airedale

Not me and will not and have not entered their stores! When I hold a grudge I hold it unless there is a meaningful change! Al

I ain't stepped into one of the "Dicks" stores since 2012 and will continue to spend my money elsewhere. They showed their true colors when "Dicks" liberal Democrat family member "Kim Myers" ran for congress for my district last election, thank goodness she was defeated by pro gun conservative Claudia Tenney. I remember that outfit back back in the 70s when they were mainly a well known big time hunting-fishing-camping camping store down in the Binghamton area .They sold 5 packs of Remington and Winchester rifled slugs for .59 cents a box before the southern zone's opening day Deer season. Today it would not surprise me in the least down the road they dropped firearms sales altogether as they have drastically moved in a different direction when it comes to the merchandise they sell. As far as I am concerned it is a good place to stay away from!! Al

What He Said!!!!! Al

http://huntingwithairedales.blogspot.com/2011/04/hunting-airedales-in-action.html

The OP's question was posed "big game hunting compared to all other states in the country" Depending on what hunting opportunities one has Deer hunting in NY may get a high ranking by some but not by all. Bear hunting is available but because of restrictions on baiting or being able to hunt with dogs it boils down pretty much to luck. So while Deer hunting may be decent Bear hunting not so much. So with the way things sit right now I would rank NY on the low end of the scale. When Moose hunting becomes available that will bring up the score a notch or two because of the opportunity, but the opportunities will be very limited and if and when it does happen you will have to pay extra for a Moose tag guaranteed. So I would give NY a 3 ranking which will fall in line with most of the north eastern states. Much of the mid west would rank the same as the north east, a 3 ranking The mid south eastern states have good hog hunting to bring their score up a point or so and the deeper south in addition to hogs gators are available to add a point to their score. With their long liberal seasons I would give those states a 5 ranking. The western half of the country is where things start to get interesting when it comes to Big Game opportunities. Many of these states have not only Whitetail Deer but also Mule Deer, Blacktail Deer, Bear, Pronghorn Antelope, Elk, Moose, Lion, Goats and Sheep and Bison in limited numbers., Wolves will be in the mix out there soon. Some also have Hogs and Peccary. There are even some introduced exotics actually running wild available in the southwest. Tags will have to be purchased for most species on an individual basis so hunting everything will not be cheap. These states will get from a 5 minimum ranking all the way to a 10 ranking depending on which one. Bottom line and truthfully NY does not even come close when it comes to overall big game hunting opportunities when compared to many other parts of the country. Al

A product endorsement for anything made of leather. I just dug up out of mothballs an old Roy's Pancake holster I purchased 40 years ago, it is a perfect fit for a new revolver I just purchased. The holster is in remarkable condition for it's age, no cracks or fading, still soft and supple where need be and almost looks as new as the day I bought it. I attribute it's fine condition to using a leather preservative product from a company called Obenauf's. This stuff really works well on anything made of leather, I use it on all my leather work and hunting boots, belts, holsters and even on a leather coat. My 50 year old Wilson A2000 baseball glove could still be in a game as good as ever even though I can not. It keeps my leather hunting boots looking good and importantly water resistant. Bottom line if you invest in leather gear of any type this Obenauf's product will really let you get your money's worth from your purchases keeping your stuff in fine condition and surely extending it's life. Al

So in celebration of Uncle Donald's tax cuts I decided that the occasion called for something "Special" so I decided to spend my "Crumbs" as the old liver spot Pelosi calls them on a new revolver. I have been long time fan of the 44 Special cartridge wanting a Charter Arms Target Bulldog in that chambering for the longest time so I bought me one. Never actually owned a Charter Arms weapon before but I am very familiar with them as I sold a bunch of them back in the day when I worked in a gun shop. Mostly the snub nose undercover model in 38 special, they were a favorite with Police officers for a back up gun. A good friend of mine had one of the original Son of Sam 3 inch blue Bulldogs that he absolutely abused with heavy handloads and it held together making me a believer in their toughness and build quality, that gun was painful to shoot. Had all the loading equipment from my 44 mag so I picked up some new 44 special cases and loaded some 180 Hornady XTPs and broke out my last box of Speer 225 half jackets my favorite 44 bullets which are no longer being produced and made up 50 of those. Picked up the Bulldog today and while it is no Colt Python it is a bargain priced solid small frame revolver that is decently made and will make a nice carrying trail gun that has some pop. Took off the rubber grips and replaced them with factory walnut target style, will be giving her a test when I get some decent weather. Al

I was in the same boat a few years ago looking for something better for large batches of ammo. I have three single stage presses and would put a die in each one shaving off a little time but the answer putting up a bunch of ammo is a turret press. Before you buy take a look at the Lee Classic Turret press and newer auto drum powder measure. I know a lot of folks look down their noses at Lee stuff because of the the use of a lot of plastic in it's construction. That being said the bottom line is the ammo that one can produce with Lee equipment, it is the equal of anything being made and reliability is the least of your worries. I watched several videos produce by Fortunecookie45LC demonstrating Lee equipment and had some correspondence with him. This guy is a straight shooter and knows his stuff and when I got done watching his presentations with the Lee equipment I was sold. I bought the press along with the auto priming setup and drum powder measure and I am not one bit sorry I went with Lee, and a big plus I saved some serious cash. This stuff works great and the ammo produced is as good as anything produced by the high end guys. Again do not discount the Lee reloading equipment, watch the video below and see for yourself. Al

So I feared the wife wasn't hearing as well as she used to and thought she might need a hearing aid. Not quite sure how to approach her, I called the family Doctor to discuss the problem. The Doctor said there is a simple informal test you could perform to give a Doctor a better idea about her hearing loss. Here's what you do,' said the Doctor, 'stand about 40 feet away from her, and in a normal conversational speaking tone see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response.' That evening, the wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner, and I was In the den. I says to myself, 'I'm about 40 feet away, let's see what happens.' Then in a normal tone I ask, 'Honey, what's for dinner?' No response.. So I move closer to the kitchen, about 30 feet from the wife and repeat, what's for dinner?' Still no response. Next I move into the dining room about 20 feet from the Wife and asks, 'Honey, what's for dinner?' Again no response. So, I walk up to the kitchen door, about 10 feet away. 'Honey, what's for dinner?' Again there is no response.. So I walk right up behind her. " what's for dinner?' 'HOLY CRAP, Al, for the FIFTH time, CHICKEN!' ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is supposed to be a light hearted joke but my hearing these days is not to far off from the above, a lot of shooting in my early days without wearing ear protection. My favorite word when answering a question, "WHAT"? Al

So my grand kids come over on occasion to spend the day and my 8 year old grandson was asking questions about "Matty" my English Setter. I explained she is a bird hunting dog and when hunting she finds a bird she points it for me so I can shoot it. So now he has a picture in his mind of how a bird hunt takes place with a dog and while sitting at the kitchen table with a box of crayons and some paper he draws a rendition of me and Matty bird hunting. I especially like Matty's pointing technique and I had to share this one. Al

I was a big fan back in the day when Nascar actually raced stock cars, a stripped down hopped up version of something that could be bought off the showroom floor with a roll cage installed and the windows taken out. When they went to the generic cars I lost all interest. Al

Air rifles have come along way from those Daisy Red Rider BB guns we had as Kids, today the sky is the limit on both price and performance. Pellets have the accuracy edge over BBs by far, they are also much better if you decide you may want to do some hunting. Most popular calibers are 17, 22 and 25 but there are many bigger cals on the market. As mentioned above Pyramid Air has a very informative site that will put you up to speed on pretty much everything that is on the market from top to bottom. They have instructional videos along with ratings on what they sell from folks that have spent their hard earned cash. They are one of the top outfits to do business with when it comes to air rifles and stand behind everything they sell. https://www.pyramydair.com/air-rifles As with any purchase you will surely get what you pay for and air rifles are no exception. Prices rage from well over a grand to under one hundred, but be assured cheap air guns will have lousy triggers and poor accuracy along with a long life and reliability lacking. A decent quality air rifle will give you many years of reasonable priced target shooting and can also double as a pretty fair short range varmint-small game hunting weapon. My best advice is to buy something with proven quality. I just purchased a plinker myself last fall that I can highly recommend. A 22 cal gas piston Gamo Swarm Maxxim, a ten shot magazine fed Multi Shot. Several things I like about this rifle, first of all the magazine, it works flawlessly and sure beats single shots having to put pellets in the chamber one at a time. It is light weight compared to the other two Benjamin air rifles I have by far. The trigger is decent which will go a long way in shooting accurate groups, it also comes with a half way decent scope with mounts and rings. The accuracy is good and I would have no problem taking a walk in the woods for early season shorter range squirrel hunts with this Gamo.

A disclaimer, no way would I consider myself any kind of expert varmint caller. I get into a few varmints when just out hunting for anything during small game season that walks crawls or flies with my dogs. I almost always carry a varmint call in my pocket when hunting, many times they have livened things up on a slow day. The vast majority of my varmint hunting takes place early mornings. I have had my best luck on Fox and Coyote with some sort of dying Rabbit call, I use both hand calls and electronic callers. I have called a few Coon with an electronic caller playing Woodpecker in distress call and also got a few to leave dens and show themselves with squaller type call. The Fox taken below was called in with a little low cost Phantom electronic pocket size call while out Squirrel hunting. just doing a bit of calling between stands.

Do you watch anything other than NBC, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, PBS or troll left wing sites?

I am not a phone person, I still use phones the old fashioned way, for talking on only. Any internet web surfing email stuff gets done on my computer or tablet. I have two tracfones, one is just a basic free phone and the other is a half assed smart phone, I use the basic phone 99.9% of the time. $200.00 a year total for both phones and have never run out of minutes in the dozen or so years using these phones. I actually have plenty of roll over minutes carrying over each time I renew once a year. My wife is the opposite, she does her own thing and has a fancy smart phone, she is constantly using it and it seems to be never out out of her sight, and she also pays through the nose. Her dimes she can spend them the way she likes, I like spending mine on hunting stuff. Al

I like 22 lr a lot but if I was going to prepare for an apocalypse I think I would take a 22 mag because of the added power and range. It would be able to handle a lot of hunting and is a better defensive round in a pinch. The rifle would be a stainless steel Volquartsen autoloader, bullet proof as far as reliability and it has gilt edge accuracy. For defense a Springfield M14 type in 308, power and reliability that will take care of both Zombies and non Zombies and some hunting if need be. Gotta have a shotgun, I like a short barreled Remington 1100 in light 20 ga, another bullet proof firearm that with a wide variety of shells (Slugs, Buck and Bird shot) it would be able to handle both defense and hunting. And of course cases and cases of ammo.

Shooting offhand nobody holds their sights perfectly still on the target, everybody is moving to some extent some more than others to be sure. The key is trigger control and timing, touching off the shot when the sights on on target however fleeting that moment is. Some can get the hang of it better than others, a lot of practice is the best way to become a good shot. Al

The Maine hunting boots are American made not imports like the Muck Arctics, I have two pair of the Maine boots one insulated and one non with zero problems. The low cut non insulated boots I have been wearing for chores here on the farm for years and they have seen a lot of use and wear under some literally crappy conditions, no leaks no cracks, by far the best wearing boot I have ever used for work around here. I use to purchase imported guide gear and proline leather top rubber bottom clones that I would wear out inside of six months, they would crack on the top like your Muck Arctics. Al

It is almost impossible to come up with a one pair do it all boots that will handle every weather situation. Rubber is without a doubt best for very wet conditions. For me hunting in warm weather I like leather, it fits better and is more comfortable for walking, insulated leather will keep my feet warm under most conditions I hunt in. For sitting still on stand in very cold temps you will have to wear heavy insulated clod hoppers that suck for walking. I have ended up purchasing several pair of boots to cover just about any conditions I hunt in. If I could only have just one pair of hunting boots I would lean toward the insulated LLBean Maine hunting boot, rubber bottoms with leather tops. With an over 100 year track record in the field for quality they would have me pretty much covered for just about any type of hunting I do these days. Al

Coon

Don't go a lot but me and the and the wife hit the Turning Stone in Verona every now and then more for entertainment and dining than any gambling. Attended some pretty good concerts, Beach Boys, Chicago, Little River Band and a big favorite of mine the Moody Blues, they have held a couple of a Sportsman shows that were OK. Mostly I like eating some of the fancy food with names I can not pronounce they have. One time a friend of mine and his wife wanted to go and play Bingo so me and the wife tagged along, I ended up winning over $1300.00, never played again. All and all I have a pretty good time when we go, staying away from those money sucking machines helps a lot in that respect. Al

I believe you are going to see the same things that are going on with Remington happening with other gun companies, there is much more than just a quality issue here, it is an across the board nation wide firearms "GLUT" that is out there for sale!. With a plethora of manufacturers pouring out guns the good times are rolling as far as choices, the selection of new firearms to be had has never been better, but just how many guns are folks going to actually shell out for and buy? Guns are not like automobiles that have relatively short lifespans and get recycled, they can last for many many years and still carry on perfectly doing their work as intended. I probably buy more firearms than most but there does come a time when it is hard to justify another. I don't care how nice a gun is made if one does not have some kind of excuse or a need they will not be buying. Al

The S&W model 29 is a beautifully made revolver , they are top of the line and they shoot.

Leupold 3X mounted on my Winchester Super X1 slug gun using Weaver Side mount

From your photo I can not tell what kind of base your rings are attached to or the type of rings you are using. Also you are not mentioning exactly how the scope is moving, are the rings slipping and losing grip on the base or is the scope sliding in the rings? Because of it's heavy recoil a 12 ga shotgun firing slugs will really put a scope and it's mounting hardware to the test. Back when I worked in a gun shop I mounted a whole lot of scopes on shotguns and we found that the best mounting system was a Weaver setup. Autoloaders and pumps are very thin on top of the receiver with not enough depth for the base screws to hold well under heavy stress. Weaver's shotgun base mounts up high on the side of the receiver where the metal is much thicker making for a solid mount. A special set of rings and mounts attach to this side base putting the scope perfectly lined up on top of the receiver. The receiver of the shotgun has to be drilled and tapped for the Weaver base and any gunsmith worth a hill of beans should be able to do it easily. Lefever Arms north of Rome NY did all of our drilling and tapping of shotguns for the Weaver base. Below is a couple of photos of Weaver's systems for pump and auto shotguns, the one on the right is the one I like best I have used that mount on a couple of my own slug guns and it holds well. Al