airedale

Sorry, I am not buying it and anyone with a half a brain knows what you are up to, these arguing bullshit threads need to be nipped in the bud. Al

Hopefully he does because it is nothing more than trolling for the start of a shitshow!!! Al

Took a walk with my Airedale Harleigh to see if we could bag as the old timers would say a "Patridge", a Hare or a Squirrel would make due. Took out one of my favorite shotguns, an LC Smith side by side double. We had a good hunt, Harleigh flushed a Grouse but I only heard it, no chance for a shot. She then made a tree on a Squirrel, she did a good job sticking with it as it timbered through three different trees before I could get a good shot and knock it out to her. We had a great time old Harleigh and I. Al

Sad thing is that mange could be easily cured with a good dip or a shot of Ivermectin. Al

My young chicken hens have started to lay eggs, what has been surprising is my young Turkey hens have been laying and laying a lot. I have been collecting and eating them, taste no different than a chicken egg except they are a bit larger, a comparison with a large chicken egg below. Al

Two things stick out for me, the first is the demise of family farms. Most of the hunting I did as a youngster was on the seven dairy farms on the 5 mile stretch of country road I lived on. The owners of those farms had no problem with hunting and in fact encouraged hunting for certain animals like coon and Woodchucks. I had farmers coming to me all the time to rid their corn patches of Coons. The habitat those farms provided were a haven for all small game, the hedgerows that bordered farm field were mostly Hickory, Butternut and Walnut trees. Those hedgerows were alive with Squirrels, Woodchucks, Cottontail Rabbits and the occasional Grouse or Pheasant. That same land today is totally different, the hedgerows have all been cut and cleared, not a single farm is in operation, the land that bordered the roads was all sold off as building lots that now have houses built on them with owners who do not like hunting and shooting in their backyards. Sadly a total loss when it comes to any kind of hunting. The same scenario has happened all over the state, lots of good hunting habitat gone with the wind. The second thing is the demise of small game hunting, what has been written above played a hand in that and also the emphasis on Deer hunting and almost an afterthought for small game. I have said it before and will say it again there is nothing like good small game hunting to create an addiction to hunting. Small game hunting provides experience, action and excitement which is especially important with youngsters. Sitting in a tree stand waiting for a deer to come along and freezing your ass off is not fun for a kid just starting to hunt. In fact for me it has never been fun to hunt that way to this day and I don't. Nothing like a couple of Beagle hounds in full cry swinging a circle with a rabbit coming at you or your dog flushing a nice Rooster pheasant or sneaking through the squirrel woods still hunting and knocking off a limit of Squirrels. If a kid has any hunt in them these types of hunts get the blood flowing. Al

In the setting and atmosphere I grew up in it would have been almost impossible not to become involved in hunting. Unlike today where it seems very few hunt, especially young folks, back when I was a kid almost everyone I knew hunted. Family on both my mother and father's side were avid hunters, my Dad was a fanatical hunter. When family and friends got together the conversations invariably were many times about hunting, it was easy to get drawn into the culture and excitement. My Dad encouraged me all along the way, hunting books, Sports Afield and Outdoor Life magazines in the house were read voraciously, so it was pretty easy for me to get psyched and involved. Lot's of small game hunting got me started, my Dad was a big time rabbit hunter with top notch Beagle rabbit dogs, he had friends that had Coon dogs, that is where my love for hunting with dogs got started. Back then there were plenty of Pheasants, Squirrels, and Grouse along with assorted waterfowl, still my prefered type of hunting today. The good old days really were good. Absent was the greed one sees today. Al

Actually it does make sense, as the conservative folks leave this shithole state in droves to free states who is going to be left behind? KNUCKLEHEAD Democrats!!! Al

One thing about white is that it always makes a room brighter. As long as it suits you and the Mrs that is all that matters. I think it looks pretty good. Al

Personally I have always been more of a small game hunter than a Deer hunter, I love hunting with dogs, the variety, the long seasons and to be able to use and fire fine firearms more than once a year for hunting. I disagree with the notion it is harder to find properties that hold small game, places you may be denied to hunt Deer welcome you to hunt Woodchucks, Coon, Coyotes, Fox etc. Speaking for myself I have no problem finding a place to hunt small game. A small four or five acre Mast woodlot can provide some great Squirrel hunting action. Around forty years ago I was after a known large racked buck in the area I hunted. Tag were not so prevalent back then, you basically got to shoot one Deer per season. To make a long story short I hunted hard and passed on smaller Bucks because of wanting to kill that big guy. In the end I got skunked, it was the only year I ever missed getting a Deer. After the season I came to the conclusion that for me I wasted way too much time on that one Deer and missed a lot of nice weather days of good small game hunting and a ton of fun. These days if I want to kill a deer the first legal buck I see gets dropped, no messing around dreaming of horns. Al

One of the prefab hunting blinds could be easily converted into a shooting shack, they are pretty light weight and can be assembled on site, there are several models in the 5 to 7 hundred dollar range, the one below goes for $550 sold by Tractor Supply. Also a photo of one of those Amish outhouses. Al

Those tree butt growths are called burls and they can get big and be worth a lot of money if they are not rotten especially from Cherry or Walnut trees. The grain inside can be beautiful. makes for great decorative items such as handgun grips, knife scales etc. Al

My shooting shack also gets a bit of double duty for storage of my stuff, for just shooting it does not have to be that big. I was on one of those Amish shed lots looking over some of their sheds, they had several small Outhouse buildings that were about 4X5, could be moved without a lot of trouble by a couple of guys and easily could be used and converted to a shooting shack. With the shitter seat already in place all that is needed is some kind of opening on the door to shoot out of and devise some kind of shooting rest-platform. Could also be made to be dual purpose, put it over a deep hole, add a roll of toilet paper and you will have an actual usable outhouse, a great place for shootin the shit! LOL As long as the muzzle of the firearm is just outside your window-opening the muzzle blast and noise will not be bad. Al

My trapline dog kept his attention and I used my jacket to cover him up and pin him down so I could step on the release. With those big glaring eyes he was scary looking but he never tried to bite me although he had his mouth gaping and that sharp beak looking formidable, I was more worried about him hooking me with his claws which are huge and strong. Al

I did mine the easy way, I purchased an 8X10 shed from a local builder and set it up in front of my backyard range. It is now a little different than what is pictured as I have a space saving wall hinge mounted folding bench under the window that is lifted into place when I am shooting. I have one of those little buddy heaters hooked up to a 20lb tank to keep things warm when it is cold. I do quite a bit of handloading in the winter and it sure makes it nice to go out and shoot and test when the weather is not the best and helps pass the long winter blues. Al

I have two classes of knives, one class I call working knives and the others are for me collector knives. My every day working knives are sharpened with a couple of electric powered sharpeners with a final touchup on a hard stone. I have both a Work Sharp belt sharpener along with a Chef's Choice three slot electric, they do a good job especially on my kitchen knives, they are easy to use and fast and they make the knives plenty sharp enough for the jobs they do. All of what I consider to be my higher end collector knives get carefully hand sharpened with stones like pictured above, to be honest they never get actually used and are for looking at but I still like them to have a razor edge. Al

Always looking for an easier and simpler way of sharpening my knives, and I am a sucker that has purchased and tried many of the sharpening gadgets. I see Work Sharp has come up with another sharpener similar in operation to the old Lansky design of which I own with a much fancier jig. They have a cheap model and a high ender, both work on the same principle and I really do not think they will do a much better job than the old Lanskys. With a good eye, steady hand and patience it is tough to beat good quality hand sharpening with stones pictured like those above. Al

Sounds like that hunt was quite the experience, and successful, a belated well done. Al

One of the craziest things I had happen trapping, had a trap wise Fox digging up the trap around a hole set. An old timer showed me how to set a triangular triple trap set around the hole to catch trap wise culprits, theory was while digging up one trap carelessness would make for a wrong move and get a foot caught in one of the other two traps set nearby. Checking the triple set one morning I found a Cottontail Rabbit got caught in one trap which apparently caught the attention of a Great Horned Owl who swooped down on the Rabbit and ended up stepping on and getting himself caught in one of the other traps, that was a three ringed circus. By the way the triple set was successful for me several times on trap wise Reds. Al

Back when I did a lot of archery hunting a friend of mine owned one of those Coleman pop up trailers with the pull out canvas covered bunks on each end. We set it up during the southern zone archery season and used it for a base camp the entire season, it was better than a tent but not by much. I did go on a couple of outfitted hunts, one in Newfoundland for Caribou and one in Colorado for Elk, both were well run tent hunts, The outfitters took care of all the camp set up, great fun when I was young but I do not think I would do it today. Al

I do not do any archery shooting during the winter, it has always been a fair weather activity for me. I do quite a bit of firearm shooting during the winter months, I have a shack with a window facing my range targets to keep out of the weather. Al

Ballistic Chronographs like everything else has seen extensive evolution over the years. You had to be pretty well heeled to buy one of the first models as they were pricey. You actually shot through the screens which tripped the electronic speed measurement on the first ones, and had to buy new screens constantly to replace the shot out ones. The later sky screen models that came out were a big improvement and like most things electronic started to become affordable to the average shooter. The sky screens were mounted on a perfectly measured rail that was mounted on a tripod, there were wires that had to be connected to the rail that were hooked up to the Chronograph itself. That system worked OK but was a pain to setup. I bought a mid priced "Pact" about 30 years ago that I have used and have had decent results with it. In recent times Caldwell and Pro Chrono build a Chrono that is housed along with the sky screens in one cabinet, relatively much easier to setup than the old wired Pact-Oehler style chronographs and priced reasonable for the average shooter. The older sky screen models compared to these newer radar Chronos like the Garmin are Dinosaurs, in a word "simplicity." For an avid reloader and shooter a good chronograph is a must if one wants to know exactly how the ammo they are producing is performing. Al

The Democrats and their party's platform are becoming totally incompatible with the outdoor sports in every phase, be it shooting, hunting trapping, fishing, their end goal is to eventually shut everything down, that along with just about everything else. Al