airedale

Man that sucks, hopefully you get healed up and back to normal. Al

Squirrel hunting is my main scouting prep for just about everything else I hunt, sneaking round hunting Squirrels lets me see what is available in the areas I hunt as far as food, cover, trails, what game is available and where they hang. Al

Dandy Photo of Waylon! Al

For a change I think I will get the old Black Diamond 50 cal out of moth balls for the muzzleloading season coming up. I want to mess around shooting with the See All sight a bit more to get comfortable and confident with it. I will be sticking with two Pyrodex pellets and Hornady's XTP in a sabot, had good luck with it in the past and see no reason to change the load. I will make sure to unload at the end of the season LOL! Al

Here is the second part of the butchering video, I have processed a pile of Deer in my day but I have to admit I learned a couple of tips from this gal. The old saying "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" is not true, I learn new things all the time. Both the above video and this one are very good. Al

Yes, there are several ways I can get it mounted but I like the receiver hitch wall mount method best because of portability, making it is easy to move with the pull of one pin. I have two tractors and my truck with receiver hitches so I want to be able to use it wherever it happens to be needed. Al

Have a good one!! Al

Watched a video on butchering a Deer by a gal who has a channel called outdoors Allie, Besides being a very good instruction on how to butcher a Deer what caught my eye was the Deer hoist she was using. I have seen these advertised and have often thought about getting one as most times I am alone and getting a Deer hung is a pain in the ass by myself. While I like the idea of using the hitch on my truck or tractor at times, most of my hanging and butchering in done in my barn. So I came up with using a wall mounted receiver hitch to put on a wall in the barn and then hook this hoist up to it. I think it will work great. Al

Hey Chris, that is a heck of a deal, I have the little Christensen Ranger 22 and it is a tack driver and I am very happy with it. Wring that new Creedmoor out and give a report on how she does. Al

I picked up the 6.5 PRC Featherweight last evening at the Bass pro in Utica, was shipped for free from Cabelas in Kansas City. Firearms purchased online from Bass Pro or Cabelas anywhere in the country will be shipped to the closest of either store in your home state for free which is a 40 or 50 dollar savings. I got to tell you it was a long drawn out ordeal getting the paperwork done, three different clerks checked it out and starting Wednesday it is going to be as Clint Eastwood would say a real clusterpuck! Factory ammo (if you can find any) for the 6.5 is priced ridiculously, $75.00!! I bought a box of Federals only because I had some gift cards from last Christmas and need to use them on something. These Federals look like something the Lone Ranger would use, cases and bullets are a bright polished silver color, they would make nice jewelry. The ammo also has to be purchased with ID. Can't wait to see the circus at the Syracuse gun show this weekend. Anyhow I have eight boxes of brass coming this week and will be able to handload this caliber for a small fraction of what the factory price is and it will be better. I love this Featherweight because of it's light 7lb weight, I want to keep it that way so I went with a vintage American made Redfield 3X9 mini scope mounted with one piece Tally aluminum rings, this is going to be one nice carrying rifle. She is all bore sighted so I might shoot a few of those fancy Federal rounds out of her later today. Al

I ended up with a Diawa Mini Spin take down, comes in a case that can be used to carry some tackle. It will fit in my motorcycle bags, I ride the dirt roads up on the tug and sometimes fish small steams, I drift salted buckeye minnows into culvert pipes that go under the roads for little Brookies. I also have a decent telescoping rog that works well. Al

Did a search on pack fishing rods and this came up, I remember the infomercials and surprised it is still around and for sale. Al Leave the hectic hustle and bustle of life behind and enjoy a care-free day of fishing with the Ronco Pocket Fisherman, it’s the product feared by fish everywhere!

Because they are dim witted morons that don't care about the constitution or law and order! Al

For me that is what I love about hunting, even if no game is taken it was a good day. Al

Back when I hunted the Southern zone in the slug days I would make some corral type blinds, they worked great the first few days when the woods was full of hunters pushing the deer all over the place. These days I am a still hunter and mover so when I sit or stand I use whatever is available, mainly big trees to back up against or sit on stumps or logs in camo. As you say scent and wind are key along with keeping still. I have had Turkeys and Deer walk right by me up close and pay me no attention. Al

I remembered that I have a photo of the old log blind, it provided me with some different hunting action. Went small game hunting with one of my Airedales (Slick), we were out for anything that walked crawled or flew. Taking Forest Gump's line, hunting with an Airedale is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. Slick struck a track in the snow, from the look I thought it to be from early morning. It was a Coon's feed track and it meandered around the woods before lining out right to my old log blind. The Coon crawled back in there and old Slick went in and took care of business the hard way. Al

This old photo reminds me of a spot I used for hunting both Deer and Squirrels. There was a big old hollow log like the one in the picture laying on a side hill overlooking a Beech grove frequented by both Deer and Squirrels grubbing for Beechnuts. That log made a perfect blind for concealment with the big old log in front and the hill behind I could tuck in there and dry gulch game using the log for a steady rest. I used it for the last time a few years ago killing a Deer with my Marlin 44Mag, It is rotted away now, I pass by what is left of it just about every fall and it brings back some good memories. Al

Have to wonder if these boys hunted in those outfits or when they got back home changed into suits to pose for the photo. Al

Nice haul Charlie, Gunner looks to have had a good time. Al

This is going to be my first experience with a 264 cal cartridge, from what I have read, that caliber size has always interested me. Jim Carmichael the Outdoor Life gun editor was a big proponent of the 260 Remington and his writings really was the start of this 6.5 phenomena that has taken hold recently. My choice of the 6.5 PRC was because I believe it to be one of the most efficient case designs ever, the ballistics it produces with the right handloads are almost too good to be true. I can basically duplicate the 264 Winchester mag factory loads and even surpass them performance wise. Al

Did some stump shooting yesterday and tried several different points, all are supposed to be for small game and I think all of them would work well for that. For stump shooting I have settled on the large black one on the left for the simple reason it does not penetrate deep into old stumps and is easy to remove. Accuracy wise it is a toss up for me using recurve bows and fingers. This stump shooting is a blast and makes practice fun and interesting. Al

When I was a kid my dream cartridge was the 264 Winchester mag, looking at the ballistic charts of that cartridge made that young barefoot country boy drool. When I talked to my Dad about the 264 he talked me out of getting one, it is a barrel burner he said. To re-enforce the barrel burner propaganda my brother purchased a used model 70 in 264 Win mag and the throat was eroded so bad that he was lucky to hit a pie plate at 100 yds. So that kind of ended my desire for a 264. Fast forward to these days and both old and new 6.5 cartridges have become all the rage in the shooting and hunting world with the Creedmoor leading the charge making me take notice. I again seriously considered a 264 Win mag and also 6.5-284 got my attention, but the one that checked off the most boxes for me was the 6.5 PRC (precision Rifle Cartridge. The thing that held me back from getting one was the rifles being chambered in that cartridge, while I know the fiberglass and composite stocks and muted finishes are great performers I am more of a traditional wood and polished blued steel sparkler type. Always on the lookout for what I wanted I found on Guns International a beautiful Riflemans rifle, a Winchester model 70 Featherweight chambered in the 6.5 PRC at a very good price. To make a long story short by the end of the weekend (getting under the wire of the new state horseshit law) I should have the rifle and all of the loading components and Dies to make her go bang and hopefully kill a Deer with this upcoming season. Al

Probably some of both, one thing for sure permits handouts are sure different these days. When I was a kid we had to have four hunters assigned to one permit, and the only one that could make a kill was the hunter in that group who had the permit on their person. This year I have five tags that I can use just for myself. Al

I grew up in a time where most of the guys I knew all hunted, today it is hard to find folks that hunt for a whole lot of reasons. Al