Pygmy

Looks great, Joe... Where's the RR ( Reloading Rabbit)...??..

Very nice mounts, Biz... Looks like the guy does first rate work.

THIRTY..??... I've got SOCKS older than that ! Happy birthday, Predate....<<grin>>....

The worst part is that I don't have any immediate plans of using them... Took a nice ( 28") 4x4 mulie near Eagle on a high country hunt in 2000, and took my one and only bull elk ( 6x6) on a ML hunt near Creede in 2004... Due to point creep, by the time I draw another tag in unit 76 ( Creede) I'll be too old to hunt...LOL...

I haven't recieved mine yet..Maybe today.. This year I'll have 10 for elk and 14 for deer.

That's a tough one for me... Runt, Squirt, Midget and Shorty are all taken.

.........AAAUUUUUGH !!! ......

I had a weak moment... Let me rephrase that.... Nice looking rig, IN SPITE OF the pimpy looking stainless barrel and obnoxious large objective variable scope... Feel better now ?..<<grin>>....

I like natural colored laminates, like yours, John... Nice looking rig... My pet M70 Win .280 has a laminate stock the same color as your Encore, and as much as I like walnut, I must say that I find the laminates very attractive. Beats heck out of a piece of tupperware, IMHO...

Everybody's taste differs, Joe, and that's a GOOD thing. Many younger guys like yourself like the modern tactical look, while some of us OLD farts prefer more classic firearms with pretty walnut stocks and bright blued finishes. I personally think that the tactical stuff is as ugly as a side order of s**t...<<GRIN>>.... They may be accurate, dependable, and effective, but man, are they YOOO- GLEE !! Life is too short to hunt with an ugly gun.

Great pictures, Wooly... I wonder if Ma will move the pups to another den site now ? Surely your presence for that long so close to the den would give her a sense of being "discovered"...

Flocks of starlings tend to all let go at the same time.. Depending on what they have been eating, brown is a possibility. I was driving down the highway once and got bombarded by a deluge of PURPLE bird poop...The rascals had been eating elderberries or something similar.

Joe..Just put up a "DEER CROSSING" sign on the beaver dam. That way you can kill two birds with one stone...<<grin>>....

I fish as much as I can get away with... June through September I try to get my boat on the lake at least once a week and I often fish the river ( early mornings) a couple times a week. River fishing is for smallies and walleyes, and fishing several of the Finger lakes is for smallies, perch, panfish, northerns and lake trout. The rest of the time The Mermaid keeps me busy..We have a large lawn at our home in town and we have 100 acres a couple miles outside of town with a 1 acre pond and about 5 acres of mowing/landscaping.. Now and then I sneak off to my local American Legion Post and knock back a couple of cold ones with my "old fart" retired buddies.

Early...For once you and I AGREE about something...LOL... Pardon me while I go fondle a piece of nicely figured walnut and fantasize about wrapping my gnarley old fingers around Jack O'Connor's custom Al Biesen .270....

That answers one question.. Thumper was just ASKING why Bambi hadn't been over to play the last couple of days...

Tom Kelly said it best...I don't have my autographed copy of " The Tenth Legion" close at hand, but here's the quote " Or words to that effect." " Every minute you are in contact with an adult gobbler, events are occuring, any one of which can make the difference whether you win or lose ". I've missed my share over the years...Compost occurs... Mr. Murphy was most defintely a turkey hunter. The foliage in late season becomes problematic also..The woods are so dense that the bird has to come into JUST the right spot for you to shoot him, or even see him. I had two different gobblers so close this week that I could smell GRASSHOPPERS on thier breath, and both are still alive because I could not see them due to heavy foliage.

Congrats on a fine gobbler, Ants ! It's been a tough season..Many of my friends who are seasoned gobbler hunters have struck out this season...

It wouldn't hurt to try it...Just be careful out there !

Great pictures, Joe.. Can I come up duck hunting ? ...LOL....

I've killed a couple on the 30th of May... I don't remember ever killing one the last day, although one of my hunting buddies has killed several on the last day. He's one of the guys who hunts every legal minute.. He doesn't give up until noon...He's killed a BUNCH of longbeards between 11:00 am and noon over the last 35 years or so.

I saw a turkey egg shell lying in the woods a couple of days ago..Obviously the work of a nest predator.. Still, foxes get a pass from me in the spring....I've seen several litters of fox kits in the woods over the years and I just don't like the idea of dooming them to starvation because I shot thier momma..

They're still henned up big time everywhere.. In 40 years of gobbler hunting, I never remember a year with so many BEAUTIFUL mornings to hunt, with so LITTLE gobbling.. But WTF...Every season is different. My buddy in Ontario is still dealing with henned up toms and little gobbling.. Congrats on the late season bird.. You EARN 'em this time of the season..

We all know THAT, ya big PANSY..!!... I think any guy who shoots a .243 is little LIGHT in the LOAFERS...<<grin>>..

Looks like there's a pellet in there alright... Perhaps if it worries you you can dig it out with a long, sharp knife blade.. Myself, I don't worry too much about them.. Over the last 50 years I have eaten 100s of birds and critters shot with a shotgun.. Upland birds, turkeys, ducks, geese, rabbits and squirrels.. Now and then I encounter shot pellet, but I have YET to damage a tooth..