airedale

She can do some pretty fair shooting, love her backstop.

I have eaten Woodcock several times and I think they were quite tasty, the only downside is their small size. Like Quail it takes a good bunch to make a meal. I did a lot of Woodcock hunting when I was a young guy, the niftiest piece of wing shooting I ever made was a triple on Woodcock with a 16 ga Mossberg bolt action with an adjustable choke on the end of the barrel. It was my first hunting gun my Dad bought me. Al

Yes

The Turkeys hanging out in my pastures give me a chance to fool around with different calls and see what kinds of reactions they produce. The one that has been getting the best responses is a simple Quaker Boy easy yelper, I guess one calls a push button type. I do not have many Toms hanging around but there are several hens and they and the Tom come looking pronto when I give a few yelps with that call. I have a pile of calls that sound pretty good to my ear but the Easy Yelper has been getting the best responses from the Turkeys around here. I ran one old hen ragged, I had her running around searching in circles trying to find me yakking her butt off the whole time. Al

About 20 yrs ago I got fitted with some hearing aids, after leaving the Ear Dr's office the wife and I went out to eat. I could not get over the sounds of people talking, dishes and utensils clanking and clattering, about drove me nuts, I took the darn hearing aids out so I could enjoy my meal in peace without the racket. My hearing has steadily gone downhill, today those hearing aids hardly help at all, I really should get some new ones but I kind of like things quiet. I do like and use the amplified muffs and earbuds on the range and when hunting and need to hear. Al

Man that scope is one piece of cool equipment. Al

A lot of years not taking care of my hearing has resulted in a pretty severe hearing loss, these days I try the best I can to preserve what hearing I have left. Been using Honeywell Howard Leight Sport Impacts for the past several years, they are the type that amplifies sound to improve my hearing tremendously but also have a circuit that will shut down the blast of a firearm. I use them all the time and I have nothing but positives for them they work great for hunting and target shooting. The only negative is when using a long gun, when I shoulder the gun the top of the stock comb hits the bottom of the muff and the sound it makes riding on the stock is annoying and loud. So last fall Powder Valley had a giveaway closeout price on the GS Extreme ear bud type of protection that basically work the same as the Howard Leights. I have to say for hunting this type is the way to go. The muff type edges them out for all around performance but in the field hunting the earbud type works really well, I can hear Turkey talk a long way off. Al

Out in the pasture right on schedule. The flock's numbers have been dwindling, been seeing just a couple of hens and this jake for the past few days. Hoping all the other hens are now sitting on egg clutches, the other two Toms may have moved on or maybe a hunter scored on them.

I know what you are saying, I have an apple tree I planted when I first moved to this place almost 40 years ago that has been ruined by Gypsy Moth caterpillars. It was one of those trees that was supposedly a five variety but the apples it produced looked and tasted pretty much the same. It produced so many apples a few years ago that some of it's branches broke from their weight. I was looking it over the other day and only one large limb is growing leaves, the rest of the tree is bare and it's prognosis is not looking good. By the way I see they are now referring Gypsy Moths caterpillars as "Sponge Worms", I guess real Gypsies must have been offended of the naming a destructive caterpillar after them. Al

Thanks Grampy, when it comes to any kind of activities involving Dogs especially hunting it will get my interest. Al

Got my License in the mail the other day, I now have to train my dog, the tracking part is no problem. I have an Airedale female that is a heck of a good track dog "unleashed", how she will do tracking while being somewhat restricted on a long lead remains to be seen. She handles so well with just voice commands that I have rarely ever had her on a leash so this is going to be an interesting project. Al

I have done a lot of reading about the 10mm and from what I have seen the consensus most feel gun problems are due to ammo that is loaded a bit too hot. In fact the Girsan recommends not shooting hot reloads out of their pistol. I will stay with moderate loads with this 10mm and hopefully stay problem free, I have a couple of 44 mags if I need some big time pop. Al

Some interesting changes in the flock's pattern mentioned above. Early in the Spring they were hanging out in an area about a half mile from where I live mainly because of what I believe was a good source of food for them. Probably the most Turkeys I have seen around here in several years, a decent size group consisting of 5 or 6 hens, a couple of Jakes and a boss Tom. In the woods I never positioned myself for a sure shot, they always seemed to be just out of range and those Toms could not be pulled away from the hens. Once the temperatures warmed and things started to green up they migrated out of that area and started showing up in the open pastures on my property pretty much the same as the group that hung around here last spring. It would be easy for me to kill one now but not my cup of tea, it would be almost like shooting barnyard Turkeys now. They are roosting a couple of hundred yards away from my house and fly down at daybreak in pretty much the same spot every morning. Been in the woods Deer hunting and have seen Turkeys fly up into their roosting trees several times but just before dark the other afternoon I got to see something a bit different. The sun was down, almost dark and there were two birds out in the middle of my pastures walking toward the woods. All of a sudden they bolted into an all out sprint and lifted off the ground like a couple of B52s and flew into the woods to roost, it is a wonder they did not break something crashing into the tree tops. A couple of photos below Al

I have the same rifle and I like it a lot, I shoot JSB pellets out of mine as they have given me the best all around performance. Can not beat a good air rifle for practice, plinking and hunting Squirrel-Rat size game. Al

Your report is exactly why it took so many years for me to finally make the move on a 10mm, there was a lot of bad press. Al

No, I already have a shoulder holster that the Girsan will fit along with a Uncle Mikes Nylon belt holster for large autos. A fellow I know likes an all barrel length Pro Tech belt holster and after looking at his I liked it so I picked one up. A lot of the gun's barrel is exposed but I do not think it will be much of a problem, I like the way it wears on me and the comfort.

Hit the loading bench and turned out 100 rounds of 10mm 180 gr HP Hornady XTPs using Unique powder, the load should be producing around 1100 fps out of the Girsan's 6 inch barrel. Put a Valkyrie compensator-muzzlebrake on, if nothing else it looks cool. Hope to hit the range sometime this week and see how she shoots. Al

What ranges are the targets shot at? Al

I do not believe I have ever seen a lady taxidermist, good for her. Al

Congratulations.

You are the man when it comes to Turkey hunting, congratulations again. Al