airedale

Your Monarch Cookstove is a more modern version of the old fashioned models and it appears to be in nice condition. The cooktop will clean up with some fine steel wool and some cooking oil after that is done wipe down with a cloth with just enough cooking oil to leave a very light coating to keep fine rust from forming. As long as the grates and firebrick "(if used in this model) are in good shape five to seven hundred dollars is not out of line. For a camp a wood-coal burning cookstove is the ideal appliance, it will handle both heating and all your cooking chores It would be one of the first things put in a camp if I owned one. I use one in my home and it has been one of the best purchases I have ever made. I picked up a new Heartland cookstove about 20 years ago, it burns both wood and coal, I burn coal 75% of the time because of long burn times. When the cold hits weather It heats the house for the most part and most of the cooking is done on it during the winter months and a constant 10 gallon supply of hot water, also nice backup when there is any power outages. This is the model I have except it is in hunter green.

I have hunted over my Airedales for birds most of my adult life with pretty good success, they are flushers and when hunting with flushing dogs as long as the hunter can keep up with their dog to the point of the flush so the bird is in range all is good. At this stage of the game I am still taking my share of birds but keeping up with my Airedales is getting tougher as the years pass and I finding myself missing more and more opportunities because of out of range flushes. Around ten years ago I decided to try out a pointing breed, an English Setter male named "Stickers". I could not have been more happier or pleased he was a great bird dog and I had a ball with him on upland game and we took our share. He was a foot hunter's bird dog deluxe he worked fairly close and was staunch on point and as long as you could walk you would kill as many birds as you wanted with that guy. As fate would have it Stickers for what ever the reason had a stroke at only four years of age, I did all I could for him but after a couple of weeks he faded away and passed. Been raising hunting dogs all my life and this was a first and to say I was devastated would be putting it mildly. This is a painting of Stickers done by my grand daughter So for the next few years I just continued to hunt birds with one of my Airedales with decent results but I sure missed Stickers. Although I toyed around with getting another Setter I never pulled the trigger that is until a month ago when surfing the web just looking of course I found a litter within driving distance that I really liked. To make a long story short I took the drive and came home with a little girl whom I named Matilda, Matty for her call name. I am in love with this little gal and she is doing everything I want so far, I will still have to hunt this fall with one of my Airedales but next year Matty should be pointing birds for me if all goes well., I can't wait! Matty holding point nicely on a Pheasant wing.

By JIM MATTHEWS www.OutdoorNewsService.com The final 2014 numbers are in and the number of hunters and fishermen in California dropped to their lowest level in history last year. I think the Department of Fish and Wildlife can pat itself on the back for its monumental effort to drive sportsmen away from hunting and fishing in an unprecedented way. These are the numbers: In 2014, there were 990,447 annual resident sportfishing licenses sold in this state. This is only the second time the number has dropped below 1 million (the last time in 2011, when it missed the mark by 32 licenses). Throughout the 1970s and into the mid-1980s, annual fishing license sales exceeded 2 million each year, and the peak sales year was in 1981 when just under 2.3 million were sold. As an interesting note, during that time, fishing license sales were almost exactly 10 percent of the state’s growing population. License sales continued to grow on pace with the population until the mid-1980s when the sales numbers began to steadily decline. While there might still be a few more hunting licenses sold between now and the end of the license year the end of June, the numbers for the 2014-15 year look like they will drop below 245,000 for the first time, setting a new, all-time low mark. While DFW on-line data doesn’t go back before 1970, I have read that hunting license sales peaked in the late 1960s at about 700,000 (there were just under 691 thousand sold in 1970). Numbers have declined steadily ever since. Numbers hovered around 500,000 per year in the 1970s and then declined into the 1980s. They dropped below 400,000 for the first time in 1988 and below 300,000 in 1997. There has been a downward trend of 4,000 to 5,000 per year since then. Amazingly, the agency’s revenue from sportsmen has continued to grow even as our numbers dwindle. They gouge us with increased license and tags fees, permits or stamps also have annual increases, and there are new individual fees each year for just about anything we might want to hunt or catch. With the money the same or increasing, do you think the state agency cares our numbers are declining? Do they care enough to do something about it? Absolutely not. The DFW is in charge of selling a great ‘product,’ and if the staff wanted to refocus its management, reduce the regulatory burden on hunters and fisherman, and initiate a private-sector type marketing program (like the state has done for Covered California, the health care debacle), they could increase license sales by a minimum of 50 percent in three years. I happen to believe the reality is that they don’t want to increase our numbers again, and they are certainly not investing any of its funding to do so. They don’t want more people looking over their shoulders. They don’t want more accountability. When fishermen represented 10 percent of the population and hunters were four or five percent of the state’s population, we were a significant ‘constituency’ group that mattered to Sacramento legislators, so we also mattered to the DFW and Fish and Game Commission’s political appointees. A phone call or letter to a representative about declining trout plants or changes in a hunting season meant the DFW and FGC would be called out and there was accountability. Today, no so much. There are legislators today who probably don’t know the state plants trout for anglers. Why should they? Anglers are now just 2 1/2-percent of the population, and hunters represent barely a half-percent of the people in the state. To the rest of the state’s population the DFW is supposed to represent when it comes to non-game and endangered or threatened species, most can’t tell you who or what the DFW does. They don’t know its Fish and Wildlife that are supposed to be the watch dogs that protect wildlife and habitat. If they did know that, they would gasp in horror and the incompetent job the agency is doing. Why? Because there is no accountability. Just the condor program is a prime example. The state is supposed to be the coordinator of a broad-based coalition of scientists and researchers from private, state and federal agencies working with this critically endangered bird. After 35 years of supposedly intensive study, we still really have no idea of where or what condors eat in the wild. With all of the birds wearing markers and most with radio telemetry gear so we can track their movements and location, we still only have anecdotal information on where and how they feed in the wild. There has never been a food study done on condors. This is a critical omission when you have been telling everyone for two decades that lead poisoning from the condor’s food is their biggest threat to recovery. And that lead poisoning — they have and continue to say — is caused by lead ammunition remnants left in game gut piles and carcasses discarded by hunters. But then we banned lead ammunition for hunting in condor country, there was a real shocker. It didn’t help. The after-ban data shows the condors are still getting lead in the same amounts. Now, the so-called experts are scrambling trying to make the data fit the disproven theory. They are grasping at straws: ‘Hunters must not be complying.’ ‘Poachers are still using lead.’ But all the excuses beg the simple question. It’s working somewhat for eagles and vultures, why isn’t it for condors? Well, it appears the simple answer is that the assumption about condor lead coming from ammunition was at least partially wrong, mostly wrong. Has the DFW said, ‘Whoa, we need to finally, once-and-for-all, do a condor food study and see where this lead is coming from’? No, they are mismanaging endangered species like they have the resources — the hunted and fished species — that could make them a mint in license sales if those populations of game and fish were optimized. A total ban on hunting with lead ammo goes into effect on July 1, 2019 The NSSF surveyed California hunters after AB 711 passed and found that nearly 40 percent said they will either have to stop or severely reduce their hunting due to the much higher costs of non-lead ammunition. This goes for 22 rimfire ammo also, probably the most widely used ammo of all. So far the best they come up with for 22 rimfire is a powdered copper X poly pressed bullet that shoots like crap and costs 10.99 for fifty. And “widely available?” Forget that. The Fish and Wildlife Service has an approved list of non-lead ammunition that has less than 40 manufacturers on it. Further, due to local restrictions in densely and highly populated Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento and San Francisco, ordering ammo by mail is nearly impossible—if not all together forbidden.The NSSF report says the ban could lead to a loss of $20 million in revenue for the state. I won’t name names here, but there was once a do-nothing biologist I knew in the 1980s (an anomaly back then, because the biologists with the DFG then were mostly hard-working, dedicated troops) that became the butt of a joke. I used to say, ‘Put him in charge of desert tortoise if you want to assure they go extinct.’ He pretty much represents how the entire agency functions today. There are a lot of biologists (excuse me, they are all now ‘environmental scientists’) who would love to get back in the field and do good things for wildlife, but they are handcuffed today by bureaucrats and supervisors who don’t want to fight the good fight. They are handcuffed by decades of regulations and rules that no one questioned when they were implements. They are handcuffed and lack of funding (read that ‘lack of funding’ line to mean, ‘misappropriated funding spent elsewhere on something that doesn’t really benefit anyone or anything in the state’). In a recent press release, the DFW director hailed one of the top accomplishments of the agency: Wildlife nanny. He didn’t use that term, but he was proud of the time his biologists and wardens wasted on problem wildlife calls. Mountain lions, bears, and other potentially dangerous critters would enter urban California and need 100s of man-hours of time to be tranquilized, caged, and relocated. For many animals, they would end up in the same situation a week or two later. That is an accomplishment? Wildlife nannies: That’s what the DFW has become, a feel-good agency all fuzzy and warm and politically correct. The wildlife nannies (aka DFW) don’t have the gumption to tell the public that those critters should get a load of 00-buckshot and a necropsy. Potentially dangerous wildlife coming into urban California is a problem we don’t want to give another opportunity to hurt someone. They come because they are looking for food; because the population is saturated, and they can’t find food or a home range outside of urban California. They come because we’ve mismanaged the lion, bear, and other wildlife populations beyond all recognition. They keep coming because we want to do the feel-good thing instead of the right thing. But it’s one of the agency’s key accomplishments? They have lost their way. And only a handful of us remember or care what the agency should be doing or why. Hunting and fishing license sales are the big picture they refuse to see or address.

Well for one I have a brother that lives in California plus I also have corresponded over the past couple of decades with various houndsmen and Airedale folks that are hunters getting plenty of feedback of how things have gone down the toilet. Below is an article from Jim Mathews from Outdoor news service, it is long but it pretty much sums things up in a nutshell.

I am not too concerned with experienced hunters buying into the dire lead poisoning consequences that the peregrine fund study is trying to establish. What I am concerned about is the general public who does not have much of a clue when it comes to this sort of stuff. Just take a peek into the politics sections of this board and look at the thread about Trump's son shooting a endangered Triceratops and the people that actually bought that line of crap and are outraged. They would easily sign a petition against young Trump if asked. As with the phony Triceratops I have a big time problem with people who have no dog in the fight and are completely ignorant of the real facts making policy about something they know nothing about and that is where this traditional lead ammo poisoning crap can go if not debunked. As I have earlier stated I actually have used copper bullets, I have several hundred on a shelf in my loading room and think they are great for larger big game and If someone uses or wants to use them because of eagles that is fine. My problem with this thread is the traditional ammo lead poison baloney which I do no believe in even a little bit. These kinds of things always start small, one only has to look at California and see how their long history of sport hunting has basically been trashed with the banning of all traditional ammo. Al

The point of the thread was to perpetuate a phony narrative that hunters are lead poisoning themselves and their families eating game taken with traditional ammunition. Even the head of Barnes bullets who make the majority of copper bullets believes this is an anti hunting scheme hatched by the Peregrine fund. Al

One more time what about the millions of animals killed every single day on our roads and in our farm fields here in the just in the US! Are you going to stop driving-eating? You guys sound like the Black Lives matter bunch, only Eagles lives matter! Al

Yes they wanted to faze out lead and they tried to used the same methods you and your cohorts are using with the phoney game meat lead poisoning scheme which they found out could and would not stand up when meat was properly taken care of! Al

VLWaterman This false lead poisoning narrative is what pisses everyone off, had you butchered your meat properly and discarded "any" suspected of having fragments you would have nothing to worry about as anyone with a half a brain knows. To dumb us down and basically insinuate today's hunters do not have a clue about the dangers of lead and we are wantonly poisoning our families is bullshit and you know it! NOBODY HAS "EVER" BEEN PROVEN TO HAVE LEAD POISONING FROM EATING GAME TAKEN WITH TRADITIONAL AMMO! The first place I would look to for any lead contamination showing up in humans is from their water source, it seems like every other day we see in the news for one reason or another a water source is found somewhere that has elevated lead samples. This whole ball of wax is about the chance of an eagle that may or may not eat some gut pile that may or may not have some bullet fragments. You would if you could throw a whole industry that affects millions of hunters and shooters under the bus because of that! Quit making a mountain out of a molehill. Like I posted earlier in this thread that you lead ammo haters did not even acknowledge there are over one million animals killed on our highways every single day, many more by farming that is what I would call a real tragedy. Is everyone going to stop driving and plowing their fields ? I don't think so! And so I will again repeat myself as the exhaustive UK study clearly validates. Anyone who takes any game for consumption should carefully remove and bloodshot meat and other meat suspected of containing bullet fragments and all will be good. Al

Kent is now producing their own bismuth and is again loading and selling shotshells. I just purchased 3 boxes which each contain 10 shells at $25 per box. I also load my own with IXT shot which sells for $153 per 7lb bag which ends up loading around 100 shells give or take. NOT CHEAP! I have no choice in the matter because three of my shotguns are doubles which have barrels not proofed for steel and neither are my two autoloaders. I only use these shells for waterfowl which I am forced to do because it is the law! Al

By the way I received a Sportsman's Guide sales catalog today, they have them on sale for $269 Al

No criticism from me it is your money and you can spend it any way you want but I will tell you what I know. Ozone odor removers are nothing new, they used to peddle them at the State and County fairs for many years. Large enclosed dog kennel operations use them to keep the smell of urine down. I looked at them several times and can tell you they themselves emit a distinct odor that I can easily smell myself. While the exiting air has a pleasant clean air smell to me it is not natural, if I can smell it a Deer will easily detect it. Anything a Deer smells that is not something they are familiar with will send them on their way. Al

A good hunting outfit like your firearm or bow is an investment and while it can be expensive when you buy quality stuff it will last many years. Buying subpar equipment will insure that you will be leaving the woods early when weather conditions get bad because you are wet and cold or your feet feel frozen and just plain miserable. When it comes to hunting clothing I am in the wool camp, yes it is expensive but remember it will last many, many hunting seasons and it works like nothing else. I believe Cabela's, Johnson and Woolrich, LL Bean along with some others are still available, an internet search will get you pointed in the right direction. Also check out ebay for wool hunting clothes and maybe save some big bucks on like new used items. As for base clothing I have found what the US military issues to it's troops as good as it gets. It is poly based so it keeps moisture away from your skin which is the number one reason a person gets cold from sweating. It comes in light, medium and heavy weights and the best part it is about half the cost of the designer stuff. Al

Ain't that the truth! Al

I had a few pigeon shooting days very similar to yours many years ago, same deal freshly planted wheat field drew them for several days like a magnet until the seed sprouted. The field I hunted had a power line go right through the center, where each power pole was there was a clump of high grass to use for a blind that worked well. I could go up and down the field having multiple positions according to the directions the birds were coming in. Good video and thanks for the memories and continued hunting for you over in Ireland. Al

I totally understand your addiction, I have been afflicted with the firearms addiction disease for many years and for me it is terminal with no cure. Al

Not condoning anything without permission but they might just be taking and enjoying a ride on a side by side. Al

The Desert Bighorn is especially tough because their relatively small numbers make it is so hard to even draw a permit to get a crack at one. It is almost like winning the lottery to the big game hunting world. Al

At least for me probably the ultimate big game trophy in North America, just a dream at this stage of the game. Nice photo. Al

NICE!

When I see anything posted from a group with a name like hunting with "NON LEAD.ORG" a red flag "immediately" pops up! There is an agenda with people intentionally manipulating facts and tests to show the worst possible outcome scenario they can come up with. Anyone with rudimentary knowledge about ballistics and bullet construction can easily skew the results into what they want to see. How do I know they are manipulating? Because of tons of personal experience and the experience of other hard hunters and shooters that have used traditional ammo and are not seeing anything in real life hunting that these misleading stories are showing. Having acquaintances in the hunting world in the UK especially those that hunt with dogs I was kept informed on the the attempt to ban lead shot for hunting. They were using the same tactics we see here, one of a health risk eating game taken with traditional lead ammo. Now for those that do not know gun ownership and hunting in the UK has virtually disappeared for the common man, hunting with dogs has been banned in most cases except for RATS! This is all due to animal rights and the disdain for personal gun ownership. If there was ever a place where traditional lead ammo could be banned the UK would be the place. Even with the overwhelming numbers and money the anti backers had trying to get this ban passed it could not be done for the simple reason that it can not be proven anyone ever got lead sickness from consuming animals taken with traditional ammo. And as I have said previously in this long thread, if this anti gun Obama administration could in anyway prove traditional ammo caused a legitimate health hazard to hunters consuming meat that has been taken with this traditional ammo they would have went into a full court media blitz to get it banned. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind this train of thought was not looked into but the reason nothing could be done was the same reason it could not be banned in the UK. There has never been a case of lead poisoning from a hunter eating his game taken with traditional ammo in the hundreds of years it has been used! Learn how to prepare your game meat properly to remove all suspect meat that might contain bullet fragments or shot and as the exhaustive UK study "PROVED' you will have zero to fear of any lead poisoning enjoying your game meals taken with traditional hunting ammo! Al

Having quite a bit of experience with both the dual purpose 6mm Remington and the virtual twin 243 Winchester calibers on both varmint and Deer I would say you are right on the money. A good controlled expanding bullet does not explode like a varmint type bullet and should be used on any game especially big game intended for consumption. Anyone with any basic hunting ammunition knowledge knows that varmint bullets are made with thin jackets to expand on smaller size critters and also to fragment into small pieces if they hit the ground and not go ricocheting across the open landscape many hundreds of yards. Match your ammo to your game, butcher your game animals carefully removing any suspect meat and you will have no problems as was proven in the exhaustive UK study! Al

When Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty expressed his opinion that he did not find a man's butt appealing when asked about homosexual sex and did not believe in it what did the liberals, press and media do? A firestorm was brewed, Cancel Duck Dynasty, Throw him off the air, Boycott the TV show, Boycott Duck Commander products and anyone that sold them just to name a few!! Al

This hot weather makes me want to get out and bag a Beer or two.