airedale

I have a folder full of old sporting licenses and back tags from years past, they sure have evolved. Al

I respect the experience Craig Boddington has with firearms and taking game with them, I have read many of his articles and watched him on different outdoor shows. I do not have but a small fraction of his experience but what I do have is exactly right on the money with his bullet performance evaluation article above, it is spot on. Al

https://www.rifleshootermag.com/editorial/bullet-construction-terminal-performance-hunting/504357

I love archery in itself and do quite a bit of shooting, my problem is that early archery deer season coincides with most small game hunting which I personally find way more enjoyable than deer hunting with a bow. Fall weather is my favorite time for getting after Squirrels, Rabbits, Grouse and maybe a Woodcock or Pheasant. Al

Way to go Wolc!, congrats. Al

I have messed around with a lot of rifles over the years but none have been so rewarding and given me such satisfaction as this Marlin 62, especially custom crafting the ammo. Have been on the range putting this model 62 through her paces and I have to say this little rifle has been a heck of a lot fun. I mounted a different scope (Burris Mini 4x12 USA) on it and the accuracy of the handloads I made up have been way above my expectations, she groups ragged holes! The Sierra 90 gr hp handload is cruising along at 2400 fps, accuracy has been superb, and I am not surprised as I have used the same bullet in 25-06 and 250 Savage handloads with similar results. I killed a Deer with the 90 gr Sierra a few years ago and their accuracy has always been way above average in just about every application I have used them in. Marlin had a real winner with this little Lever-matic as far as I am concerned, too bad they pulled the plug. Al https://shootingsavvy.com/blast-from-the-past-marlins-levermatic-256-winchester-magnum/#:~:text=The Marlin Levermatic was a family of lever-action

I have killed quite a few that were on the run, tracking and still hunting will produce many running shots along with most Deer drives also producing running shots. As long as I can get a good clear shot I do not have much of a problem making the shot and killing them. I do practice my shooting skills a lot. Al

I am not one to miss an opportunity to use and evaluate my outdoor equipment, and that Turkey killing Coon provided such an opportunity. I took the hide off to check where my shots hit, I used the winch hoist I picked up last fall and hung my small animal skinning gambrel in place of the large animal one that came with it, made for an easy skinning job. All three shots were in the torso and the full metal jacket bullets caused little damage to the hide. I also got to use a Buck field dressing knife set I received as a gift a few years ago, they ain't nothing to look at but I have to say I was impressed with how they worked, they are razor sharp and do a beautiful job. Will be using that hide for a training aid for my Airedale pup! Al

All my internet work is done on a computer and I have zero problems with freezing. All posts come up the way they always have. Al

One thing you can be pretty sure of when it comes to varmints killing livestock, they will always return to the scene of the crime. So about 45 minutes before dark I took my Remington 597 22 mag autoloader which is set up for moderate range varmint hunting down to my cattle run in shed, it overlooks the barnyard where my chickens and other fowl reside. I set up in there hoping to catch the culprit attempting another kill. The whole barnyard is surrounded by page wire fencing and I could see where the critter dug underneath and pulled the Turkey hen through exactly 100 yards in distance from my stand, that is where my focus was and I did not have to wait long. Under the fence crawls a big old Coon headed right for the coups, I got the crosshairs on him and touched one off, I could hear the bullet plunk and he took off back toward the fence but I sent two more shots into him and that was all she wrote. I had just checked the zero on this rifle a few days ago and it was dead on, I had the magazine loaded with Winchester 40 gr full metal jacket ammo because they print in the same place as the Winchester 40 gr hollow points I sighted in with, but I was having misfires with the hollow points, good hard strikes on the rim but not firing, looks like a bad batch in that box. The full metal jacket bullets do not kill quite as good as the hollow points but will work and are more fur friendly. Al

My domestic Toms and the local wild Toms have been strutting and fighting this past week acting like it is mating season, a little bit odd I think. Al

Those were nice bows and will make some kid very happy. Al

Well some varmint killed one of my Royal Palm Hen Turkeys last night, probably a Fox or a Coon, I am a live and let live kind of guy until this kind of crap starts, the war and hunt is on! Al

I have still not decided what rifle I will be hunting with this season, am leaning toward the Winchester model 70 6.5 PRC. Al

Having spent a good part of my life training hunting dogs I totally agree they can detect human's mental state and emotions, but then again they are in your presence and are watching you when these things occur. I do know that Deer and other animals like cattle, sheep and goats have eyesight with the ability to detect the very slightest movement. Al https://deerassociation.com/facts-about-deer-vision/

I used many that are listed and a bunch that are not, most of my rifle killed Deer have been with a 280 Remington out of a light weight bolt action sporter. Al

I was not referring to Deer aware of my presence, I have stared at and watched Deer countless times while hunting, I have never had one detect me unless I did something to make them aware of me. If I get busted it is because of what I mentioned above, a change in the wind, some movement or a noise I made, not because of some mystical telepathy that I was watching them. Al

Deer go into an alert mode because they either heard something not right, smelled something or saw some movement. That they have some kind of mental telepathy that alerts them to something of danger watching them sounds like a crock to me. Al

Handloading is like most endeavors in life, with experience and practice your skills will become honed, sounds like your 243 handload is doing performance wise exactly what you hoped for, congrats. Your 30-06 loads will come around once you get things figured out. These days with all the new manuals along with huge online data resources that can be printed out makes for much easier acquisition of accurate load recipes that perform great. I have been delving into the 264 cal cartridges and all the hard work has been done by reloading experts, I take their load recommendations and use them for a starting point and tweak them for my particular firearm with good success. Al

Glad to see she has come around and got that first one out of the way, congrats to her and you. Al

Have some trails that go through the woods on the backside of my property, back there scouting and doing some Squirrel hunting I could see that they were starting to get grown over pretty good with saplings, weeds and brush. So this morning I got out my DR mower and went at it, it will give you a good workout but what a nice job that thing does. It has been one of the better purchases I have ever made and well worth having if you have property to maintain. Have to get back in there with the tractor and chainsaw now to cut up and remove some storm downed trees. Not seeing a whole lot of Deer sign, plenty of Turkeys and Squirrels. Al

Yes, I have seen some crab apples that look similar. Al

Hard to tell from the picture but it may be some sort of wild cherry. Al