Pygmy

Oh..You know I love you, Growie...<< SMOOOOOCH !!>>.....

Hey....I think Growie won the dick measuring contest.... Wait a minute...How could THAT be ??

As the previous poster said, the water prevents freezer burn.. I clean and disjoint all of my squirrels in the woods..I end up with 5 pieces per squirrel, 4 legs and the back..I discard the ribs and neck.. I freeze the pieces in quart Ziploc freezer bags, usually about 3 squirrels per bag...Place the squirrel parts in the bag, then run cold tap water into the bag until full and seal.. I have found that squirrels or rabbits keep a year this way without freezer burn...Works well for fish fillets, too..

Today I am doing them like my Mom used to cook them... Simmer the disjointed squirrels in water with a sliced onion, salt, pepper, a bay leaf and and a shake or two of poultry seasoning until fork tender..Then remove pieces from the broth and sautee them in a pan in butter or margarine until golden brown...Season to taste... However, here's my FAVORITE recipe..I didn't do them this way today because it is too hot to fire up the oven... Shake the squirrels pieces in a bag with some flour, salt, coarse black pepper and poultry seasong until well coated.. In a skillet, brown the pieces in butter... Place squirrel in a single layer roasting pan..Pour in some chicken broth to a level of about 1/2 inch..Cover pan tightly with foil... Roast in a 300 degree oven about two hours, or until VERY tender.. Remove foil, turn up heat to about 400 and cook until liquid is reduced and squirrel is brown and crusty on top... Make gravy from the pan drippings and serve over rice or taters.. So good you'll want to SLAP yo MOMMA !!

Chalk me up for 6 greys taken 9-1-15...16 gauge Model 12 Winchester.. I gotta learn to do pictures..My smilin' face would look SOO purty on here grinning over a fistful of bushytails !!

I'm cooking up 3 squirrels for supper...My last package frozen in water from last year... Tomorrow morning I'm going out to try to add to THIS year's supply... I've been waiting for it to cool down a bit.

Same here....My oats, clover, and brassicas that I planted two weeks ago have germinated but need water badly.. Hopefully tomorrow or Thursday...Showers, T storms predicted..

Remington 700 Mountain Rifle, blued finish, walnut stock, chambered in 7mm08. It's as it came from the factory, except the trigger has been adjusted by a local smith to 3 pounds... Scope is a 2x7 Burris Fullfield. I'm shooting my handloads with a Barnes 120 grain TSX at 3015 FPS MV. Zero is set at 3" high at 100 yatds, so I can hold center ribcage from point blank to 300 yards.. If I do my part it will group under 1" at 100 yards.

Wingshooting....Upland birds, ducks, geese, crows, doves, pigeons... Probably my favorite is duck hunting when they are flying good and you get lots of shot opportunities. The BEST day of deer hunting is BORING compared to a good morning in the duck swamp...

You're right, 45/70.... That was about as much fun as a guy could have with his clothes on !

No doubt in my mind...My M1 Garand...Accurate, gentle recoil because of the weight and the gas operation, and I love the PING when the clip ejects !

Good choice, Born... I have a number of shotguns, so I have the luxury of choosing different guns for different jobs, and I do truly love my 20 gauge guns and use them a lot for small game and upland birds.. However, if I were to have ONE shotgun, it would be a 12 gauge, because of it's versatility...It will do anything the smaller guns will do, plus a whole lot more, simply by matching the load and the choke to the job at hand..

Yup, he's shooting them close, for sure... As I said, I don't doubt a skilled turkey hunter could do well with a .410, as long as he calls them so close that you can smell grasshoppers on their breath.. I have a friend who fills his two Florida tags and his two Georgia tags every year with a recurve bow.. He uses a custom blind and his shots average 10 yards...

I have no doubt that a skilled turkey hunter could be successful with a .410, as long as he knows its effective range and does not take shots beyond it.. I've done a little turkey hunting myself..About 40 years worth in 6 different states and one Canadian Province.. As far as his gun patterning tighter than any larger bore, I'd like to have him show up at the patterning board with his .410 and a pocket full of money...<<smile>>....

Sure.......www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7179.html

The 10 gauge doesn't have any real ballistic advantage over the 3.5 12 gauge because the shot charges are essentially the same.. I haven't studied the stats lately, but last I knew the 10 gauge mag load was 2 1/4 Oz. of shot, same as the 3.5" 12... 10 gauge repeaters are HEAVY...If I owned one I'd have to hire someone to carry it around for me.. I know several guys who have owned them and ALL of them sold them because they were too damned heavy, the ammo cost too much, and they weren't much more effective than a 3" 12 gauge... Since the development of the 3.5" 12 gauge, the 10 gauge has become a dinosaur...

If you can afford a Kimber you have lots of options... My Remington 700 Mountain Rifle ( 7mm08) is a handy, reliable and accurate rifle...It has been my main whitetail rifle for a number of years now.. I suggest that you visit a gunshop with a good selection of rifles and handle a few to see what trips your trigger...There are some good deals to be had on good quality used rifles out there too..

The size of the pattern is a function of the choke, which is the amount of constriction below cylinder bore of any given gauge...Of course there is variation from gun to gun, , but in theory at any given distance, say 30 yards, a shotgun of any given choke whether it be .410, 28, 20, 16, 12 or 10 should throw a pattern of appx. the same diameter...So say we have 6 guns of the above gauges all modified ( or whatever) choke...they should all throw a pattern say 36 inches in diameter... The larger bores, because they throw a HEAVIER shot charge, ( IE more pellets of equal size) will place MORE pellets on target..That's the only real advantage...More pellets on target means more shot striking the target and effectiveness at longer range..Powder charges have little to do with pattern density or size ...At shotgun velocities, from 1100 fps to 1400 fps, VELOCITY has little to do with it...It's all about having more shot in the pattern at any given range..

With my old eyes, I have problems with many open sights, including nearly all issue military sights, many of which aren't designed for precision shooting in the first place... The exceptions are peep sights, like the battle sights on the M1 Garand, 03A3 Springfield, 1917 Enfield and the SMLE # 4...They still work well for me.

Elmo Ol' Buddy... Let me know the next time your wife's sister has a birthday party during hunting season.. I'll get you off the hook.. You go hunting and I'll go to the birthday party... I'll jump out of the cake in my lizard skin thong..!..

Another advantage of my habit of minding my own business... I avoid the agony of worrying so much about what the OTHER guy is doing...

Well Willis, if it LOOKS like a duck, and QUACKS like a duck....<<grin>>...

Not so, AT... Theoretically, a full choke gun of ANY gauge has appx the same size pattern.

Well, I've lived here for 65 years and tend to interface with people who share my interests.... In that amount of time, a person can accumulate a lot of friends...Or enemies..I feel fortunate that my friends far outnumber my enemies..<<grin>>...