airedale

Have a good one Dan!

Corned Beef Today!!

I drove by Fish Creek a couple of times last week, it is one of the main tributaries of Oneida Lake and has a good spawning run of Walleyes in the spring. Usually they are in the creek in late April but because of this warm weather word must be out they are running early because there were a bunch of fishermen lined up on the banks fishing for them. Usually this time of the year the water is high and there is snow on the ground, and by time the fish get in the creek the season is closed March 15. Al

Have a good one. Al

Groupers look like giant Bass, congrats. Al

I have found that when hunting Hare and they are in their white phase with no snow for cover it is the toughest. While they rarely go to ground it does not surprise me that one would especially when the ground is bare. Al

If you do any amount of cutting materials like corrugated steel or plastic roofing, various sheet metal-duct work, I have come across a tool that will really make life a lot easier. The Dewalt Shear Attachment, it will go on just about any drill or impact driver and it makes working with and cutting sheet materials so much more pleasant and easy. I tried it out on my Milwaukee impact driver and man it is slick, it is going to be a big work saver for me. Al

Noticed a little bit of white chalky haze starting to develop in places on my rubber coated binoculars, read somewhere about using Armor All to rid that stuff away. Have some Armor All wipes laying around for use in my car so I gave the binos a wipe down with one and bingo, haze gone and better than new, rejuvenated the rubber coating perfectly. Al

Congrats, nice catch, no finer eating than Perch. Al

Good stuff grouse, that old Indian is still worth some serious coin. I have always gravitated to old timers to pick their brains, the number of valuable things I have learned from them is incalculable, I once read that when one of them old timers pass it is the same as a Library burning to the ground, so true. Al

The 5-Heaviest Whitetail Deer Ever Killed - On record - FEATHERNETT OUTDOORS

Doing a little pre fishing season assessment and inspecting my fishing equipment getting everything ready to go come spring. I have two dedicated rods that I made up especially for White Bass. They don't have the notoriety of most game fish but for me they are one of the most enjoyable fish to catch. I was lucky growing up and living next to Fish Creek and Spring brings both big spawning runs of Walleyes and a few weeks later the White Bass. I have not fished for them recently but this Spring I am going after them. Light action rods, light line, small shiny spoons like Little Cleos, small Maribou jigs and with a fly rod Bucktail Streamers. If you hit a feeding school the action is ferocious and these Bass put up a good tussle. I have to say they for me are not the best eating fish but I still clean and eat everyone I catch. Al

I own and have read every book O'Connor authored, he gave me a first class education in firearms, shooting and hunting. Al

184 pounds for me. Below is info off the net that gives a way of calculating live weights. Probably not 100% but will be fairly close. Field Dressed Weight Calculation You can use the field dressed weight (with lungs and all viscera removed), the hanging weight (field dressed deer without head, feet and hide), or the edible meat weight (total of boned meat) to calculate the live weight. The most accurate will be the field dressed weight. The hanging weight will vary depending on exactly where the head and legs are removed, and the edible meat weight can also vary greatly depending on how much meat is spoiled and exactly how it is boned and processed. (Weigh the meat before processing into sausage, jerky, etc.) Field dressed: Multiply field dressed weight by 1.26 to determine live weight. Hanging weight: Multiply hanging weight by 1.33 to determine live weight. Edible meat weight: Multiply edible meat weight by 1.35 to determine live weight. For instance: Your deer field dressed is 150 pounds. Multiply 150 by 1.26 and the estimated live weight is 189 pounds. Under the best conditions, and if there is a minimum of waste, you can expect to get about 1/2 of the live weight in edible meat.

Back in the late seventies my buddy's sporting goods store I worked in held a big buck contest, the winning criteria would be determined by dressed weight. If I remember right we had 19 entries, there were some beauties entered, most of the Deer entered came in the mid 180s including one giant Doe The deer that won was taken from the Cicero Swamp out by Syracuse and he weighed 193 lbs. You hear a lot about 200 lb Deer dressed but there are not many out there and we did not get a single one. Al

It sure is heavy duty and made for something with substantial weight, looks like a giant version of a skinning gambrel. The needle in the middle looks to be there to help making sure the weight is evenly distributed on both sides. Al

Any system that will work for you is worth putting the effort in to keep good records I think. Al

I have got my eye out for a small light weight revolver with adjustable sights chambered for 22, due to the huge variety of ammo available to shoot adjustable sights are imperative for me. It does not have to be anything fancy as I do not view a trail gun like a match gun. One that I really like a lot is the old Charter Arms Pathfinder with a 3 inch barrel, if I could find a nice used one I would snap it up. Al

Many of the best figured gun stocks are made from those dug up stumps, they can be stunning. Al

There are probably many definitions of what a trail gun is to different people. For me it has always been some kind of small compact light weight easy carrying gun to have on me just in case of whatever when I am out and about in the outdoors. I got to thinking about one of my favorites when I made a post in the Catfish thread fishing the Black River outside of Dexter. We used to fish off the bank setting up on large table sized flat rocks, and underneath and between those rocks it was alive with huge water snakes. When the sun warmed things up those Anacondas would crawl out from under those rocks and warm themselves, one minute you are alone the next you have a four and a half foot snake sitting next to you giving you the eye.. Back then I owned a little S&W model 34 with a 2 1/2 inch barrel and would have it on me many times when fishing, half the cylinder was loaded with rat shot which worked real good on those snakes and also on those big eels we would catch fishing. They would come in all balled up on the end of your line and would actually try to bite you when removing them off the hook. A load of rat shot in the head and they would straighten right out. The 34 has long been gone, dealed away on some kind of gun trade, another one of my bonehead moves as I really wish I still had it. I have a few handguns that still work as a trail gun, a Sig 938, a S&W 2213 Sportsman and a Charter Arm Bulldog, all are in the low 20 ounce range and carry nice. The Bulldog is my favorite because being a revolver I can load some chambers with rat shot. Still I would like to get my hands on another small revolver chambered in 22, I am looking! Al

So who is actually giving these online safety courses? Al

Upgrading the electronics and lighting is probably the thing to do with vintage bikes, you are coming along and look to be doing a good job. Al

A Catfish story, Back in the late seventies I was passing the winter doldrums reading an outdoor magazine and came across a fellow's can't miss Catfish doughball bait recipe. Being bored I decided to make up a batch of this wonder bait as I had all the ingredients in the kitchen. I can now only remember two of the ingredients, Bran flakes cereal and honey, there were at least three other things in the recipe. Anyhow once mixed good up it had the consistency of clay, the batch was made up into a softball size ball and wrapped in cellophane and put into the freezer where it was supposed to keep for very long periods of time. Back in those days I hung out with a gang of guys that would make a couple of trips up to Dexter NY just to the west of Watertown, we would put a boat in the Black River and head out toward the marsh. There were several good spots to fish from the bank and we would pull in and tie up the boat and still fish. Probably the best place I ever fished, the variety of species caught was something, Bullheads, Carp, Smallmouth Bass, White Perch, EELs, and Catfish and the bite was non stop. So on one of those trips I brought that ball of bait and had it in my tackle box, I was catching fish like mad on minnows and crayfish so I did not have any on my rods for bait. One of the guys walked by and saw it and asked about it, I told him it was can't miss Catfish bait. he asked if he could give it a try and I said go ahead. Wasn't a couple of minutes and he reeled in a nice Channel Cat about 17 or 18 inches long. He baited his hook again and boom another one about the same size. So that bait now had got attention from the other guys and they started baiting their hooks with it. To make a long story short 19 Channel Catfish were caught on the ball of dough before it ran out, most were small about like over sized Bullheads but one was a whopper. Now I never could duplicate that recipe, the wife tossed the magazine months earlier and I just could not remember the exact ingredients, as hard as I tried nothing I made had the results of the original recipe. Al

I don't know much about western NY waters so I can not give you any advice, I can say I like fishing for Catfish and enjoy eating them. There are all kinds of different baits for Catfish, some are real concoctions. Back in the early sixties my Dad and some of his friends would set out a trot in Oneida lake and catch some whoppers, hotdogs was their bait of choice. Back when I worked in a Rome Sporting goods store we sold bait for fishing, back then Griffis Airforce Base was in full operation and we had many of those guys for customers. We had a couple of boys from down south somewhere that were experts on Catfish. They had us order extra large size golden Shinners which they would drift fish under bobbers. They used a small row boat to head up Oneida lake tributaries like Fish Creek and Oneida Creek and fish over deep holes. Those two would pick up their bait at the 6pm closing time and head out and fish all night, they would pull into the store in the morning to show us their catch and man they caught some real whoppers and plenty of them. Al

I have done quite a bit of fishing in the Erie-Barge canal between Rome and Oneida lake, my main target was mostly Carp but I also caught good numbers of Walleyes, Small Mouth Bass, White Bass and Crappie and I ate them. Were they safe?, I do not know for sure but they tasted good and I am still around. Al