Pygmy

I think Monica Lewinsky prefers Cubans..... ....

You are correct on the muley skull, pistol.. I had not panned that far to the right until you mentioned that..

By the way... The vote is off by ONE ... Due to my semi-advanced-pre Alzhiemers syndrome, I accidently clicked on REAL rather than FAKE when I voted... I think it was time for my NAP when I voted... Due to his refusal to have the rack thoroughly examined, I really believe ol' MITCH is trying to blow smoke up our collective asses....He is hiding something... As I once told my ex-wife ( at the time of our separation)... I was born at night, but it wasn't LAST night... ....

I also buy whatever is on sale, and SELDOM does my top match my pants or my hat... Back in the day, there was only WWII, and then Vietnam tigerstripe... The first brandname that I remember was TREBARK.. Some patterns DO work better than others in certain backgrounds, but the best all around camo has always been IMMOBILITY... With that, even ancient, Carhart type khaki still works pretty well...

In the last few years, since coyotes have become numerous, the woodchuck population has plumetted, at least the ones that live in pastures and hayfields.. I think that the 'yotes are very adept at hunting them...There are still woodchucks around, but most of them live in the road ditches and around people's houses and buildings, where it is tougher for the 'yotes to catch them.. Years ago, I used to have lots of fun shooting them, but it's become a thing of the past, at least in most of the places where I used to hunt them... It's the same way in Southern Ontario, where I hunt gobblers... Woodchucks used to be thick up there, but since the coyotes moved in you hardly ever see one... My Canadian buddy whom I hunt with told me he used to kill plenty with his bow, but now it is rare to see one, at least in an open field.. On the other hand, he and I usually kill several coyotes every season while we are hunting gobblers..

I have eaten a number of them, Dave... The young of the year, taken when about half grown, are very good...Similar to rabbit or squirrel... The adults tend to be stronger tasting, tougher and somewhat fatty and gristley...

Seeing fasteddie's picture of Mortie and his brother in a previous thread brought this story to mind...It is a true story... A friend of mine ( who happens to have the nickname "Mort" ) had a co-worker named Louie... Mort was doing a lot of chuck hunting at the time, and one day when he was discussing it at work, Louie mentioned that he had a woodchuck rifle and regularly shot chucks with it at ranges of 300-400 yards...He agreed to bring it to work to show Mort... Next day Mort went out to the parking lot to check out Louie's varmint rig...Louie dragged it out of the backseat of his car...It was an old, battered 30-30 carbine with a POS cheap scope mounted on it... While Mort was "admiring" Louie's chuck rifle, he shouldered it and looked through the scope...The crosshairs were missing..GONE...Nothing but an empty tube... Mort said " Your CROSSHAIRS are busted , Louie.. How the heck do you HIT anything with this gun..??.. " Without batting an eye, Louie replied... " Well, it's a real BITCH until you get used to it.." True story, folks... They are out there...Some of them VOTE and many of them have already reproduced.... ... ... ....

Geeze.... I haven't laughed THIS hard since I watched my cross eyed aunt give my uncle an ENEMA...!!..

I think that an adult woodchuck would kick the snot out of ANY 4 month old pup... I remember one of my 6 month old springer pups easily defeating a grey squirrel, but a big ol' woodchuck is a formidable task, and I suspect that your pup would take the worst of it... Sounds like a little early archery practice is in order... The damn things aren't GOOD to have around the homestead anyway.. SHOOT STRAIGHT.... ;D ....

NYantler a fruit cake..?? Geeze, Joe, I'm sorry to hear you are having a sexual identity crisis... But maybe you aren't..??.. What's going on...??.. Did I miss something AGAIN...??... I think it's time for my nap.... ... ... ....

Congrats on the new addition..!!... ;D .... That oughta keep the riff-raff off the lawn... Remember Clint Eastwood in " Gran Torino " looking down the barrel of his M1 Garand at the street gang punks....??... .... " Get OFFA my LAWN "....... ??? ..... hehehehehe....

Mitch is a wingnut and a prime example of the national obsession with big whitetails being taken to extremes that border mental illness... I personally know a guy who has over 40 BIG whitetails mounted... I'm talking deer in the 130-140-150 class...He is a very skilled hunter and has taken some nice trophies... However, he was so obsessed with wanting to be known as the " world's greatest whitetail hunter "that he BOUGHT the majority of them, had them mounted and now claims them as deer that he has killed.. That's a little sick, in my opinion...

What NYantler said.... .....

Cool pictures.... He must have been hungry... Not many critters will eat a possum..the only things I have ever seen that will eat them are turkey buzzards and other possums.... Owls don't even like them, and they LOVE skunks.... ??? ....

Point made, WNY..... .... It's just that some of us like to discuss technical stuff , while most of the action lately has concerned crossbows, legal shooting hours, and other legal and ethical type issues... I DID notice your tongue in your cheek... ;D ....

You old timers..Remember when legal shooting hours were 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM....??... I think that it was around 1970 they changed it to sunrise/sunset... I can remember that toward the end of the season, it was pretty dark at the end of legal shooting time ( 5:00 PM)....

Are you sure they are not common grackles..??.. They look very similar to those pictures of Brewer's blackbirds... Last I knew, common grackles were NOT protected in NY, but it's been a few years since I checked.. If I were in your shoes, I would assume they are grackles, get a BB gun or pellet gun and shoot the crap out of the damn things... I'd promptly get the carcasses out of sight and would not advertise to the neighbors... Remember the three S's.. Shoot.....Shovel.....Shut up....

At 30-06 velocities ANY cup and core bullet from 150-220 grains will expand reliably and work well on deer size game... A deer is lightly constructed and does not offer the challenge to a bullet that a big bull elk, a brown bear, or a cape buffalo would.. Premium bullets ( bonded, monolithic, etc) will work well also, but will cost you more money and should give you better penetration on a raking shot or a Texas heart shot... I favor Barnes TSX... Not because I need a bullet that stout for deer, but because they are very accurate in my rifles, they kill like lightning, and they don't leave as much shredded, bloodshot meat as most cup and core bullets do..

New York State has the highest required age for young hunters, and I think that is a travesty... In PA youngsters have always been able to hunt big game at 12, under supervison, and now they have a mentoring program with no minimum age, adult supervision required, of course... Several states have no minimum age for a hunting license, and don't recall hearing of any rash of youth-caused accidents in any of them... Many young people are mature enough to hunt at ten or even younger, under parental supervision...Hell, my Old Man turned me loose with a .22 on our family property when I was 10, and many of my contemporaries did the same... I think it is critical to get kids involved in the outdoor sports at as early an age as possible, and the best way to do this is to allow them to actively participate... It's a downright CRIME to force a kid to wait until they are 14 or 16 years old to go hunting... I'm not dead set against a minimum... 10 or even 12 would be acceptable.. Some kids are mature enough to hunt under supervison at 10, some might take a couple more years.. Require adult supervision the first couple of years and let the parents decide when thier kids are mature enough to hunt....

Sounds like one of my old girlfriends...She was so ugly that when she was born, the doctor took one look at her and slapped her MOMMA... ??? ..... Ugly doesn't work for me any more...Back in the old days, I would just drink until I COULD... Now that I'm older, if I drink enough so that I CAN, I CAN'T..... :-[ ....

My days of having taxidermy mounts done are over, but I have had a dozen or so mounts in the past and have seen many more that my hunting buddies have had done.. In my opinion, quality is number ONE... I think that it is a matter of respect for the animal...Personally, if a mount that is intended to portray a live animal doesn't look accurate and ALIVE, it is not quality taxidermy.. If I had to pay twice as much for quality work, I would.... Nothing wrong with checking out a guy's work and comparing prices... However, I have never personally seen top notch products from cut rate taxidermists.. The guys who do the best work usually get the highest prices... Same old stuff..You get what you pay for..

All I saw mentioned was " An Online refresher course" in safety....Hopefully it would not be a requirement for the issuing of a license..... Some states have never required hunter safety training or previous hunting experience for people born before a certain date...Some require only previous hunting experience... Are people that have hunted for years and years likely to become LESS safety conscious... ??? .. I doubt it... For every one who is becoming less safe, there are probably dozens who are more safety concious than they were when they were younger and more eager to kill something... If dementia is an issue, re-training isn't going to make any difference anyway... Mandatory recertification has to be one of the STUPIDIST ideas I have ever heard, and I suspect that there is no evidence to support the idea that it would do any good... I am sure that if it were ever required, many good, old hunters would just give up hunting and spend more time fishing, playing golf, or something else, which would be a damn shame..

And I've already filled my tags...at least most of them...everyone knows that the rut is over by gunseason..lol...hence the push for "intrusion"... The rut is OVER by gun season...???.... Somebody oughta tell the DEER that...!!... ??? ..... Those poor bucks that get shot running does from mid November to mid December would hate to know that they sacrificed thier lives in VAIN... Poor guys.. Thought they were gonna get a little lovin' and all they got was a shotgun slug or a rifle bullet for thier effort... That makes me sad... I think it's time for my nap...

Can you put them in front of the powder for me? (you know make a complete round) lol Yeah, I probabaly COULD, if we lived close enough together and if you buy me enough BEER... ;D ... I have loaded ammo for a few close friends, and I enjoy doing it, but I really don't want to get involved in reloading for the public.. On one of my Alaska hunts, 4 of the 5 of us that were hunting took critters with ammo that I had loaded, and I got a good deal of satisfaction from that... However, for liability reasons, I only load ammo for VERY close friends... Now... If you are 25, female, and built like a brick s***house, we MAY be able to work something out....

My list is the same as in the sticky above, except the 120 and 130 grain 7MMs are gone... Lots of good 160 grain 7mms available for all you 7mm Mag fans out there... Actually they would work fine in a .280 or 7 x 57 as a deer bullet also..