coonhunter

You guys made me curious enough to dig out old photo albums that i knew had pictures of my dad shooting and with deer. I found all the guns in my cabinet in the pictures. My favorite was a picture of my dad shooting a woodchuck with my/his .22 mag Mossberg Chuckster from 42 years ago. It's funny, I can easily tell where I learned my offhand shooting form just setting a new picture of me next to old pictures of him. It is almost identical.

That is a nice solid bass Jala Rut

I keep threatening to buy a 45/70 just because it is completely different than anything else I have, and they are fun to shoot.

I am a hanger. I just sit back and relax in my stand. Once in awhile I will get a deer that sneaks in, but I just stay calm and wait for a chance to get my bow or gun down. I am high enough or hidden enough that I rarely have a deer spot me.

That is a good post about the blood flow producing the massive antlers. For some reason that simple fact never registered with my thinking on great genetics.

Wow! Two 10#s boated on the same day with family is about as good as you can do for trophies.

Put me in the group that is not a fan of hot weather. I might bitch a little about shoveling and snowblowing, but very rarely do i complain about it being too cold. I can always put more clothes on in the cold, but hot weather like this, is just too much. It doesn't stop me from doing stuff, but it sure does slow it down.

I'm jealous of you wooly, getting to take the kids out like that. They make fishing so much fun. Doesn't take long for the little ones to get the hang of things either. I like taking the little ones out ice fishing because there is usually lots of action, and always a chance of a nice one on a tip up. They love being in the shanty, and they love it when a flag goes up.

As a matter of fact Turkeyfeathers, Webers is my favorite. There is another one i always pick up when i go up to Pulaski steelhead fishing that is a little darker.

I am a cheap person by nature. This last Saturday I had a Coleman in my trunk, in the direct sunlight, with my drinks and 1 bag of ice. It was in the 80's, and I dumped ice out when i got home at 10:00 that night. I know it didn't cost 100 bucks, but I can't remember exactly what the price was.

I'm a Hoffman man. I love them bbq'd with sauerkraut, cheese, dill pickles, and a good horseradish mustard.

I'm sure most of the world class mounts I have seen over the years were replicas. I wouldn't know for sure because I didn't ask, and I would never touch one. I'm not obsessed with them, but it is pretty cool to see the amount of antler it takes to get to 180+.

I'm with you G man. I have always thought the Jordan buck was the most impressive rack i have ever seen. It's just a matter of personal preference I guess. I can remember a huge 11 point that Stan Potts got a long time ago that was another one that really impressed me.

I would give up the bow. As much as I enjoy hunting for the bigger bucks in bow season, I enjoy the company of gun season, getting new hunters out, helping old hunters get another buck, getting the kids involved and killing deer. Some move on to bow hunting, but most don't. I just like the idea of sharing success and helping hunters out plain and simple.

Congratulations Rob. I don't know your new wife, but if she can put up with an outdoorsman, she is a special one. Women are plentiful, but great ones are tough to find.

That is a nice one with a lot of variation in color. I saw one a few years ago during bow season, and didn't even realize for a minute what I was seeing. My initial thought was, "Where the hell did a goat come from!".

Holy cow, is that ever a huge crappie!!!

Do any of you fishermen and women have theories or maybe even facts about why the fishing has been so good the last 6-8 months? At least on the fresh water lakes and rivers. Last fall I couldn't believe how many and how big the walleyes were that i was catching whether I was on a river or a lake. Then we got early ice and absolutely had the best year ice fishing in a long time. This is counting quality right along with quantity. Now i see the big lakes are producing trout like crazy again. And, I am right back in the walleyes on the Chenango, Susky, and Unadilla Rivers. I am used to catching fish, but this has been an amazing stretch on multiple bodies of water and species of fish.

These are good programs to have in my experience. These days i spend way more time helping girls and women learn and enjoy the outdoors than I do boys and men. Some women are just more comfortable with other women or groups of women. Or, they would like to partner up with another female, and I try to steer them towards programs or events like this.

That is nice. I have seen a couple of real dark ones, but nothing even close to this.

Congratulations for your whole family. Always great to see kids go to college for a career and not just a diploma. I can confirm Rob-c's numbers on graduating the nursing programs in this state. You don't get to just decide you want to be a nurse. There is a lot of studying and work involved with no time for the teachers to babysit. I know a woman that is part of a nursing program and she says that 30-40% is about the norm for the number of starting students and the number that graduate.

That was a great race with the top three really putting on a show. I thought my bets were shot when the 1/2 mile time showed up, but justify was up to the task. I ended up cashing 5 tickets for a little under 2500. By far the biggest score I have ever had betting on the horses.

It's a good year to take a chance on a bet for the derby. A half dozen horses have a legitimate shot at winning, and that is not counting a chance for an upset with a wet track.

It's things like this that remind me that the world is passing me by. I have no problem at all with girls, young women, and adult women learning about and enjoying the outdoors. I have a lot more young ladies in their teens and early twenties wanting to go hunting and fishing than I do boys and young men. Boy Scouts is a place and activity for boys to be boys, and help them hopefully along the way, to become well mannered young men. And it should be the same for Girl Scouts. We used to have co-ed camping trips in 4H a couple times every Summer with little or no issues. If there was a big demand for the Girl Scouts to do outdoor activities, I'm sure it would have been taken care of. I have to agree with the guys saying this is just more political propaganda to knock down the male as a whole, and cramming more of the non gender crap down our throats. This one stings me pretty good. We had a ball in Boy Scouts when i was a young lad. And, we had a ball in 4H with the girls in that club. I can't even wrap my head around this one.

It is unreal the stuff I have dealt with when it comes to fences. I have had toms walk away 100 yards to go through an open gate, just to come screaming back up across the field. The next time, a flock of jakes will just duck their heads and run under. Other times they have just strutted back and forth, gobbling away, refusing to go under the fence. The same bird will gladly come into your lap if you can work around him and call softly from the other side. It's crazy and that is what makes it fun.