airedale

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

Much of my best and most productive hunting has been in Oak groves wherever I can find them and not only for Deer, acorns provide food for many other wildlife species. Al

Learned the basics on a Ford 8N farm tractor, my next few cars and one truck were all stick starting with a 1960 MGA, a 1967 Volkswagon Beetle, a 1967 Pontiac GTO, a 1968 Corvette and a Toyota HiLux Pickup. From then up to now all my cars and trucks were automatics. Have rode motorcycles for years and I guess they are considered standard shifting along with a couple of more farm tractors including my current one that are and were stick. Al

I can relate to young Ralphie and his desire to have his own Daisy and so did many other young boys, the Red Ryder model was highly desirable but in my day it was the Daisy 98 Eagle in those Daisy ads that had me drooling. It was deluxe all the way and a scope could even be mounted on it. I eventually ended up getting one buying from a friend for $3, had to pick a lot of beans to come up with that kind of dough. The Daisy Eagle, a good memory. Al

Merry Christmas everyone! Al

For me this time of the year is a shuffle of equipment, there is plenty of small game hunting to be done so long as the weather (mainly snowfall) is half way decent. The Deer rifles and ammo are put away and the Varmint-Rimfire rifles and Shotguns are brought out for small game hunting. The lighter weight clothing is put away and the Wool is brought out, leather boots exchanged for LL Bean Maine hunting boots. Rabbits, Squirrel, Grouse, Pheasant and Varmint seasons are still open well into the winter. Al

As soon as it is available for me I will be standing in line. Being an old Geezer I have been around long enough to remember when Polio, Measles, Mumps, Diphtheria ,Scarlet Fever, Whooping Cough, among other maladies were fairly common. Non of them any good and pretty much gone these days because of vaccinations, for my way of thinking the benefits far outweigh negatives. Al

I had a B7500 and have nothing but good to say about it. What stands out to me with the one you are looking at is the hours, 6500 is up there and with the attachments that are coming with it means that she has probably been worked pretty hard for a lot of hours. Al

It is called still hunting, you know where they are get in there with stealth, play the wind and kill them. Al

Not making excuses for price gougers of any kind be it toilet paper or ammo but this whole situation has been brought on by who is now going to be in the White House and his party's stated platform on gun control! A year ago there was no problem finding or buying ammo!! Al

If the heavy snows hold off for a bit I will do some small game hunting and Grouse will be one of my objectives along with Squirrels, Rabbits and maybe a little Varmint calling mixed in. I have a 28 GA Ringneck myself and it is a sweet gun. I do favor a lot the little Franchi 20 GA below with it's 23 inch barrel and 5 lb weight it is a joy to carry and I shoot it very well. Al

Deer hunting sure has changed in recent years, the actual hunting part seems to be sorely missing more and more. Al