Uncle Nicky

I think it would be more of a challenge if you dumped ice water on someone's head without telling them, and walked away without getting your a** kicked.

Should be do-able, with the right amount of time & effort. Good luck with your pup!

Looks good, thinking of making one myself, but I know they are extremely difficult to learn to use. Took me 10 years to finally figure out how to use a diaphragm call.

I bought a handheld GPS a few years ago for marking fishing spots in a large lake in Canada, it now doubles as a stand-finder. I can get to most of my stands in the dark no problem, but one spot I have is in the thickest, nastiest stuff you can imagine.

Scouting? Probably 5 miles. But I try to sit within a mile of a road when actually hunting. I've walked much further in trying to find turkeys, but the walk out with a 20# bird vs. dragging an 150# deer is much easier.

I'm assuming you're talking about deer hunting. If watching an open field, I like to sit at the top of the field, hopefully with the wind in my face, usually in a camp chair with brush or burlap breaking up my outline. I hunted the first 10 years with my father on public land in PA, we never used any type of stands, just tried to get at the top of a ridge, wind in our face, and try to sit as still as possible. To be honest, now if I'm hunting in the woods, I like to get elevated, you can see a LOT more than you can sitting on the ground.

I ran a processing business when this was still in fashion. I can't tell you how many guys pulled up with deer (or 2) strapped to the to top of their cars, most left a blood trail coming in & out of the driveway. I realize this upsets the non-hunting crowd, but I always viewed it as badge of pride you would wear on the long drive home from the mountains.

I sorta miss the days when successful hunters strapped their deer to the roof of their cars. I have a truck now, so the deer goes in the bed. Before that, most of my cars were hatchbacks. I'd put a tarp & large piece of cardboard (like you get with large appliances) in the back, to keep blood from leaking into the carpeting. I found out the hard way, blood in a carpet first smells like roadkill, and eventually ammonia, tough to sell the co-workers on carpooling under that scenario, ha. If you are handy with a knife, skin & quarter the deer in the woods, and take it out in contractor-style trash bags. Saves wear & tear on your back dragging the deer back to the car.

Just wanted to give an update...the "Golden/Spaniel" pup we adopted turned out NOT to be what we originally were told, I'm guessing more like beagle/Jack Russell mix. The whole fam loves the dog, so there's no turning back at this point. I decided to go full speed ahead with the plan. I found a trainer within a 50 mile drive, her philosophy is to train the owner as well. I've worked the pup (10 months old now) on live chukars & pheasants, and laid down trails with turkey wings & tails in the woods behind my house, so far she hasn't missed. The real test will be this fall, trying to get her to find & flush live turkeys, she's not a big dog, so hopefully she won't be intimidated by them. Worst case is I have a well-behaved pal to hang out with in the fall turkey woods.

.30-06 is a fine choice for deer & bear, I know kids & women who can shoot one without complaining about recoil.

Pygmy- I checked the barrel, it's marked "Series A", I'm assuming Model C because it has a rotary magazine, and if you look closely at the pictures I posted, there's a small "window" on the receiver that tells you how many shells I have loaded. .358 shouldn't be hard to reload, I'm guessing I could resize .308 brass if needed, I just need the time, space, and dies to get started. Not really important when it was manufactured, I think I bought it in 1974 or 1975, and no desire to sell it any time soon.

Pictures, as promised. I've searched the internet trying to find the manufacture date, one says 1917, another says 1951 (probably more realistic).

Had this happen last year at my camp in Allegany county....it was the first bear I had seen on the property in 10 years of owning it. I let him walk. But, I've already killed a few bears in my lifetime, so I guess I'm a little biased. If I had never killed one before, I probably would have pulled the trigger.

The first rifle I ever owned was a Savage Model 99 in 358 Winchester, bought it almost 40 years ago with my paper route earnings, I think I paid $175 for it then, and I got a couple boxes of ammo thrown in with the deal. It had a Redfield 2X scope mounted on it, but I switched over a few years ago and put see-through mounts & a Bushell 4X on. Quite a few deer, 2 bears, and a hog have been dropped with this gun. I don't shoot it a whole lot these days mostly because I don't reload (yet), and .358 ammo is expensive, if you can find it at all. I've had a lot off offers to sell the gun, but I can't bring myself to sell it. I'll post a picture when I have a chance.

I have a tough time getting choked up about strangers or people I've never met, but I have to give the fella credit, he was an extremely successful entertainer. Depression is a horrible thing, I can't judge anyone who decides to end their own life without really knowing what demons & pain he may have been enduring.

As long as I live, I'll never be able to understand why someone would want to push the envelope, and go into the woods undergunned; most times, it will not end well. .243 is the minimum round I'd suggest using on an animal like a whitetail, a .270, .308, or 30-06 is probably the best tool for the job. Too many things can & do go wrong at the moment of truth, even for experienced hunters & riflemen.

"Corn" the breasts like a beef brisket and simmered it's not bad. The thighs aren't bad for cacciatore, but take longer to cook than chicken would. I also use the thighs for gumbo or cassoulet. Most of the time I use the breasts for sausage or kielbasa, I mix 50% goose breast & 50% pork, with a pound or 2 of fatback mixed in. I've had the breast marinated & cooked like a London broil, the dog & I liked it, but the rest of the family turned their nose up at it.

And this is EXACTLY why I posted this comment: http://huntingny.com/forums/topic/22865-are-you-proud-to-be-from-ny/page-2 I bought my land in NY for exactly this reason. The whole "no Sunday hunting" argument is ludicrous, but you'd be surprised at the people in this state who are 100% behind it. Sooner or later this will change, but I'm not counting on it any time real soon.

I've had good luck with my last 2 Dodge trucks, picking up a "slightly used" one today as a matter of fact. I was toying with the idea of a Ford, but the Dodge is a few thousand bucks cheaper, and has less gadgets to break down. You should do well with either one.

Like Fungus Face, I never really got the recoil issue either. I won't say I enjoy patterning slug guns, but the recoil on most big game rifles has never bothered me much. I sorta like the idea that anything I shoot at is going to get slammed just as hard or harder than I am. Just hold on tight & keep your eye back from the scope.

Good luck with the new pup!

30.06, but if you're serious about brown bear, I'd go with .300 Win Mag.

Just the opposite here, I have an Uplander 12 gauge, GREAT beater SXS, shoots great, swings nice, shoots either 2 3/4" or 3" shells, and you can change chokes if needed. I've used it for small game and deer (buckshot), toying with the idea of taking it goose or turkey hunting to see what else I can do with it.

I learned that just because a property holds birds every spring, and you're covered in birds the previous deer season, it doesn't necessarily mean the birds will be there next spring. I'm attributing it mostly to the rain & water, my best guess is the birds stayed at the top of the mountain where it was drier.

Not a resident, but I went to college in NY and I own some land there. Beautiful state, and I'm curious why anyone would be embarrassed to have been born there. Maybe the politics & gun laws are a little over the top and the winters are a little too long, but in general the people I've met from NY have been decent. I'm sometimes embarrassed to say I'm from PA, we've got some real boneheaded, backward-ass, stubborn people living here.