Pygmy

Theoretically a good point, since an elk has a kill area of around 18".... However the average mule deer isn't much different in size than an average whitetail. AND, though an elk has a bigger vital area, they are significantly tougher and more tenacious of life than whitetails. I have trailed enough of both species to see the difference. I'd rather shoot 'em at closer range to assure a good hit.

That's about right for a semi-guided or unguided hunt. Guided hunts will cost you more. One exception is the drive-up hunting in northern Quebec. Last I checked, hunt prices were less than 2K, but it's a 24 hour drive , including several hundred miles on ice and snow. It's basically a road hunt. Many of the larger bulls have dropped thier antlers, so the chance of getting a trophy bull are lower than the earlier hunts. It's also colder than a well digger's a** in Montana.

Not that I have heard of, JB. All caribou hunting on this continent is in Canada or Alaska. Most of it is over the counter, but some units in Alaska , usually the ones close to the population centers , are draw units. I think now that the woodland caribou population has crashed in Newfoundland some tags are by draw up there.. I don't believe any of the draw areas use a preference point system.

Well, the deeper Finger lakes do "turn over" and develop a thermocline. I must plead ignorance as to why the lake trout tend to hug bottom in 50-150 feet of water in the winter. I do know from many years of fishing and reading depthfinders that it occurs. It is not so with rainbows, landlocks and browns. They can be caught near the surface all year long. I've caught lots of lakers in the summer suspended 20-50 feet down over deep water in the summer...Very seldom have I caught them that high up in the water column in winter. Perhaps it is because their primary forage, sawbellies( alewives) tend to stay deeper in winter. The trout we cleaned yesterday were stuffed full of them.

I just finished a big meal of fresh lake trout filets...<<BELCH>>.....< 'scuse me>.... I am not sure what causes this phenomenon in such lakes as Keuka and Seneca...Perhaps it involves thermoclines or other temperature issues. However, I do know from many years of fishing, that in January through April, if you want to catch lakers you better be bumping bottom, and in June and July it is not unusual to catch them 20 feet down over deeper water, or anyplace else in the water column, surface to bottom.

Vertical jigging is effective year round for lakers, but January through April are the best months to get large numbers of fish.. The reason...Winter lake trout ( at least on Keuka) are very bottom oriented during the cold weather months. Nearly all the trout are within 20 feet of the bottom, which narrows your area of lure presentation, compared to say, June , July or August, when bait schools and trout can be at nearly any depth in the 150 foot water column.

Geeze, carbon, are you on steroids ? I figure you MUST be in order to draw that big bad bow and carry around that big CHIP on your shoulder.

Drive fast, turn left....Repeat....<<yawn>>.....

Lawdwaz....We were the only boat on the lake... I filet them just as I do nearly all of my fish. Shawn...I used the same leader all day, 10 lb. test flourocarbon ...Probably got lucky that the knot did not fatigue, but that flourocarbon is pretty tough stuff.. For jigging I use about 20 feet of it with 15 lb. Fireline braid as a main line... Open face spinning reel and a 6 foot medium light action graphite rod.. Most of my buddies use light duty baitcasters for jigging, but I prefer the open face. With that light gear , braided line and a 1 ounce jig, I can feel a fish BREATHE of the lure 100 feet down. I do have a camera..Just too dumb to put pictures on the computer from it.

One of my good hunting and fishing buddies ( another old fat guy) and I decided to fish Keuka this morning for lake trout. The lake is frozen except for the southern end..It's still open water from Hammondsport up to Two Mile Point. We launched my buddy's 16 foot Tracker at the Motel in Hammondsport and started checking spots on the depth finder that had produced fish in the past. After about an hour of searching, we hit the mother lode...Fish stacked up near bottom in about 135 feet of water near the east side. We started vertical jigging , using 1 ounce diamond jigs and light spinning gear. The fish climbed all over them... From 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, we boated 45 legal size lakers, the biggest being around 5 pounds...It was almost nonstop action. We kept our legal limit of 10 fish, and quit simply because our arms got tired from jigging and playing fish... Awesome morning...

I don't intend to get into the pissing contest here, but there is one fact that nobody has addressed regarding 100 yard shots with a bow. Say a bow launches and arrow at 300FPS... That is 100 yards in one second, RIGHT..??.. WRONG !! The arrow is slowing down the instant it leaves the bow... It may well take it 2 or 3 seconds to reach the 100 yard mark. Lots of time for a game animal to move. Also, some dude who posted earlier and said he practices with his bow at 120 made the comment that maybe the folks who are posting here have never been out west. Well....I have hunted quite a bit out west, and it's damn tough to find a day when the wind isn't blowing out there.. Seems like that might complicate a 75 or 100 yard bow shot.. Just a thought....I think it's time for my NAP......

Great news... I remember the moaning and the WAILING of hunters who had grown up shooting shotguns at deer when the season opened up for rifles here a few years ago... It was similar, albeit to a lesser extent , when they allowed Sunday hunting for deer a few years prior to that. It's just human nature to be uncomfortable with change, regardless if it makes any sense or not.

Nice catch of pumpkinseeds and bluegills from Honeoye..Makes my mouth water...<<YUM>>... Ask your buddy if he plans to filet that golden shiner that's lying in the pile. I understand they're kinda BONY....<<grin>>....

Line the vertical crosshair up with the front leg...Raise the junction of the crosshairs up until it is about 1/2 way up the body. Squeeze the trigger..Go collect your deer, because he's not going far. He might run a ways( usually less than 100 yards), but he will not go far. Usually you'll have a blood trail Stevie Wonder could follow. It's the largest vital area. Dead center gets the lungs. A little low gets the heart. A little high gets the spine. A little forward gets the base of the neck. A little back gets lungs/liver. Very dead deer in a very short time.

I love watching the birds and I have literally hundreds of them coming to my feeders. I just opened my fifth 50 pound bag of black oil sunflower seeds and I didn't start feeding until deer (gun) season. I have to chuckle...In my younger years I hunted crows a lot and have killed literally hundreds of them..Now I keep a patch of lawn cleared of snow out by my garage where I put table scraps for my "pet" crows.

A tufted titmouse and a junco... I identified a titmouse for my daughter a few years back.. She said " What an unfortunate name for a bird.."....

Are you calling me OLD and STUBBORN, db....???... Well.....Okay....You're right... Just checking...<<smile>>...

That would be inside the breakwater at Sampson State Park.. Probably the only place on Seneca with safe ice.

Most, if not all, factory loads for the 30-06 with bullets LIGHTER than 150 grains are constructed for varmints..That would be 110 grain and 125 grain, and perhaps others. NOT a good choice for deer hunting. Exceptions might be reduced recoil loads. Any factory loads for the 30-06 ( or .308) loaded with 150 grain or heavier bullets are designed for medium to big game. There are some bullets available to handloaders lighter than 150 grains that would be suitable for deer,but if you are using factory loads, stick with 150, 165 or 180 grain bullets for deer.

I have had many years of experience shooting rifled slugs from smoothbores. For years, before rifled shotgun barrels became readily available, it was our only choice in shotgun areas of NY. In the days before screw in chokes became available, shotgun barrels were made with fixed chokes, which simply means that a certain amount of constriction was built into the barrel. Cylinder bore was no constriction whatever. Full choke was maximum constriction. Don't quote me on this, but I believe that 12 gauge cylinder bore was about .720" and fullchoke was around .690". In general, open chokes such as cylinder bore ( no constriction) or improved cylinder ( slight contriction) grouped best with slugs. Full choke GENERALLY was the worst choke for rifled slugs. Most commercial smoothbore slugs barrels were choked improved cylinder. However, each barrel was an individual. I have seen IC barrels that did not group well, and modified or full choke barrels that grouped very well. You just had to shoot your gun of the bench and find out how well it shot, and what slugs it grouped the best with.

I haven't checked out the ammo shelves much recently since the " hoarding" began, since I reload all of my centerfire rifle ammo. However, in my travels over the last 30 years I HAVE paid attention to what ammo was on the shelves, even in little out of the way rural stores in many parts of Canada and the US, including Alaska. Seems like EVERYPLACE had .243, .270 Win, 30-30, .308 and 30-06. 7MM Rem mag was well represented also.

What Larry said... The barrel may need frequent cleaning to maintain accuracy, but there is no safety issue. The rifled slugs may or may not group well from the rifled bore. As a matter of fact, in the early days of rifled shotgun barrels, when the selection of saboted projectiles was very limited, Hastings recommended two slugs for it's rifled barrels. BRI sabots or Winchester Super-X rifled slugs.

Culver, I SWEAR that it is the PUREST of coincidences.... I just listen to the voices..... The VOICES tell me when to post.....<<blank stare>>....

BRAGGART....!!... <<grin>>.... Yes, they are BLUE and Diamond shaped... Of course, I'VE never seen one either.... << roll eyes >>.....

A PIC - A- NIC basket, Boo-Boo.... Sorry...Couldn't resist that... <<grin>>.... Seriously, any caliber that's adequate for deer would work fine on black bear. If there were GRIZZLIES around, it might a different situation.