Pygmy

Geeze, Toruk... Sounds like like your sweetie cost you some $$$ in ruined tags... Perhaps you should suggest that you take the value out in TRADE.... Then again, she might make a point that it was YOUR fault for leaving the stuff in your pants, and you'll have to do the HOUSEWORK for a month or so.. ... There are always two sides to every situation. Hope you work it with the best BANG for the bucks for both of you... ....

RobC...That is a common affliction... I have always called it PDSDS..... It stands for Post Deer Season Depression Syndrome... It is a very real thing...No CHIT..!!.. I have always remedied it with things like winter fishing, rabbit and grouse hunting, excessive alcohol use and other common cures. I have indeed begun to plot my strategy for the upcoming deer season here at home and in PA. HOWEVER, I am leaving two weeks from tomorrow on a moose hunt in Newfoundland, so THAT is kinda taking center stage right now... This old fat fart is getting a little bit PUMPED, just to say the least...

I suspect that your 180 grain Speer will kill 'em just fine, eagle.. Moosie, I respect your experience and observations, but I really have never had any trouble with ANY expanding bullets "penciling" as you describe and failing to expand. A friend of mine, however, told me that he had it happen with a 140 grain Coreloct in his 7mm08, and he had a long tracking job with sparse blood. He said he never would have found the deer without snow. As far as bucking brush, I lean with the guys who say to pick an opening. In my experience, even shotgun slugs deflect badly if they hit anything of any substance, like brush.

Thanks, jusputtn... .. It's not an accident that I sighted it that way.. ...

I'm kind of two hole guy myself. That's why I like Barnes X bullets so much. That and the fact that they shoot very accurately in my rifles. I knew a girl one time who was a 3 holer, but that's a discussion for another ( non-public) forum... ...

I was sitting on a barstool here in Steuben County.. I felt my barstool rocking, but it was only my FIRST beer... ??? ...

Wow...!... Beautiful example of a fine combat magnum. I have one just like it in stainless(M66) but yours is an awesome buy for someone who wants one in nickel. Nice revolver.

Good advice given by Bryce Towsley, in my humble opinion.. The .35 Whelen provides the capability to handle heavier bullets than the 30-06, and yet delivers a flat enough trajectory to handle longer shots than most of us require to shoot.. When I was on my quest for heavy rifle to replace my .338, I looked at a rifle advertised by a fellow up in Anhcorage, AK. We had communicated online and he arranged to meet me at the Anchorage airport on my trip up there in 1999.. His rifle was a .35 Whelen AI.. The price was right, but it was a very light custom rifle and he admitted that as light as it was, it kicked about like a standard weight .338. It was also one of the UGLIEST rifles I have ever seen...The stock was synthetic and had an ugly coat of paint...The damn METAL was also painted an ugly color...I decided that life is too short to hunt with an ugly gun. I am much happier with my CZ-550 with it's satin finished walnut stock and nicely blued finish.. ;D ... Especially since it shoot like a dream...

Geeze, Jennifer.. A meal is not a MEAL unless meat is included.. JUST KIDDING....!!!!.. Glad to hear that your family is eating healthy...I'm too old for that stuff ...I gotta eat what tastes good. Definition of a heart healthy diet....If it tastes good, SPIT IT OUT.. I am too old to worry about such things..I eat what I want. If I croak tomorrow, so be it. Why torture myself to extend my life a few months..? In your case, and for your your family, I applaud the fact that you are eating healthy. God bless you and I hope you all live a long, productive life.

The trophy hunting elitists crap is getting old. I agree, really old, its the only argument (a false one at that) that they can come up with. If letting a 1.5 walk is trophy killing thats news to me. Kind of sad they are opposed to letting the little ones walk. I don't think any of us are opposed to letting the little ones walk. It's just that many of us believe that should be the choice of the hunter, rather than something that is arbitrated by law.

Yeah. there's a LOT of that kinda stuff going around.. It's called BS...

No, I certainly don't resist all change, in fact I have heartily embraced some recent changes that many people resisted, such as legalizing rifles in some southern tier counties and legalizing Sunday hunting in the SZ. As far as the ARs in PA I do see more bucks because those spikes and forkies aren't getting whacked by some other guy before they get to me. It's a lot tougher to kill a buck...It is often relatively easy to identify a deer from a hunter and a buck from a doe in the woods, but it can be a lot more difficult to make sure that buck has 3 points per side. I haven't seen much change as far as total numbers of deer seen. The taxidermists claim that more big bucks are being brought in, and they should know. Once again it has improved hunting for BIGGER bucks, but I'm not sure it has improved the overall health of the herd or the hunting experience for the average hunter.

As far as them tasting better in the summer, I wouldn't know. Perhaps you could help me with that one... ...I have been abiding by the seasons and limits since 1962, Sonny... If ARs are instituted, I will abide by the law, just as I have abided by PA law since they were put in place down there. It's just that a lot of people (probably the majority) enjoy hunting but for whatever reason they may not be as passionate about it as you and I are. These people support our sport and a lot of them are tickled pink just to get a buck (any buck) every couple of years. I don't view ARs as a cure all for general health of the deer herd, as some advocates portray it. I view it as a way for guys who interested in killing only big bucks to have MORE big bucks to hunt.

So what is it that is so wrong with having the the urge to shoot something, especially if it is good to eat ? Many hunters have limited time to hunt. Also, many of us are not deer hunting fanatics like some of you, and would just as soon spend most of our time doing something other than deer hunting, like shooting waterfowl, fall turkeys, squirrels and rabbits, fall fishing, etc. We still like the opportunity to hunt deer a few days a year with a reasonable chance to kill a deer or two for the freezer. We pay our license fees just like the trophy hunting elitists do.

Geeze, Doc, bears must still be pretty scarce up where you live. Around here I could take you out and find bear sign pretty easily, even on bare ground... Between obvious signs of thier feeding like overturned rocks, dug up stumps, etc.and piles of bear scat ( they seem to like to crap on dug roads, trails, etc.) there is lots of sign around. And once snow arrives, they leave plenty of tracks.. Unlike those elusive pumacougars, that seem to be sighted aplenty in the summer, but somehow DISAPPEAR when snow cover arrives and tracking is possible. Just as an aside....Feral hogs are documented as having breeding populations in the state and several of them have been shot. Funny thing.. I have heard MANY more reports of cougar ( or panther) sightings than I ever have of feral hog sightings. I wonder why nobody has ever come up with a carcass ?

I think one of the biggest reasons that people tend to question the credibility of cougar reports is that so many obviously bogus reports have been made. Many people that I know who claim to have seen cougars wouldn't know a cougar from an aardvark if they saw one in the woods. Then again,I have seen photos of bobcats, housecats and dogs that some very honest and level headed folks were absolutely CONVINCED were those of cougars or "black panthers". As far as I know the only population of black panthers that ever existed in the northeast were Huey Newton and his cohorts. It's hard NOT to be skeptical.

gjs4... You are busting my chops because I said I like to kill animals. ?... So what is it that you are doing out there ? I suppose that you might grimace when you squeeze the trigger or release your arrow, knowing that , if you did things right, some poor woodland creature will be meeting its end. Personally, I feel a sense of exhilaration when I drop a big game animal, or a turkey, or fold a duck or goose with a good shot, or make a nice shot on a squirrel. Must be I am doing something wrong or immoral. All these years I have been a BAD person. Perhaps you have rubber suction cups on your arrows and practice "catch and release" bowhunting..

Geeze, that poor cat must have been pretty horny if he walked THAT far looking for a date. Seems like he would have stopped somewhere in Ohio and picked up a big stuffed animal and a tube of ASTROGLIDE and called it good enough. Just goes to show ya what happens when you go to EXCESS... Got runned over by a car just due to his libido...Poor feller.. Must have been the Warren Beatty of pumacougars.

I have passed up many spikes, forkhorns, six points and eight points. Perhaps more than some of you young fellers have even SEEN in the woods. I've been hunting deer since 1965. I have had a couple 14-15 inch eight points in front of me and chose to shoot the mature doe BESIDE them. I like to kill adult does..Never ate a doe I didn't like. Still, I resent the state mandating that I should not shoot a buck unless it has 3 or 4 points to a side. That should be my choice. Especially on my own land or other private land where the owner approves of such a choice.

In all the wilderness areas I have been in, one animal I have never seen is a river otter. I have seen fishers, martens, mink, weasels, wolverines, bobcats and of course lots of buck toothed beavers, but never laid eyeballs on an otter, other than the sea otters that I saw in salt water in AK. However, I have frequently seen thier tracks on the Cohocton River and its tribs, where I fish often for trout. One day a fellow who was fishing iwth me had one swim by his boots, a couple hundred yards upstream of where I was fishing.. Several have been roadkilled here in Steuben County.. I am looking forward to my first OTTER experience..

The last head I had done (2 years ago) cost around $450-475 from one of the better ( and higher priced) taxidermists around here. Bargain basement guys are getting around $300 or so, but don't expect high quality. Whole body mammals like foxes, coyotes and bobcats take quite a bit of time and talent, for a decent job. Haven't had one done, but I expect they would be more expensive as a rule than a deer head.

I'm late in this conversation, but just let me say... My dear hunting buddy , Fungus Face, doesn't call me " The Stinkin' Pygmy" for nuthin'... ... I also snore like a chainsaw and drink too much.... However, the guys keep letting me come along, presumably because I can cook and butcher meat better than they can, and just cause I'm kind of a CUTE Lil' Feller...

The .35 Whelen was the inspiration for my 9.3 x 62. At a time when I was going on fairly frequent wilderness hunts, and started encountering grizzly bears, I decided it would be prudent to carry a rifle capable of defending myself against one of those hairy volkswagons, heaven forbid the situation should arise. So I found a good deal on a Ruger 77 in .338 Win mag. I used it several times and it was a fine accurate rifle, but it beat the living snot out of me. It was really no fun to shoot. I decided I needed a rifle that would carry enough bullet weight to be a show stopper in a grizzly charge, but was still capable of the odd 300 yard shot and did not kick as badly as the .338. The 35 Whelen was my prime candidate, along with the .338-06. I ruled out the .338-06 because I didn't want the bother of forming cases, etc. plus the fact that there were no factory rifles available in this caliber, except perhaps some high priced custom rigs. Unfortunately at this time, the only rifles being manufactred in .35 Whelen were the Rem custom shop 700 ( more $$ than I wanted to spend) and the 7600 pump gun which I ruled out because I'm a bolt action kinda guy when it comes to rifles. Then I started reading about the 9.3 x 62 on a couple of hunting/reloading forums. With similar bullet weights it is ballistically very similar to the Whelen and heavier weights , 286- 320 grain are readily available should they be required. With heavy bullets it is close in performance to the .375 , albeit at closer range...With 250 grain bullets it shoots flat enough for 250-300 yard shots on big game animals. My 250 grain handload shoots about as flat as a 30-06 with 180s. It does this without loosening my fillings every time I squeeze the trigger. Recoil is robust but manageable, and more pleasant to shoot than a .338 or even a .300 mag. AND it happened to be available in the very well made but reasonably priced CZ-550 American. So, instead of ending up with a .35 Whelen , I have a very similar chambering in an interesting old metric caliber. Reloading components are readily available and factory ammo is available from several sources. And it shoots like a varmint rifle. What's NOT to like ?

I don't know about thier deer, but Tiffany appears some pretty good genetics.. Plenty of us would like to get into her genes.... ....

Early 70s TC Hawken .50 cal. Original bead front sight..Aftermarket TC tang peep sight. Noexcuses 460 grain conical, 80 grains of 3 F777....