Uncle Nicky

It's a tough call, I'm not a lawyer, and I don't live in NY. But I would be willing to wager that the problems you would encounter after shooting a dog (even if it bites you), probably wouldn't be worth it. Obviously, nobody needs to live in fear, and I doubt there would be any repercussions if your life, your family's life, or your property was truly in danger. Pulling the trigger on anything comes with a huge responsibility.

Signed up for Flickr...not very user-friendly. Also signed up for Imgur..VERY user friendly.

I've never seen them in a store or market, the fruit is extremely perishable. They are delicious, something like a cross between blueberries & blackberries. I planted a tree in my yard once, but it never grew; probably best it didn't, the birds would eat them and drop purple bombs on all the neighbor's cars & the sidewalk. There is a tree about 1/4 mile walk from my house, this thread has given me inspiration, I may take a walk over there and see if there are any worth picking.

Dug up a photo of one of the pike my son caught in Ontario, in 2015. 45", biggest I've ever gotten in the boat in my life is 32". Heading back next month, hoping to redeem myself. Not really sure why the picture came out black & white, I was using his phone to snap the photo. Also a pic of his first tuna, from 2016, and a mahi he caught last month.

Yikes, I was reading this wrong originally....$40/month is more than I want to pay to post pictures on the internet. How is flickr? Is there any costs associated with that site?

This site allows you to post photos directly from your PC hard-drive, most don't. Not sure if PB is worth $40/year to me. Are there any other reliable photo-sharing sites out there?

I grew up hunting, my father was a huge small-game guy, there weren't many deer or turkeys back in the early 1970s where I grew up. After trade school, I got away from it, other than the annual trek to the mountains for deer season. With a background in food service, and a lot of friends and acquaintances that hunted, I soon became the resident expert on cooking & processing game, and eventually started my own deer processing business. I didn't hunt much while I was running the business, guess I was just sick of looking at dead deer from September-January, didn't see the need to kill more when I had all I ever wanted to eat right there. During this time, I got married and had kids, once the kids got old enough to shoot & hunt, they wanted me to teach them, so I did. They soon grew bored with it, but I realized how much I missed it. The whole game had changed by then, deer were everywhere, turkeys had expanded their range, and I was making enough dough to go on some serious hunting trips, in both the U.S. & Canada. I bought a camp in upstate NY that I will soon be selling after 15 years of good times & great memories, and I'm looking forward to moving to the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake, where I'll look for new places to chase deer, turkeys, squirrels, and geese. as well as fish (my other passion).

All true. But, I would venture to bet if this hit closer to home for you, and you thought there was still a chance that the relative or child could get turned around (and yes it DOES happen), you would feel differently than "to hell with em, let them die this time, it's costing the taxpayers too much".

Because no matter how strict you are, how great of an example you are, how involved you think you are in your kids' lives...anyone's kid can become a junkie. I personally know 5 people I grew up with, all but one are fully functional, non-drug using, social drinkers at best, good parents....whose kids have died from heroin overdoses in the last 3 or 4 years.

I don't know what the answer is...a lot of people like getting high I guess. We've had epidemics in this country in the past, I remember reading years ago that a lot of Civil War vets came home from the war addicted to morphine, and we outlawed alcohol back at the beginning of the last century for a while. The heroin they sell these days seems to be much stronger than what used to be sold, I guess it's so cheap that they don't need to dilute it anymore to make a profit? My nephew told me 22 of his friends and acquaintances have died from heroin ODs so far (he's 25), and his sister (my niece) has been in and out of the rehab 3 times in the last 4 years, last time she OD'd my brother-in-law found her, he literally brought her back from the dead before 911 showed up; I'm praying she has "hit her bottom" this time, she's a beautiful girl and has so much potential. I'm a fan of building the wall no matter what it costs; while I understand the War On Drugs has pretty much been a dismal failure, ANY steps that can be made to stop bringing this stuff into the country has to be a step in the right direction. And yes, I do realize that heroin and drugs will still find their way here, but I'd like to think slowing the supply chain would at least bring things away from epidemic levels.

Always loved fishing, especially saltwater. Even when I was busy running my deer processing business and rarely found time to hunt, I'd always fish in the spring & summer. Once I caught the turkey hunting disease, I got away from trout fishing (April & May), but realistically, I don't get real excited fishing for stockers anyway. I taught both of my boys to fish. My oldest boy is more of an adrenaline junky (skiing, skateboarding, snowboarding, mountain biking, etc), says it's too boring. My youngest boy still enjoys it, we have a couple charters planned this fall, and we're headed up to a fly-in camp in Ontario in August, we're both counting down the days!!

It's human nature to be competitive, and want to be the better than the rest. Not really all that surprising. Obviously, some guys take it to the extreme, but the same could be said for fishing, golf, car racing, or whatever your passion is. What puzzles me more is the whole obsession with antlers and sheds. Not trying to insult anyone, but just don't get why anyone would be interested in old antlers laying around the woods. I found an old elk shed in PA once, just left it there. I told the guys back at camp, I though they were going to strangle me, I went back and got it for them, just to keep the peace.

The "hand grenade" push button turkey call. Lasted one day before it fell apart, sounded like crap.

Glad I am not the only one to experience this. I generally crack 3 or 4 each summer, the neighbor has a colony in his yard, and they test the waters every so often and come over to my yard. I don't especially like shooting anything that I won't eat (I will eat them early or late in the summer, but don't want to mess with them once it's in the 80s-90s), but they were out-of-control when I moved in, so I keep thinning out any that wander in. Anyway...first few I shot, I body shot with a .22 LR from a rifle..rolled them they got back up & ran. I had a tough time believing this, so I got a .22 mag...same results, I'd make them flip or roll, but they'd get back up & die in their hole or under my shed..resulted in a dead woodchuck anyway, but I hate making anything suffer. Started taking head or neck shots only after that. Shot a few with my crossbow also, but that's a waste of a good arrow & broadhead. I'd estimate I've killed 50 or so in the 15 years I've lived here.

I haven't tried TSS yet, and probably won't anytime soon, mainly because I don't reaload. If they ever become available commercially at a somewhat reasonable price, I might give it a try. Also, wondering what it would be like trying to pick #9 pellets out of a turkey's breast if the shot goes a little low? Right now, I'm able to take the thump from a 12 gauge shooting 3 1/2" HS, and I'm getting great patterns at 50 yards. I spent a lot of time getting my guns where I want them, so starting all over isn't high on my agenda. But who knows, maybe getting a 20 or 28 gauge down the road when I have more free time and experimenting with TSS might be a retirement project?

How the big boys do it.....

I used to make hundreds of pounds per day, but what do I know. Softer casings = faster production and ease in stuffing. Do what makes you happy.

I think you'll see that the casings are a LOT easier to work with this way, plus it saves you the effort of rinsing & flushing each casing individually.

I always use natural casings, I buy them from the SausageMaker in Buffalo, they come packed in salt, 32-35 mm size. Maybe I should have said "for optimal use soak 5 days or more", but I got the impression from dbHunterNY that he was having issues with the casings, so I thought I would give a helpful tip. I am not saying they CAN'T be used right out of the bag after a few hours soak. But you will get MUCH better results if you let the casings soak for a week or so before you use them, especially if you are planning to make smoked sausage, and need to tie them in hoops to hang in a smoker, they will be much more flexible and adhere to the meat without leaving gaps to form air pockets. If you keep changing the water once a week or so, they will last for months this way without getting weak or strong smelling and you can always freeze and defrost them like this and use them immediately once they thaw out. This is what we always did when I worked in a market, also what I always did when I ran my deer processing business. Just a little benefit of my experience, passed on from your Uncle Nicky. I've used collagen casings, never really liked them much, and pretty much impossible to use for smoked sausage (other than Slim Jims or Landjaeger). I realize the topic was fresh (unsmoked) sausage, but here is a discussion some of us had 2 1/2 years ago:

If you are going to get serious about making sausage, ditch the jerky gun and get a sausage stuffer. The casings generally take a week or so to soften up, and will last indefintely if you keep changing the water. Or you can freeze softened casings, they work fine once they are thawed out. Or, keep it simple and just make bulk sausage, and freeze it like you would hamburger. Good luck!!

Yes, wouldn't be surprised if they bred late this year, wettest spring I remember for a long time.

I had to sit down with a paper & pencil and add them up, but it came to 14 days, this was hunting multiple states. I got rained on multiple times this spring.

Worst so far has been a 3" magnum rifled slug. Haven't shot an "elephant" gun, or whatever you would use for African dangerous game, and not really on the bucket list either.

Yes, gotta play the cards you are dealt with. I have seen bird seed and cracked corn in their craws before, but cat food is a first. Not sure of the brand, but it looked like this: