Pygmy

I do most of the cooking here...My signifcant other, The Mermaid, is also a good cook, but she prefers to let me do most of it.. I am the main course, meat & potatoes guy, and she does the baking and desserts. Last night I did spaghetti and moose balls ( meatballs made with ground moosemeat).. Today she made a big batch of sugar cookies for some of our deer hunting friends who are coming in for the the first week of season..

Actually, it's not a good idea to fool around with pigs.. They'll SQUEAL on you....

Hmmmmm..Have I been a BAD boy ? Pushed tha wrong BUTTON must be....<< Pygmy scratches head in puzzlement>>...

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That hasn't been confirmed...DNA testing is underway....

Woops...I'd love to join your camp, but that would mean I would have to stick the pig.... I LIKE pigs.. Some of my favorite Ex girlfriends were...errr...never mind....<<blush>>...

Chipmunk stew sounds great, Steve... I'll bring along a couple quarts of pickled woodcock gizzards to go with it. Can't wait to hear the stories.. Maybe she'll tell us about the time she bushwhacked 3 deadly spotlighters in her pajamas..!!... I'll bet she STILL hasn't figured out how they got in her pajamas..!!..

The pork sounds great, but I'd have to pass on the blood pudding. It's just one of those things that never sounded appealing to me, like eating brains... How old is the gent who gets to stick the pig this year ?

Opening day of gun season....Nothing quite like it... I have been in the woods at daylight on opening day every year since 1965. Even the years when I was in the Navy, I managed to get leave for the first week of deer season. Good luck to everyone, and hunt safely.

I read this imformation in an article by John Barnsness a few years ago, so it may no longer be true.. According to that article at the time it was written, Leupold was American made EXCEPT for the glass, which they bought from anyone who could meet thier specs. Burris, on the other hand was entirely American made, including the glass... At that time Burris was the only scope that was 100% American made. That's just for converstaion sake, and may no longer be the case.

As Steve 863 said, you can't go wrong with a Leupold. I have 4 and they have performed faultlessly, even under extreme conditons, as in Alaska when they were exposed to rough use and nasty weather every day for up to two weeks at a time. One advantage is that they are guaranteed for life. If something goes wrong with them the company will fix or replace them for nothing. The guarantee also follows the scope, no matter how many times it changes hands, so if you buy a used Leupie, it is still covered. All that aside, I have never had anything go wrong with one. I like the fixed power 4X for all around use or 6X for open country. I have a Burris Fullfield on my favorite deer rifle, a 2x7 ( the only variable scope I use) and that has been a good scope..No problems so far, anyway. I never owned a Nikon, but some of my hunting buddies use them and speak well of them. I really like the old El Paso Weavers. I have a K2.5 on my slug gun, and have had a K1.5 and a K10 and they were excellent scopes. I have never used the new Weavers, but have heard good things about them.

Escape routes are the key on high pressure days like opening day.. Prime time is between 11:00 am and 1:00 PM.. Bottlenecks are great, if you have access to one..The thicker the cover the better..

You obviously have the accuracy.. Don't worry about the performance of the Brenneke slugs.. They will get the job done.. Im my opinion they a FAR superior to foster type slugs, and this opinion is based on shooting a few dozen deer with each type.

As long as I remember, in areas where rifles are permitted, ANY centerfire rifle or pistol is legal in NY... That reg was on the books years before the .243 was even dreamed of, so the .243 was never a minimum caliber in NY. That would include any of the .22 centerfires, from .22 Hornet or .22 Rem Jet ( remember that one ..It was a .357 mag case necked down to .224 )through .224 Weatherby, plus even ridicously anemic rounds such as .25 auto.. As far as I know, rimfire rounds, such as .22LR or .22 WMR have never been legal to use.. They have killed LOTS of deer, though, in the hands of poachers...

I agree...I have absolutely nothing against the use of it, within it's limits... A .38 Special is capable of taking deer also, at close range and with good shot placement.. The only thing that I was taking issue with is the biologist's statement that it is more like a rifle than other shotguns ( which is an old wives tale that I have been hearing for years). Not so....Is is simply a less powerful shotgun. Much less powerful and no more accurate than a 20 gauge.

I don't think the .410 bore was ever considered a rifle... 28 gauge slugs are illegal also. The statement that a .410 with slugs shoots like a rifle is BS and indicates that the biologist doesn't know what he is talking about. A degree in wildlife biology doesn't make one an expert on firearms or ballistics. Years ago, someone who was making the regs decided that shotgun slugs smaller than 20 gauge were inadequate for deer. Well, compared to larger bore shotguns and many rifle calibers, the .410 IS pretty anemic, but since ANY centerfire cartridge is allowed in rifle areas, and quite a few centerfire rifle and pistol rounds are less powerful than a .410 with slugs, I would say that the regulation is obsolete and doesn't make a lot of sense. Whether it will ever be changed, who knows ?? It's not like there is a lot of interest in hunting deer with .410 shotguns.

I have no experience with the .44 mag in a centerfire, either a handgun or rifle. However, I have seen some nasty shallow wounds when guys shoot 240 grain sabotted pistol bullets out of thier muzzleloaders at velocities higher than those the bullet is designed for. I suspect that either one would work fine in your handgun or carbine, but if it were me, I'd probably hedge my bets and use the softpoint rather than the HP.

The .280 is making a surprisingly good showing here..

Good analogy, Marti....hehehehe...

The only way I can keep deer from smelling me is to stay downwind of them... Of course , at my age ,spastic colon and flatulence give me away.... PLUS it burns the nose hairs of unfortunate hunters downwind of me.. This is ESPECIALLY bad after an evening meal of limburger and onion sandwiches, followed up by a heaping helping of marshmallow cream corn willie fritters for desert..

What Steve said....The only way to know is to shoot it. However,at woods ranges, I suspect the difference would not be enough to worry about. If you anticipate shots over 100 yards, there could be enough difference to cause a bad hit. If you have the opportunity to shoot the rifle, by all means do it..Otherwise, just hunt with your proven load. Unless you have a pocket full of tags, it seems like six bullets would be enough.. Hunt with them and carry a couple of the others in your pocket for finishers..

Elmo..I suspect that is just co-incidence. When I hunted with a 20 member club in the Adirondacks a few years, probably HALF the guys used .308s. Unless you are talking heavy bullets ( heavier than 180 grain) there is not enough difference between a 308 and a 30-06 to sneeze at.

Other..My primary whitetail rifle for the few years is my Rem 700 Mountain Rifle in 7mm08. It wears a Burris 2 x 7 and shoots 120 grain Barnes TSX at around 3000 FPS MV. into neat little groups. It drops deer like lightening. Another rifle that I carry several times each year is an M1 Garand..My 30-06 handloads push a 150 grain spitzer at about 2700 FPS, which approximates the military load that the rifle was designed for. The rifle weighs 10 pounds, but I really enjoy getting the old warhorse out a few times per season. While my old eyes no longer work well with traditional open sights, I can still use the military peep sight on the Garand to good effect. If I am hunting an area where long ( 300-400 yard) shots are likely, I often carry my Winchester M 70 lightweight in .280 Rem. It wears a Leupold M8 fixed 6 power, and I shoot 140 grain TTSX Barnes bullets.

I have been deer hunting 45 years... I did record how many deer I have killed..I can't remember without checking my records, but it is over 100.. Over the years I have lost a few, with the shotgun, rifle, muzzleloader and bow.. Can't remember how many, but I know I have lost at least a deer or two with each implement. I know that the percentage of lost deer was higher with the bow than with the guns.. That's why I gave up bowhunting a few years ago..I am not a real good archer. I agonized over each and every deer I lost...

I have no problem with someone disagreeing with my opinion.. If you scroll back, you'll find that I agreed to disagree with Tim Martin on this subject. Tim was very objective and respectful and never mentioned harassing law abiding citizens. However, I DO have a problem with people harassing other people that are engaged in a legal activity on a public road. It has happened to me when I doing nothing more than parking along a public road and I resent the heck out of it...As a property owner, I would never DREAM of harrassing someone for simply LOOKING at my property, or the wildlife therein.. If laws are being broken, exercise your rights and get the authorities involved. You are not the ONLY one who has rights under the law. If no laws are being broken, you don't have a case and may be liable for charges of harrassment yourself.