airedale

As good as it gets when it comes to small frame revolvers, congrats. Al

While it looks a bit gaudy the Leopard spot pattern Is one of the very best camo patterns for concealment in high dead grass and fall foliage. Many years ago my Dad bought a one piece camo jump suit done in Leopard spots, it looked more like something Zsa Zsa Gabor would wear to bed than for hunting. He would not use it after the razzing we gave him, I told him I would give it a try bow hunting and wore it on a number of hunts, when the wind was right I had Deer a bunch of times walk within feet of me without detecting my presence. Had my brother come sneaking by just a few feet away never seeing me and made him come out of his skin with a loud Boo! So in my opinion the pattern worked better than great but pretty hard on the eyes and the jabs you take wearing it get pretty fierce LOL! Looked quite a bit like the photo below but without the elastic cuffs. Al

Got four big ones in the mail today. I am having a hard time figuring out where I am going to spend it all! Al

I tried some deep fried Gator at the State Fair once and thought is was very good, not only do they taste good but their hides are valuable and can be made into some pretty neat stuff. The photo below is a fellow on my Airedale board who lives in Georgia, his name is Bobby Harper. He caught this big guy in a live trap baited with two hogs which he proceeded to eat. Good luck on your hunt. Al

I did a complete overhaul of my reloading room a couple of years ago including benches, I did a writeup on it here after it was done. As for presses I use mostly single station presses but I did pick up a Lee Turret for large outputs of 223 and handgun ammo. I am completely satisfied it does a very good job and it is bargain priced compared to the competition. Also check out ebay for used equipment, you can save big, the average loader will never come close to wearing this stuff out. Al

Years ago I found a great deal on some closeout high end Simmons scopes, these were the last of the good Simmons before they were bought out by Bushnell and now relegated to an economy status scope. Anyhow I mounted a 6.5 X 20 on a Repro Winchester model 52 sporter 22 LR and for bench rest shooting it was the cat's meow, crystal clear lens and on 20X you can see the bullet on it's way to the target and hit it , one of those deals I had it laying around so I used it. The bad was it is a long and heavy scope that made an already heavy rifle a bit much to carry in the squirrel woods so it was time for a change. Looked long and hard for a good deal on a Burris Timberline and finally found a nice used one at the right price. The whole outfit is still heavy at over 7 pounds but it is balanced out a lot better for carrying and hunting. I am a Leupold man but I must say I really like everything about this Burris Timberline. Al

Like the OP I am a long time user of Bushnell products and for the most part I have zero complaints especially with their binoculars and rangefinders which I really like a lot and are a best buy in my opinion. One of the first new scopes I ever bought was a Bushnell Scope Chief which mounted on two hardened studs instead of a conventional base and it worked great even though it turned out to be a flop marketing wise. Their "Elite" scope line has been getting very good reviews, from all accounts I have read the folks that have purchased them love them. I own quite a few scope brands mounted on various rifles I have and am not afraid of trying different brands of scopes if I believe the quality is decent, and most times the performance has been good even on what some would consider low end. The thing is I match the scope to the way the firearm will be used and it's caliber. I classify my rifles basically in two categories, general, casual, and fun use and then there is my get serious use go to hunting guns. All my get serious big game rifles and get serious varmint rifles have Leupold scopes mounted on them because of absolute reliability. Mostly Vari X 1s and 2s as I have found the return going to the substantial higher end cost Leupolds is just not there for me. I have never had an issue when hunting game with the Vari 1s and 2s that would have caused me to be unsuccessful because I was using them over the higher end models. The rest of my firearms collection falls under the fun and recreation category and they are topped with a hodge podge of most of the other scope brands that have been available through the years and make no mistake about it , there are some other very good brands, they have served me well in the ways they have been used. Most scope failures that I have seen are caused by one of two things, heavy recoil or being subjected to a good soaking. These casual use fun guns will for the most part never be out in wet foul weather and are mounted on rifles with low to moderate recoil. I just purchased a used like new Burris Timberline on ebay to mount on a repro Miroku Winchester 52 sporter 22 LR, no Leupold by any means but a solid decent scope that should hopefully do the job for which it is intended. So I guess what this long winded post is trying to get across is if money was no object I would certainly have a Leupold scope on every single firearm that I own. Unfortunately with the glutton firearms habit I seem to have I am not in that position so for my get serious stuff I subscribe to Philoshop's "buy once and cry once" and mount a suitable Leupold and for the rest I buy the best possible scope I can afford at the time. Al

A few months ago I was wandering around in one of the local sporting goods stores and spotted one of the new Kingston M1 Garands. Never saw one before and never heard or read anything about them. When I got home I did some investigating and found that they were made right here in Liberty NY. It's concept is a rifle built to duplicate the original M1 Garand in look and feel right down to the weight. The action is based on the tried and true Ruger 10/22 and is made from steel instead of aluminum, the trigger is a custom Jard that gives a beautiful 2 1/2 pound crisp pull all inside a nicely figured walnut stock with Garand style hardware and sights along with a lifetime guarantee. From all that I have read about this rifle it has been getting a big thumbs up for looks, function and accuracy. For me it was one of those guns that just weighed too heavy on my mind so I bought the darn thing. I will be putting that bucket of 1400 Remington Golden bullets I picked up at Bass Pro on the cheap to good use wringing this baby out. Al

With a couple of gift cards in my wallet burning to be used I took a trip to Bass Pro to see what I could not live without. Found the best price I have seen in quite some time on 22 LR ammo, 1400 round buckets of Remington's bread and butter 40 gr hp Golden Bullets for $85 plus tax which worked out to be $6.57 per hundred. Most 22 ammo of various brands around here is going for 9 to 10 dollars plus tax per hundred so that bucket price is pretty good. While the golden bullet variety is not the best performing 22 ammo, I have found it to be middle of the road in quality and it has proven to be decent for hunting squirrels and great for practice and plinking especially at that price Al

Also do not discount the traditional sidelock rifles, they can be very capable, accurate and are a lot of fun. Like a recurve or long bow they are very rewarding when you take game with one. I have three at this time, a Thompson Hawken 45 cal assembled from a bunch of parts with a stainless Green Mountain barrel, a Thompson Center 45 cal Cherokee that is light weight and sweet and a CVA Hawken Kit gun in 50 cal that my boys bought me for Christmas one year, it is a decent shooter. Al

A couple of recommendations for those looking into hunting with traditional archery, the "Fred Bear DVD" collection available on Amazon for around $25 and the Byron Ferguson book "Become The Arrow" also available on Amazon for about $12. Al

Agree totally, not only do they look nice when done right but they are just as stable as a synthetic stock, their one caveat is they are HEAVY. My Ruger 77 22 mag varmint has a laminated stock that is done well and gives it a nice look. Using Birch should be against the law! In the case of my Rem 597 maggie I went with function, camo and light weight over beauty that hopefully will give me a little edge in handling and concealment when calling in sharp eyed varmints at closer ranges in the timber. Al

The wife likes to hit the backyard range with me from time to time for some friendly plinking competition and is I must say a pretty good shot. I picked her up a standard Remington 597 22LR some years ago and mounted one of the early production high quality Simmons Japanese 3x9 22 mag scopes that I had laying around. Of course as soon as she saw how I transformed the 597 maggie she clamoured for me to make hers over especially the trigger. So I scrapped the plastic black stock and found her a used laminated stock, refinished it to look new and did the Volquartsen hammer swap which gave the rifle a nice 2 1/2 pound pull from the 7 1/2 pull from the factory. We sighted her in 50 yrds and and she was laying them in there right on top of one another with standard velocity ammo, got to keep the wife happy! Al

Chores on my small farm give me a couple of hours of moderate exercise every day, I try to work in a bit of extra exercise when it comes to stuff like mowing the lawn which is quite large I use a walk behind mower, do a lot of snow shoveling even though I have a blower, cutting & stacking wood, etc etc. I do ride a Airdyne bike for 25 minutes to start every day. As for diet I stay away from foods that contain white processed flour and sugar as much as possible. Al

When I saw the thread title "First trip To Swamp" I thought maybe you made a visit to Washington DC LOL! When season opens and the crap hits the fan overgrown swamps are a magnet for the big boys. Tough job to clear shooting lanes on overgrown mucky land. I try to find a couple of good stands where I can be downwind well inside those areas on a used trail and clear just enough to get a shot. I have had some luck the last half hour before dark when they get up and start moving and dry gulch them in the thick stuff where they think they are safe. Can make for a real tough drag if you get lucky! Al

When Gander Mountain first opened shop in this area it was by far my favorite store to visit, I was well acquainted with their merchandise as I frequently ordered for many years from their mail order catalog so it was great to see all that stuff as they say "in the flesh"! As I was walking around yesterday it was kind of sad to see it's demise unfolding before my eyes, empty shelving, the once impressive firearms display nearly empty, untidy merchandise rummaged through, employees just going through the motions looking like zombies. Nothing like the jam packed store that opened some years ago with just about any item an outdoor sportsman could want. Small boats and motors, atvs, furniture, camping equipment were among the items that went by the wayside in favor of filling the store with more clothing which has a much higher profit margin. What it came down to was their pricing which was not competitive at all, I looked at a pair of cargo pants yesterday very similar to the ones I was wearing that were marked down 40% off the regular price and they were still $15 more than I paid. Just one more example from a year or so ago I saw their Ruger 1911 45 acp was priced $100 more than my new favorite store "Running's" every day price on the same exact model which is not chump change. Even their own T shirts with the Gander Mountain's logo or advertising were priced way to high, those should have been sold at cost for free advertising! Having worked in the sporting goods business myself I know the big outfits all pretty much pay the same price for their merchandise but Gander Mountain refused to sharpen their prices and get competitive and paid the price. Don't know a thing about the new outfit Camping World but wish them the best and hope they can compete. Al

I have a hand cocking trap machine that I have been using for years and while it works ok it can not be operation by a single person for shooting alone, so in order to do some shooting two people are needed. So I decided that I would look into a battery powered electric model that could be loaded up with a stack of clay birds and operated alone if need be. After doing a little research the wheely bird auto feed trap machine seemed to be about what I wanted to pay and was well regarded in the reviews written from folks that actually purchased one. I came within an eyelash of ordering it a couple of days ago from Amazon whose price was good but held off and decided I would wait until the first of next month to make the buy. Well I hit the local Gander Mountain in Cicero to see what was left and how their pricing was in the final count down. Found they had the Wheely Birds in stock, not only was their regular price of $250 better than Amazon's but their out the door price was 100 bucks more off for a selling price of $149, it was my lucky day for a change! Al

The 17 HMR cartridge has been problematic when chambered in an autoloader, both Remington and Ruger tried and opted out after having problems with case head fractures, I believe those rifles were and are on recall for a buy back. Savage claims to have solved the problem with a delayed blowback action. Volquartsen makes an auto loader that is top of the line in quality and accuracy but pricey. I believe Henry did make a 17 HMR pump rifle and a lever also. I have a 17 HMR in the Ruger 77 sporter, picked it up when they first came out and it held up to all the pre sales hype and even exceeded expectations for me, It is a tad more accurate than my other Ruger 77 chambered in 22 mag which I attribute to the very precisely manufactured ammo more than anything else. I have taken quite a bit more game with the 22 mag than with the HMR, from what i have experienced they are both good killers on Chucks, Fox and Coyotes out to 100 yards. With the 22 mag's heavier bullets I hear an audible smack and they will pretty much drop in their tracks, with the HMR I get a few runners but they don't go far, one Coyote had to be recovered by one of my dogs as he traveled around 100 yards into heavy brush. The HMR is very fur friendly in that the bullet does not exit on Fox and Coyote putting only a small entry hole in the hide. In the end it is one of those apple oranges comparisons, on Chucks, Fox and Coyote they are pretty much equal out to the slightly over 100 yard range, when the targets become more distant and small as in squirrel or crows for example the HMR will have an edge because of it's flat trajectory and slight accuracy edge. Chambered in a quality rifle you will not go wrong with either. Al

As long as it is in the Deer's mind there is no threat they will get used to and not pay much attention to all sorts of noise and ruckus including dogs and their barking. Al

My interest in bow hunting first started after watching the old 60s and 70s American Sportsman TV show which featured the old master Fred Bear on several archery hunts after various big game species. In the late 60s I purchased a Bear Super Kodiak recurve bow and began shooting, I still have that bow and still shoot it today. From the start I found that I enjoyed just target shooting with a recurve bow , it is a enjoyable relaxing sport in itself. Yes I did own and hunt with several compound bows, a Jennings and a Darton both of which I passed on to some young hunters. Last winter I picked up a nice used Browning vintage compound to play with but my favorite is still the old Bear recurve. While I hunted deer quite a bit in the early days my main interest when it came to bow hunting was and is small game (Rabbits and Woodchucks) and what they call "bow fishing" for carp which for me is a panic! IMO My best archery shot on game was on a standing Woodchuck at 60 yards with the Bear recurve. Al

Always been a big fan of the Winchester 22 mag cartridge, as a young boy I got to knock off quite a few chucks with my Dad's Winchester open sight model 61 pump which got me hooked. In my late teens I purchased a Mossberg "Chuckster" in 22 mag with a Weaver V22 scope mounted on her and proceeded to devastate the chuck population. As time went on I moved away from the maggie and became heavily involved in the centerfire varmint cartridges and rifles along with reloading and the Mossberg was sold off. Started doing quite a bit of varmint calling mostly in the woodlands, ranges for the most part were short so I used a shotgun quite a bit but there were times when I had shots in the 80 to 100 yard range and the shotgun was overmatched and the varmint rifles I had for the most part were just a bit much especially for foxes. Also I was seeing a lot of Squirrels during these hunts that I had to pass on because of the firearm I was carrying. I realized the old Mossberg would have been just the ticket for the kind of hunting I was doing so I corrected the boneheaded mistake of selling the Chuckster and purchased a new bolt action Ruger 77/22 Mag varmint model. With a little trigger and bolt tightening work the Ruger turned out to be a nice shooter. She would flatten Foxes out to 125 yards or so and easily make head shots on Squirrels if I did my part, all was good. So one day some years ago a hunting buddy of mine shows up at my place with a new Remington 597 22 mag to sight in. My Dad happened to be there when we shot this rifle and we were amazed at how accurate it was, just as accurate as my Ruger 77 and the only bad was the lousy trigger pull. My Dad was so impressed he went right out and bought one for himself. He brought it over to be sighted in and the results were the same, very accurate, flawless operation but a lousy trigger. Well I could not stand it and like my Dad I picked up a new 597 for myself and bingo, same results, mine shot as well as the other two, I was tickled. I settled on a Nikon 2X7 shotgun scope for several reasons, good quality and optics, compact with the right power for the caliber and the parallax was factory set at 75 yards which is perfect for the 22 mag. The 597 has worked out great for me and is my go to woods varmint rifle, made some real good shots on game with it and it performs exactly as I hoped for. As with all my firearms sooner or later I get inside of them and try to improve their performance, and after years of putting up with the 597's horrible 7 pound trigger I attacked the problem. First thing I did was put in the Volquartsen hammer which cut the pull weight in half to 3 1/2 pounds. Hoping for a bit more lighter pull I then switched out the trigger spring with a Mcarbo spring and she went down another 7 ounces giving me a nice crisp 3 pound pull. The plain black plastic stock worked but I did not care for the look, found a new camo drop in on ebay for a song and bought it. The 597 now suits me for a short range timber varmint rifle in every way, fast handling light weight autoloader, very accurate, good trigger and glass and most important a proven game taker.

Well I am only going to speak for myself but when it comes to hunting, fishing, shooting, reloading and gun knowledge I know a hell of a lot more about each of these activities today at almost 69 years of age than I did at 39 years of age and I am still learning new stuff all the time and hope I keep on learning! Al

Rob check out rifle scopes on ebay, I have saved some serious money on nice used high end name brand scopes like Leupold, Burris and Redfield. Al

"Matty" my young Setter pup pointing a Mourning Dove under one of the bird feeders in my front yard. It still amazes me how through selective breeding traits such as pointing, retrieving, treeing, herding etc have been incorporated and ingrained into specialized dog breeds for man's use. I think young Matty is going to be a good one. "We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return dogs give us their all. It is the best deal man ever made!" M. Facklam Al