes use a time proven Harris Bi Pod that mounts to the rifle's front sling swivel stud, they are light, they carry easy and fold up, also they are adjustable and they work well in open fields. In the woods I will just shoot from a sitting position off of my knees or off hand. I have one of those mono pods and I like it but I use it more for a walking stick and take it out only when I just have a handgun. All and all I like keep my gear as simple and as light as possible. Al

When I first got my permit I purchased a stainless Single Six and a 357 stainless Blackhawk both with 6 1/2 inch barrels. I shot and hunted with both of them a lot and they were totally dependable with good accuracy. After several years of shooting different styles of handguns my preference took a turn toward double actions revolvers as the grip and ergonomics of the double action guns just had a better feel for me so the two Rugers were traded off for something more to my liking. The longest shot I ever made with a handgun on game (a Woodchuck) was with the Single Six loaded with CCI Stingers. The Bearcat is a very fine little revolver that many call a "trail gun" I liked them but felt they were hampered by the lack of adjustable sights. The large range of bullets and velocities found with 22 rimfire ammo make a fixed sight gun a deal breaker for me. Lipsey is an distributer that has a special relationship with Ruger and has limited runs of custom models made just for them, they had a limited edition Bearcat made with adjustable sights, if I had to have a Bearcat that would be the one for me. Al

I felt the same way for a long time but the Encores and Contenders have a way of making you like them and like them a lot once you get to mess with one. They are shooters, "really good shooters" and for me even though they are not very appealing visually I am hooked on their performance. Remember Jimmy Soul back in the early 60s and his number one recording "If You Want To Be Happy For The Rest Of Your Life"? There is something to be said for endearing qualities LOL! Al

That ram is a "Texas Dall" they are a white sheep in the hair sheep family similar to the wild sheep of the world in that they have a wooly undercoat with a hair outercoat and do not have to be sheared. They do not weigh much more than 125 lbs. The Texas Dalls are popular to hunt and are bred and raised for that purpose on the big ranches in Texas. I raised some Barbados hair Sheep which are similar to the Texas Dall in most ways except for color and can attest that the mature rams get pretty ill tempered, mine would pull the same crap on my Herford cows giving them some good broadside smashes. My ram came after me several times and we had some pretty good tussles. Al

Some serious money can be made with firearms and like anything else where there is serious money involved serious knowledge is required. High quality, the manufacturer, model desirability and numbers made (rarity) is the starting point with many other smaller factors that keep adding on to what the values end up being. There is always a market for those that want to own the good stuff and will pay to get it. Al