airedale

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

I got skunked this season even though it was probably the hardest I have deer hunted in the last 10 years. My biggest problem is the area I hunt is big woods and it has been logged off all around me the last couple of years changing the pattern the Deer moved around completely from the past. To be honest these days it is not a big deal to me if I take a deer or not but I have three rifles I have yet to break in so this year my attitude was different and I was in full predator mode. Started out with a new muzzleloader I put together from and old TC Hawken stock which I picked up on ebay and refinished also put on all new hardware along with a sweet shooting new stainless green mountain barrel in 45 cal. Did not see one Deer during the early muzzleloading season, STRIKE ONE. Switched to my little Marlin model 94 carbine in 44 mag for the start of regular big game and hunted with that until all the leaves were off, saw does but no bucks. STRIKE TWO The distances visible in the woods when the leaves came down increased dramatically and I switched to my Dad's old Winchester 88 in 284 and had the same result, does were all that I saw right up to the very last day. So it was STRIKE THREE and I was out of there LOL! I still had a great time in my mind as I just like to be sitting in the woods and watching life there do it's thing. Now until the deep snow arrives me and the dogs can partake in my favorite kind of hunting and hit the small game hard hopefully to have some real action and not have to worry about trigger happy dog shooters. Al

My Dad was a big fan of the 284 Winchester, he purchased one in the auto loading 100 model back when they first became available. After a couple of years hunting with that rifle including a successful hunt out in Wyoming for Mule Deer and Antelope he decided he would rather have the Winchester model 88 lever action version and swapped in the Model 100 for one of those. Dad used it frequently for Deer but he also had several other rifles and alternated use between them all. The 284 Winchester is virtually a ballistic twin of the 280 Remington and 270 Winchester, it uses a short fat case with a similar capacity to the 280 and 270 with a rebated rim so it would work well in an auto loading version and the lever model. I loaded the ammo for my Dad and he liked the Hornady 154 spire point bullets using small base dies for reliability in his auto. Well my Dad passed away some time ago and left me and my brother his firearms and the model 88 came into my possession, it sat in the safe for many years without being fired so this year I decided to get the old girl out and fire her up. The main problem with these 284s is the unavailability of brass or loaded ammo, all I had was one box of the old 154 spire points I loaded so many years ago and that is the reason the old girl languished for so long. Last spring I found a box of custom manufactured stuff at the Syracuse gun show loaded with 139 gr Hornady ballistic tips. The icing on the cake was when I found a source for new Norma 284 brass, I still have the old die set so I was now in business to get serious and do some shooting. The 88 has an older Leupold 3.5X10 Vari X3 mounted so I just had to move the scope back to suit me and tighten everything down. I started out with the old 154gr Hornady reloads to get on target and switched over to the 139 gr for final sighting and to hunt with. To be honest the model 88 is really not my kind of gun, it is essentially a rotating bolt action operated by a lever and it really is not that smooth. The drop in the stock makes it feel like it is kicking harder than my 280 Remington bolt gun and it is heavy. That being said the old girl lays them in there real nice and I was getting three shot groups slightly over an inch so I was happy with that and made plans to use it for the first time to hunt Deer late season. I decided that when the leaves got off the trees opening the distances to over 100 yards in spots in the woods I hunted, that I would switch from the 44 mag Marlin carbine to the Winchester. To make a long story short I was in the woods just about every day and hunted hard but I got skunked this year, all I saw were Does and had no opportunity to pull the trigger on either the Marlin or the Winchester but that is hunting. Hopefully next year I will get a crack to take something so for now I will do a little more experimenting with load developement and enjoy shooting my Dad's old classic. Al

stubby68 Dogs should be kept on a leash or at home during deer season. Let them walk themail woods freely and there fate is your fault. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like this Quote Listen here pal Deer season runs in some form or another from September through most of December, just when the Hell do you propose folks who hunt small game with dogs get their chance?? DEER HUNTERS DO NOT OWN THE WOODS!!! You do not hunt with dogs having them on a leash and don't you be telling me and my dogs to stay home during small game season because Deer season is on at the same time!! It is illegal to shoot dogs and the jerk who shot those dogs got just what he deserved!! Al

1. Dogs love to go along on a hunting and fishing excursion. 2. Dogs don't notice if you call them by another Dog's name. 3. Dogs like it if you leave a lot of things on the floor. 4. A Dog's parents never visit. 5. Dogs agree that you have to raise your voice to get your point across. 6. You never have to wait for a Dog; they're ready to go 24 hours a day. 7. Dogs find you amusing when you're drunk. 8. The later you come home the happier your Dog is to see you. 9. A Dog will not wake you up at night to ask, "If I died, would you get another Dog?" 10. If a Dog has babies, you can put an ad in the paper and give them away. 11. A dog will let you put a studded collar on it without calling you a pervert. 12. If a Dog smells another Dog on you, they don't get mad. They just think it's interesting.

Experience has shown me some Deer can and have traveled some pretty far distances after being shot especially with archery equipment. If a neighbor or any hunter for that matter shot a Deer and it happened to make it on to my property and keel over and as long as they informed of what happened I would be glad to help them recover their Deer. I would hope the same courtesy would be applied to myself if the same situation ever came up for me. Al

Bullet jackets from most manufacturers are not copper, they are an alloy made from copper some call gilding metal that resist fouling and that is why modern jacketed bullets do not foul nearly as much. There are some bullets made with pure copper jackets. I have several boxes of the old Barnes 458 cal lead core bullets for a 458 win mag I had and a 45-70 Gov, they are made with pure copper jackets and they will foul the barrels if a lot of them are fired at a time. Al

The fact of the matter any of the so called premium bullets be they bonded core, partitions or solid metal for Deer hunting are like using premium gas when regular is recommended. All of today's modern traditional jacketed bullets will kill deer as cleanly as any of the premium types and can be ever bit as accurate in addition to being much more cost effective. I have only found one rifle bullet ever that I killed a deer with and that was the jacket from the 243 Speer hot core 243 bullet that I mentioned in the beginning of this thread and that deer did not go far. Every other Deer I shot and it was more than a few resulted in complete pass throughs be the bullets premium or traditional. Deer are just not that big! (At least mine are not LOL) Premium bullet construction was developed because of penetration problems and large bones when hunting large game like Elk, Moose or big Bears. I have no problem using them for Deer as I have used them at times myself and they worked great but no better than traditionals when it comes to stopping power As far as fouling most hunters don't shoot enough solid copper bullets to foul a barrel, they are pretty expensive to plink with. They get their gun sighted in with a few rounds and that is it so they will be all good. My experience when firing large numbers of copper bullets my barrels got fouled and fouled bad and it is not easy to get out. The one thing I do not want to be doing is scrubbing a good accurate barrel and using harsh solvents excessively. Al

Thank you everyone, glad to be alive and kicking but at 68 years old just not quite as high as in the past. Lawdwaz, main celebration will be this saturday when my clan is off from work and free to gather and party. Al

I had that happen with a Ruger Number 1 chambered in 243 winchester firing a handloaded 105 gr Speer Hot Core bullet at about seventy five yards, the deer did not go far but I do not like to see a bullet shed it's jacket. Deer are not very big animals on average so for the most part you can get away that kind of thing. When big boned larger framed heavy animals are hunted that kind of performance can cause big time problems with lack of penetration or getting stopped when striking a large bone. There are many premium bullets on the market these days that hold up well in almost any situation, my go to bullet when I get real serious is the old Nosler Partition. I have been using this design or well over 30 yrs now and it has never failed me on deer or several larger big game animals I have taken because it's design will not allow it to fail. I especially like the way it still expands well even at very low velocity. Violent expansion plus deep penetration at all velocities and still holding together is what makes a recipe for a deadly bullet. Al

tda, you have yourself one fine big game hunting outfit. Al

Everyone has given many many good answers and tips, if adhered to they will certainly will help bagging your Deer, I would like to add having proper equipment to cover your type of hunting and know exactly how to take advantage of it goes a long way to keeping a hunter in the field with success. Clothes that keep you warm and dry in the many weather conditions a hunter may have to deal with. Boots that are comfortable for both walking and sitting that keep your feet warm and dry. A firearm and ammo or archery equipment that are up to the task for your terrain and having the ability and confidence of being deadly with it. Good clear light weight binocular. And pay attention to the wind. Al