airedale

For the past 20 years or so as I have started getting a little age on me I have been getting the shot. A couple of years ago the shot did not match the strain that was going around so I said the heck with it and did not bother getting it. Well don't you know as sure a hell I got the flu that year and was sicker than a dog, it is nothing to mess with when you are older or very young and as can be seen on the news just about every night you can die from it. It is no big deal and even without insurance affordable, better to be a little safer than sorry and do all you can to protect yourself and family. Al

First of all the Savage 110 style bolt action has a reputation of being one of the most consistently accurate designs period, the barrel nut has a zero downside other than aesthetics to some. I picked up a synthetic stock left hand plain trigger version in 7mm-08 for my wife, and did a trigger job and got a nice crisp 4 lb pull. Mounted a Leupold 3x9 I had laying around and picked up some 139 Hornady SST handloads at the Syracuse gun show. Once we got her sighted in the wife shot several 3 shot groups at 100 , she was getting 11/2 inch groups no problem. I am sure with some experimentation with some different loads I could get it to shoot even better but for fairly short range woods Deer hunting it was plenty good enough. Al

I considered the shoe box type compressors but I have holding off on one as I have been seeing a bunch of stand alone airgun compressors that have been coming on the market in recent years for not a whole lot of money. If and when those stand alones turn out to be half way decent I may spring for one. Al My 25 cal MRod

Stay away from "EVERYTHING" made from white processed flour and and refined white sugar, stay with it and you will lose weight.

I have become big fan of PCP powered airguns, picked a Benjamin Marauder 25 cal PCP a few years ago and it has been a great rifle with gilt edged accuracy and a lot of pop. The only downside is using the hand pump to get her charged up, not a bit deal if just used for hunting or a little plinking but if you get into a tin of pellets doing some substantial target shooting you will get a real workout, I would say over a period of time as "married with children's AL BUNDY" once said you will end up with arms like a "Java Man", So while I try to keep convincing myself that the workout is a good side benefit I have been looking into some various personal use high pressure compressors for airguns. The reviews seem to be all over the map on these things and before I plunk down the cash it takes to buy one I want to make sure if I take the plunge I will have something with quality and longevity. If I can ever end up with a tank and a compressor of decent quality at a reasonable price that 35 cal Benjamin Bulldog will not be far behind Al

Unfortunately this is what can happen when you have an open message board, ( a board that you just register on and are automatically in), anyone who has a grudge, anti hunters, opposite politics, spammers, etc, can join and proceed to flood the board with garbage. Late at night or early in the morning is when they make their attacks. I have been running a hunting dog message board for close to 15 years and because of the baloney we are seeing here on this board I long ago went to a approved membership setting. I had a deal like this happen once and as fast as I was deleting the bad actor's accounts and messages they were signing up with new accounts and continued to flood the board with garbage. I now check every single new member first before their account is approved. In other words when someone joins my board I have ways of checking to see where they are from. When I see anyone suspicious as in members wanting to join from China, India, and a few shithole countries, along with the weird screen names like these jerks here are using I know they are more than likely up to no good and they are are not going to be approved as a member. It is a pain in the ass to have to do things that way, every forum owner operates their board as they see fit but being a one man operation the approved membership setting saves me a lot of grief and work cleaning up the mess that has to be done to restore things back to normal when these jerks decide they want to ruin your day. Al

You are on my friend. Al

I always thought of a several week excursion using a motorhome and loading up a couple of my dogs, a bunch of my Varmint rifles and double shotguns along with a pile of ammunition for a combination varmint-bird hunting safari starting in the Dakotas and working my way down to Arizona. I think it would be a blast. My hit list Pheasants, Prairie Dogs, Marmots, Coyotes Jack Rabbits, Bobcat Sharptail grouse, Prairie Chicken, Sage grouse, Chukar, Gambel's Quail, Scaled Quail, Mearns Quail Merriam's and Rio Grand Turkey I like action and pulling the triggers of my firearms! Al

I would be a hypocrite I would be a hypocrite because I talk the same way in real life as do most of the people I know. Al

I have seen several of your posts and it is apparent that you are looking for a compact short handy (BRUSH) rifle that can be used for some Deer hunting. A rifle in 9mm and the 30 cal M1 carbine can kill a Deer but they really are not ideal. You seem to be leaning toward an autoloader and do not mind the military look. I believe the Ruger Mini 14 chambered in 300 Blackout tactical fits your bill best and especially so if you handload as all the good quality 308 size bullets in their various weights can be used and would be pretty effective on Deer at short to moderate ranges.The Mini 14 in 7.62X39 Russian is also good but it's 310 bullet size puts it in second place to the Blackout for me as a hunting rifle. Al

Sounds like a B Sci Fi Movie

“I hunt because I love the entire process: the preparations, the excitement, and sustained suspense of trying to match my woodslore against the finely honed instincts of these creatures. On most days spent in the woods, I come home with an honestly earned feeling that something good has taken place. It makes no difference whether or not I got anything: it has to do with how the day was spent.” Fred Bear

I like these Gildan 47400 Tech Performance Long Sleeve T-Shirt G474 or something similar against my skin, poly material will wick the sweat away, sweat and being wet is what will make you cold once you stop moving. Wear your wool or Polartec type shirts layered over the top of these along with a good coat and you will be good to go. Al

My dad taught me at an early age how to use a compass and I am totally confident as long as I have a good quality working compass on my person (I actually carry two) I will never get lost. Many years of following my Coon dogs in big woods at night is about as sure fire a way of getting turned around and disoriented to where you are as it gets. I always have pretty good knowledge of the lay of the lands I am hunting, it's trails and roads creeks and streams are noted by studying maps and many times from previous experience. I take note of my my starting point and it's orientation on my maps with an initial compass reading and just head in. I can be zig zagging around in a several square mile area half the night going wherever the dogs take me and when I have had enough I leash up the dogs, take a compass reading and head out, might not come out exactly to my vehicle but usually not to far off and importantly never lost. Hail o the Compass Al

Got the little Just Rite Miner's carbide lamp cleaned up, put a few pieces of carbide in the chamber and water in the top and she fired right up. I have never hunted Coon with any of my carbides but I have picked up night crawlers using one. Al

At a young age I was introduced to night Coon hunting with dogs and was bitten by the bug right from the get-go. One of my favorite things was listening to the oldtimers get togethers and them spinning their yarns of Coon hunts in their past. The more interesting subjects they toughed on was the equipment those guys used in the early days and especially the lights they had to find their way through the woods and Coons in trees at night. The real oldtimers used nothing more than a plain old kerosene lantern to traverse the woods, when they got to their treed dogs they had no way of shinning the tree tops to spot the Coon so they brought with them a saw or an axe and toppled the tree to get the Coon. Things improved as they started carrying carbide miner's lamps which use carbide and water to form acetylene gas which burned fairly bright inside a polished reflector. They could project a usable light beam that would shine the tree tops well enough to spot the Coon's eyes so they could be shot out instead of having to take down the tree. The next big improvement was the Coleman lantern that really puts out light and with a reflector attached could also shine the tree. The main drawback of the Coleman was it was a bit bulky and cumbersome. Night hunting really took a turn for the better when Koehler brought out their 4 volt lead acid electric battery powered "Wheat Light" for miner's. The battery was rechargeable hundreds of times, the light would burn for many hours with decent brightness and it was fairly compact and light, it was a mainstay in the mines and crossed over well for night hunting use for many years. Since the late seventies night hunting lights have been constantly improved upon and so much better than they once were. Lead acid batteries have pretty much gone by the wayside giving way to first rechargeable nicads then nickle metal hydrides to lithium. Bulbs have evolved also, Halogen, Xenon and now bright LEDs never blow that last about forever, all in all night lights have never been better than now. I have a plug in spotlight for my Wick light that is as bright as an aircraft landing light. Spending the amount of time in the woods at night as I have following my dogs and doing some varmint hunting one can probably say correctly as my wife does that I have gone off the deep end when it comes to hunting lights. Like I tell her all one has to do is spend the night in the woods in freezing temps and having to stay until daylight to walk out because of light failure and they would know where I am coming from. They also come in handy when the power goes out. Besides I just like and enjoy collecting and messing with those old lanterns and carbide miner's cap lights, it's fun. Anyhow this is the time of year I do maintenance on my equipment and I was working on charging and cleaning up some of my lights old and new, I thought about their history and snapped a photo of the tip of the iceberg, some of the old to new for any folks that may be interested such things. Al

They ain't any more of a song bird than regular barn pigeons, I would not doubt it one bit they were designated as such just to keep them from being hunted. I am for any expansion of hunting opportunity especially when it comes to small game and doves are included. I love hunting barn pigeons, me and my old big Rex had a good day killing this bunch living in a farmer's silo, he did the retrieving and I did the blasting, Rex caught and killed himself a big old stinking rat also.

When I was a young fellow I had a totally different mindset when it came to any kind of hunting. I was so driven to be successful and about as gung-ho as one can get, considered any hunt to be a bust if I came home empty handed. I would endure all kinds of foul weather to make successful hunts happen, the right cold or wet weather gear will make things bearable but things will still be tough. Yes I killed stuff and I have to say when it is cold like it is now I have had pretty good luck but I went through some pretty miserable hunts to get it done. As an old guy today I am a fair weather boy and when I hunt I want to enjoy myself and be halfway comfortable, do not take nowhere near the game I once did, I find myself letting a lot a stuff walk but I still enjoy myself just being out there. Al

https://bearingarms.com/tom-k/2018/01/05/gander-outdoors-announces-69-new-store-openings/

I have had so many good dogs through the years it would be hard to pick just one but the photo below is one of my favorites. His name was TJ and he was a good one, we had some pretty good days hitting the timber together.

If I was in an actual survival situation where I have to hunt my food in order to stay alive I would not be too picky. Everything would be on the menu, Squirrels and Chipmunks would be good for starters, just about any bird species with some meat on it's bones would be a target. Rabbits, Hare, Possums, Coons and Porcupines had better head for cover also. A Deer would not be safe either. My little Savage 24 would keep me fed with no problem. Al

I have a FoxPro and a little pocket Phantom electronic job and they surely do work but truthfully it is not that hard to learn use of a basic varmint mouth call, there are plenty of online videos and CDs one can listen to that give a good idea on what kind of sounds you make to bring them in, believe me you do not have to be perfect. I have had just about as good luck bringing them with a hand held mouth call as with an electronic one, the big advantage with the electronic call is they can be operated with almost zero movement, it does not take much to get busted. Electronic calls that have remotes so the actual call or speaker can be placed away from your stand keeps all the attention away from the hunter as long as he has the wind. If you can stand the cold the weather we are having right now it is really good for calling, they come on the run. Below is my favorite mouth call I picked up about 5 years ago, it is hand made by a fellow from Canastota NY, his outfit was called "Black Creek", don't know if he still makes calls or not. A three in one, it can be used as a howler, regular screaming rabbit and it has a squirrel squeaker. I carry this call in my pocket just about every time I go hunting and it almost always has provided me with some sort of action. Al

I like a combination gun myself, a Savage 24 is tough to beat.

There are plenty of valid reasons for using traditional lead based bullets! Al