airedale

Coming up this weekend in Oneida NY, It is a small show but a good one that I have attended several times. Al

Fox hunting with a Hound has fallen by the wayside in recent years, I suspect because of the overwhelming majority of hunters now use calls and can hunt at night with lights. I had a good friend that owned a well trained Harrier hound female that we hunted quite a bit on Fox. Same techniques for Hare hunting except the terrain was a bit more open. We liked hunting under the large powerlines after a fresh snow with spots that had big woods on both sides. Fox would make a bigger circle than a Hare and go out of hearing a lot. It was a panic. Once winter ended and Spring sprung it was time for my favorite, "Woodchucks" seemed like the fun never ended. Al

My favorite call is a Black Creek call that was locally made, they are no longer in production but there are a multitude of bellows type calls being made and sold, just do a search and you will get plenty of examples. I have somewhere in my memorabilia stash an old Herter's catalog, they were pretty entertaining and old man Herter was quite the salesman. Bought quite a bit of stuff from them back in the day. Never tried one of his Squirrel calls. With a bit of practice one can produce pretty realistic Squirrel calls by just sucking on the back of your hand. Al

I do have a bunch of Squirrel calls and use them on occasion with very mixed results. The ones I have had the best responses with are the rubber bulb type that mimics a gray squirrel's alarm call. Sometimes they respond by answering back and even moving toward me, other times they pay zero attention so go figure. Al

Now there are some photos that make my day. I feel sorry for those who think hunting season is over, they do not know what they are missing. Al

Took a walk this morning for small game but was mainly looking to see if I could find any Chaga mushroom growths. Totally struck out with the Chaga, not many white birch where I was hunting and the ground is high and dry. Got a couple of better places to check out down the road. Did see a couple of Deer, a big fat porcupine and one Squirrel, let them slide and saved them for later. Al

Still going strong for me, the Gray squirrels are low in numbers so they are getting substituted with Reds, takes about three Reds to equal one Gray. Put up several Patridges as the old timers call them, they were gone in a flash and I did not even pull the trigger. Been sneaking around in the alders and Balsams trying to pot a Hare but no luck as of yet. Now with this "Chaga" mushroom saga I wrote about about I will be taking a few walks looking for it and combining in some small game hunting so long as the snow stays fairly light. Had a nice Red Fox come in to a woodpecker call but he got a pass. Nothing like being in the woods hunting. Al

So I stumbled onto something new for me, a mushroom called "Chaga", it is supposed to have all kinds of medicinal properties and health benefits. The best part is it should be readily found in the woods and forests I frequent, I probably walk by it all the time. With a bit of investigation I have found plenty of online videos and instruction of how to find, harvest and prepare it. Below is a quick video that gives the basics. Just wondering if anyone here has messed around with any Chaga foraging and the making of tea and if so does it seem to have any real benefits? Al

A really nice autoloader in small gauges is the Tristar Viper especially the bronze model. A buddy of mine picked up a 410 a few years ago, he brought it over and we shot a bunch of clays birds, it functioned flawlessly, weighed under 6 lbs and the fit and finish was outstanding and the wood was beautiful also, looked as good as the stock photo below. Best part is they can be bought for seven or eight hundred bucks, plain jane models sell for a whole lot less.

good stuff Tim Al

All three have been shimmed, 17 HMR, 22 Hornet and the Maggie, and all three have had trigger jobs. Al

"Rimfire Central" has quite a bit of info the the two piece bolt Ruger 77 trigger-bolt shims and the theory behind them. and of course good old youtube has videos from the vendor showing the installation. I got a measurable accuracy improvement on all three of my rifles, nothing huge but the shims did help and like I said above I am always squeezing everything I can get out of my firearms and just like screwing around with my stuff. Al

Back in the late 70s and early 80s arms manufacturers started paying attention to their rimfire lines coming out with full sized higher end rifles. Remington had their 541S, Kimber came out with a whole slew of nicely made rimfires and Ruger jumped into the fray with their 77/ line. The Ruger's design lent itself to be chambered in not only rimfires but also centerfires like 22 Hornet, 357 mag and 44 mag. The look and lines of the new Ruger were similar to their centerfire 77s, classic walnut stock, hand checkered, blued steel for starters. I took the bait and acquired one in 22 Hornet, 22 Mag and 17 HMR, I used these rifles for varmint hunting and they have proven their worth. They did have a couple of negatives for me, the trigger was on the heavy side and their two piece bolt design could have a little slop causing less than stellar accuracy. Now when it comes to accuracy these Rugers have all that is needed for hunting but I get a little off the deep end and am always trying to squeeze the best performance I can out of all my firearms. Aftermarket triggers and sears made the weight of pull and easy fix thanks to Volquartsen and Dayton Traister. If the bolt needs tightening it is solved by installing trigger-bolt shims. Those little improvements can make for some tack driving groups. I have gone through all three of my 77s and they print their bullets where aimed. Well looks to me that Ruger is phasing these high end 77s out, too much good stuff going into them makes for high prices that most will not pay. Below is my stainless maggie with an 8X Leupold mounted, she will do under an inch all day long, the other rifle is the standard sporter in 17 HMR, great fur rifle. Al

My favorite is your little video hunt with the Savage 99 and dressed up in the Woolrich PA tux. Al

I was around back in 1966, we had one heck of a Bizzard right here in NY also. Al

Nice job, Al

Of all my outdoor gear I have found rain gear to be the least satisfying, I have tried at one time or another just about everything and the bottom line is it all is about compromise. Heavy duty stuff is just that heavy and clammy, I have a heavy duty parka I purchased from the nite light company, It has held up the best of anything I have tried. It is one tough coat, I have worn it coonhunting in downpours and through some pretty knarly stuff and it still does not have any holes in it. Chasing hounds through the woods at night makes for a clammy interior, don't know what is worse, being soaked for sweat or being soaked from rain. Tried the nylon stuff and rubber suits, under hard use they get shredded pretty easy, the goretex stuff is an expensive joke. These days I just go with a packable Frogg Togg outfit and replace it when worn, works good as anything for me. Al

Good to see this model back in the lineup, one of my favorites. Al

That is a pretty nice haul you boys took in, congratulations. Al

I still have my old Pachmayer range box from my days of shooting bullseye pistol. These were well made cases that held everything needed when at the range shooting matches. Got a good dose of sticker shock after seeing what they are going for on used ebay these days, in the $500 range for a nice one. Surprised some Chinese outfit has not picked up the baton and manufacture a copy selling for a bit more reasonable price. Al

I get asked quite a bit about books that give good information on how to go about training hunting dogs. For me there is no question that John Wick's two volume set "Walk With Wick" have helped me more than any others. While these books are geared toward tree dogs much of the stuff will translate over to other hunting dog breeds. These books are kind of hard to come by these days but if you are a dog person that hunts the info gleaned for these books is invaluable. Al

I spent a lot of time up on the Tug hunting various small game, Highmarket, Ava, West Leyden, Redfield, Osceola, Copenhagen are a few of the areas I frequented. Hare, Grouse, Woodcock and Coon was the name of the game and the Tug did not disappoint. The snow can get pretty deep up there some years. Al

What a nice set, you do not run across one of those every day, congrats. I had a chance to pick up a beautiful Savage 219 set at the Syracuse gun show a few years ago and passed, been kicking myself ever since. Al