airedale

A couple of more Squirrel hunting tidbits. Al https://www.cci-ammunition.com/cci-s...4002335&jb=361 https://www.cci-ammunition.com/cci-s...4002335&jb=361

I do not know what one of those would be worth in 44 Special, for me the Bisley grip makes it one of the most natural pointing handguns ever. Al

The animal that provides me with a hunt that sticks out above others in my mind are what I consider a trophy. Does not have to be some big rack or even a Deer as most of my best memories hunting are from small game hunts by far. A couple of Squirrels I took with a muzzleloading 32 cal Crockett Squirrel rifle are trophies to me. A young Coonhound I raised and trained treeing it's first Coon alone, that Coon is a trophy to me. A 6 point buck I dogged in snow for five hours before killing him is a trophy to me even though his rack is far from the best I have taken. A fox I squeaked across a field by sucking on the back of my hand using the then new 17 HMR that was a trophy to me. The longest shot I ever made on a varmint (Crow) that was trophy to me. And so on and so forth, Memories that remain vivid. Al

Hey Robby, while not quite in the same league as your handcrafted horn what do you think of my genuine plastic Walt Disney Davey Crockett hunter's blowing horn, it's a beauty, sounds like a harmonica LOL.

Snow is a hunter's best friend, when it comes to wanting to know what game you have in an area, it's movement and habits, it will tell the story if the time is taken to read it. Al

The Hare gave up it's advantages by staying in the open and running on the hard packed road. Should have hit the deep snow and the thick timber and more than likely would have lost the Martin. I have had a couple of instances where my Beagle ran down and caught a Hare the same way. Al

I took my cast iron skillet and painted it orange and use it for a reactive target on my backyard range. Most of my cookware is good old stainless copper clad Revere Ware that was made in Rome NY. Also have a set of the copper stuff made in Alabama. Al

I have several cap lock rifles, never got into a flintlocks, these days I am more of a shooter than hunter with mine. I am not a big time Deer hunter and just take one if I get the opportunity. I still do quite a bit of small game hunting and picked up a Crockett Squirrel rifle a couple of years ago, I did get a couple of Squirrels with it but my eyes at this stage of the game make it tough trying to hit small targets, wish I had it back in the day when there were Woodchucks in big numbers. I still have a blast shooting targets. Al

2400 is my favorite powder for both 357 and 44 mags, the Win 296 has no flies on it from the limited experience I have with it. Unique is a good powder also giving good all around performance at a lower cost per shot. I have shot ammo with both powders you list, the H110 I think is better for a 357 and it has worked ok for me but my main use for it is loading 22 Hornet ammo. The 4227 is a bit slow I think for 357 in handguns, would probably work a bit better if used in a rifle. A friend of mine gave me a box of 44 mag ammo he loaded using 4227, I did not get very good accuracy with those particular loads out of my Redhawk. If I get around to it I will give what is left of them a try in my Marlin 94 rifle. I never used Titegroup powder but it has a good reputation for medium loads. I did buy several pounds of Titewad for use in shotguns, relatively new for use in handgun cartridges it is pretty much the same as Bullseye. Al

I think I may have mentioned it here once before, years ago myself and some of my hunting compadres went on a Squirrel hunt and it was anything goes, Grays, Reds and Chipmunks. We got ourselves quite the pile of rodents, cleaned them all up and one of the guys took them all home and his wife made up a big stew and did some up in tomato sauce. We were all invited over for a Squirrel feast, the eating was good and other than body size I could not tell the difference in taste between any of them. Chipmunks are on the small side but when you think about it I would say they amount to be about the same size wise as Quail. Ammo is a little tight these days so a good quality pellet rifle would do the trick hunting Chipmunks on the cheap. My little Benjamin P-Rod parlor gun would be just the ticket for them as it will easily shoot dime size groups at 30 yds, should be plenty good on Squirrels at moderate range also.

Of Modern Times??? This guy is the all times worst!

Like Humans our dogs and especially hunting dogs in the field are subject to Ticks, I have had several come down with Lyme and one of my best Airedales died from Ehrlichia which the Vet said was from a tick bite. Been using the purple cattle tags for a few years now and so far so good when it comes to ticks. Al

Rachunter I picked up the same revolver a year ago, the GP100 is a good solid reliable shooter. I did a write up on how I tuned it to my preferences in this section a few pages back. Ammo for everything these days is hard to come by, I have had decent results in finding bullets for reloading. Right now Midway USA has bullets in stock. As for bullet weights I almost always fall to a middle of the road weight with just about every cartridge I shoot, these give the best balance of both trajectory and energy. If I do my part and put the shot on target I get good results. Back when I got my first 357 I found a load in one of the gun magazines I subscribed to using Speer 140gr hps and 146gr hp half jacket bullets. I used that data and had very good results for both accuracy and on several Deer along with a pile of Woodchucks. This year because of difficulty getting 2400 powder and Speer bullets I went with something different component wise because it was available to purchase, Win 296 powder and Hornady 140 gr XTPs, accuracy was good and I used the load on a Deer out of my Henry single shot. A heart shot that was a complete pass through at about 75 yards, the Deer did not go far, I think the same ammo out of my revolver will produce the same results with a properly placed shot. I believe 158gr bullets from a good maker will work just as well. Midway also has Berry's copper washed lead bullets in stock, they are bargain priced and shoot great. Al

I have eaten the Reds and as far as I can tell they taste the same as Grays but they are much smaller so you have to knock off a bunch to make a good size meal. As for Rabbits I like domestic Rabbit the best, had it only a few times but can say the meat is not as dry as the wild variety and very tasty. Cottontails come in next for flavor with Hares bringing up the rear, I believe their diets are a big factor in how they taste. Al

I believe it is an alert call and classify it more of a locating call, what it will do it make other Squirrels in the vicinity start to chime in, from there the actual fun comes in, it is up to me to make a spot and stalk into shooting range and make the kill. Al

When you get to be my age most of your friends will be lame-Physically You hit the nail on the head Dan, I was with some friends shooting the breeze this past fall and got to talking about baseball and softball which I played a lot of when a young feller and come to realize that out of a couple of dozen teammates just me and one other guy are still alive. Same with many of the folks I hunted with, man have passed on or are not able to get around well physically. As for concerts I went to quite a few back in the day but the bands I prefer are now mostly older than me and pretty much shutdown. The stuff that is tried to be passed off as music today I have no desire to see or listen to. Al

The sounds most of the Squirrel calls I have duplicate pretty much what the Squirrel in the video is saying. I also have a whistle call that is supposed to help make a hiding treed Squirrel expose itself. You can go on youtube and see and hear many hunters demonstrating calls and hear how they actually sound. The calls I use most of the time when after Squirrels are pictured on the lanyard below, they have produced for me both predators and Squirrels, I stick with what works. Al

I have several Squirrel calls and have had very spotty results using them. For the most part they seem not to do much good in producing shots, that being said I have had several times using them where they actually worked. Once on a stand using one of those rubber bulb type calls I had a Squirrel come in from behind me and jumped on my back and go right up on my head and leap up on to the tree I was sitting against. I let out a scream that would have made Fay Wray proud. The best I can figure is they sometimes trigger a territorial response. Al

Like Rabbits Squirrels can be hunted with dogs, I can say a top Squirrel dog is not easy to come by and they are special. A video below shows a bit of insight, these folks are knocking off Fox Squirrels which are quite large compared to Grays. Also a photo of some of my Airedales that were half way decent on a hunt, a buddy of mine from PA came up to my place to pick up an Airedale pup. He brought along his Kemmer Cur "the blond dog" which is one of the best breeds for Squirrels. Al

I have been out a few times, my Squirrel population is a bit low in my usual spots so I have taken it easy on them. Want to knock off one more and I will have enough to make a good pot of stew. Al

One of my favorite places, been down there several times. It is Airedale country, got my first Airedale Terrier from Mooreland Kennels Sparta Tenn back in 1970, went down and purchased another 20 years later. Another Airedale breeder I exchanged dogs and visited with several times lived in Viola Tenn and another in Manchester, some good times and good friends. Hunted hogs many years ago on the Tellico plains. Saw plenty of game. You will like it down there. Al

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!! Just for the Hell of it take a good look at the last 100 or so posts you have made! You are a Troll "Par Excellence", if you have contributed one thing that would help me in the outdoors I must have missed it! Al

The first half of my hunting life all my Deer hunting was done with various slug guns. My first new gun was a 20 ga Ithaca Deerslayer, went to a 20 ga Remington 1100 with a 2.5 Weaver scope, from there to a model 51 Ithaca Deerslayer semi auto. My final piece is a Winchester Super X Model 1 which I still have. I had Lefever Arms in Lee Center NY make me up a special slug barrel for the Winchester as per one of my gun nut buddys (A Toolmaker) who swore he came up with a tack driving winner. A 28 inch plain barrel was purchased, Lefever cut the barrel to 25 inches and I had them install a set of Browning open sights on it. With the old Remington 7/8 ounce slug I was getting groups at 75 yards with most if not all shots touching. Sent the gun back up to Lefever and had them drill and tap it for a scope base, mounted a straight Leupold 3X and was one happy chappy. Used the Winchester for many years and killed a pile of Deer with it, one of the better ones pictured below. Moved to rifle country back in the mid eighties and that was pretty much it for the Super X1 Winchester, slugs and Deer hunting. Al

Congrats folks, you will not be sorry you took the plunge, Grampy's advice about reading everything you can get your hands on is sound. I have at least a dozen reloading manuals and have gained solid information from all of them, older manuals can be purchased on ebay for a song if you shop right and the info within is still relevant and useful. Also online sites providing sound reloading info are many. The 243 was the first cartridge I loaded for and still have and use the equipment that was purchased over 50 years ago. IMR 4895 was the powder I used for several bullets and rifles with perfect success. A lot of water under the bridge since those days and powder and bullet choices have jumped tremendously. Good score on the Varget powder, it is hard to come by, I have my name on Midway's list for some when they get it in. Al

I am a big fan of double shotguns mostly because of the old school tradition and look they evoke, but they do have the advantages you listed of having two different loads to cover different situations afield. I admit I have zero experience hunting Turkeys with a double but I have used them for all other wing shooting and small game up to Fox size with good success, there is no reason why a quality double would not make a good Turkey gun. Mine are not the high end fancy jobs, they are of medium quality and will pattern as well as my dedicated Remington 870 Waterfowl-Turkey gun. Also I like double triggers over a single selective. Mine are all side by sides except for one 28 ga over and under. Al