Pygmy

I understand, Belo....I worked with and for engineers for 30 years..My job title was "Engineering Technician"...<<smile>>....

You are over analyzing..... in a 30-06, OR a .308, 150s are fine for deer, or black bear....165s are fine for deer , or black bear...180s are fine for deer, or black bear... The same can be said with many other calibers and bullet weights AND other species of game, like elk, caribou, or moose.. Are you beginning to get the trend ??

True, but how much velocity does he NEED with a 180 to be effective at woods ranges ? I'm thinking 2400-2500 FPS MV would be plenty, and I'm sure it wouldn't be a stretch to get those velocities with a .308...

I took a young fellow ( 19) out this afternoon for his first stream fishing outing...We fished a few of my select spots.... He took a 14" brown, lost another and then landed a beautiful 19" male that weighed 2 lb. 7 oz.... I also caught ( and released) an 18" male, but I was mostly instructing rather than fishing.

Was the eagle trying to take a nestling from the osprey nest ? That is what it appears like..I saw a video last year of that happening...the eagle came soaring in and took a fledgling size osprey off it's nest.

They are common here in the Chemung/Canisteo watershed...I see them often while fishing the rivers..

Nice catch, Lee..!! My perchin' buddies ( whom are much more knowledgeable that I am) are struggling here in the Fingerlakes..No problem finding perch, but BIG problem finding any that do not have lockjaw...Not sure what is going on....

I had the same issues with early fluorocarbon...Knot strength was very poor..It has improved a lot over the years, though. I'm not a big braid fan either, although I do use it for deep water vertical jigging ( with a fluorocarbon leader) due to it's lack to stretch...Mono is like a rubber band jigging 100 to 150 down ..With the braid I can feel a laker BREATHE on 1 or 1.5 oz jig 100 feet down...

I hate to start, because after I mow the first time I'm the lawn's SLAVE for two or three months.. I'll be mowing mine by the weekend....<<sigh>>.....

Now THAT is a RIFLE ! Shoots great too ! I'm going out to the garden and turn GREEN with ENVY !!

NICE trout, Paula Darlin'....<<smile>> Probably too late now, but here is a good way to fix it, similar to some of the previous recipes... Gut the fish and remove the gills and the head if you wish.Actually there is some good meat on the cheeks if you want to leave the head on..Do not skin it.. Rub the fish inside and out with a little olive oil and some salt and pepper..Skin several garlic cloves and place in the body cavity.. Seal the fish well in HD aluminum foil.....Place on a medium hot grill and turn every two minutes or so...The foil will keep the fish steaming and the garlic will permeate the fish and give it an excellent flavor..15 or 20 minutes is plenty..sealed in the foil it will cook faster than you think.. Open the foil and peel off the skin...The skeleton should lift easily free from the meat, giving you moist, bone free fish...Enjoy..

Good luck Stubby...The ten gauge never was very popular, and now the 3.5" twelve gauge has brought it even closer to extinction...It was nearly dead until the late 60's when steel shot regs and the increasing opportunities of turkey hunting gave it brief revival... Then the 3.5 twelve came out, offering equal shot charges in a much more versatile gun, and the poor old 10 gauge has gone downhill ever since..

It certainly has lots of PORTS, TF !! What the heck IS that thing ?

I truly loved running and gunning for turkeys, and I used to cover several miles on foot in a morning's hunt... To me, it is the "purest" form of turkey hunting... Nowadays, the hills have gotten steeper and the ridges have gotten longer, and I don't seem to be able to sit still comfortably as well as I used to. I also can't hold steady gun as well as I used to.. I don't have the amount of land to hunt as I used to. I have several areas to hunt that lend themselves well to the blind/decoy setup and I have learned to be patient, watch what's going on around me ( in comfort) and enjoy my time in the blind. Watching a bird work into a decoy setup also has it's own appeal, and it's a much more visual game than woods hunting, where often you don't see the bird until he's in range... I have adapted, and I'm still killing gobblers..

That's Funny VT.....My adjustment in the last 10 years or so is that now I hunt mostly fields, where for the first 30 years or so I hunted nearly all woods..I shoot my birds now mostly from a popup blind on a field edge using decoys...I still don't shoot over 40 yards, and most of my shots are much closer.....Good hunting this spring, My Friend !

Great picture, G Man.. Who's that good looking young feller holding your head up ? ...<<GRIN>>...

I have seen turkeys wounded and lost at that range also, but what I am saying is that with sufficient pattern density ,clean kills can be made at relatively long range... However, everything has it's price..If you shoot a gun/choke/load combo that is capable ( as TF's is, from looking at his patterns) of killing turkeys at 50-60 yards, you are going to be handicapped with a much smaller killing pattern at closer ranges... Why handicap yourself at the ranges where you prefer to shoot birds, just to have the capability to kill birds at ranges much LONGER than you prefer to shoot ? I like to kill my birds at 25 to 40 yards, so the most efficient load IMHO, is to have a load that shoots the widest sure kill pattern at the ranges I am shooting..For me , I want sure kill density out to 45 yards, to give me a little margin of error in case I misjudge the range a little...Those supertight patterns would be counterproductive for me, especially since I am older and less steady than I used to be... I also suspect that a lot of younger hunters might be a little less steady than they would like to admit, especially when the ADRENALINE FACTOR takes effect....<<grin>>..

All it needs is enough energy to fracture a turkey's skull or neck vertebrae to get the job done, and I have seen enough turkeys killed at those ranges to be confident that it has that much energy...Multiple hits are required to ensure that several pellets strike vital areas...

The effectiveness remains as long as as the pattern remains dense enough to put 6 to 10 shot in the kill zone...Energy numbers for shot pellets at that range are just that ..Numbers...If you can put several # 4,, 5, or 6 shot in that guy's head and neck at 60 yards you will kill him. Energy figures for individual projectiles, both bullets and shot pellets are highly overrated.

Good luck, Bill...I have had good luck for many years with Win XX 3" 12 gauge turkey loads in 1 7/8 OZ and also Fed premiums in both 1 7/8 and 2 oz. loads, all copper plated buffered lead shot. I am not aware of any buffered, plated shot loads available for the 16 gauge...However, 16 gauge high velocity ( 1 1/8 oz) or short magnum ( 1 1/4 oz loads) in either # 4 or ( preferably) #6 shot may very well give good killing patterns at 35 yards in a full choke gun.. Good luck and keep us posted on your results.

Hehehe...More than awesome !! My point is, what can you possibly learn by shooting these loads at 30 yards, other than confirming the idea that you better be RIGHT ON at close to medium ranges to avoid a miss..

That's awesome, TF...!

I can't understand why all of you guys are patterning heavy 12 gauge 3' and 3.5" loads at 30 yards , unless you are doing it to establish or adjust your point of aim for your sighting system... Most any 2 3/4" 20 gauge gun with 1 oz. or 1 1/8oz loads of #6 shot with a modified or full choke will pattern well enough to kill a gobbler stone dead every time at 30 yards... 40 yards is a different matter...That's where the rubber meets the road and the range at which big guns like 12 gauge magnums make the difference....If you have a sure kill pattern at 40 yards, you know damn well that you have a sure kill pattern at 30 yards, as long as you are on target.. 30 yard patterns with big guns mean nothing...Good 40 yard patterns with any gun begins to impress me...

" My HAIR ! "

" O Brother, Where art THOU "...... " The boy's Ma done R-U-N-D-O-F-T.."