airedale

A Crow hunt can provide some great wing shooting and about as much fun as a shotgunner can ask for. Like the fellers stated above a good electronic caller and a setup similar to what waterfowlers use, decoys, a blind and good camo clothing will almost certainly provide some great action. I started out mouth calls used in conjunction with an early Stewart game caller, it worked well as far as sound quality but it was a real heavy contraption that used about a dozen D cell batteries, a steel megaphone speaker, long cord and played cassette tapes. Obsolete compared to today's digital modern light weight wireless remote controlled callers. None the less I killed quite a few crows with it. There is also rifle hunting which for me is great fun and challenging, I have probably taken just as many Crows with varmint rifles at some pretty serious distances when chuck hunting. The longest kill shot I have ever made was a Crow with my 220 Swift. I saw on that Bizarre Foods TV show Crow breast wrapped in bacon being cooked up, eaten and savored, they are not too appetizing to me though and I will pass. Al

Old school wool for me, my choice for socks is a brand of good quality manufactured with a high percentage of cushy non itch Merino wool used in their makeup. I have them in different weights from light to heavy and match them up with boots according to the the weather and conditions of the day's hunt. Al

Not to mention what Outdoor sportsmen spend in the state. DiNapoli: With 2 Million People Fishing and Hunting in the State, New York Ranks Third Nationwide Residents and Visitors Spent $5 Billion on Sporting Activities Fishing and hunting bring a stream of cash to New York’s economy, generating the second-highest expenditures in any state at approximately $5 billion, supporting local businesses and jobs across the state, according to a report released today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

42 million from licence sales plus another 26 million from Pittman-Robertson funds and Sport Fish Restoration, I would not call 68 million chump change. New York state is receiving $17.7 million in Pittman-Robertson federal funds in fiscal 2016, a total that’s down from last year’s record $20.8 million. The Pittman-Robertson funds, also known as Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration monies, are generated from an 11 percent excise tax on firearms (10 percent on handguns), ammunition, archery equipment and arrow components. The state received an additional $8.1 million in Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration (also known as Dingell-Johnson or Wallop-Breaux) funds. Those monies come from excise taxes on fishing equipment, motorboat and small engine fuels, import duties, and interest.

The majority of the DEC budget is basically financed by hunting and fishing revenue plus Pittman Robertson funds so personally I would prefer to have a person with a horse in the race when it comes to the DEC commissioner. Al

NICE!!! Two Beauties Al

I have many times had friends ask me why I get so fired up about squirrel hunting and think I am a bit nuts spending so much money on higher end 22 rifles. Actually there was a time I pretty much thought the same way. I became enlightened many years ago after a successful Deer hunt. That summer I purchased a beautiful Ruger Number 1A in 243 Winchester, like a pretty girl I just loved looking at that gun. Mounted a nice 2X7 Redfield Widefield scope and spent summer working up the perfect Deer busting handload and getting that rifle dialed in, man I was psyched for opening day. The second day of season on my stand out walks a nice Buck at 50 yards, Bang and down he went. The excitement lasted for a few minutes then the realization came that I was "all done" and it would be a year before me and that Number 1 be in the woods again, I almost wished I had missed the Buck, Bummer! Well I thought there was Squirrel hunting so I could still hit the woods with my trusty Savage single shot 22 or a shotgun. Didn't sound that appealing until I thought why the heck not buy a really fine 22 rifle and get after the squirrels with it. That is just what I did, I purchased a Remington 541S and never looked back. Six month season, up to six Squirrels per day action, action, action, and I get to actually pull the trigger on a fine rifle or shotgun more than once. I have since accumulated several nice rimfire rifles through the years and I get to use them all if I want, What is not to love about Squirrel hunting? I will be in the woods this week for sure. Al

A real good film that I like a lot that should have received much more acclaim than it did but not surprising when one looks at the direction this country has taken in recent years. Gibson who is not a favorite of the Hollywood elite caught a lot of flack for having scenes with young boys involved in the fighting shooting guns and killing the enemy. Al

White kerosene or Coleman fuel is much milder than any commercial gun solvent. The best test for any harm to a finish, I probably gave my old model 41 S&W target gun 30 or 40 good soak-cleaning jobs and the blueing was not harmed in any way. If you use kerosene make sure it is the white clear stuff, some places are putting a red dye in it, that I would not use. Al

Hey Eagle Rider, Congratulations on your find, those BARs are surely top of the line autoloaders and the price is right. If the old Bushnell scope is an old Scope Chief model I owned one myself many years ago and can tell you they were a fine scope in their day, it had nice clear optics and adjustments. You might want to put it in a drawer and save it for a beater you may come across down the road instead of tossing it As for cleaning the insides of a very dirty firearm you do not want to completely disassemble I use an old tip I got from a gunsmith many years ago. He would soak the complete gun in a plastic tub that fit the gun with enough white kerosene or Coleman fuel to cover it minus the wooden stock of course. Slosh the gun around every now and then and take a soft bristle brush of some kind to remove any gummed up oil or sludge in every place you can get at. Just about all the gunk that is in and on a gun that has been fired a lot will come loose and that kerosene will end up being filthy. When you get all the crap off you can see just stand the firearm up in a position so that all the fluid drain away and wipe clean and dry with a soft cloth. For lubrication go with a lite fine gun oil, the Kerosene itself also actually has a lubricating quality to it so it helps protect places you can not get at. I have used that method many many times over the years mostly for my handguns with very good results. As for the used dirty fuel just run it through a paper filter back into it's container and you can use it over again. Al

We need people of influence in high places like Judge Scalia with the same passion for the outdoor sports and shooting that the folks here on this board have, there is a big difference between lip service and living the life. When I see a pheasant hunting photo op like the one Kerry tried pulling off or Clinton claiming she was a waterfowl hunter or our own resident phoney "Uptown Redneck" "Hey hunters and shooters we hunt too and are in your corner", (as long as there is common sense). Don't It want to make you "PUKE", any moron knows what they are trying to pull. This Trump kid has the passion and that means a lot because he has his father's ear. I really don't care how much money he has or the fabulous hunts and fishing trips he can go on, Hell I would be doing the same if I had that kind of dough. What counts is whenever the anti's try to pull their bullshit he will be fighting for us from a position to get things done for those like us with that same passion as he does. Al

Those are both good quality scopes, personally I prefer the Leupold scopes because I have had a long history and a lot of experience using that brand and have had 100% reliability with them mounted on all sorts of firearms. I believe the Leupold Vari 1 models have a $50 rebate on them making them an even better deal. The Leupold 2X7 would also be an excellent choice for your rifle, it has enough power, is compact and a lot lighter than the 3X9. Al

I am so glad this Uptown Redneck is here on this board posting, I just hope most of the members here are reading those posts. They are the most persuasive words I have ever seen written to make sure all of us get out and vote Trump and Republican!! Keep it coming and keep up the good work Uptown. Al

If you are adventurous a Duracoat do it yourself kit can be purchased on Amazon, there is also a You Tube video that shows how it is applied. I would not be applying it to anything fancy but if I had an old beater around that I wanted to refinish I would give it a shot. I had Gander Mountain's gunsmith do the barrels of an older Savage 24 and they came out pretty nice and the finish has held up great. Al https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N35HKMK/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=6DC0EHBXRTXH&coliid=IH5HIWFRCWSIL&psc=1

My slug gun has a non rifled cylinder bore barrel and I have found the Federal Tru Ball slugs the best of the current crop of Foster style slugs for accuracy, I have not killed a Deer with them because I use a rifle these days but I see no reason why they should not be outstanding. Al

I love hunting Squirrels and I love eating them just as much. Being a big rimfire shooter I have an arsenal of Squirrel meal makers. Like Dan I start out with a scatter gun for early season because of the leaves, when the leaves are down I switch to a 22 rifle, my favorite is my Remington 541S. This my old side button Savage 24 22/410 I picked up used a few years ago right after I got it back from Gander Mountain's gunsmith shop, I had the barrels refinished with the Duracoat which is basically a baked on epoxy that can be done in about any color. Much more wear resistant than blue and also pretty impervious to the elements. Because of the way this gun will be used, a finish that is about perfect I think. I have taken quite a few squirrels with it plus quite a bit of other various small game. The old Savage 24 was one of the most useful hunting guns ever produced in my opinion and is great for Squirrels if the leaves are on or off. Al

Deer have seven glands that are used primarily for scent communication. The nose of a whitetail deer has up to 297 million olfactory receptors, dogs have 220 million with humans limiting out with just five million… [in other words] the whitetail deer’s sense of smell is nearly 1/3 greater than that of a canine [and unfathomably greater than ours]. whitetail deer have two giant olfactory bulbs attached to the brain which decode every smell they encounter. The bulbs weigh around 60 grams, four times as much as human olfactory bulbs. In tests dogs have been able to pick up chemical solutions that form one or two parts in a trillion. That is the equivalent of smelling one bad apple in two billion barrels. This is relative to a whitetail deer’s sense of smell as[this part is important] some hunters believe they can cover their human scent with cover up scents. Wrong! Dogs can detect odors that are up to 40 feet underground, thus deer can detect them even deeper than that depth. Estimates state that a whitetail deer can detect human scent for up to 10 days after it’s left. As far as dogs and whitetail deer are concerned, all humans have a unique smell. They can pick people out according to body and other odors …Therefore, the deer your hunting may quite possibly know the difference between how the farmer smells that works in the field that is NOT a threat to them, and you the hunter– [another key point regarding cover scents] If you are the hunter that wears cover scents then know the whitetail deer are probably associating your cover scents with those of a predator. Cover scents will hurt you more than help you. …dogs can track human smells over long distances. Scientists think they can pick up on the difference in odors from different footprints to work out which direction their prey is headed. They can do this twenty minutes after a person has passed by, even though the footprints are made a single second apart. If this is accurate, then again with the whitetail deer having a keener sense of smell – it is very possible whitetail deer can smell which way you are headed and avoid you by going the other direction. Based on 42 trials it has been concluded that scent absorbing suits with carbon lining had little to no affect on a dog’s ability to track human beings. However environmental factors such as the wind did effect the dog’s ability to locate. This information suggests carbon lined clothing as odor absorbing suits may not keep a whitetail deer from detecting the hunter. It is a scientific fact that it takes 600 degree [heat] for carbon to reactivate, however the modern day clothing dryer averages 175 degrees maximum temperature. Thus you aren’t reactivating your carbon lined clothing whether or not you think you are. Conclusion There is no [scientifically proven] way to reduce human scent 100%. [This fact is especially true when dealing with whitetail deer.] Like mentioned above it is all about playing the wind the best you can. Al

They are no more biased than you and the bunch you represent! Al

From Jim Mathews, Outdoor News on the California DFA 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, why isn’t it working 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 have been around for awhile and have seen plenty of different ways of harvesting fish and game and there are some methods that I personally don't care for myself. That being said as long as it is legal I will support those who use those methods, I just do not participate in those ways myself and that is that. As for Under Armor they caved to anti's for something that was done legal and that is the bottom line. They can take their over rated, over priced "Rodeo Drive" crap clothing and shove it where the sun don't shine! Al

She looks good, sounds like you have a winner! Al

DO GUN LAWS MAKE US SAFE? In some cases they work but for the most part NO!! Criminals do not obey the law!

Because of the amount of shooting I do I have to load my own ammo especially for rifles and handguns in order to afford to play. I have also been forced to load non toxic shotshells so I can use my older non proofed for steel shotguns. The rifle I have killed the most Deer with is a bolt action 280 Remington and I have been using the exact same load for near 40 years. 60.5 gr Norma MRP and Nosler 150 gr bullets, both the partition and the old solid base. Deer for the most part fall where they stand so basically being a sure bet with good shot placement I have never had any reason to change a thing. I did a lot of Deer hunting with a shotgun at one time and always used factory loaded slugs. Al

It is tough to leave your home but after awhile you can only put up with so much and pack your bags. For the outdoor sports I think California has got NY beat for now. Even though the general population continues to rise those participating in the outdoor sports have had a huge decline. It is really depressing to see what has happened to a really good hunting and fishing state in just a few short years. 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 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.

Larry like you my feet can be a problem without the right footwear and like you I try everything and anything when it comes to having boots that are comfortable. If your feet are not happy the day is done. The biggest problem I find with footwear today is the sizing, the overseas companies that make today's boots have them all under sized and too narrow compared to American made stuff of a couple of decades ago. If I am going to be doing any amount of walking I want boots especially made for walking and I have found that upland style bird hunting boots work the best for me. They are usually the lightest boots most comfortable to wear and they have soles that are not heavily lugged which work fine for most situations from now until the snow starts flying. I have several pairs of this style and just bought another pair, Wood N Stream Kangaroos American Heritage that are actually American made and for a change sized right and they fit right. I have been wearing them to break them in but they fit so good there is no break in. Right now they are my favorite boots as far as comfort, the proof in the pudding will be how they hold up over the long haul. Now these boots sure are pricey but shopping around I found they will go on sale at times for a substantial savings, that is what made me pull the trigger and I am glad I did. Al https://www.amazon.com/Waterproof-Breathable-Stream-Kangaroo-Boots/dp/B00DMBDFZ6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471436083&sr=8-1&keywords=kangaroo+hunting+boots