Pygmy

I never took advantage of a cancellation hunt, but a buddy of mine got a great deal on a goat hunt in BC a few years back...Seems like it was around half price, and he and his partner both got nice billys. He only had a few days to prep for it, however..Luckily he keeps in good shape year round.. He said it was the toughest hunt physically that he has ever been on, and he's been on lots of DIY hunts in rugged country.

The .300 mags ARE a viable all around medium to big game cartridge for folks who can handle the extra recoil and muzzle blast.. To me and a lot of other folks, they are neither fish nor fowl.. They are overkill for medium game like deer, antelope and caribou, and for really big stuff like grizzlies, moose and elk, there are better choices that handle heavier bullets. I'll stick with the .270,.280, 7mm08, .308,30-06 group for deer sized stuff and use something like the .35 Whelen, .338 Win mag or 9.3 x 62 for southbound shots on northbound elk or for something that can EAT me if I don't kill it with the first shot.

I wish I had the foresight to buy one when they first became available, as some of my friends did. It seemed like a lot of $$$ at the time but I'd be way ahead now.. Heck, I don't even buy GREEN BANANAS anymore...Hehehehe.. I did ONE thing right though. I bought a lifetime license for my grandson on his first birthday.

Go to Jellystone Park and put out a bottle of " Essence of Pic-A-Nic basket"... Just be careful not to shoot Boo-Boo, or Mr. Ranger will be PISSED.

I've been out of town and have missed this thread so far...DANG !! There is nothing wrong with the .300 Win Mag as an all around medium to big game rifle IF you can handle the recoil to shoot it accurately and IF you use stoutly constructed bullets.. It is at its best with 180 or 200 grain premium bullets. 150 and 165 grain cup and core bullets act like varmint bullets at magnum velocities and blow hell out of the eating meat. Using such light bullets in a magnum is a waste of case capacity. No matter what anyone tells you, most .300 mags kick like a mule..I have worked up loads for them alongside my .338 Win mag and it was kind of like being worked over by a good heavyweight and then a good light heavy..They both hit REALLY hard. It is an excellent long range chambering..Long range begins at 300 yards and goes out as far as you can dope the trajectory and the wind. Most standard chamberings such as .270, .280, .308 ,30-06, etc. are fine out to 350 yards or so, which is a pretty good poke for most of us mere mortals. My old hunting partner Fungus Face uses his .300 Win mag for everything and does well with it. However, he is as recoil proof as a tractor tire and is using a good handload with a stout bonded bullet ( 180 Speer Grand Slam) . Personally, I prefer to get the job done with something that doesn't beat me up so bad. The two rifles I use the most are a 7mm08 and a .280 Rem. If I feel I need something more, I'd rather have something that launches a heavier bullet, like a .35 Whelen or a 338-06 or my current favorite, a 9.3 x 62 , which fires a 250 Barnes X bullet at 2500 FPS and does not decapitate me when I squeeze the trigger.

My 9.3 x 62 would handle him nicely, also... All that said, I remember an article by Jack O'Connor that related a story about a fellow who was treed by a grizzly, and killed the beast with one shot from his Colt Woodsman .22 rimfire...

Yeah, Biz...But don't you do most most of your deer hunting on an 8 acre parcel ? Sounds like a pretty short drag, no matter where on the property you shoot it. I've done a few long ones, hunting a couple miles back in on public land.. Now that I'm old and fat, I make sure the drag is SHORT and DOWNHILL, unless I have a tractor or an ATV available.. My favorite place to shoot a deer is in a nice, open hayfield, where I can drive up, drop the tailgate, skid the deer up the RAMP, and drive away... When I was younger, I carried a lot of moose and caribou meat long distances on my back.. I was in the best shape of life back then, and it still damn near killed me. I could not do that today.

Doc....Although the other 49 1/2 states don't seem to think that there is any value in requiring hunters to wear backtags, due to the general response on this thread, it seems VERY important that we hunters in the southern zone of NY continue to wear them.. NO PROBLEM... I'll pin the silly thing to my hunting coat, vest, backpack, or whatever, just as I have since 1963..... Kinda like that no hunting on Sundays for deer or pheasants...That makes a LOT of sense... Oh...Wait... That was CHANGED, wasn't it...?? Or that no hunting with RIFLES....That makes a LOT of sense... Oh...Wait... That was changed, wasn't it...?? Dang... I am so CONFUSED..!! I think it's time for my NAP....

Although black bears tend to be nocturnal, it is not unusual to see them out and about during daylight hours.. I've seen them going about thier business all times of the day...I'd say it is much more unusual to see a coon or a possum or a skunk during daylight hours than a black bear...

I have hunted in 10 states and 5 Canadian provinces. Back tags were only required in two..NY and Pennsylvania. I haven't checked on this, but I think PA dropped the backtag requirement last year.

Reminds me of an old joke...How is a fat girl like a moped ? They're both fun to ride, but you wouldn't want your friends to know you're DOING it...<<grin>>...

Hot DAMN !! Time to break out the beer and popcorn !!

Sounds like the beginning of a perfect relationship. You stay on your land, he stays on his.. Now you don't even have to bother to WAVE to him. Judging from your contact ( or NON contact) with the guy over the last ten years, I don't think you'll be missing much.

A load of #4 shot ?

I have been expecting a season here in Southwestern NY. I've seen a number of bobcats in the last few years, and some of my friends who trap have been catching and releasing cats on a regular basis. I would certainly rather remove a DEAD cat from my trap, rather than a snarling, clawing, hissing LIVE one...hehehe..

Actually the 20 gauge averages a HIGHER chamber pressure ( 11K to 12k PSI) than the 12 gauge (8K to 9K)...

No offense, Elmo, but your statement is not only hearsay, but it is total BS... Semi autos have been made in 20 gauge since the early 1900s... Bonnie Parker ( of Bonnie and Clyde fame) used one.. They are ABSOLUTELY as reliable as a 16 or 12 gauge in any auto that I have ever used or SEEN used.. I had a Rem 1100 in 20 gauge that I shot 1000s of rounds through at skeet ( as well as deer and game) and never missed a hitch. I have had several 20 gauge semis over the years and every one was as reliable as the 16 and 12 gauge autos that I have owned.. I currently shoot a Browning A-5 light 20 that is as dependable as any shotgun I ever owned. In my 50 + years of shotgunning, I have NEVER heard the statement that 20 gauge autos were any less reliable than any other semi auto.. Where the heck did you HEAR that stuff ??

That's a good way to go. Many years ago, my ex-wife decided she wanted to hunt.. She was 5'4" and weighed perhaps 120..We went to the local pool hall/cigar store/gun shop and she picked out a 20 gauge Ithaca M 37 pump..Nice, quality shotgun , but it weighed 5 3/4 pounds. That gun was fine to shoot with light loads, but with magnum turkey loads or slugs, it kicked like a MULE..I hated sighting it in from the bench. After a couple of years she decided she'd like a gun that didn't kick so bad..I bought her Remington 1100 LT-20, which, at 6 1/2 pounds was still reasonably light..What a difference ! You could shoot it from the bench with slugs all day and the recoil was more like a gentle push , unlike the Ithaca pump which was more like holding a 2x4 to your shoulder and having someone drive it with a post maul.

A 20 gauge is a good choice..Another consideration is action type.. A gas operated auto has considerably less felt recoil than any fixed breech gun. All that said, a twelve gauge is somewhat more versatile, and you can avoid excessive recoil by using light field loads, rather than the high velocity or magnum loads. Twelve gauge low brass loads with 1 or 1 1/8 oz. of shot kick no worse than comparable 20 gauge loads and kill small game and upland birds just fine.

Nope...Trout strike the bead thinking it is a single egg and they are nearly always hooked in the mouth. Lifting is intentional snatching with a single hook . It is often done by sight, although "blind lifting" occurs also. In Alaska, snagging is illegal, but red salmon are routinely taken with a technique known as "lining" or "flossing".. It involes using a lure, most generally a yarn fly and intentionally drifting the lure so that the line enters the fish's mouth, and the hook follows. Most fish are hooked in the corner of the mouth, and it is perfectly legal, at least in Alaska.

I doubt that the state is going to open coyote season year round.. Even if they did, it wouldn't make much difference. The county I hunt in Ontario, Canada has a year round open season and they are still overrun with coyotes. Opening the season year round would simply be a "feelgood" measure for coyote haters.

In the Canisteo Valley, Rapala is pronounced ruh-PAH-luh..... I tried pronouncing it properly for a period of time, but I found the fish would not hit RAP-a-las...As soon as I went back to pronouncing it ruh-PAH-luh, the fish started biting them again...<<grin>>....

One thing that was mentioned in the article concerning the M1 always makes me smile. The fact that it makes a distinctive "PING" when it ejects the empty clip, and an enemy soldier can hear it and know that the GIs rifle is empty.. Did you notice in the picture that the GI firing his M1 had an extra clip slipped on his sling where it would be handy to grab for a reload ? A trained soldier could probably reload an 8 shot clip in about two seconds... The opponent who hears the PING better be REAL close and REAL fast if he's going to close the distance on the soldier before that rifle is cocked, locked, and ready to rock...

Actually, Joe, there was never a standard battle rifle in 30-06 that was full auto.. The only full auto 30-06 rifle was the BAR, and was issued on a limited basis as a squad automatic weapon and was actually very accurate and controllable because it weighed 20 pounds loaded and had a relatively low rate of fire for an automatic weapon.. It was most effective fired from a prone position with a bipod. The standard battle rifle at the time was the Garand M1, which was an 8 shot gas operated semi auto and was a wonderful, accurate , reliable rifle.. The M 14 followed the M1 and was also an excellent battle rifle..It was selective fire, but was more effective on semi auto, because the recoil from the 7.62 x 51 ( .308) caused it to be hard to control on full auto...

Col Charles Askins, who was a veteran of US border patrol, several LE jobs and also saw combat in WWII and Vietnam in the Army, was quite vocal in his opposition of a "woodchuck rifle" as a standard chambering in a battle rifle.. Charlie was a combat veteran and was reputed to be a stone cold killer. He was said to have killed about 30 men.. He asked the question..." What if we should get involved in combat in open areas such as the Middle East ?.." Well, old Cheerless Charlie is gone now, and since then many GI s have seen combat with thier woodchuck rifles, and they have been used with good effect. However, there have been numerous instances when hostiles have indeed been engaged at distances beyond the effective 5.56 range.. For that reason a lot of M 14s have been brought out of mothballs , because the 7.62 x 51 is capable of EFFECTIVELY engaging bad guys at ranges BEYOND the capability of the standard issue M 16 and M4 weapon systems.