airedale

For open sights and my old eyes a ghost ring peep works best for me along with a fine bead fiber optic front, the old eyes don't work as well as they once did but with that combo I can shoot well enough for deer hunting out to 100 yds or so. My main problem is in low light conditions. These days most of my open sight firearms for Deer hunting are my old style sidelock muzzleloaders. Also the 20 mm objectives on low powered scopes have nothing to do with field of view, they in fact most times have a much larger field of view than high powered scopes with large objectives. They do not let in as much light so they are not as bright in dim conditions but they still let in plenty for legal shooting hours so seeing your target and crosshairs is no problem. I am with Buckmaster when it comes to scopes for Deer still hunting and in the woods, I will take compact light weight and field of view for quick handling and ease of carrying. And a low powered scope does not limit your range for most Deer hunting here in NY. Almost all of my woods Deer hunting firearms have low powered scopes with 20 mm objectives and I have never not been able to take the shot because of it. Al

Below is a typical peep-receiver sight, some mount on the side like this one and some will mount on the top of the receiver or barrel replacing the original factory rear sight. A couple of illustrations showing basically how they are used, unscrewing the smaller hole aperture makes for a larger sighting hole which some refer to as a ghost ring resulting in a much larger field of view maker for quicker sight acquisition which is favored for hunting and still with precise accuracy.

Both are two of my all time favorites but I give the edge to the Duke. Al

Most on my small game hunting including Rabbits and Hare when using a shotgun has been with 20 ga and #6 shot which for me has been best for all around. I have to disagree with the fellow's opinion about using Rimfires for hunting when using dogs. When hunting Hare many times I carried just my Colt Woodsman 22 and I killed a lot of Hare with that gun limiting out on numerus occasions. Safety is all about the individual practicing safe gun handling and taking safe shots, I have never even been close to having an incident endangering my Dogs from errant shooting. Al

Go to Ebay and type in a search for reloading equipment used and new, there is plenty of stuff available. The selection and prices will not be as good as they were a few months ago because there are a lot of shooters jumping on the hand loading bandwagon. Al

It is tough to get behind the eight ball when it comes to ammo supply if you are a hand loader. It is not to late to get into hand loading your own ammo. I am an avid shooter and other than rimfire ammo I can count on my fingers the number of boxes of factory centerfire ammo I have purchased in the last 50 years. 99.9% of the ammo I shoot and hunt with has been put up by me and to be honest I believe it to be the equal and in many cases better than the factory stuff. You will never be short if you are a smart shopper and scrounger, you will have good savings to boot. It can come down to even forming your own cases and casting bullets if need be. It can all be done if one gets serious and learns to do it. I have posted here before it does not cost a lot of money to get started, do not be afraid to buy good used equipment and equipment from multiple manufacturers as most reloading equipment is interchangeable and made to work together. Al

Old Bill is taking heed of Thomas Mitchell's quote in the movie Gone With The Wind. Why, land is the only thing in the world worth workin’ for, worth fightin’ for, worth dyin’ for, because it’s the only thing that lasts.” Al

The reality is the powers that be never seem to want folks to be able to defend themselves. Just about every device that can be used for personal defense has some sort of law prohibiting possession. Knives, pepper spray, brass knuckles, a sap or Billy clubs are some examples. Like firearms the criminal elements to not pay much attention to laws having such things that they would gladly use against their victims to carry out their crimes. So unless you are a black belt like our friend Bill or someone like Shaquille O Neal you are to take your mugging, robbery or home invasion like a man or rape in a woman's case and like it. Al

Like Grouse I would be out of NY in a hurry, a place in the Black Hills of South Dakota from April through late Fall and a place somewhere in Texas for the winter, both places would have to be ideal hunting properties with plenty of room for visiting friends and family. Also a nice motorhome to travel between the two places hunting throughout the western states for varmints and birds during those travels. I have made many friends out west through the years being associated with Airedales and other hunting dogs with invites to visit and hunt from many, that big chunk of cash would allow the means to easily do so. As I do today I will donate to places that I feel are important to me like St Jude's children's hospital and the NRA just in much bigger amounts. Al

May your family's strong faith carry you through this most difficult of time. Al

I been around long enough to know that without the NRA gun ownership as we know it today in this country would not exist. No cut and run for me, a lifetime member here and I will stick with and proudly support the NRA till the end. Another check will be sent out them this week. The leadership problem will be taken care of and fixed! Al

I hate diagnosing problems without actually looking at what is going on, that being said if you believe the bolt is too long a simple fix would be a properly fitted washer or you could grind the end of bolt itself the taking off a couple of threads to shorten it up, make sure to polish off any burrs. Al

Good varmint bait stations especially a Deer carcass is very effective in bringing in a variety of varmints. The first thing I do before setting any bait station up is to wrap the bait I am using in a piece large square welded wire fencing and tie the whole works down, this will prevent it from being dismembered into smaller pieces that can be dragged away giving many more days of use and opportunity. In cold weather another good method is the so called bait popsicle, get a large plastic tub, cut up the bait into small enough pieces to pack in to tub and fill with water and let it freeze solid. The varmints have to work hard at getting at the meat and it too can last for many days if the cold weather cooperates. I like placing the bait in a spot that provides several different shooting positions to play the wind and so I can check how it is holding up with binoculars at a good distance keeping scent contamination to a minimum. I would wait for the bait to start being hit before I hunted it, once it does it is like sitting in any other stand, a waiting game and can be utilized both day and night. Al

Coons cans be hunted successfully without a dog, daytime calling is highly effective and in some cases even too easy. A good hand Coon squaller or an electronic caller works well. In a nutshell you want to find denning areas, look for large trees that have big holes in them, big old Beech trees produced well for me, also old abandoned buildings might be a gold mine. Go to youtube and type in daytime coon calling and there will be many videos giving tips on how to go about it. Al

Does not surprise me a bit, you are basically in the same category as the Versatile one when it comes to your posts, the difference between me and you two knuckleheads is most times when I post something I try to contribute something useful to this board's main theme which is hunting shooting and the outdoors. Carry on with your libtard political hacking, it is what you are good at. Al

I can tell you a Republican who is compelled, I am going to denounce, "you" Talk about a nut! You are a first class pot stirring internet political hack TROLL who has not added one bit of useful information to this hunting board!!! Al

I do not consider myself any kind of expert Varmint hunter but I do have pretty fair luck. When I first started dabbling in Varmint calling many years ago daytime hunting was the only way it was done. I have stuck with that method so all of my predator hunting has always been during daylight hours, I like mornings up to about 10 am best but have had decent luck in the hour just before dark. I have found a hungry varmint comes to the call just about any time. Al

Along with Jimmy Kimmel, Alec Baldwin, Stephen Colbert, Merrill Streep etc etc along with the rest of the Hollywood hacks. About the last advice I will take is from that bunch of morons who have absolutely nothing in common with my lifestyle. Old Arnold should stick with what he does best, piss poor acting, shooting steroids into his body and screwing his housekeepers. Al

Congratulations, you own a couple of first class rifles right there chambered in one of my favorite cartridges. I have a connection with the model 61, my Dad purchased one in 22 mag when they first came out, that is the rifle I cut my teeth on for Woodchuck hunting and I have fond memories of that 61. I have a couple of maggies myself, one in a nice Ruger 77-22 Mag bolt action varmint and the other is a Remington 597 autoloader, they both shoot very well and surprisingly the Remington hangs right in there with the Ruger accuracy wise and is a favorite of mine. 22 mag ammo has been seriously upgraded through the years with both accuracy and high quality bullets. I have some pretty high end varmint rifles but most times that Remington 597 is my go to rifle for woods varmint hunting and has proven to be up to the task on both Coyotes and Fox. Al

I went on one Elk hunt in Colorado 50 years ago with my Dad. It was an outfitted old fashioned pack train hunt 20 miles into the mountains on horseback and equipment carried in on pack mules, the ride in took a whole day. The tent camps were already setup days earlier by the outfitter so when we got in all we had to do was unpack our gear into a tent. You have to be in decent shape and back then I was a young buck and physically gnarly so I had no problems in that respect getting around in the mountains. Another thing is if you are going to be riding horses it is best to get some riding in to get your ass in shape because you will get saddle sore. My Dad and I both took small bulls but I was not disappointed as the whole experience of the pack in trip itself for me was a blast. Made a friend with one of the Horse wranglers about my age who went by the name of Buffalo McCarthy, after I shot my Elk he and I did a lot of fishing and some small game hunting with his sawed off shotgun, along with some mountain horseback riding. Met Ralph Bone a custom knife maker who was an original knife guild member and he taught me the proper way how to sharpen a knife, a skill I still use today. All and all a great bunch of memories. Al

Winter sale from 15% to 49% off, free shipping on $50 and up purchase, picked up a pair of waxed canvas upland brush pants for half price. Al

Years ago I took a friend of mine and his son on their first Coon hunt. We were hunting corn fields that bordered big woods, things were going along good as we made a couple of trees and had taken two Coon on the edge of the woods. About 11 pm my two English Coonhounds then struck another track inside the woods and headed in deep. They got back in so far we could not hear them anymore on the trail so I had to get out my radio telemetry antenna and receiver to locate the hounds who were wearing transmitter collars. I got a signal and checking my compass they were headed directly north so north we headed. Things started looking not so good when we hit the edge of a big swamp about a mile back, still could not hear the dogs so I took another reading with my receiver and could still get a signal directly north. Now we had to work our way around bogs, streams and potholes of water which slowed things down dramatically and on top of that the temp had dropped into the teens so it was getting cold. Finally after slogging through and around that miserable swamp we could hear the dogs treeing. It takes another half hour to get to them and it is 1 AM and they are smack in the middle of a small pond on an island with an old bare snag of a tree with a big old coon sitting up in the top. Things kept going downhill from there, I let my friend do the shooting while I spotted the coon with my light. At the shot the coon flew out of the tree into the water with my old female hound going in after it. In the water coons can be dangerous to dogs as they will get on their heads causing them to drown and from what I could see that was exactly what was going on in this pitched battle. Without hesitation I kicked off my boots and coat and in I went to my dog with my friend's son following. The water got to be about chest deep and man talk about cold! So I get to my dog and pull her and the coon back on to the island where her and her daughter took care of business, I put the finishing touches on with good heavy club. Turns out the coon was hit in the front leg so that is why it had a lot of fight left in it. So now we wade back through the pond to dry land and things continue to go downhill, the kid's light goes dead from water intrusion, he is so cold hit teeth are chattering and I now notice my light was getting dim which was brand new and being used for the first time. I told my buddy there is no way I am going back through that swamp on this black night with only one light working at 2 in the morning especially with me and the kid sopping wet and freezing our asses off. Made the decision to stay put, build a fire and make our way through the swamp out at first light when we could see. Got out the old Zippo windproof lighter and picked up some dry fire starter starter and had a good roaring bonfire going in short order. Through the years I have made a small fire many times in the middle of the woods coon hunting listening to my dogs and all the other creepy sounds so that was the easy part. Took off all my clothes and hung them over the fire to dry and put back on my Carhart coon hunter's coat and got close to the fire to keep warm. We made the kid a bed of dry balsam branches and he fell asleep next to the fire while me and his dad told sat there and told tall tales until daylight. As soon as we could see to walk got dressed into my smoky smelling dry clothes, took a reading with my compass and headed out, in a couple of hours we came out of the woods right where the truck was parked. Later found out my brand new Cajun Coon hunting light had a shorted wire on it's charger and never charged up the battery to full. Below is my old girl "Specky" that was hunted in the above, one of the top two or three hunting dogs I have ever seen and had the pleasure to hunt behind. The simple point of this tale is to make sure you have the skill to make a fire when hitting the timber. Al

Never saw one of those calls Old Brian, I would have liked to see this guy demo the call to hear how it sounded. Being an avid Squirrel hunter I have used a bunch of different calls down through the years and while I have had a few Squirrels come in to the calls I do not have a whole lot of confidence in them being great producers on a consistent basis. I can duplicate the sounds made with most of the commercial calls by just sucking on the back of my hand. Have had better success getting Fox to come into range with them than getting Squirrels to come in. Al

Have a good one! Al