Pygmy

Happy Birthday !!! The kid's away, eh ?? ..<<wink>>....

Last time I checked (and it has been awhile) most AK dall tags were still OTC, as well as Canadian dall, bighorn, and stone sheep tags.. HOWEVER, ALL AK and Canadian sheep hunts require a guide, and prices are far beyond what most of us mere mortals are able to pay.. AK dall hunts are the cheapest..Canadian sheep hunts are like 15- 20 K... The last I knew,Montana still had OTC tags in thier unlimited areas for bighorns, but the terrain is very difficult and the success rates are very low..

It is not my intent to hijack this thread, but it brings to mind something that happened to me a few years back.. Along with a 3 of my friends, I was riding in a vehicle on the main drag in Medina, NY, heading south on a Sunday afternoon..We had spent a weekend fishing out of my buddy's camp at Oak Orchard. As we were driving down the street, right in the middle of town, an arrow came sailing down and landed in the road in front of us... We never stopped and never had the foggiest idea where it came from, other than it came flying in from a westerly direction..

The odds of drawing a sheep tag anywhere in the lower 48 are extremely low, but you can't win if you don't play... I considered doing a dall hunt in AK 25 years ago when you could do one for 5 K or thereabouts, but I didn't do it... Now they are 10k and up...Goat was on my short list at that time too, and a goat hunt can still be done in some places fairly reasonable.. I couldn't do the mountains now, even if I COULD afford the hunt, which I can't..

Another factor is age/physical condition... Some of my trips damn near killed me when I was in my 30s and 40s and was in the best physical condition of my life.. Now that I'm in my 60s, I wouldn't even consider some of them.. It was high adventure at the time...Now it would scare the crap out of me..LOL...

I feel for ya, Growie... All we got here were a few little sleet pellets... Nearly all the snow is gone here in the lower Canisteo Valley, although there is some remaining on the hilltops and in the woods..

I understand and identify with what you are saying, Boone...I have done DIY trips to several western states including 5 to Alaska...It is an incredibly satisfying experience to pull off a successful DIY hunt and my memories, photos and trophies from these trips are among my most precious possessions. However, I can understand that some folks don't have the time, desire or inclination to go through all that research and preparation. Also ,unless you can spend a lot of time out of state scouting, there is a steep learning curve associated with DIY trips..Often by the time you figure out the patterns, the trip is over, and you have to apply that knowledge for your NEXT hunt. For some people, guided or oufitted hunts are sometimes a better option, if you can afford them.

Oh, come ON, Early.... Milkweed tastes more like asparagus than it tastes like CHICKEN..!!..<<grin>>... Actually, the last chicken I had tasted like frog legs...

Got any pets , blackradio ??... You might be singing a different song when you see that pumacougar sailing over the back fence with FLUFFY in his mouth...<<grin>>....

He seems to be getting along OK...Doesn't look underfed.. I have seen a couple of 3 legged deer whose injuries had healed and seemed to be doing fine.. The very first coyote I ever saw in NY ran across Route 17 in front of my vehicle , back around 1980... It had a smashed front leg...I wondered if it survived the injury..

Sorry....All of my Colorado hunts have been DIY... HOWEVER, although you have dismissed using booking agents when I suggested it in the past, they are a very good resource... They make thier money by drumming up business for outfitters..It costs no more to book through them than to book directly with the outfitter. If you are interested, PM me.

It disgusts me that the shooter was described in the article as a "HUNTER"... The stupid bastard didn't even have a hunting license.... I'd tar him, feather him, and run him out of town on a rail....

I got my first Daisy BB gun when I was around 8... Lots of targets around the farm..My first victim was a sparrow that I shot out of the maple tree in front of the house.. Chipmunks were big game..They were about the biggest thing that could be killed with a spring powered Daisy, and it took a solid head shot to anchor one.. When I was 10, my dad started letting me prowl around our 187 acres with his Stevens single shot .22 . It wasn't legal, but nobody much gave a damn about a farm kid hunting woodchucks and squirrels on family property at that time..I shot my first woodchucks, rabbits, grey squirrels, raccoons and crows with that rifle..I still have it and hopefully it will be the first firearm that my grandson shoots. At age 12, I got my first shotgun...It was an Eastern Arms single barrel in 16 gauge, that had been passed down through the family and was also the first shotgun of several of my uncles..I shot my first grouse and pheasants with it, and passed it along to one of my younger cousins a couple of years later when I raised a steer and sold it for $123, and then used $85 of the proceeds to buy my first repeater, a used 16 gauge Remington 11-48...

I thought you were talking to ME about the T shirt chick... It took me a minute to catch my BREATH...<<whew>>..

Colorado big game license applications are due by April 2. Colorado has a very user friendly system of applying online. Apply at www.bit.ly/cpwlicensesales . I don't plan to hunt CO this year, but every year that I don't hunt, I buy preference points for deer and elk. The points are not very expensive and if you accumulate enough of them it can assure that you will be able to draw a tag when you DO decide to go hunting there.. Currently I have 13 deer points and 9 elk points, which is enough to ensure a tag in MOST units...

It certainly was NOT the time I googled " Armenian Dwarves Having Meaningful Relationships With Poultry".....

Brings back memories of one of my old girlfriends... Good Ol' Twila Terdknocker.... What a set of choppers that girl had !!! She won the local Punxatawney Phil Look Alike contest in '68, 69, and '71... That girl could eat an ear of corn through a picket fence.. She could sit in the kitchen and kiss me in the living room.. She and I had planned to be married, but one day she strayed a little too far from her front door to eat a dandelion, and Ol' Milo Fernbender's German Sheperd got her... I sure do MISS her..<<sigh>>.....

That's a Smith and Wesson... Phil had good taste in firearms....

I don't need any either, Rev.... OOOOPS.....Just peed on my SHOE again !!....

She WANTS me...I KNOW she does.....!!!.... OOOPS..Time for my medication again...

My daughter graduated about 15 years ago.. My wallet STILL hurts...LOL...

I've had fiddlehead ferns and dandelion greens...I'll have to try the tiger lillies. Never tried burdock, although I know some locals who eat it. Milkweed is another good asparagus substitute. Cut the shoots when they first come up..You need to blanch them in water, then change the water and finish cooking them, or they will be bitter.

It might be a little beyond your 2 hour drive, but there is lots of prime public hunting land here in Steuben County... None of it sees much pressure during bow season, and even during gun season pressure is light after the first few days.. Places to check...Tracy Creek State Forest near Rathbone...Pinnacle State Park and adjoining Mc Carthy State Game lands near Addison... Erwin State Game lands near Painted Post..Cameron State game lands between Cameron and Bath.. And many more..

Your "DOCTOR DOOM Power decoder ring" just came in the mail ?

I have seen bucks that still had thier antlers in March several times over the years. It seems like nearly every spring I talk to someone who has seen one or two, even into April....Just this morning at coffee a couple of fellows in the next booth were talking about seeing bucks with antlers in the last couple of days.