airedale

Possums are not the brightest in the animal kingdom. Years ago driving home during a snowstorm in the middle of winter I came up on a possum trudging down the middle of a back country road, the snow banks along the road side were so high and steep he could not climb out of the road way. I stopped the car to see if I could help him get out of the road and when I walked up to him he just stood there looking pitiful and half frozen like he was not long for this world. I thought that maybe I could get him to a place where he would have a better situation so I picked him up by the tail, opened my car trunk and put him inside and went home trying to think of a place I could turn him loose. So I get home and open the trunk and there he was curled up in a ball sound asleep, at the time I had a couple of empty rabbit cages and decided to put him up in one of those until I could figure out what to do with him. He was easy to take care of as he liked dog food, it only took a few minutes of time to feed and water him while doing the rest of my chores and the days turned to weeks and I just said to myself when the snow was gone I would just open the cage door and let him go. And that is exactly what I did on a nice warm spring morning, after doing the chores I opened the possum's cage door and left it. So about noon time I go out to get my mail and there in the middle of the road was my possum friend deader than a doornail, flattened by a vehicle. All was for naught. Al

As Bow hunting pioneer Fred Bear said "The best camouflage pattern is called, “Sit down and be quiet!” Your grandpa hunted deer in a red plaid coat, think about that for a second."

A few more.

I like old advertising and the work of the old outdoor artists especially Philip Goodwin.

Love looking at vintage hunting photos and art, some hard looking folks back in the good old days and many depended on hunting so they could eat. An old timer that grew up in the depression days said "He knew things were getting better as he was starting to see rabbits and other small game crossing the roads without a dog and hunter following in close pursuit.

Well for me if I lived around that many Rats there would be a silver lining and I would take advantage and get some recreation out of the filthy rodents.

Article about complaining about the Rat problem in NY City =========================================== What are there more of than people in New York? If you said any type of vermin you guessed correctly. Roaches, I hate these little critters. But I hate rats worse. They live in the sewers, in the basements, in the walls of buildings, in construction areas, in alley ways and in the docks and rivers. There are millions of them in the downtown district alone. Late at night, they emerge from their hiding places to forage. They form a stream of living creatures as they migrate after midnight from their hidden lairs they call home to scour the streets for bits of hot dogs, pizza crusts, subway sandwich leftovers in trash cans, on sidwalks and the hundreds of thousand pounds of edible trash left over by Brokers, Lawyers and every worker, who works in the downtown area. If you ever have the bad luck of having to work very late at night and to take the subway home, you may have had to literally jump over the swarming rodents to get to the subway station. When you get to the station, look at the tracks in the shadows and darker areas. You will see them crawling around scavenging for food. Sometimes at night a car does drive through the downtown area and produces road kill which lets you know what the rodents look like. They are only slightly smaller than a cat with greasy, dirty fur and long yellow gnawing teeth. These teeth can eat through wood easily, cables with copper core, and even concrete with only a little more difficulty. Once in a while they will show themselves in daylight. It is not a pleasant sight. They have attacked people as well. A pack of rats when disturbed can bring down a person with a well coordinated attack. Their attacks on children in tenements are well know and well documented. However, they have emerged from lairs and attacked people walking in the street in broad daylight. I have seen them attack a woman walking by a fenced off pit of a long ago demolished building. Many of the people on their lunch break beat them off of her with briefcases, canes, and by well place kicks. She was taken to the hospital with multiple bite wounds on her legs. Luckily she kept her footing and they didn't reach her neck or head. The next day there were about 30 exterminators with clubs, rat poison, and large burlap sacks. They were fully dressed in protective body suits including high thick boots. They opened the wooden fence and descended into the pit. Dozens upon dozens of filled, large, burlap sacks packed with dead vermin were carted away in dump trucks during the day. This process went on every day for weeks. I think they just scratched the surface with their labors. But eventually the street was re-opened to pedestrians and the wooden fence resealed. You would think they would get cats by the truck load to fight this problem which exists even as I write this article. The truth is that a cat is no match for two or three New York rats. They are tough. Dog breeds used for rat killing would not fare any better. So the rats are accepted as just another New York problem. They are ignored. How many are there? Are there ten million rats in New York City? No, think hundreds of millions of them in the five Boroughs, maybe more. There is no way that anyone can accurately estimate their numbers. Some words of warning if you walk down the dark streets of New York at night. Stay away from the sewer opening. Stay out of dark alleyways. Don't look to see what is making that scratching sound in the basement. Play by New York rules in New York. Oh and by they way, have a good night.

The creepiest sounds I have ever heard in the woods came from a Porcupine. I might be able to make it to this get together. Al

Tough to diagnose stuff with dogs. As long as it is just a not being able to sleep issue try picking up a bottle of 10 mg size melatonin (Walmart) and give him a half tab tab in the evening for starters, try a full tab if the half does not work. It is safe. Al

I need a new gun like I need a hole in the head but that does not stop me from picking one up when the urge hits me. There is one caliber that I have always had a yen for and the is the 264 or 6.5, always drooled for and wanted a 264 Winchester mag but never got around to actually obtain one. Kind of forgot about it until this recent uptick in interest in the 6.5 cartridges. Nosler came out with their Nosler 26 which upped the ante making the Winchester play second fiddle. Then Weatherby got into the game with their 6.5-300 out performing both the Nosler and Winchester cartridges. This baby is pushing bullets out at 400 yards as fast as the 6.5 Creedmoor load leaves the muzzle. A barrel burner deluxe for sure, probably washed out after 700 shots but I do not care. The new Weatherby First Vanguard Lite with a 28 inch barrel has a guarantee to group 3 shots under an inch and a street price of well under a grand is beckoning me!

I would say you can match a flail mower's HP requirement and cutting width pretty much the same as the rotary mower types and be good to go. Al

For the NFL history buffs.

I have seen self powered flail type mowers for ATVs that are pull behinds also. I purchased a three point flail mower this spring, I prefer a flail over the bush hog type for several reasons. They do not stick out so far behind the tractor making them more maneuverable, they do not send rocks flying like missiles to parts unknown and they give a really nice looking cut on grass. While probably not as effective as the hog type on bigger saplings and such, with the hammer type knives they can and will shred and pulverize brush up to 3 inches in diameter. My pastures look like a golf course. Al

I have more than three that I like a lot but the ones I listed are the go-to firearms that I have used most times when I am hunting. 1. A 20 ga SKB double that I have used for much of my small game hunting especially birds and rabbits. 2. A Husqvarna light sporter in 280 Remington used for much of my big game hunting, fast handling and nice to carry. 3. Ruger model 77 Varmint in 220 Swift used for much of my Varmint hunting (chucks and crows), very accurate. 4. Honorable mention, Remington 541S in 22 LR, too many Squirrels to count fell to this one, very accurate.

That camo is for hunting between the sheets! Al

Here is a blast from the past that can do some serious work if you can find a nice one, the Power King Economy tractor, this one is mine and I have it fixed up for show more than anything else, I use it mostly for pulling around a ton and a half dump trailer which I use quite a bit. There was a nice one with a mower for sale up in Watertown a couple of months ago for $1700. Al

Take a look around on craig's list all kinds of tractors for sale, take your time and not be in a hurry and you can find some good buys. below are a couple of examples I found in five minutes. Al

If you are serious about maintaining grass and planting food plots a compact utility tractor with a three point hitch is the way to go. It does not have to be new, you can buy a pretty nice tractor if you shop around. mowers, plows, disks, rakes, tillers and planters can all be operated by a good tractor. A zero turn will work well for cutting grass but using one for implements would not would out too well I think. Al

It will be a good time Dan have fun. I find meeting up with folks I have not seen in many years interesting and fun, folk's looks can sure change a lot as they age. I had a beautiful teacher that all the guys in her class would just sit there and drool over, ran into her 40 years later and did not recognize her, she was a little old lady with white hair. Went on a road trip to Tennessee to pick up an Airedale from a breeder friend of mine. I would be passing close to Madison Indiana where an old co worker that I hunted with and did a lot of motorcycling with had retired to and had lost contact with and had not seen in 20 years. He was more of my Dad's age and had retired from the Air force and stayed in worked in the area for several years before going back home and I decided to make a stop to see if I could find him. He was one of those guys that would ad a few inches to the fish he caught or the weight of his deer but his all time great was that he had killed an 80 pound coon on the bank of the Ohio river which he hunted in his youth and we never let him live that one down. Drove into Madison without a clue where he lived but a little detective work at a diner pointed me to a fellow that knew him a couple of blocks away and he gave me directions to his home. Now back in the day I hung around with this fellow I had a head of hair that would have a hard time fitting in a bushel basket but had since those days had began cutting it short. So I find his house and walk up to the door and knock, the door opens and there he was looking pretty much the same, just a little grayer. I said to him "I am from NY and have come down here to hunt the 80 pound coons that you swear inhabit these parts. He looks at me for a moment with a look of disbelief and says "Who the hell are you?" I just about pissed my pants laughing. In a couple of seconds he recognized who I was and we had a good laugh. He ended up going with me to Tennessee and we had a great time for several days, was glad I took the time to find him as he passed away a couple of years later. Al

Have you ever used one? Those grills will cook a hot dog any way you want, from Gas Station style just hot to burnt black and everywhere in between, they have complete heat control settings. As for the so called "Gas Station" hot dogs, they are put on the lowest setting so they can be left on all day if need be so they do not burn, not my idea of a way to cook hot dogs. Al

When it comes to hot dogs, brats and sausages I am pretty easy to please but I do like Hoffmans a lot. Sometimes when I have the family over the main course is various brands of assorted dogs. I picked up a commercial style hot dog roller grill and use it for those occasions, it works great and keeps them coming with minimal attention. Al

For picnics, day trips, etc it is tough to be the classic Coleman 54 qt steel belt, I used one for many years and just replaced the old beat up one which still performed well with a new model last summer. They work great, they look great and are priced reasonable along with a variety of colors. Al

Gray Fox