Daveboone

Glad to see him out in the stream! I have read that he is actually quite an avid sportsman: Salmon fishing in Scotland, and an avid gunner. I would love to see an article /interview with him on his interests.

Nobody has started in the forty or so years they have been in use yet.... I think there should be a deposit on ALL beverage containers too...no exceptions, and Styrofoam is just as bad as the plastic waste, or worse.

I am usually happy with one decent sized deer for the freezer. We like venison, and not having any would be a bit of a hardship on us. That said, I am very happy with a nice big fat doe as most anything. I also am pretty in tune with what we have for deer in our neighborhood, and that seldom includes mature bucks. Therefore, I am perfectly happy to take a 11/2 year old buck for the table, BUT, like this year, if I am aware of a decent buck habituating my turf, I am happy to wait it out....as long as I have a doe tag for insurance. This year I took a nice 3 year doe, and a four year old buck...that buck cant hold a candle to the doe for flavor (shot within 20 yards of the same spot, but a month apart). Let the hunter decide what he wants, otherwise it is all show and tell.

I guess the only thing I can honestly say in recommendation, (because there is a lot of good glass out there nowadays) is I have never met a Leupold I haven't liked...only that I cant afford! Since the Redfield I had though, I do pay a lot of attention to being sure I am not overdoing the torqueing. I really need to get one of the little scope mounting torque wrenches...and would recommend one.

Seared moose cutlets, English muffin, an orange and coffee.

I am a plain Jane kind of guy, but the 938 is a fine little gun. I have had one since shortly after they came out and it is my primary carry piece. Stone cold reliable, I have yet to have a failure with it. The manufacturer does recommend premium ammo, and not the economy grade 115 grain stuff. I usually carry Winchesters 124 grain NATO stuff.

Interesting...It has been a long time since I have seen the movie, and I don't recall what he was shooting. Back in that era though, the Krag was quite a well thought of workingmans deer rifle. I have a similarly sporterized one, with a Lyman aperture. I have carried it deer hunting, but haven't blooded it yet.

much simpler solution out there....just shoot the little ones. No one else ever likes my suggestions either........

I hope I can stay up long enough.... I have been lucky enough to see them several times, the first and most vibrant was when I was a kid on my early winter am paper route amazing bright green and redwaves in the distant sky....it spooked the hell out of me until I realized what it was, then was memorized for a long time. Back in the early nineties, they were visible overhead in CNy in the summer. I think Nasa released something for a study, which promoted it. Then about 15 years ago I was up near the James bay in early august, and we had a show. Then unfortunately it wasn't too bright...nights were too short, and the sun was barely under the horizon.

Keep in mind the new Redfields have nothing in common with the old but the name. When Leupold released the new Redfield Revolution, it sounded good to me. I bought one in (pretty sure)2-7x.I was not at all happy with it sighting in...no where near as precise as any of the Leupolds I have, and walking groups. I returned it for a Nikon for the same money...no problems. Afterwards I heard but could not say for certain, that the tube walls are much thinner, and are very sensitive to torqueing pressure. The described symptoms sounded likely.

A mature wild bred fair chase Whitetail buck is considered about as difficult to hunt and bag as anything. But I would have to think the conditions encountered to be successful on a polar bear hunt with first nation guides in Canada would have to be about as difficult conditions as you could find. Especially if you were a bow hunter! But then again, after around 500 years of occupation on this continent, not a single Squatch (killed, dug up, captured on camera, radar, or pathological evidence) has been bagged either!

I have similar problems at my camp, which is up on posts. I had to redo all the posts properly which put an end to the camp moving, but still have problems with the plumbing. My toilet drain exits the floor, then I have a gas trap before it goes to the ground unfortunately it enters the ground at a long shallow angle, which lifts the line up and down. It only goes to a 55 gallon drum, which needs to be improved. If you can take the horizontal septic line below frost line from directly below the toilet, then surround the vertical pipe with gravel as mentioned, it largely eliminates any heave on the pipe. use a couple pieces of the flexible rubber elbows at the trap, and that will also minimize the heave.

Its my plan to head up to mine on Saturday for overnight too. Hopefully the bit of thaw this week will let me work outside a bit, split some wood and take care of a few windfalls.

The years that a friend hunted my land, I did observe that they looked up a lot, esp. around his stand. (he never saw one to shoot, despite me knowing darn well deer were around). As a result, I also saw fewer. I am sure he is way more active on stand than I was, and they saw/ heard him. I have never noticed them looking up particularly otherwise.

I understand the bbl break in esp. with premium long range cartridges, where every fraction of a minute of angle makes the difference, but in real world hunting ranges I think it is over thought. Certainly I think a bit more attention to cleaning thoroughly a new bbl is practical, but there are a lot of break in products I think are just cash register bait.

The climbing harnesses I used to wear were designed to attach in front, and to fit closely. When in a tree hunting, the safety harness attaches to the back. Not only that, a climbing harness that would fit over your heavy hunting clothes is not going to fit tight enough to be secure, and is going to bunch you up something fierce. I don't think climbing harnesses, despite being designed for more intense use and safety with probable falls, are right for tree stand harnesses. There are quality safety harnesses now designed like a vest that I think are a good compromise.

When I was shopping for generators, I opted for a Yamaha 3500 inverter instead of the Honda. It was about a 3rd less money, and other than mice chewing up a wiring harness, trouble free. It will run up to 23 hrs or so on a tank on the energy eff. settings. Be sure to get as much generator as you may need....if you run any power equipment off of them a 2000 watt can easily bog down, esp. if you think you may run, say, an air conditioner off of it ?

Two friends who are chefs love Iceland...a lot of fish and game meat. When I was last in Newfoundland, I was very disappointed when I found out my guide would have been happy to bring some seal meat if he knew we would have eaten it. Specifically it is the fins/ shoulders they like.

ummm….I hope that isn't a restaurant!

A more interesting observation is that regardless of what you spend....what are the most carefree /dependable guns for the money? The very inexpensive (but now defunct) Harrington/Richardsons single shots were legendary for their dependability and relative accuracy. I always thought they missed the mark by not marketing an upscale version (which I think Henry is doing with their new single shot). Freakin Winchester model 94s used to be had for well under 200.oo at Kmart....The newest renditions are between 1 and 2 grand!! A more proven dependable gun is hard to find. They aren't still being made (although under different labels) after 130 years for nuthin! Funny how at one time a guy simply had ….a deer rifle, be it a sporterized Mauser or Enfield, Remington, 700, Model 94 or whatever, and thought he was as well armed as ever could be. Now the mass media market has turned it into entry level (Ruger American, Savage whatever, etc)….any of which are as capable as any predecessors, and the more serious lines..Tika, Winchester, Remington, Kimber, etc. Through it all, the gun is nothing more than a decoration if the user doesn't have some substance.

I always have my eye out for old sporting magazines, some catalogs.(pre-1970s). I have many from the 1930s and forties, some from the 20s. I love the great cover art. There was a lot more great story writing / adventure, hunting trip writing then. A lot of the writers could turn a trip into the back forties into an expedition to end all hunting trips with the details. Whereas todays writers tend to emphasize the end, O'Connor, Keith, Whelen and the others wrapped you around the whole hunt. Todays writers very obviously for short attention spans. "We went to Montana with my new Xbolt Custom 6mm Wonderbread and killed a new class record Umbilicus. See my pictures and support my sponsors". I have framed a lot of the magazines with particularly great covers. I had fun tracking down several magazines and a Herters catalog from my birth year, to get a feel for what the scene was like then. Particularly fascinating are the magazines from during and immedialty after WW2, as a reflection on how the war affected us.

Truly, some things never change...nothing new under those skivvies!

Amazing how personal a choice, likes and dislikes for knives develop. I like tYo think I spend a lot of time in the woods, and do a fair bit of "bushcrafting", but for the life of me...battoning baffles me. A more versatile sized/ proportioned knife could be had, without leaving the concerns for breaking the knife wacking it by simpley carrying a light hatchet. And a GOOD hatchet is a knife in itself. My preferred knock about bushcrafting knife is an air force survival knife (Camillus ). It is more compact and handier than the fine marine knife, but certainly does not have the solid haft. There is a huge trade off between easy sharpening steels and edge holding steels, but steels continue to improve in both areas. Some steels hold wonderful edges, but literally have to be sent back to the manufacturer if you don't keep it up. I have several Grohmann classics...they are my favorite hunting knife of the past 10 years or so, wonderful edges, and I just hit them with a sharpening steel after each use. Grohmann makes a heavier "woodsman, or Yachtsman version, with a much heavier blade and grip, I would love to get one when I get the extra money. the heavier knife is issued to the Canadian armed services.

Hoppes, Shooters choice, most any good bore cleaner, but make sure to spray it with a good rust preventive...it will be more prone to rust again in the future.

Truly amazing pieces of art, kind of ...um, goofy though! The skill and craftsmanship is mindboggling. I wonder if there would be any craftsman living today with the knowledge to be able to recreate a set?Probably cost prohibitive, when you figure many pieces of art such as these were consigned by royalty, where price was no object.