airedale

HUNTING OVER?? Heck the fun has just begun!! Al Grouse open till Feb 28 Pheasant open till Feb 28 Squirrel open till Feb 28 Raccoon, Fox, Opossum open till Feb 15 CottonTail Rabbit open till March 19 Hare open till Jan 31 Crow open till March 31 Coyote open till March 26

Matty is growing like a weed and is coming along nicely, below is a photo of her staunch on point. On A Squirrel

For me binoculars are a lot like rifle scopes and fall into two categories. If for the woods and it's shorter ranges I like light weight with lower power and a large field of view. A quality pair of wide angle 6 or 7 power and up to 35 mm objectives will work great. For open spaces and glassing long distances a higher power will be an advantage, a friend of mine has a farm with big open fields with places that can be glassed several hundred yards. He has a pair of Nikon 10X50s that are beautiful for that situation sitting in a stand but they are huge and weight a ton. I would not want to be carrying them around my neck all day. There are models with a power and weight that fall in between those two types above like 8X42 to 10X42 that are a compromise in weight power and field of view for a one pair all arounder. As for brands I would buy from a manufacturer with a good track record that has been around and there are several. Personally I have used high end Bushnell binos for many years and they have worked out well for me. Al

I do not believe there is any dog breed that is completely hypoallergenic, it is a dog's skin dander for the most part that causes any allergies. There are some breeds that seem to have less dander than others and some believe the Airedale breed is one of them but I have never seen any real scientific evidence proving it. As for shedding it is the same, all dogs will shed except for one of those hairless breeds and some breeds shed more than others. A good brushing a couple of times a moth is the best solution for shedding dogs. Al

A couple of more nice Bucks.

Gene Simmons of the rock band "Kiss" meets his match

There are several that are formally trained as blood trailers, some were just brought to the last known position of the deer and they tracked them up and found them ether by foot scent or blood. I have used my own Airedales on occasion several times just putting them on the track for Fox and Coyote that kept going after being hit by a shot gun and have them track them up and find. Al

Same with me Dan and I have not been without one since that time A lot of hunters use these Airedales for varmints below is a photo I pulled from a video of an Airedale named "Earl" going under a windfall and pulling out a wounded Coyote, a pretty tough job to say the least. Al

A few photos of folks around the US and Canada that use their Airedales for recovering game. Al

I buy the Turduchens already prepared, deboned and stuffed with either a cornbread stuffing or a Cajun rice stuffing. The wife likes doing them in one of those Nesco ovens and they come out great. I have been getting mine at the local Walmart. Al

My clan gathers at my place on Christmas Eve, I was doing deep fried Turkey as the main course for many years but I switched over to having roast Turduchens for the past 5 or 6 years. I am addicted to the things. Will also do a Kentucky ham along with all the traditional holiday fixings. Al

Saw some nice knifes and collections in the thread for field dressing Deer and wondered if there was the same type of enthusiasm with the the small game and bird hunters. For doing up most of my small game animals and birds I like and collect bird hunter's pocket knives with the toothpick or clip style blade along with a gut hook for removing bird entrails. These knives also work well for me when skinning out any furbearers I take. Al Boker bird gut hook knife

That statement says it all and from what you have said about your Dad he would have had it no other way, so sorry for your loss. Al

From the very start of their existence Leupold's reputation and claim to fame was built on their scope line being fog proof and recoil proof and guaranteed as such for life. All the scopes in their lineup are covered by that guarantee including the Vari X 1. From the Horse's mouth. "All Leupold scopes are designed, machined and assembled in America. Each comes with a Golden Ring Lifetime Guarantee, which means if for any reason it fails to do what it's supposed to do, we'll either fix it or replace it to make it right. Guaranteed." Al

Come on you guys, don't you ever watch TV, the Mountain Monsters TV show has Bigfoots and Sasquatches and even a Sheepsquatch on every week. Seems like you just need to go to a county to find one! Wolfe County Wolfman" June 22, 2013 N/A 2 2 "Grassman of Perry County" June 29, 2013 N/A 3 3 "Devil Dog of Logan County" July 6, 2013 N/A 4 4 "Wampus Beast of Pleasants County" July 13, 2013 N/A 5 5 "Mothman of Mason County" July 20, 2013 N/A 6 6 "Lizard Demon of Wood County" July 27, 2013 N/A Season 2 (2014)[edit] No. overall No. in season Title Original air date U.S. viewers (millions) 7 1 "Kentucky Hellhound of Pike County" April 4, 2014 N/A 8 2 "Grafton Monster of Taylor County" April 11, 2014 N/A 9 3 "Yahoo of Nicholas County" April 18, 2014 N/A 10 4 "Werewolf of Webster County" April 25, 2014 N/A 11 5 "Fire Dragon of Pocahontas County" May 2, 2014 N/A 12 6 "Sheepsquatch of Boone County" May 9, 2014 N/A 13 7 "Shadow Creature of Braxton County" May 30, 2014 N/A 14 8 "Wild Bill's Bear Beast" June 6, 2014 N/A 15 9 "Death Cat of Cherokee County" June 13, 2014 N/A 16 10 "Snallygaster of Preston County" June 27, 2014 N/A 17 11 "Cave Creature of Greenbrier County" July 11, 2014 N/A 18 12 "Hogzilla of Hocking Hills" July 18, 2014 N/A 19 13 "Bloodless Howler of Harrison County" July 25, 2014 N/A 20 14 "Grassman's Revengeance" July 25, 2014 N/A Season 3 (2015)[edit] No. overall No. in season Title Original air date U.S. viewers (millions) 22 1 "Bigfoot of Central Kentucky: Midnight Whistler" March 7, 2015 N/A 23 2 "Chupacabras of Putnam County" March 14, 2015 N/A 24 3 "Bigfoot of Eastern Kentucky: The Wildman" March 21, 2015 N/A 25 4 "Hellhound of Lincoln County" March 28, 2015 N/A 26 5 "Bigfoot of Clay County: The Yahoo" April 4, 2015 N/A 27 6 "Bigfoot of Washington County: The Dustman" April 11, 2015 N/A 28 7 "Bigfoot of Ashe County: The Cherokee Devil" April 18, 2015 N/A 29 8 "Bigfoot of Ashe County: AIMS Explodes" April 25, 2015 N/A Season 4 (2016)[edit] No. overall No. in season Title Original air date U.S. viewers (millions) 30 1 "Bigfoot of Harrison County: Stonish Giant" January 23, 2016 0.511[3] 31 2 "Bigfoot of Central Kentucky: Squalling Savage" January 30, 2016 0.525[4] 32 3 "Bigfoot of Blair County: Lightning Man" February 6, 2016 0.535[5] 33 4 "Bigfoot of Blair County: Thunder Brothers" February 13, 2016 0.463[6] 34 5 "Scariest Moments" February 20, 2016 0.344[7] 35 6 "Bigfoot of Pendleton County: Great Fire Ape" February 27, 2016 0.460[8] 36 7 "Bigfoot of Wirt County: The Ash Man" March 5, 2016 0.464[9] 37 8 "Bigfoot of Lee County: Raven Mocker" March 12, 2016 0.411[10] 38 9 "Best of Bigfoot" March 19, 2016 0.410[11] 39 10 "Raven Mocker: Back to Trapper" March 26, 2016 0.468[12] 40 11 "Bigfoot of Wood County: The Phantom of the Forest" April 2, 2016 0.442[13] 41 12 "Ohio Grassman: Return of the Rogue Team" April 9, 2016 0.536[14] 42 13 "AIMS vs The Rogue Team" April 16, 2016 0.659[15]

I believe I tried and eaten just about every game animal we have here in NY and plenty of other odd ball stuff, I pretty much have a cast iron stomach and can eat just about anything. Like that Andrew Zimmern guy from Bizarre Foods, if it looks good I will at least try it and most times even if it does not look good I will try it. In the end it all boils down to taste whether I actually dig in and eat any quantity. A lot of the turning up our noses for certain foods is in our heads and more psychological and sometimes religious, some cultures won't eat pork, or beef for examples. As long as the animal's meat is fresh and properly butchered I will give it a taste and usually a good cook with a good recipe can make almost anything palatable. While there are many things I have tried and like a couple stand out, a roasted Grouse and I absolutely love Frog legs. The worst was a Coon stew a buddy of mine cooked up and brought to camp, it had more fur floating around in it than meat. There are two exceptions that I will stay away from, any dog or dog like animal IE Fox, Coyote etc. or any kind of a Monkey. Al

When I was a kid I was shown by a custom knife maker named Ralph Bone exactly how to sharpen a knife correctly with stones, I can do a pretty fair job but it can be a long slow tedious task depending on the blade and it takes patience. I still use the stones for my high end stuff but the newer electric sharpening devices like the Work Sharp which gets rave reviews by most folks that have used one as does the Chef's Choice which I have and can vouch for will do a decent job. They are easy to use for anyone and fast, both keep the critical angle fairly exact which is the key when pulling the knife blade over the belts with the Work Sharp or the or the stones with the Chef's Choice. I still use a good quality hard Arkansas stone for the final strop after getting real close with the Chef's Choice. I do like the Work Sharp a lot though and have been seriously considering one, Amazon seems to have the best prices on both the Chef's Choice and the Work Sharp. Al

Fishers are the very least of your worries when it comes to depleting upland bird populations. They are mostly big woods animals and localized to certain types of habitat and their population is relatively low. When it comes to predation Coons, Coyotes, Skunks, Fox, Possums and Raptors take a far bigger toll on upland birds and local waterfowl. Small game hunting for those animals and Trapping has fallen by the wayside in recent years. Posted land, low fur prices also have contributed to a pretty much zero predator control time. Today's modern farming practices and lack of suitable habitat are among other factors that have added to the problem. Al

I'll hijack my own thread for a moment. You guys who use gut hooks like them ? I've never used one. I just make initial cut thru skin , skin back a few inches and then cut upwards between fingers shaped like a V pointing upwards as I push down eliminating cutting any organs. ============================================ My Sons got me one of the old original metal Wyoming Knives for my birthday many years ago, honestly I just never warmed up to it mostly because of it's look and style, I am just used to and prefer a conventional knife so I never gave it a try. I found this video of this particular knife being demonstrated on various big game animals and it seems to make things go along quite fast and easy when doing either skinning and field dressing. Still need a conventional blade for the butt I think, other than that the Wyoming knife is pretty slick. Al http://www.wyomingknife.com/videos.htm

When I see so many great American knife manufacturer's products shown here it is sad to know many are no longer in business as American companies manufacturing here. Today many are gone or just name only and are imports. Buck still makes some of it's line here in the US as does Utica Cutlery, I think Case is the last holdout still making their entire line down in PA. Camillus pocket-folding knives are one of my favorites to collect, I was really sad to see them go under. Hey how can they stay in business selling a pocket knife for 50 or 60 dollars when you have infomercial knife shows on TV selling a whole table load of over 100 knives for the cost of a couple of American mades? This is my most unusual knife, an old Utica Cutlery interchanging blade set, an early attempt to duplicate the utility of a Swiss Army knife or today's multi tools. Al

This custom knife and sheath below is the most notable one in my collection, a knifemaker in Virginia named Jack Hawk made it. Jack's father is one of the knife guild inductees named Joe Hawk and was quite the guy in addition to being a top knife maker, I was told he was in movies and known by the screen name Joe Dakota and was in a John Wayne movie, "McClintock" I think. Anyhow it was a gift from a fellow Airedale breeder that I helped out along the way. Jack Hawk made the cover of the 14th annual "Knives" in 1994, the knife version of "Gun Digest". Not anything real fancy but it is nice and of very good quality, one of the kind you just look at. Al

I have a small collection of sporting-hunting knives but most are kind of nice to be gutting Deer. Like old Chief Dan said about his piece of rock candy in the Outlaw Josey Wales movie "it's for looking at and not for eating" , same with those fancy knives. The ones I have used the most in the field are a classic Buck folding 110 single blade and my favorite for many years an old Western double blade large folding pocket knife. I especially like the pointy narrow almost fillet like blades on this knife for field dressing both large and small game. I in fact just got done cleaning the old Western up when this thread was started so I snapped a quick photo of the old workhorse. Al

Those two scopes are on different ends of the spectrum, the 1X4 Leupold Hog model is a light weight compact lower powered scope with a large eye relief and field of view geared more toward a fast handling rifle used in close quarters-thick cover and shorter ranges for the most part. The Bushnell 4X12 is a much bigger scope, probably with much less eye relief-field of view and substantially heavier but a lot more power. More of an open country scope for me that I would be using in my area for mostly varmint hunting. As far as brands I am a Leupold user for the most part and on my real serious rifles it is the only scope for me. I have owned several Bushnell scopes down through the years and still have a couple, the ones I have used all did a good job for me. I have a Bushnell Banner Dusk & Dawn camo model mounted on a Thompson Center Encore 223 barrel, I have not used it enough to give an honest long term evaluation but so for it has performed well. Al

This thread has been completely derailed, it was posted because of a hunter illegally shooting dogs because he said they were screwing up his hunt and not about livestock attacks. I have had the exact same thing happen to me when my neighbors black Lab showed up under my tree stand one time. I was not happy about it but I was sure as Hell not going to shoot and kill my neighbor's dog over it legal or not! Lousy owners, vicious dog attacks and livestock attacks, strays and packs of feral dogs roaming the woods and deliberately trespassing hunters using dogs are a completely different matter are for another thread. There are laws on the books to cover all of this stuff and a farmer or home owner can use the law to take of these problems, my advice is to follow the laws. I have a small farm myself and have had numerous run in's with dogs, l have good page fencing for the most part that keeps dogs and other predators out but there have been breaches. Foxes mostly get through and kill my chickens and they get shot but I have had a few instances where dogs got in. I am lucky that the cattle I have defend themselves very well and I have had to actually save a couple of dogs from the cattle killing them. But make no mistake about it if I found a pack of dogs in my pasture actually killing my livestock I would be completely within the law to defend my property and there will be lead in the air. Now back to the the hunter that killed his neighbor's dogs here is zero excuse for what he did, he could have yelled at those dogs or fired a shot into the ground and I would bet anything those dogs would have high tailed it for home. No this idiot kills the dogs, cuts off their collars, buries them under a brush pile and makes a post on facebook bragging about it. That is what the story of this thread is about and there is no way anyone should condone it! This guy is going to to pay dearly for a stupid act and as far as I am concerned he should get the book thrown at him. Anyone, especially hunters who think it is OK to shoot a dog while you are out in the woods had best remember it is against the law and if you get caught be prepared to pay the consequences which will be severe. Al

Welcome aboard Jay from a fellow shooter and hunter. Al