airedale

Congrats to both of you, I have the Benjamin Marauder PCP rifle and the same hand pump, they are serious shooters. Al

Those autumn orange XX75s are my favorites Doc, I like them fletched with feathers. Al

Butchering is one of my least favorite things to do, don't care if it is a Squirrel, Rabbit, Gamebird or a Deer, I am not fond of it. I have a rule that if I kill something it must be utilized. Even varmints like Fox Coon and Coyote get skinned and the hides given to a friend of mine that messes with fur. That rule has given many a free pass as on that particular day I was not in the mood to be dressing out an animal, if I get the crosshairs on them it is sometimes good enough. When I do butcher I want things to go as smooth and easy as possible and good equipment is always a plus. With the prices meat is bringing these days I had better start learning to like butchering. Al

Just finished up reading Robert Anderson's book on Jack O Connor, America's Greatest Gun Writer. I grew up reading Jack O Connor's work and it played a major factor on my views on hunting and firearms. I have all of his books and read his monthly magazines articles up until his death, his advice never steered me wrong. This book had some interesting new tidbits and what was interesting to me pertaining to this thread about scopes was a section of the book devoted to every rifle Jack and his family owned and used throughout his career described in detail including what scopes he had mounted on each. Other than a couple of varmint rifles used for Jack Rabbits and Marmots that had higher powered varmint type scopes of the day, Jack's favorite hunting rifles usually wore a 4X Leupold with a sprinkling of 2.5 and 3x power Weavers and Leupolds. There was one rifle his wife used that had a Redfield 2x7X mounted on it. The amount of trophy game animals taken from decades of hunting all over the world speaks for itself and some shots were extremely long with what would be considered today as low powered scopes. Al

So I decided to go with the Kill Shot hoist pictured ,above, for my situation the versatile portability factor of being able to use with my vehicles that have a 2 inch receiver hitch and a secure 2 inch mount for use in my barn sealed the deal. It came yesterday and it was assembled without a problem, It is heavy and constructed well with a 500 lb capacity. As far as I can see it should do it's job well and hopefully this hunting season will give it a chance to see what it's got. Al

Different for sure! Al

Easton aluminum arrows are my favorite, been using them for many years and still use them. They are tough and last for many years, I refletched a bunch of old shafts a few years ago that had the crap shot out of them and they have been working as good as ever, been stump shooting with them. If you can shoot them accurately they will do the job. Al

Man that is going to be some serious work, with that many I would just breast and bone them and run the meat through a grinder. Al

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